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The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012 by John Barnes, Nina Allen, Rich Horton, Rich Horton
aphelia88's review against another edition
3.0
I love anthologies like this because they are a great way to find new authors! I bought this mostly for the Neil Gaiman story, which turned out to be disappointingly short, but there were several others I really liked too, especially the last and longest story.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5-Star Highlights:
5. The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland, For A Little While" by Catherynne M. Valente (Fantasy):"'I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? ... I am a practical girl and a life is only so long. It should be spent in as much peace and good eating and good reading as possible and no undue excitement.'" 100
Self-professed Practical Girl Mallow is drawn unwilling into "Politcks" and becomes Queen. Part of a series, I'd love to read more of this world, with its fabulous, fanciful, bizarre imagery!
12. Rampion by Alexandria Duncan (Fantasy): A forbidden love and its terrible cost.
21. A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong by K. J. Parker (Fantasy): A musician and his protégé play a cat-and-mouse game of musical genius, with theft, betrayal, and intrigue.
26. Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky (Fantasy): An odd, and strangely affecting, story about the afterlife and the disappointments of life. Quirkily humorous too, in a black way.
29. The Man Who Bridged The Mist by Kij Johnson (Fantasy): The longest story in the collection is also its best. A subtle tale as hazy and hard to define as its namesake mist. A determined architect sets out to build a mechanical bridge over a river of mysterious, magical mist and learns about life, love and loss.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4-Star Honorable Mentions:
1. Ghostweight by Yoon Ha Lee (Science Fiction): I loved the origami-weapons imagery.
2. The Sandal-Bride by Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy): A spice trader learns to judge true value by more than looks alone.
7. Late Bloomer by Suzy McKee Charnas (Fantasy): Very interesting take on vampires: they aren't able to create after their deaths, so they collect and hoard antiques.
11. Pug by Theodora Goss (Fantasy): An sickly aristocratic lady discovers a door in the hedge but cannot divine its purpose.
13. And Weep Like Alexander by Neil Gaiman (fantasy): A short joke, but a good one.
15. Younger Women by Karen Joy Fowler (Fantasy): For vampires, forever is longer than they might think.
16. Canterbury Hollow by Chris Lawson (Science Fiction): A boy and a girl slated for death on an over-populated planet find each other instead.
19. The Silver Wind by Nina Allen (Fantasy): A different take on time travel.
20. Choose Your Own Adventure by Kat Howard (Fantasy): As the title says.
28. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu (Fantasy): Intelligent map-making wasps expand their Empire and attempt to colonize the Bees.
5 5-Star reads and 10 4-Star reads. Overall, the collection was almost evenly split into interesting/not interesting to me. But the stories vary widely so there should be something to please everyone.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5-Star Highlights:
5. The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland, For A Little While" by Catherynne M. Valente (Fantasy):"'I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? ... I am a practical girl and a life is only so long. It should be spent in as much peace and good eating and good reading as possible and no undue excitement.'" 100
Self-professed Practical Girl Mallow is drawn unwilling into "Politcks" and becomes Queen. Part of a series, I'd love to read more of this world, with its fabulous, fanciful, bizarre imagery!
12. Rampion by Alexandria Duncan (Fantasy): A forbidden love and its terrible cost.
21. A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong by K. J. Parker (Fantasy): A musician and his protégé play a cat-and-mouse game of musical genius, with theft, betrayal, and intrigue.
26. Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky (Fantasy): An odd, and strangely affecting, story about the afterlife and the disappointments of life. Quirkily humorous too, in a black way.
29. The Man Who Bridged The Mist by Kij Johnson (Fantasy): The longest story in the collection is also its best. A subtle tale as hazy and hard to define as its namesake mist. A determined architect sets out to build a mechanical bridge over a river of mysterious, magical mist and learns about life, love and loss.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4-Star Honorable Mentions:
1. Ghostweight by Yoon Ha Lee (Science Fiction): I loved the origami-weapons imagery.
2. The Sandal-Bride by Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy): A spice trader learns to judge true value by more than looks alone.
7. Late Bloomer by Suzy McKee Charnas (Fantasy): Very interesting take on vampires: they aren't able to create after their deaths, so they collect and hoard antiques.
11. Pug by Theodora Goss (Fantasy): An sickly aristocratic lady discovers a door in the hedge but cannot divine its purpose.
13. And Weep Like Alexander by Neil Gaiman (fantasy): A short joke, but a good one.
15. Younger Women by Karen Joy Fowler (Fantasy): For vampires, forever is longer than they might think.
16. Canterbury Hollow by Chris Lawson (Science Fiction): A boy and a girl slated for death on an over-populated planet find each other instead.
19. The Silver Wind by Nina Allen (Fantasy): A different take on time travel.
20. Choose Your Own Adventure by Kat Howard (Fantasy): As the title says.
28. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu (Fantasy): Intelligent map-making wasps expand their Empire and attempt to colonize the Bees.
5 5-Star reads and 10 4-Star reads. Overall, the collection was almost evenly split into interesting/not interesting to me. But the stories vary widely so there should be something to please everyone.
girlpuck's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
3.0
rpbaptist's review against another edition
3.0
Two stories really stand out to me. The rest wasn't that special. And then there were quite a few which seemed totally out of place in a SF&F collection where the fantasy is reduced to the supernatural set into our regular world.
Some gems: The Sandal-Bride, The Sighted Watchmaker, The Choice, The Man Who Bridged the Mist.
The rest I thought were just alright or less than average.
Some gems: The Sandal-Bride, The Sighted Watchmaker, The Choice, The Man Who Bridged the Mist.
The rest I thought were just alright or less than average.
nightxade's review against another edition
2.0
Not sure if it's my poor attention span and distraction causing me issues (read: yeah, it probably is), but I just couldn't get into many of these short stories at all.
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