every single one of these collections is essential reading for true fans of science fiction short stories... each lengthy volume has a stellar array of all mini-genres and areas of powerfully influential science fiction: hard science, speculative, steampunk, alien invasions, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, space opera, fantasy, aliens, monsters, horror-ish, space travel, time travel, eco-science, evolutionary, pre-historic, parallel universes, extraterrestrials... in each successive volume in the

711 pages, 34 authors, 36 stories! If I’m honest, I would have preferred just 14 stories (i.e. the ones I liked best) in a slimmer, more manageable volume. Although, having read some other reviews, it seems that some people loved the ones that I’ve already forgotten and weren’t keen on the ones I loved. Tricky. I think the key might be finding collections by the authors I enjoyed.

Paul McAuley: "The Choice" - dullDavid Moles: "A Soldier of the City" - OKDamien Broderick: "The Beancounter's Cat" - okElizabeth Bear: "Dolly" - goodJohn Barnes: "Martian Heart" - goodKen MacLeod: "Earth Hour" - OKKarl Schroeder: "Laika's Ghost" - dullMichael Swanwick: "The Dala Horse" - okPeter S. Beagle: "The Way It Works Out and All" - okCarolyn Ives Gilman: "The Ice Owl" - dull, didn't finishPaul Cornell: "The Copenhagen Interpretation" - dull, didn't finishStephen Baxter: "The Invasion of

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 timeI'll try to give a brief reason for each story whose rating deviates from the default three stars.McAuley, Paul: "The Choice" ***Moles, David: "A Soldier Of The City" ***Broderick, Damien: "The Beancounter's Cat" ***Bear, Elizabeth: "Dolly" ***Barnes, John: "Martian Hea...

1st story - The Choice by Paul McAuley : very slow paced and very long introduction into a boring and not very plausible world build. For example humans sell the secret of coca cola to aliens.Overall a dull story bombarded with descriptive narrative trying to make a poorly thought sci-fi idea look interesting. You can skip this story half way through as it's rather disappointing in regards of how poor the idea itself is.In fact it's 3.5 pages worth of story diluted into 35 pages.(view spoiler)[a...

Quite possibly the worst anthology I've ever tried to read.

I always look forward to receiving this anthology. I enjoy short stories (probably due to short attention span problems...) and eagerly await the latest edition. And I usually enjoy the heck out of the stories.Usually.This year's selections seemed to be a bit pedestrian. Or maybe my tastes have changed a bit. Of the selections I had not already read (I have a subscription to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction), there were few that blew me away and I even had to quit reading one about ha...

Stories are generally high quality, as one should expect from a Year's Best anthology. Many won awards in other venues this year. There were only two stories I was unable to finish.My favorite of the bunch is Michael Swanwick's "The Dala Horse," a seamless blending of Scandinavian fairy tale and far-future science fiction.One theme that pops up several times is nostalgia for the Cold War, and the old Soviet Union.There is also a notable lack of optimism and joy in these stories. Many have tragic...

What a difference five years makes. Unlike The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, TYBSF2011 has very few LGBTQ characters. Many of the stories have no female characters, to say nothing of passing the Bechdel test. This isn't to say that the stories aren't varied and engaging – they are – or that the writing isn't good – it is, although the proofreading leaves something to be desired – just that the breadth of people you meet while reading this book isn't as broad as it could have been.

I read the first story in this underwhelming 'best of' collection many years ago, having set it down in my 'meh' pile. I have now finally completed it. My initial 'meh' was accurate.Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente is the best story in here. It's a novella and can be purchased individually on kindle.The Man Who Bridged the Mist is also excellent. Originally published in Asimov's. This novella is absolutely worth seeking out, and is also available in paperback.The Ice Owl by Caroly...

Maybe a little more than four stars, as I really enjoyed this collection. Even more than the more recent editions of this series (28 and 29). Those books contained mainly stories set on earth in a not too distant future, dealing with climate change, technological upgrades and computer science. I like those stories too, don't get me wrong, but I like the stories included here better: tales of a far future, where science had developed to such a level that it is hard to distinguish from magic and h...

One of the better Dozois anthologies, surprising not necessarily in the number of standout stories, but in the number of almost-standouts and the very low number of unreadable stories. Only two I was unable to bring myself to finish, and these from the 'usual suspects' (Tidhar & Ryman).Standouts were one of the K. MacLeod stories, the Nevala-Lee, the Schroeder, the McDonald, the Lake, the Hawkins, the Baxter, and the Johnson.

I've not read much science fiction in recent years, intending instead to devote my reading to nonfiction. A gift, however, has power. Since it was so recommended, I gave the Dozois collection a chance and was impressed. I don't know if it's representative of the current sf genre or if it's a matter of editorial preferance, but the quality of the writing was very good--much better than I'd come to expect from a fair sampling of the science fiction classics of the twentieth century.

Just read The Honeycrafters by Carolyn Ives Gilman.

Started reading this just after it came out, and I have finished it just after the next volume was released. Being able to read this in a e-version instead of carting around a massive tome helped, in that I could read stories every now & then on my lunch break, but it still took so long that I've forgotten which ones I particularly liked. I love the longevity and dependability of this series and Dozois's excellent choices, but I can't remember the last time I actually read one from cover to cove...

Yes, that's right...after more than two years of on-and-off reading of this book (only during my lunch hour, in between waiting for holds to come in) I have finally finished this impressive tome. Sadly, I do not have the clearest memory of several of the stories within. However, overall I can confidently say that I enjoyed it, and that I appreciated getting a taste of many different authors and styles. My library currently owns volumes 27-32 of this series, so I think next time I am between hold...

Though not quite as good as otheres in this series, still Gardner does a great job picking out enjoyable short stories.

As always, pretty much required reading, if you're a fan of short-SF. Dozois does push the boundaries sometimes on deciding what is SF, but so what.Standout stories for me:* A Soldier of the City • (2010) • novelette by David Moles* The Beancounter's Cat • (2011) • novelette by Damien BroderickKen MacLeod. Earth Hour. Online at http://www.tor.com/2011/06/22/earth-h...* David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell. A Militant Peace. Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/klech...** The Dala Horse • (201...

For some reason this collection had a lot less of interesting novels than I'm used to in this series. I guess I'm either just getting picky, or it was just a bad year for scifi, or maybe Dozois has a different taste from mine. I don't know what happened here, but not too many short stories in here made an impression. There were even a few that I just wished would be done already, but can't even remember their names anymore. Might be partly because I read this in pieces, a few short stories ther

A Tour De Force!-Kindle Clay’s Review of Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Collection (2012) (48)A feat requiring great virtuosity or strength, often deliberately undertaken for its difficultyHere is the next Chapter in Science Fiction by Gardner Dozois, the 29th year in fact of this Venerable Collection.This is the one yearly Anthology that we try not to miss. This time we’ll put in some excerpts of some if not most of the Short Stories and have a summation at the end or the qua...