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