Reviews

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

hoatzin's review

I guess I succedded in reading more short stories this year, since I'd already read 4 of these stories.
Favorites: Through the Flash (already read but loved it again the 2nd time) Nine Last Days on Planet Earth (made my little scientist heart happy) Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie, Skinned
Less liked: Hard Mary, Pitcher Plant, STET
Many of the stories edged the boundaries between SFF and mainstream fiction which I was fine with but might not be enjoyable for others.

deborama's review

3.0

Read two stories had to return the book. The Storyteller's Replacement by N. K. Jemisin, and On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog, by Adam Shannon.

vshah's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

esoken's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

inamerata's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

An eclectic collection of short stories exploring a variety of settings, themes, and formats. Most pieces are vaguely contemporary and lean toward speculative fiction. Even when dealing with darker topics, the collection avoid wallowing, which it makes for an engaging read. The length is just right -- either cutting right to the good stuff, or else I'm not spending too much time dragging through something that wasn't for me. I found some great new authors and each story includes brief commentary, as well, which is always a plus.

My favorites were When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis, On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog, The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington, Poor Unfortunate Fools, Variations on a Theme from Turandot, and Pitcher Plant.

specificwonderland's review against another edition

4.0

I skipped around in this anthology approved and stitched together by Carmen Maria Machado. Most of the pieces were great, so I'm glad I picked this up.

Read harder 2021: sff anthology edited by a POC

sapphire's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

gettyhesse's review

4.0

I took so long to work through this collection that I don't even remember how I felt about all the early stories. What I can say is that "Hard Mary" by Sofia Samatar was probably my favorite. There was I think only one story I actively disliked, a few others that I had mixed feelings about. I was expecting this collection to be my favorite in the series thus far-I adore Carmen Maria Machado's work and trust her literary taste. I'm not sure if this collection just isn't as good as some previous years' (was 2018 a meh year for genre short stories?) or if my own taste has become more demanding.

To be clear, this is still an excellent collection overall, with some truly exemplary stories. It just wasn't as good as I remembered, say, 2016 being.

verumsolum's review

3.0

What a difference a year makes. And in this case, I wonder how much is me and how much is this year's edition of this book.

Last year, the 2018 edition was one of the things that propelled me back into reading SFF (which is not something I'd done much if any reading in as an adult). This year? I was underwhelmed. There were a couple of gems, but it felt like more where I was thinking "how many more pages are there in this story?" I think part of that comes down to it being a best-of anthology. And given that choice, it makes it difficult for the book to have a rhythm. Some of the stories felt too long to me; others I wished were longer. And I found it awkward to know how much time to expect to need when I picked up the book to read a story.

So, I'll probably still buy next year's, but… I'll try to remember to hold on to my expectations.

ceilisbookshelf's review

DNF because I wasn’t in the mood for short stories anymore, but there were some really great ones in here. Variations on a Theme from Turandot was a particular standout.