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shadyeglenn's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
old_tim's review against another edition
5.0
Great collection by some of the biggest names in the field. Highly recommended.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/10/simply-best.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/10/simply-best.html
piratkatt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.5
hinoki's review against another edition
3.0
I can definitively give this book 2.82/5 stars. I know this because I actually rated every single story, then found the average.
Here's a list of authors that wrote one star stories (some were even DNF to me): Abercrombie, Irvine, McAuley, Sherman, Tidhar, Kiernan. I didn't like stories about aimless space travel, complex descriptions of aliens or robots, or stores that drag (you only have 15-20 pages? How can you still have filler?) Abercrombie's story was next level bad. Was his story accepted just to give the collection some variety?
My favourite stories (5 stars, def will check out their other work) are:
You Make Pattaya by Larson. Some white guy's adventure in Thailand (it gets better but I don't want to give anything away). Takes place some time in the future. I liked how futuristic technology was mentioned in passing but wasn't explained in too much detail.
Fable by C. Yu. A sort of allegory about a guy trying to deal with what's going on in his life. I think I was a little soft on this because it was the last one and I felt bad about only giving 4 5 stars for 28 stories.
Touring with the Alien by Gilman. Out of all the 5 stars this one in the best. An alien invasion story that in no way resembles The War of the Worlds. I liked the slow-ish burn. I loved every character. Seasons of Glass and Iron by El-Mohtar. I really appreciated that this was written as a more "classical" style fairy tale. Yeah there was a part in the middles that was a bit heavy handed, but as a whole I really liked it.
Here's a list of authors that wrote one star stories (some were even DNF to me): Abercrombie, Irvine, McAuley, Sherman, Tidhar, Kiernan. I didn't like stories about aimless space travel, complex descriptions of aliens or robots, or stores that drag (you only have 15-20 pages? How can you still have filler?) Abercrombie's story was next level bad. Was his story accepted just to give the collection some variety?
My favourite stories (5 stars, def will check out their other work) are:
You Make Pattaya by Larson. Some white guy's adventure in Thailand (it gets better but I don't want to give anything away). Takes place some time in the future. I liked how futuristic technology was mentioned in passing but wasn't explained in too much detail.
Fable by C. Yu. A sort of allegory about a guy trying to deal with what's going on in his life. I think I was a little soft on this because it was the last one and I felt bad about only giving 4 5 stars for 28 stories.
Touring with the Alien by Gilman. Out of all the 5 stars this one in the best. An alien invasion story that in no way resembles The War of the Worlds. I liked the slow-ish burn. I loved every character. Seasons of Glass and Iron by El-Mohtar. I really appreciated that this was written as a more "classical" style fairy tale. Yeah there was a part in the middles that was a bit heavy handed, but as a whole I really liked it.
haunted_air's review against another edition
4.0
A well chosen collection of interesting stories. Maybe it was a bit too long and there could have been more fantasy stories but oh well, I liked most of them.
The stories that stood out to me the most are:
A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard: haunting, impactful, dark, set in an intriguing world,
Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora Goss: everything I want from a fantasy story, fairytale elements in a real world context, storytelling, interesting choice of narrator,
Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home by Genvieve Valentine: often used concept done well, in a interesting way, gives you a lot to think about.
I also loved: Red Dirt Witch, The Future is Blue, Spinning Silver, Seasons of Glass and Iron, The Great Detective.
Even with the stories I didn't enjoy, it was mostly because they didn't work for me not because I thought they weren't well written. Exceptions: Those Shadows Laugh, You Make Pattaya, I don't think these are very good and I also wasn't a fan of how Things with Beards was written to the point that I couldn't get into the story. I had another writing related issue with Laws of Night and Silk: great concept but the 21 page story throws an entire epic fantasy novel worth of wordbuilding on the reader and this makes appreciating it difficult. I don't have a problem with in medias res and things not being explained but I felt the characters/narrative were constantly giving exposition and describing things instead of dealing with was was happening.
Everything else is somewhere between good and meh.
The stories that stood out to me the most are:
A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard: haunting, impactful, dark, set in an intriguing world,
Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora Goss: everything I want from a fantasy story, fairytale elements in a real world context, storytelling, interesting choice of narrator,
Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home by Genvieve Valentine: often used concept done well, in a interesting way, gives you a lot to think about.
I also loved: Red Dirt Witch, The Future is Blue, Spinning Silver, Seasons of Glass and Iron, The Great Detective.
Even with the stories I didn't enjoy, it was mostly because they didn't work for me not because I thought they weren't well written. Exceptions: Those Shadows Laugh, You Make Pattaya, I don't think these are very good and I also wasn't a fan of how Things with Beards was written to the point that I couldn't get into the story. I had another writing related issue with Laws of Night and Silk: great concept but the 21 page story throws an entire epic fantasy novel worth of wordbuilding on the reader and this makes appreciating it difficult. I don't have a problem with in medias res and things not being explained but I felt the characters/narrative were constantly giving exposition and describing things instead of dealing with was was happening.
Everything else is somewhere between good and meh.
arkron's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: 28 stories spread over some 600 pages, no novellas this time. There is something in it for everyone and I recommend buying it. This year, Strahan seems to love fairy tales - with five of them included, it was a bit too much for my taste. Overall quality was better than last year's, though. As with nearly every anthology, you probably won't like each and every story, but there are gems in it, some of them outstanding. Many of the stories are available online, but if you're like me, I'm not willing to hunt down the best of them and just let Strahan lead my way.
On a personal note, I didn't like the inclusion of horror stories at all - I don't like them or even hate them. It would be fair at least to mark the story's genre such that I could simply skip them. At least, this time only two such stories where included.
Outstanding stories were
Contents:
On a personal note, I didn't like the inclusion of horror stories at all - I don't like them or even hate them. It would be fair at least to mark the story's genre such that I could simply skip them. At least, this time only two such stories where included.
Outstanding stories were
- Foxfire, Foxfire • SF&F crossover novelette by Yoon Ha Lee
- Laws of Night and Silk • High Fantasy short story by Seth Dickinson
- Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home • SF short story by Genevieve Valentine
Contents:
- 17 • ★★★★ • The Future is Blue • dystopic SF novelette by Catherynne M. Valente • review
- 39 • ★★ • Mika Model • SF short story by Paolo Bacigalupi • review
- 53 • ★★★ • Spinning Silver • Fairy tale Rumpelstilchen retold by Naomi Novik • review
- 81 • ★★★ • Two’s Company • First Law fantasy short story by Joe Abercrombie • review
- 101 • ★★★★ • You Make Pattaya • Near Future con-man short story by Rich Larson • review
- 117 • ★★★★ • You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay • Weird novelette by Alyssa Wong • review
- 143 • ★★★+ • A Salvaging of Ghosts • SF short story in Xuyan universe by Aliette de Bodard • review
- 155 • ★★★ • Even the Crumbs Were Delicious • Hänsel und Gretel turned to SF short story by Daryl Gregory • review
- 173 • ★★★ • Number Nine Moon • Hard SF short story by Alex Irvine • review
- 195 • ★ • Things with Beards • Weird short story by Sam J. Miller • I didn't get at all what this story was about, couldn't get into it
- 209 • ☆ • Successor, Usurper, Replacement, Alice Sola Kim • Horror - didn't read
- 227 • ★★★★+ • Laws of Night and Silk • High Fantasy short story by Seth Dickinson • review
- 247 • ★★★ • Touring with the Alien • First contact SF novelette by Carolyn Ives Gilman • review
- 281 • ★★+ • The Great Detective • Steampunk novelette by Delia Sherman • review
- 317 • ★★★★+ • Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home • SF short story by Genevieve Valentine • review
- 343 • ★★+ • Those Shadows Laugh • Geoff Ryman • review
- 369 • ★★★ • Seasons of Glass and Iron • fairy tale short story by Amal El-Mohtar • review
- 385 • ★★★ • The Art of Space Travel • SF novelette by Nina Allan • review
- 417 • ☆ • Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) • Caitlín R. Kiernan • I despise horror. For those that like that genre, this story might also be pointless. Especially within an anthology called "Best SF and Fantasy of the Year" - this story doesn't contain SF, nor fantasy at all. Just (one? or) two girls on a road trip after having shot an elderly couple.
- 429 • ★★★★+ • Red Dirt Witch • Urban Fantasy short story by N.K. Jemisin • review
- 449 • ★★ • Red as Blood and White as Bone • Fairy tale novelette by Theodora Goss • review
- 471 • ★★★ • Terminal • SF short story by Lavie Tidhar • review
- 487 • ★★★★★ • Foxfire, Foxfire • SF&F crossover novelette by Yoon Ha Lee • review
- 509 • ★★+ • Elves of Antarctica • CliFi short story by Paul McAuley • review
- 527 • ★★★ • The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight • fairy tale shor story by E. Lily Yu • review
- 543 • ★★★★ • Seven Birthdays • SF short story by Ken Liu • review
- 561 • ★★★★ • The Visitor from Taured • SF novelette by Ian R. MacLeod • review
- 585 • ★★★ • Fable • Fairy taleish metafiction short story by Charles Yu • review
laurenla's review against another edition
5.0
I've been reading less and less science fiction and fantasy over the years, but this collection has re-energised me...I'll be making a short list and following some of the authors.
Will buy in print, to easily re-read and share. No higher recommendation.
I particularly liked the following, and could have done without some others:
A Salvaging of Ghosts • SF short story in Xuyan universe by Aliette de Bodard
Even the Crumbs Were Delicious • Hunter S Thompsonesque SF short story by Daryl Gregory. hilarious.
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay • Western desert novelette by Alyssa Wong
Two’s Company • First Law fantasy short story by Joe Abercrombie, also very funny
Will buy in print, to easily re-read and share. No higher recommendation.
I particularly liked the following, and could have done without some others:
A Salvaging of Ghosts • SF short story in Xuyan universe by Aliette de Bodard
Even the Crumbs Were Delicious • Hunter S Thompsonesque SF short story by Daryl Gregory. hilarious.
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay • Western desert novelette by Alyssa Wong
Two’s Company • First Law fantasy short story by Joe Abercrombie, also very funny
evamaren's review against another edition
4.0
A surprisingly high amount of 5 star stories in this one - I found some new favorites! If it hadn't included so many horror stories without telling me which ones would be which in advance, it would have been 5 stars. Please give people who don't like horror some way to avoid those in the future!
The Future is Blue, Catherynne M. Valente ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Brilliant dystopian story set on a artificial island made of garbage swimming on a future Earth covered in water. Gorgeous writing!
The Future is Blue, Catherynne M. Valente ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Brilliant dystopian story set on a artificial island made of garbage swimming on a future Earth covered in water. Gorgeous writing!