As we pass the halfway mark of the year, we find the first of the new 'best of' anthologies flooding the market. Currently I have 4 monster tomes that I've been reading through, jumping around between favorite authors and intriguing titles. I'm not one to read an anthology from cover-to-cover, but I try to give the bulk of the stories a fair shot.First up was Space Opera from Rich Horton.Next we have The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #8, edited by Jonathan Strahan, which collects

More and more I’ve come to appreciate short story anthologies, especially when they’re labelled the best of whatever genre I’m interested in. They may not necessarily be the best by my standards (though I confess I’d be hard-pressed to assemble such a collection if asked), but I can say with certainty that at least with this collection, every story between the covers was very good. The ones I liked less than others were largely a matter of personal taste rather than an indication of quality.One

This book was not what I expected and I don't feel I can fairly rate it. I read appx 30% (or 6 stories) of this book, and the majority of the short stories were alternative history type stories. Although I enjoy alternative history stories, this book just didn't speak to me, and I was unable to continue.The publisher provided an e-galley through NetGalley for my fair and unbiased review.

Over the last almost four years that I've been running A Fantastical Librarian, I've come to appreciate the art of short form more and more. But most of my short fiction consumption comes from reading anthologies and listening to podcasts such as Escape Pod, PodCastle, Lightspeed and Clarkesworld; most of the fiction published in magazines completely passes me by. And when the email about a review copy for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year volume 8 arrived, it plugged that gap nic...

I read anthologies for two reasons. First is to enjoy the stories. It is for that reason that I gave it a 3-star. Too many post-apocalypse stories get me down - especially given current world events. The second reason to read them is to find authors who are new to you and worth checking out. And here I came up with a few people I will be looking out for in future...Ian R Macleod, who's 'Entangled' is a great and touching story that skillfully depicts what it is like to be an outsider and what it...

Good spread of stories As you’d expect from a collection, there are some cracking Stories. Thankfully there were more Good than average, some I’d like expanded on.If you’re looking for quickies he Sci FI variety this is worth a go.

A middling collection of SF and Fantasy stories. "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" by Ted Chiang was a standout ."Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks had a nice Kubo and the Two Strings feel and would make a great animation. Mystic Falls by Robert Reed was a good blend of the surreal and the technological ."Kormack the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason had the feel of a classic fairy tale ,similar in some ways to Beauty by Sherri S Tepper. Most of the others were decent but n...

I made it! Praise be! I feel a bit bad starting a review like that but, the thing is, I don't read many short story collections, and this one was a bit of a shock to the system. I basically bought it because it had a Ted Chiang story in it, and I loved Stories of Your Life and Others, and also because although I really wanted to move on from Royal Assassin to  Assassin's Quest immediately, I was worried that over 1500 pages of Robin Hobb in one go would be too much Robin Hobb, even for me, even

It’s nigh impossible to try to keep up with everything published in the speculative fiction field these days. This is where “Year’s Best” anthologies come in very useful. Absolutely, each editor is going to have a different idea of what consititutes “best”, dependent upon personal interest and worldviews, but any of the annual anthologies are a damn good place to begin looking for an idea of the shape of the speculative fiction field in any given year.In the introduction to volume eight of “The

I got a review copy of this from the publisher and accidentally back-burnered it for a bit, but what a pleasure this compilation has been to read! Only an editor like Jonathan Strahan could ride the newest waves of science fiction and fantasy, following threads of new settings (southeast Asia and Iceland), new trends (increasing AI and post-human topics), and still find so much variety both in story content and author background. This is an impressive collection, most of which I had not come acr...

For this book (and others like it) I usually read a story or two before going to sleep.I decided to make notes of the stories so I can remember what they were about and re-visit the authors I liked. Ideally I would have written my opinions immediately after reading each story. So this "review" is mostly for myself, from my memory, may contain spoilers and since written weeks after actually reading may not be very accurate of the real plot or my original feelings.I will say a few of the things in...

Many of these stories are excellent.

Really fabulous stories, almost without exception. My only complaint is that of personal preference, really- every story that I enjoyed (which was basically ever story in the collection) was over much too soon. The worlds were intriguing, the characters were engaging, and I felt like I got a taste when I wanted a meal. It is rare for me to read a short story that leaves me satisfied but I'm always looking!

I remember a time when, unless you were interested in "Sunday Review"-type books, the only information available to a prospective reader was the cover, the blurb, and maybe a few heavily excerpted praises slapped carelessly onto the covers. My solution was anthologies: short story collections gave me a low-risk, high-reward way of expanding my reading horizons, and I've found several favourite authors in "Year's Best" collections. Even with the availability of online reviews and sample chapters,...

5 Stars - it might be impossible to love every story equally, in a collection this huge and diverse - but you're not going to find a better best-of collection for the genre this year. Full of must-reads. Introduction, Jonathan StrahanIn his introduction, Strahan states his editorial goal is to fall somewhere between well-known SF editors Judith Merrill and David Hartwell. He perceives the former as being known for pushing the boundaries of genre and blurring the lines between SF and mainstream f...

I should start by explaining that my three-star rating is a reflection of the fact that I mostly didn't enjoy these stories. It's not an objective measure of their quality, any more than their inclusion in a "Best Of" anthology can be, because tastes (and what people look for in a story) differ. Really, "Best Of" always carries an unspoken rider: "According to the taste and inclinations of the editor". I'm somewhat outside the zeitgeist in my taste in fiction, I know. I don't care for stories th...

A couple of really good stories, but mostly pretty meh. Average 3.3 stars."Some Desperado" by Joe Abercrombie 2 - How is this sci fi or fantasy??"Zero for Conduct" by Greg Egan 3.5 "Effigy Nights" by Yoon Ha Lee 2.5 "Rosary and Goldenstar" by Geoff Ryman 2 - meh"The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman 5 "Cave and Julia" by M. John Harrison 1 - wtf"The Herons of Mer de l’Ouest" by M Bennardo 3 "Water" by Ramez Naam 4 "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling...

Lots of overlap with Dozios' annual collection, but maybe a little more emphasis on fantasy, which is fine. Many good stories here.

Jonathan Strahan's introduction hits the mark pretty well for why I frequent these Best of the Year... editions. There is simply so much material available in any given year that having a good reading year can come down to luck. Strahan says he had a good reading year and I'm happy to leave it to him. I liked most of his selections. You'll get the usual mix of good stories and forgettable ones, no bad stories here. The stories, more than resonating on their own though, just cemented my perspecti...

VariableI don't know what to make of this collection. Some of the stories seemed to be trying far too hard to be weird. Others were excellent. A very mixed bag. Of course, others might like the ones I hated, and hate the ones I liked. Not sure I'd purchase another in this series.