athryn's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Overall a great collection from Tor.com. There weren't any real duds in this collection, and a couple of really good ones. I think my favorites were The Waters of Versailles and Ginga, the latter caused me to look up the series it was from and pick up the first book!
mulveyr's review
Can't really give this a fair rating; discovered that it leans towards horror, which is just not my thing.
pearseanderson's review
2.0
My favorite pieces:
Fabulous Beasts
Ballroom Blitz
Please Undo This Hurt
Some Gods of El Paso
The Thyme Fiend
The Shape of My Name
The enjoyable ones, although somewhat flawed:
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
Oral Argument
Islands Off the Coast of Capitola, 1978
The Museum and the Music Box
Damage
Elephants and Corpses
The Museum and the Music Box
Tear Tracks
The "why is this included," the "didn't finish these puppies," the "doesn't make me want to keep reading" ones:
Variations on an Apple
At the End of Babel
The Language of Knives
Ginga
Waters of Versailles
The Log Goblin
The Ways of Walls and Words
Schrodinger's Gun
Some notes:
I know all of these are acclaimed and powerful writers, I just didn't love all that they contributed. Some felt more like writing exercises that fell short of a story.
I really dislike that Tor decided to name the collection "Some of the Best from Tor.com." Are they afraid to say that other great stories weren't included? I don't think others would read this and say "oh, guess that's all of the talent in this publishing house" and head out the door they came in on. Creating Best of anthologies does not mean anthologists are undermining the credibility of others, or oppressing them. It's okay to label things as the best, we know that it's just one person's opinion—Some of the Best feels like everyone gets a trophy, and then no one wins.
Why is this collection structured alphabetically? Did that add anything to the writing? I skipped around on it, and in the moment I hated myself for not sticking to the anthologist's plans, but now I realized those plans were . . . underdeveloped I guess? I would've loved to see something like The Shape of My Name tacked on the back of Fabulous Beasts, or a quick action bit like Elephants and Corpses jumping off the fast fable of Log Goblin.
For 613 pages I think I should've enjoyed more of this than I did. 5/10 I guess.
Fabulous Beasts
Ballroom Blitz
Please Undo This Hurt
Some Gods of El Paso
The Thyme Fiend
The Shape of My Name
The enjoyable ones, although somewhat flawed:
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
Oral Argument
Islands Off the Coast of Capitola, 1978
The Museum and the Music Box
Damage
Elephants and Corpses
The Museum and the Music Box
Tear Tracks
The "why is this included," the "didn't finish these puppies," the "doesn't make me want to keep reading" ones:
Variations on an Apple
At the End of Babel
The Language of Knives
Ginga
Waters of Versailles
The Log Goblin
The Ways of Walls and Words
Schrodinger's Gun
Some notes:
I know all of these are acclaimed and powerful writers, I just didn't love all that they contributed. Some felt more like writing exercises that fell short of a story.
I really dislike that Tor decided to name the collection "Some of the Best from Tor.com." Are they afraid to say that other great stories weren't included? I don't think others would read this and say "oh, guess that's all of the talent in this publishing house" and head out the door they came in on. Creating Best of anthologies does not mean anthologists are undermining the credibility of others, or oppressing them. It's okay to label things as the best, we know that it's just one person's opinion—Some of the Best feels like everyone gets a trophy, and then no one wins.
Why is this collection structured alphabetically? Did that add anything to the writing? I skipped around on it, and in the moment I hated myself for not sticking to the anthologist's plans, but now I realized those plans were . . . underdeveloped I guess? I would've loved to see something like The Shape of My Name tacked on the back of Fabulous Beasts, or a quick action bit like Elephants and Corpses jumping off the fast fable of Log Goblin.
For 613 pages I think I should've enjoyed more of this than I did. 5/10 I guess.
bsparks2112's review
3.0
This was pretty good overall, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Tor.com's collection from last year. There were some really jarring tonal and subject shifts between stories, which due to the organization of the book (alphabetically by author) is unavoidable, but it still kept it from really flowing well for me. There were several highlights, however; my favorite segments were “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik; “Ballroom Blitz” by Veronica Schanoes; “Damage” by David D. Levine; “Please Undo this Hurt” by Seth Dickinson; “Islands off the Coast of Capitola, 1978” by David Herter; “Oral Argument” by Kim Stanley Robinson; and “Tear Tracks” by Malka Older.
kamaria's review
4.0
Buddy read with Julie. First started on April, went on hiatus, then re-started on September.
Gut rating, i.e. the rating I feel it should get: 3.5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4
Average rating for the stories: 3.4 stars
My second Tor.com anthology. This one felt more uneven than last year's, so I think 3.5 stars describes my experience very well. There were stories I loved and stories that didn't work for me, as with any other anthology. This year, however, my TBR didn't explode. Even with stories I liked, I didn't feel the need to read more by the same author except for a few exceptions. It could be that I'm reading differently, but I got the feeling that the stories were weaker overall. Still, the selection is high quality.
My top three:
- [b:Fabulous Beasts|25722444|Fabulous Beasts|Priya Sharma|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440106460s/25722444.jpg|45557745] (Priya Sharma): this one was my absolute favourite. I hope Priya Sharma plans on publishing a novel or a collection of her stories, because I fell head over heels with her style.
- [b:Oral Argument|28015076|Oral Argument|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449425893s/28015076.jpg|48025495] (Kim Stanley Robinson)
- [b:Schrödinger's Gun:|24467268|Schrödinger's Gun |Ray Wood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421087042s/24467268.jpg|44060145] (Ray Wood)
Stories that I enjoyed and packed a big emotional punch:
- [b:The Shape of My Name|23857998|The Shape of My Name|Nino Cipri|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418643338s/23857998.jpg|43467711] (Nino Cipri)
- [b:Damage|24609270|Damage|David D. Levine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421816511s/24609270.jpg|42865300] (David D. Levine)
- [b:The Language of Knives|24830438|The Language of Knives|Haralambi Markov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423061458s/24830438.jpg|44473266] (Haralambi Markov)
- [b:The Ways of Walls and Words|24804364|The Ways of Walls and Words|Sabrina Vourvoulias|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426127668s/24804364.jpg|44442565] (Sabrina Vourvoulias)
Other stories that were very good:
- [b:Elephants and Corpses|25348613|Elephants and Corpses|Kameron Hurley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431540323s/25348613.jpg|45088462] (Kameron Hurley)
- [b:The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn|25118473|The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn|Usman T. Malik|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432254708s/25118473.jpg|44814308] (Usman T. Malik)
- [b:Ballroom Blitz|24889080|Ballroom Blitz|Veronica Schanoes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423492049s/24889080.jpg|44537545] (Veronica Schanoes)
Gut rating, i.e. the rating I feel it should get: 3.5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4
Average rating for the stories: 3.4 stars
My second Tor.com anthology. This one felt more uneven than last year's, so I think 3.5 stars describes my experience very well. There were stories I loved and stories that didn't work for me, as with any other anthology. This year, however, my TBR didn't explode. Even with stories I liked, I didn't feel the need to read more by the same author except for a few exceptions. It could be that I'm reading differently, but I got the feeling that the stories were weaker overall. Still, the selection is high quality.
My top three:
- [b:Fabulous Beasts|25722444|Fabulous Beasts|Priya Sharma|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440106460s/25722444.jpg|45557745] (Priya Sharma): this one was my absolute favourite. I hope Priya Sharma plans on publishing a novel or a collection of her stories, because I fell head over heels with her style.
- [b:Oral Argument|28015076|Oral Argument|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449425893s/28015076.jpg|48025495] (Kim Stanley Robinson)
- [b:Schrödinger's Gun:|24467268|Schrödinger's Gun |Ray Wood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421087042s/24467268.jpg|44060145] (Ray Wood)
Stories that I enjoyed and packed a big emotional punch:
- [b:The Shape of My Name|23857998|The Shape of My Name|Nino Cipri|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418643338s/23857998.jpg|43467711] (Nino Cipri)
- [b:Damage|24609270|Damage|David D. Levine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421816511s/24609270.jpg|42865300] (David D. Levine)
- [b:The Language of Knives|24830438|The Language of Knives|Haralambi Markov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423061458s/24830438.jpg|44473266] (Haralambi Markov)
- [b:The Ways of Walls and Words|24804364|The Ways of Walls and Words|Sabrina Vourvoulias|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426127668s/24804364.jpg|44442565] (Sabrina Vourvoulias)
Other stories that were very good:
- [b:Elephants and Corpses|25348613|Elephants and Corpses|Kameron Hurley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431540323s/25348613.jpg|45088462] (Kameron Hurley)
- [b:The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn|25118473|The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn|Usman T. Malik|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432254708s/25118473.jpg|44814308] (Usman T. Malik)
- [b:Ballroom Blitz|24889080|Ballroom Blitz|Veronica Schanoes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423492049s/24889080.jpg|44537545] (Veronica Schanoes)
More...