Reviews

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 by John Joseph Adams, Carmen Maria Machado

lyriclorelei's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I'm apparently an outlier in not loving "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" with how much I've seen it around, but I enjoyed this collection overall and "STET" by Sarah Gailey I in particular loved.

willdpage's review

4.0

1. Pitcher Plant, Adam-Troy Castro (3/5)
2. What Everyone Knows, Seanan McGuire (5/5)
3. The Storyteller's Replacement, N. K. Jemisin (4/5)
4. Poor Unfortunate Fools, Silvia Park (5/5)
5. Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women, Theodore McCombs (4/5)
6. Hard Mary, Sofia Samatar (5/5)
7. Variations on a Theme from Turnadot, Ada Hoffmann (1/5)
8. Through the Flash, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (5/5)
9. Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good, LaShawn M. Wanak (4/5)
10. The Kite Maker, Brenda Peynado (5/5)
11. The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington, P. Djèlí Clark (5/5)
12. When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis, Annalee Newitz (5/5)
13. Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung, Usman Malik (4/5)
14. STET, Sarah Gailey (3/5)
15. What Gentle Women Dare, Kelly Robson (4/5)
16. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth, Daryl Gregory (5/5)
17. Dead Air, Nino Cipri (4/5)
18. Skinned, Lesley Nneka Arimah (4/5)
19. Godmeat, Martin Cahill (5/5)
20. On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog, Adam R. Shannon (4/5)

jessnotjesse's review

5.0

I've sat on this anthology for almost four years and I'm so happy I finally got around to it. I love the BEST AMERICANs because they're as much of a display of American writing as they are insightful projects from the guest editor. By the close of the anthology, you understand what engages them ("Them" in this case being Carmen Maria Muchado.) and what they care about.

Some of my absolute favorites (and I liked them all, genuinely):

"Poor Unfortunate Fools" by Silvia Park
"Variations on a Theme from Turandot" by Ada Hoffman
"Through the Flash" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
"Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" by LaShawn M. Wanak
"Godmeat" by Martin Cahill

Now I just need to get caught up to 2022!

enbyglitch's review

5.0

This collection didn't quite reach the same consistent heights for me as the 2017/18 books, but still offered a lot of fascinating stories.

'Pitcher Plant' by Adam-Troy Castro simply blew me away, read it if you've got a moment to spare!

Some other highlights include:
'What Gentle Women Dare' by Kelly Robson
'Dead Air' by Nino Cipri
'Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women' by Theodore McCombs
'Godmeat' by Martin Cahill
'When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis' by Annalee Newitz

I also found a greater number of these stories had more sinister or downcast endings than the other collections, but that could be some recency bias.

literatehedgehog's review

3.0

More horror in this collection that I care for, and heavy on the sci-fi and dystopia, but a few strong stories in this collection. After a while I started jumping around and skipping so...not a true "finish" but I read enough of what I wanted to read. Someone else at the library can enjoy this little paperback now!

ecooper99's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

What a mixed bag of gems and pebbles this was! I had looked forward to diving into this anthology, especially with John Joseph Adams and Carmen Maria Machado at the editorial helm. And for the most part, it didn't disappoint. The stories were diverse, ranging from the strange and poetic to the utterly bizarre.

Let's talk about the standouts. "Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women" by Theodore McCombs stuck with me long after I finished it. Then there was "Dead Air" by Nino Cipri, which was a fascinating dive into the complexities of human relationships, all wrapped up in a modern, tech-savvy package. But the crown jewel for me was "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth" by Daryl Gregory. This story spanned the entire life of its main character, from boyhood to old age, against the backdrop of an Earth slowly being overtaken by alien plants. The narrative wove together the protagonist's personal life—his marriage, kids, and grandkids—with this larger, almost apocalyptic, struggle. It was like watching a life unfold in fast-forward, with the stakes getting higher and higher. Just brilliant.

But not every story hit the mark for me. Some felt a bit too long, like they overstayed their welcome. And there were a few that I just couldn't connect with. Still, even the stories that weren't my cup of tea were interesting in their own right. They gave me a glimpse into what kinds of narratives different authors, coming from various backgrounds, chose to tell.

One of the best things about this anthology was discovering authors I hadn't read before. I've already added a few to my "must-read-more-of" list. So, while the collection had its highs and lows, it was definitely worth the read. It's not a perfect anthology, but it's one that has expanded my literary horizons, and for that, I'm grateful.

mojostdennis's review

4.0

read harder challenge 2021: read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color
52 book club challenge 2021: read a book that shares a similar title to another book
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Hit or miss, like all short story anthologies. Mostly hit.

mirrormir's review

dark emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

kimu's review

3.0

I had not read any previous entries in this series of anthologies, nor was I familiar with the work of the series editor or the editor for this specific year. I picked this volume up because I wanted to read *The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington* by P. Djélí Clark, and I was happy to discover that I enjoyed many of the other stories as well. This collection feels very much like the modern face of science fiction and fantasy, but I also felt it very much missed the mark by a rather substantial diversion into what seemed to me to be much more horror rather than either science fiction or fantasy. Although genre lines can be blurry, the division seemed fairly clear for several of the selected stories. Also, possibly an artifact of the Kindle version: the organization of the stories was terrible, with no clear division between the science fiction and fantasy stories - a division that is much clearer on the website for the book. The standout stories for me personally, besides *The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington* were *The Storyteller's Replacement* by N.K. Jemisin, *The Kite Maker* by Brenda Peynado, and *Nine Last Days on Planet Earth* by Daryl Gregory. My favorite story from the anthology was *When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis* by Annalee Newitz, which was so near-future as to be almost plausible today. I appreciated that the author of each included story had the opportunity to provide a brief overview of what they intended or were thinking when writing the story - reading these at the end provided some interesting insights in several cases. Overall, while I'm glad that I read several of the stories in this collection, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you don't enjoy horror.

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Death