The stories I liked I liked a LOT and the ones I didn't I just skipped after a few pages--so overall, a really fun read. Anthologies are always going to be a mixed bag and this one had more winners than losers. I'll look for more collections in this series.

The entire collection was worth reading if only for one story: "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong" by K.J. Parker. Near to my heart both as a musician and because it is a brilliantly written piece of short fiction. Other standouts: "Tidal Forces" by Caitlín Kiernan, "The Brave Little Toaster" by Cory Doctorow, "Underbridge" by Peter S. Beagle, and "Digging" by Ian McDonald.

Individual stories rated as follows:5* - A classic.4* - A really good story, recommended reading. 3* - A decent story2* - Not a good story, something seriously inhibited any enjoyment1* - Unreadable and/or a complete waste of timeGaiman, Neil: The Case of Death and Honey 2*I understand this one was written specifically for a themed anthology, but it is just too rough and disjointed to work.Yu, E. Lily: The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees 3*I almost unfairly docked this one a star becau...

It's always hard to assign a star value to a collection of short stories, particularly a collection from as diverse a field of authors as this collection.That being said, I really enjoyed the majority of stories collected here. Some, were, of course, much more to my liking than others, but overall, I was impressed by the imagination and writing found within.I don't read enough short stories in my life, but I am particularly delighted to see that the genres of sci-fi and fantasy are producing won...

Like most anthologies, this book had stories that grabbed me and stories that were more of a slog to get through. Overall i enjoyed this book and had fun poking around at all the current tips of stories.

As expected, Jonathan Strahan delivers another wonderful anthology here. 2011 must have been an especially great year because many of the jewels in this Volume are spectacular. Every story deserved its place, although I personally warmed less to the two shorter stories, only because I enjoy being immersed in the world of a story for a lengthier period of time. Also, a couple of the futuristic stories related more to scientific ideas and possible future realities rather than what I emotionally co...

This was a good anthology. But I'm struggling to identify what made it different.All of the stories were readable. They flowed together in interesting ways--e.g., the first two stories had bees in them. While the tone varied, they all seemed to have an element of magic to them: with the exception of Maureen McHugh's "After the Apocalypse," which was horrific, although probably not on the level you'd expect. Whew. I think the thing that set these stories apart was that they were put together in a...

Excellent selection of storiesMost were mesmerizing, a few confusing. I can't wait to read them again! My favorites all drew me in and ended too soon.

I got this from NetGalley, and it comes out March 6. If you enjoy short stories or science fiction/fantasy, you should definitely read this!I had a few favorite authors with stories in this volume, but surprisingly (to me), those stories weren't my favorite. They were still great, but others really stood out:The friendship/romance in Steam Girl by Dylan Horrocks - so touching!The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter was thought provoking about humanity's place in the universe. That sounds so somb...

As with any anthology, the reader won't connect with every story; some will seem like space-fillers and others will be gems enjoyable to discover. For me, this one contained too few gems and too many that I simply didn't enjoy. There are 31 stories in this 589-page book. For a handful, I couldn't even tell why they were included -- there seemed to be zero elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Quite a few others, either I never understood what was happening, or nothing ever happened. Som...

I have liked the previous 5 of this series so well that I stopped reading the Dozois collection and made this my annual. I was very disappointed with volume 6 however. Paralleling a discussion on Charles Stross's blog, there was a real lack of big ideas. Many of the stories have a very small SF element that could easily be dispensed with without harming the tale. The longer works chosen for inclusion were for the most part extremely tedious affairs. Even the opening story by Gaiman is a cheapy--...

Best review here is Althea Ann’s: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Best review online, http://bestsf.net/the-best-science-fi... TOC: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?5... — but not in the as-published order!I’d read a number of these stories previously. These are the new-to-me stories I found most impressive.Highlights•The Case of Death and Honey [Sherlock Holmes], Neil Gaiman. Holmes finds an immortality(?) potion in China. Bees are involved. Chinese stuff is a lot more interesting th...

Some great stories here, some mediocre stories here. My favorites were "White Lines on a Green Field" by Catherynne Valente, "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong" by K.J. Parker, and "The Dala Horse" by Michael Swanwick.

Some stories were fantastic, some were ho-hum. I loved Ken Liu, Stephen Baxter, Peter S. Beagle, Kid Johnson, An Owomoyela, K. J Parker. Others were just not my thing. But every volume is worth it. I'm just starting nine now and I find Strahan's collections to be the best I've read.

Tidal Forces: play your cards a bizarre tale of two lesbian lovers. Dreams coming true, shadows lurking. Caitlin Kiernan will Peel your eyes over to look for the galaxy in them. Old Habits by Nalo Hopkinson six million ways to die choose one. A mall worker struts throughout the mall without bumping into no one. A tie he should of never brought. A ghost story for mall rats.Valley of the girls by Kelly LinkLooking for faces lost or trapped in a pyramid next to a dead person. Maybe you will see the...

Anthologies like that are always hard to judge and rate critically without rating each individual story contained within. Some are good, some less so, and the reasons why vary from story to story. This is the problem I ran into here, and it’s the biggest reason that it took me so long to read from beginning to end. The majority of the stories contained within this volume are fantastic, creative and original and of the sort that keeps you glued to your chair and turning pages. Then there are the

**** The Case of Death and Honey, Neil Gaiman, (A Study in Sherlock)Actually read this one twice in a row, because it was fun to revisit the details... There may be many Holmes stories set in the famed fictional detective's 'retirement,' but, not being a huge Holmes fan, it unavoidably reminded me of the only other one I've read, Michael Chabon's 'Final Solution.'This story is a follow-up/sequel to the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Creeping Man." If I'd read that...

This is a good collection. First and foremost, the good and great stories far outnumber the mediocre to 'what the hell' stories. Strahan seems more motivated by quality than some of the other best of editors out there that may be more inclined to put in edgier high concept stuff. Though, to be honest, I say that only because the other collection from this year that I read has stories in it that simply shouldn't be there, and I can't explain why they are... and Strahan doesn't put them in here......

a group of mostly very well written short stories. For some reason, I found "the man who bridged the mist" - almost a novella - particularly good.

Such a good collection, tho several I've read before in other places. The hazards of Sci Fi magazine subscriptions, I guess. Still I found some new authors to follow.