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A review by ryan_noonan
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 by John Joseph Adams, Charles Yu
5.0
Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail - 4* - Great story about teenage romance. Falls off at the end.
Teenagers from Outer Space - 3* - Fine but nothing special. Well written but don’t totally understand the rapturous praise.
I’ve Come to Marry the Princess - 4* - Surreal and funny story about forgotten things. Little bit of a gut punch at the end.
Everyone From Themis Sends Letters Home - 5* - Brilliant. Brains in vats, epistolary format, prison industrial complex, corporate espionage, the works.
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight - 4* - Very good in theory, not great in execution. I’ll split the difference and be generous because I really do like the idea of a story about how women always do too much and too little told through the lens of a witch and knight.
When They Came to Us - 4* - A little didactic for me, but the style and emotional impact still work well.
Vulcanization - n/a - I feel like I’m missing something from not having read Everfair. This is grotesque in a way that I find rewarding, but I don’t really understand a lot of it.
Openness - 5* - Beautiful, simple, extraordinarily painful.
Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass - 2* - Entertaining enough but the ending is weak. Very “reading is magic!” which I don’t find compelling.
The Future is Blue - 4* - A nice light(ish) twist on the post-deluge story that turns very dark at the end.
This is Not a Wardrobe Door - 2* - Cute but very not for me.
On the Fringes of the Fractal - 3* - Interesting enough. Great last line.
The Story of Kao Yu - 3* - Beagle has a knack for writing deeply sad and melancholy stories (Last Unicorn is such a perfect book). I’m not sure I was satisfied with the end of this one, though.
Smear - 5* - Short, weird, unsettling. Makes me want to read more of Evenson’s work.
The City Born Great - 3* - An interesting attempt to take back Lovecraft from the darker elements of Lovecraft’s personality. Better in theory than execution.
Welcome to the Medical Clinic… - 4* - This is close to great. I’m grading on a curve because the idea of a choose your own adventure story that always go to the same place because trying to receive medical care is a Kafka-esque nightmare is fantastically smart and funny. The major problem is that the story keeps telling you explicitly that that’s what it’s doing, which makes it feel much less clever than it should.
Successor, Usurper, Replacement - 5* - Scary and fun. A story of doppelgängers and impostors and fame.
Caspar D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do? - 5* - So dark and vicious and cynical. Completely off kilter, almost Vonnegut-esque, with a total gut-punch of an ending.
I Was a Teenage Werewolf - 4* - Cute (if you can call it that) story about being a teenager, that wildest and most untamed of creatures.
The Venus Effect - 4* - Just awful and brutal and gut-wrenching all the way through. A little glib and goofy, which is why it’s not 5*, but this is pretty solid.
Teenagers from Outer Space - 3* - Fine but nothing special. Well written but don’t totally understand the rapturous praise.
I’ve Come to Marry the Princess - 4* - Surreal and funny story about forgotten things. Little bit of a gut punch at the end.
Everyone From Themis Sends Letters Home - 5* - Brilliant. Brains in vats, epistolary format, prison industrial complex, corporate espionage, the works.
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight - 4* - Very good in theory, not great in execution. I’ll split the difference and be generous because I really do like the idea of a story about how women always do too much and too little told through the lens of a witch and knight.
When They Came to Us - 4* - A little didactic for me, but the style and emotional impact still work well.
Vulcanization - n/a - I feel like I’m missing something from not having read Everfair. This is grotesque in a way that I find rewarding, but I don’t really understand a lot of it.
Openness - 5* - Beautiful, simple, extraordinarily painful.
Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass - 2* - Entertaining enough but the ending is weak. Very “reading is magic!” which I don’t find compelling.
The Future is Blue - 4* - A nice light(ish) twist on the post-deluge story that turns very dark at the end.
This is Not a Wardrobe Door - 2* - Cute but very not for me.
On the Fringes of the Fractal - 3* - Interesting enough. Great last line.
The Story of Kao Yu - 3* - Beagle has a knack for writing deeply sad and melancholy stories (Last Unicorn is such a perfect book). I’m not sure I was satisfied with the end of this one, though.
Smear - 5* - Short, weird, unsettling. Makes me want to read more of Evenson’s work.
The City Born Great - 3* - An interesting attempt to take back Lovecraft from the darker elements of Lovecraft’s personality. Better in theory than execution.
Welcome to the Medical Clinic… - 4* - This is close to great. I’m grading on a curve because the idea of a choose your own adventure story that always go to the same place because trying to receive medical care is a Kafka-esque nightmare is fantastically smart and funny. The major problem is that the story keeps telling you explicitly that that’s what it’s doing, which makes it feel much less clever than it should.
Successor, Usurper, Replacement - 5* - Scary and fun. A story of doppelgängers and impostors and fame.
Caspar D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do? - 5* - So dark and vicious and cynical. Completely off kilter, almost Vonnegut-esque, with a total gut-punch of an ending.
I Was a Teenage Werewolf - 4* - Cute (if you can call it that) story about being a teenager, that wildest and most untamed of creatures.
The Venus Effect - 4* - Just awful and brutal and gut-wrenching all the way through. A little glib and goofy, which is why it’s not 5*, but this is pretty solid.