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A review by pantsyreads
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 by John Joseph Adams, Charles Yu
4.0
I don't typically read short story anthologies, but the colourful cover of this intrigued me and I had a hankering to try out some new authors. I noticed this collection had a few authors I've read and enjoyed before (Catherynne M. Valente, Leigh Bardugo, N.K. Jemisin, etc.) as well, so I figured there were enough stories I was very likely to enjoy alongside the new-to-me authors.
First off, I want to applaud this collection for its diversity. Not only are there a number of women, people of colour and queer authors in this collection, but there's also a diversity in the stories being told. A lot of them aren't cut-and-dry sci-fi or fantasy - some of them toe the line or play with the genres in interesting ways. The stories that demonstrated this most noticeably for me were: Bardugo's, Tolbert's, Yoachim's and Hill's. Some of the stories were topical (ie. dealing with police brutality) while others played with the format (there's a choose-your-own-adventure story! ...kind of), but all of them brought something new and fun to the table.
I would recommend this collection whether you're new to SFF - this a good introduction to some big names in the genre - or are a hardcore fan looking for something that pushes the envelope a bit.
First off, I want to applaud this collection for its diversity. Not only are there a number of women, people of colour and queer authors in this collection, but there's also a diversity in the stories being told. A lot of them aren't cut-and-dry sci-fi or fantasy - some of them toe the line or play with the genres in interesting ways. The stories that demonstrated this most noticeably for me were: Bardugo's, Tolbert's, Yoachim's and Hill's. Some of the stories were topical (ie. dealing with police brutality) while others played with the format (there's a choose-your-own-adventure story! ...kind of), but all of them brought something new and fun to the table.
I would recommend this collection whether you're new to SFF - this a good introduction to some big names in the genre - or are a hardcore fan looking for something that pushes the envelope a bit.