raven_morgan's review against another edition
4.0
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 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year”, Johnathan Strahan expresses a desire to only include stories that are absolutely speculative in nature. The resultant stories in this volume reflect that wish admirably.
Many of the individual stories in this volume didn’t grab me, or simply weren’t for me (see the personal interest and worldview note above). However, there were some absolutely remarkable stories included.
The first standout for me was Yoon-Ha Lee’s “Effigy Nights”. Absolutely gorgeous language, and a truly unique fantasy world. There is a feeling of this being only a small glimpse into a much greater, and vastly enchanting world.
Proving that speculative fiction can contain much quieter elements, M. John Harrison’s “Cave and Julia” shows the reader a strange and haunted world, with memorable characters and sparsely beautiful language.
Possibly the standout story for me was “Water” by Ramez Naam. Science fiction works here as a warning, extrapolating into what seems like an all too possible future for advertising. Keeps you thinking long after you’ve finished reading this one.
Ted Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling” presents a world in which digital memory is real – Remem allows anyone to record their life, to be able to go back and rewatch memories any time they wish. Paralleling this story is another one, where written language is introduced into a culture previously only possessing an oral tradition. Extremely clever and engaging storytelling.
A darker world is presented in Priya Sharma’s “Rag and Bone”, evoking both Victorian literature with a steampunk edge. There is something horribly fascinating about the world Sharma presents, everything edged with hidden menace.
Lavie Tidhar’s “The Book Seller” will appeal to many writers and readers, evoking a love of science fiction with a love of books. Absolutely gorgeous science fiction.
Several of the stories held deep emotional impact. James Patrick Kelly’s “The Promise of Space” is a quiet and sorrowful tale of the reality of space travel. Sofia Samatar’s “Selkie Stories are for Losers” translates mythology into reality. Both of these stories, in particular, lingered emotionally for me long after I had finished reading.
Karen Tidback’s “Sing” drew the reader into a fascinating science fictional world – this world feels truly novel, the characters who inhabit it finely drawn. This is science fiction of wonder at its best.
The final story which really stood out for me was Caitlin R Kiernan’s “The Road of Needles.” I will confess to being a long time fan of Kiernan’s fiction, and this story will be no disappointment to anyone who loves her way with words and imagery. Probably among her best.
Overall, this volume presents a varied collection of what truly feels like the best science fiction and fantasy for the year. Not all of the stories appealed to me, but those that did, truly did. Definitely recommended collection, especially if (like pretty much everyone) you don’t have the time to keep up with all of the short fiction published in the year.
In the introduction to volume eight of “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year”, Johnathan Strahan expresses a desire to only include stories that are absolutely speculative in nature. The resultant stories in this volume reflect that wish admirably.
Many of the individual stories in this volume didn’t grab me, or simply weren’t for me (see the personal interest and worldview note above). However, there were some absolutely remarkable stories included.
The first standout for me was Yoon-Ha Lee’s “Effigy Nights”. Absolutely gorgeous language, and a truly unique fantasy world. There is a feeling of this being only a small glimpse into a much greater, and vastly enchanting world.
Proving that speculative fiction can contain much quieter elements, M. John Harrison’s “Cave and Julia” shows the reader a strange and haunted world, with memorable characters and sparsely beautiful language.
Possibly the standout story for me was “Water” by Ramez Naam. Science fiction works here as a warning, extrapolating into what seems like an all too possible future for advertising. Keeps you thinking long after you’ve finished reading this one.
Ted Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling” presents a world in which digital memory is real – Remem allows anyone to record their life, to be able to go back and rewatch memories any time they wish. Paralleling this story is another one, where written language is introduced into a culture previously only possessing an oral tradition. Extremely clever and engaging storytelling.
A darker world is presented in Priya Sharma’s “Rag and Bone”, evoking both Victorian literature with a steampunk edge. There is something horribly fascinating about the world Sharma presents, everything edged with hidden menace.
Lavie Tidhar’s “The Book Seller” will appeal to many writers and readers, evoking a love of science fiction with a love of books. Absolutely gorgeous science fiction.
Several of the stories held deep emotional impact. James Patrick Kelly’s “The Promise of Space” is a quiet and sorrowful tale of the reality of space travel. Sofia Samatar’s “Selkie Stories are for Losers” translates mythology into reality. Both of these stories, in particular, lingered emotionally for me long after I had finished reading.
Karen Tidback’s “Sing” drew the reader into a fascinating science fictional world – this world feels truly novel, the characters who inhabit it finely drawn. This is science fiction of wonder at its best.
The final story which really stood out for me was Caitlin R Kiernan’s “The Road of Needles.” I will confess to being a long time fan of Kiernan’s fiction, and this story will be no disappointment to anyone who loves her way with words and imagery. Probably among her best.
Overall, this volume presents a varied collection of what truly feels like the best science fiction and fantasy for the year. Not all of the stories appealed to me, but those that did, truly did. Definitely recommended collection, especially if (like pretty much everyone) you don’t have the time to keep up with all of the short fiction published in the year.
darkbackground's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
adammassey's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
jenbooks's review against another edition
3.0
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" by Ted Chiang 4
"The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 1 - ugh
"Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks 5
"Rag and Bone" by Priya Sharma 4
"The Book Seller" by Lavie Tidhar 1 - bleh
"The Sun and I" by K J Parker 5 - now that's more like it.
"The Promise of Space" by James Patrick Kelly 4 - nice!
"The Master Conjurer" by Charlie Jane Anders 4
"The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu 4
"Entangled" by Ian R Macleod 3.5
"Fade to Gold" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew 4
"Selkie Stories are for Losers" by Sofia Samatar 4
"In Metal, In Bone" by An Owomoyela 3.5
"Kormak the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason 3.5
"Sing" by Karin Tidbeck 2.5
"Social Services" by Madeline Ashby 4
"The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R Kiernan 2.5
"Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed 4
"The Queen of Night’s Aria" by Ian McDonald 3
"The Irish Astronaut" by Val Nolan 3.5
"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" by Ted Chiang 4
"The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 1 - ugh
"Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks 5
"Rag and Bone" by Priya Sharma 4
"The Book Seller" by Lavie Tidhar 1 - bleh
"The Sun and I" by K J Parker 5 - now that's more like it.
"The Promise of Space" by James Patrick Kelly 4 - nice!
"The Master Conjurer" by Charlie Jane Anders 4
"The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu 4
"Entangled" by Ian R Macleod 3.5
"Fade to Gold" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew 4
"Selkie Stories are for Losers" by Sofia Samatar 4
"In Metal, In Bone" by An Owomoyela 3.5
"Kormak the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason 3.5
"Sing" by Karin Tidbeck 2.5
"Social Services" by Madeline Ashby 4
"The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R Kiernan 2.5
"Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed 4
"The Queen of Night’s Aria" by Ian McDonald 3
"The Irish Astronaut" by Val Nolan 3.5
soless's review against another edition
5.0
Gathered from across publishing media – from traditional print to online magazines and single-serving digital downloads – The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 8. paints a picture of the current state of science fiction and fantasy. So, if a year’s best anthology is a snapshot of the last 365 days of fiction, what did our favorite genres look like in 2013? Well, they looked a lot like Tumblr, a little like Facebook, a bit like Twitter, and every so often, they looked just like Wikipedia. #explanation_forthcoming
DISCLOSURE: I reviewed an ARC of this book for Innsmouth Free Press. Full review over here.
DISCLOSURE: I reviewed an ARC of this book for Innsmouth Free Press. Full review over here.
kayswear's review
4.0
Lots of overlap with Dozios' annual collection, but maybe a little more emphasis on fantasy, which is fine. Many good stories here.
michelle_e_goldsmith's review
5.0
I thought this contained a good mix of stories showing the breadth of talent for the year. They were also arranged to flow smoothly between genres and styles without jarring the reader.
kastrel's review
4.0
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 [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399023404p2/130698.jpg] story in it, and I loved [b:Stories of Your Life and Others|19484713|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387301547s/19484713.jpg|216334], and also because although I really wanted to move on from [b:Royal Assassin|25300956|Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy, #2)|Robin Hobb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428234219s/25300956.jpg|4668002] to [b:Assassin's Quest|6352143|Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy, #3)|Robin Hobb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1296252305s/6352143.jpg|503752] immediately, I was worried that over 1500 pages of [a:Robin Hobb|25307|Robin Hobb|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397885202p2/25307.jpg] in one go would be too much Robin Hobb, even for me, even though she is incredible and I love everything she writes with the fire of a thousand suns.
Anyway, I think this is a very good collection of very good stories. They're nicely varied, running the whole gamut of ridiculous space opera, kind of alternate history, fairytale fantasy, magic, philosophical future-tech, and most things in between. I'll do a proper breakdown of the stories below because I do think they deserve it, but I don't remember there being any one of them I didn't enjoy in its own way. Some were better than other, some I gelled with more than most, a few I found unnecessarily florid or a bit silly, but basically this is a collection of good things. I just wish there hadn't been quite so many of them. Twenty-eight stories by different authors required a lot of staying power and I found it hard to keep going because I had to reset my expectations for each one, and that meant I had a tendency to pause between each for a day or so before diving back in for more. I'm just not sure I'm built for short stories. And, let's face it, none of them can actually hold a candle to Assassin's Quest which I have already begun to devour at a frightening pace.
The broad brushstrokes: 28 stories, 12 basically sci fi, 14 basically fantasy, and a couple of weird ones. Fairly good at having things written not by white men. Quite a lot of the fantasy were fairytale/mythology-based stories, which got a bit samey, but I guess it's hard to do convincing stories without much space for world-building without resorting to Tolkien tropes.
Favourites were probably: Rosary and Goldenstar by [a:Geoff Ryman|50408|Geoff Ryman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1217410348p2/50408.jpg]; The Sun and I by [a:K. J. Parker|240708|K.J. Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429675138p2/240708.jpg], who is actually [a:Tom Holt|9766|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246502762p2/9766.jpg], The Queen of Night's Aria by [a:Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]. Probably also The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest by [a:M Bennardo|16264678|M Bennardo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and Water by [a:Ramez Naam|160069|Ramez Naam|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353488211p2/160069.jpg].
Ok, let's do this thing.
Some Desperado, by [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1421267339p2/276660.jpg]. I've later found that this is some kind of character spin-off from his [b:First Law|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1284167912s/944073.jpg|929009] series, and it's a fun little Western with guntoting, outlaws, etc. Cool female lead, kept me guessing, would maybe draw me in to reading more of his stuff, but not sure. The one problem I had with it is that, taken entirely on its own, there is nothing to make it science fiction or fantasy. It's a Western. The only tiny clue is maybe that they don't have guns, and they don't use dollars as currency. But there's no tech, no magic, nothing. This struck me as such a weird decision on [a:Jonathan Strahan's|56352|Jonathan Strahan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] part - maybe as part of the series it's clearer, but if you must include it, don't put it first! But anyway, whatever.
Zero for Conduct by [a:Greg Egan|32699|Greg Egan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375595103p2/32699.jpg]. Near future sci fi with interesting sciencey stuff that felt believably researched, an awesome Muslim female lead, nicely down-to-earth setting, fast-paced story. I really liked it.
Effigy Nights by [a:Yoon Ha Lee|3001246|Yoon Ha Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383757366p2/3001246.jpg]. This is a great story, well-shaped and structured, with lovely nods to a fairytale style while also being mostly sci-fi. Some of the description is a bit silly for me - I have a bee in my bonnet about using the short story form to just make up ludicrous concepts that never need to be fleshed out because you only have 30 pages. It just smacks of lazy world-building and there's a line between adding colour and taking advantage. This was a bit too close to the line at the beginning, but the plot was exciting enough to cut through that.
Rosary and Goldenstar by [a:Geoff Ryman|50408|Geoff Ryman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1217410348p2/50408.jpg]. Seriously good. Not to give too much away, a sort-of alternate Elizabethan history featuring John Dee and a certain world-famous playwright talking philosophy, science, astronomy, poetry, all heavily lost in translation with some Danes. Loved it, right up my alley. Will definitely be looking up more of Ryman's stuff.
The Sleeper and the Spindle by [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. Now its own [b:graphic novel|23301545|The Sleeper and the Spindle|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412343723s/23301545.jpg|41358233]. I'm still a bit ambivalent about Neil Gaiman, but this was classic him - a retelling of a fairytale with some twists and turns, gorgeous writing and a darn sight more feminist than the original. No complaints from me.
Cave and Julia by [a:M. John Harrison|10765|M. John Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277603037p2/10765.jpg]. Um, I actually have no memory of this story. I had to practically reread it to remember it at all. It's not...bad. It's just not very memorable, sorry. It's sort of about an island with strange possibly prehistoric caves and tunnels under the ground, where a boy died.
The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest by [a:M Bennardo|16264678|M Bennardo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Man, this is a good one. Verging on horror (not my thing) but mostly staying the right side of too creepy. Does really well at gradually getting more and more tense and sinister. Great stuff.
Water by [a:Ramez Naam|160069|Ramez Naam|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353488211p2/160069.jpg]. The first of several stories that do a sort of psychological thought experiment on future technology. What if we all had brain implants that allowed us to communicate constantly with the internet of things? And that the rich could pay to turn off sensory advertising, but the poor had to put up with everything trying to seem absolutely essential and the best thing ever all the time? Disturbingly plausible.
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399023404p2/130698.jpg]. I basically bought this book because it had a Ted Chiang story in it, and luckily it didn't disappoint. Another thought experiment about how spoken vs written language affects what and how we remember, and how outsourcing memory to computer-saved film of our lives can reveal unwelcome 'truths'. I think this is the longest story in the collection, and it's really good.
The Ink Readers of Doi Saket by [a:Thomas Olde Heuvelt|1864374|Thomas Olde Heuvelt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1462519072p2/1864374.jpg]. Definitely one of the weirder ones, again with a kind of fairytale/mythological feel. Set in Thailand, about a town that magically 'grants wishes'. Really nicely written and a nice series of twists and turns.
Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls by [a:Richard Parks|510191|Richard Parks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463538893p2/510191.jpg]. Quite similar to the previous one, but set in Japan (I think). A bit like [a:Joanne Harris'|9432|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411031584p2/9432.jpg] [b:Runemarks|633446|Runemarks (Runemarks, #1)|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322757188s/633446.jpg|619740], if only because it features going underground to something like the Underworld. Not Norse gods though.
Rag and Bone by [a:Priya Sharma|4538187|Priya Sharma|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1487957918p2/4538187.jpg]. Properly horrible and awesome. A strange alternate London, about 17th-century. Gender non-conforming characters, a hideous upper class who literally use body parts of the poor to stay young and healthy. Really well-written and memorable.
The Book Seller by [a:Lavie Tidhar|572738|Lavie Tidhar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1369652429p2/572738.jpg]. An alternate future Israel, with vampire viruses and strange AI implants and lots of really cool world-building. Definitely going to check out more stuff by him.
The Sun and I by [a:K. J. Parker|240708|K.J. Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429675138p2/240708.jpg], who it turns out on searching is actually [a:Tom Holt|9766|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246502762p2/9766.jpg], author of [b:You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps|371030|You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps (J. W. Wells & Co., #4)|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328849515s/371030.jpg|217454] (which I enjoyed, and which is hilarious because that's based on the W. S. Gilbert character John Wellington Wells, from The Sorcerer, and this story's title and epigraph is from The Mikado. So clearly a massive G&S fan like me. This was a particularly good story, I thought - about a group of sort of layabout rich kids who decide to invent a god to make money from gullible people, and it all gets a bit out of hand.
The Promise of Space by [a:James Patrick Kelly|73418|James Patrick Kelly|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224034139p2/73418.jpg]. One of the shortest stories, and it nearly had me sobbing. Future memory + AI tech meets dementia. Pretty heartbreaking.
The Master Conjurer by [a:Charlie Jane Anders|4918514|Charlie Jane Anders|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1445878289p2/4918514.jpg]. What if magic were possible, but always had bad consequences for the magic-user? Except for one time...maybe. Nice idea, well-executed, fun twist.
The Pilgrim and the Angel by [a:E. Lily Yu|4682018|E. Lily Yu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355015769p2/4682018.jpg]. Another mythology-based story, this time set in Cairo. I enjoyed it more than Cherry Blossoms or the Ink Readers for its simplicity and its humour.
Entangled by [a:Ian R. McLeod|13955420|Ian R. McLeod|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. God, this was another one to tug at your heartstrings. Teenage angst meets class privilege meets jackass 'artist'. Very well-written. Definitely one of the most interesting worlds - everyone becoming telepathically intertwined except for a few, including the lead character. Leading to hippy-style communes and people with very little sense of self outside the collective.
Fade to Gold by [a:Benjanun Sriduangkaew|6569623|Benjanun Sriduangkaew|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1395154938p2/6569623.jpg]. This story plays with horror and mythos without really being either, and it's great. Sort of like The Book Seller, and also not. Really interesting.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by [a:Sofia Samatar|5258016|Sofia Samatar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471361012p2/5258016.jpg]. Samatar manages to weave humour and first-person narration and clever mysterious references and a non-linear story together very cleverly. It reminded me of [b:Sophie's World|10959|Sophie's World|Jostein Gaarder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1343459906s/10959.jpg|4432325], but less flawed.
In Metal, In Bone by [a:An Owomoyela|4356849|An Owomoyela|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I suppose this is some clever allegory about the pointlessness of war. But taken at face value, it's not a bad little story.
Kormak the Lucky by [a:Eleanor Arnason|108548|Eleanor Arnason|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]. Another one that's a lot like [b:Runemarks|633446|Runemarks (Runemarks, #1)|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322757188s/633446.jpg|619740]. From Ireland to Iceland to Elfland to the Fey, Kormak is a slave who serves many masters and learns a lot about magic and magical creatures. Nicely-written, captures the mythic feel well, but not much to shout about.
Sing by [a:Karen Tidbeck|4710501|Karen Tidbeck|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I really liked this one. A planet where the different suns cause people not to be able to speak except by singing. Where most creatures live in some kind of parasitic symbiosis. A stranger comes to study algae and gets more than he bargained for. I just thought the writing was really good here.
Social Services by [a:Madeline Ashby|5216935|Madeline Ashby|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1447519189p2/5216935.jpg]. Unexpectedly (and unpleasantly) full horror. Not my thing at all, and I wish I hadn't read it late at night. Probably not very scary at all if you're not a huge wimp like me, though, and clever ideas.
The Road of Needles by [a:Caitlín R. Kiernan|4798562|Caitlín R. Kiernan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1491390729p2/4798562.jpg]. I'm not sure I really got the point of this one - sci fi and a bit horror - kind of cool, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying. Maybe I missed something somewhere along the way.
Mystic Falls by [a:Robert Reed|57814|Robert Reed|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455117424p2/57814.jpg]. Sort of a story about the possibility we are all in a simulation. A good example, short but sweet.
The Queen of Night's Aria by [a:Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]. This one was great! An opera singer and his accompanist try and tour a war zone between humans and aliens on an Mars, which is also inhabited by sentient bats. Actually a really good story with nice characters as well, and doesn't do what you might expect.
The Irish Astronaut by [a:Val Nolan|8065522|Val Nolan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I would claim that a story about an astronaut going to Ireland is not science fiction. There have been astronauts. Nothing about this story was actually speculative in any way. So it was weird to end with it (like beginning with Some Desperado), and left me with mixed feelings about the whole book to be honest. But it's a reasonably good short story in its own right.
Anyway, I think this is a very good collection of very good stories. They're nicely varied, running the whole gamut of ridiculous space opera, kind of alternate history, fairytale fantasy, magic, philosophical future-tech, and most things in between. I'll do a proper breakdown of the stories below because I do think they deserve it, but I don't remember there being any one of them I didn't enjoy in its own way. Some were better than other, some I gelled with more than most, a few I found unnecessarily florid or a bit silly, but basically this is a collection of good things. I just wish there hadn't been quite so many of them. Twenty-eight stories by different authors required a lot of staying power and I found it hard to keep going because I had to reset my expectations for each one, and that meant I had a tendency to pause between each for a day or so before diving back in for more. I'm just not sure I'm built for short stories. And, let's face it, none of them can actually hold a candle to Assassin's Quest which I have already begun to devour at a frightening pace.
The broad brushstrokes: 28 stories, 12 basically sci fi, 14 basically fantasy, and a couple of weird ones. Fairly good at having things written not by white men. Quite a lot of the fantasy were fairytale/mythology-based stories, which got a bit samey, but I guess it's hard to do convincing stories without much space for world-building without resorting to Tolkien tropes.
Favourites were probably: Rosary and Goldenstar by [a:Geoff Ryman|50408|Geoff Ryman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1217410348p2/50408.jpg]; The Sun and I by [a:K. J. Parker|240708|K.J. Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429675138p2/240708.jpg], who is actually [a:Tom Holt|9766|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246502762p2/9766.jpg], The Queen of Night's Aria by [a:Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]. Probably also The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest by [a:M Bennardo|16264678|M Bennardo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and Water by [a:Ramez Naam|160069|Ramez Naam|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353488211p2/160069.jpg].
Ok, let's do this thing.
Some Desperado, by [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1421267339p2/276660.jpg]. I've later found that this is some kind of character spin-off from his [b:First Law|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1284167912s/944073.jpg|929009] series, and it's a fun little Western with guntoting, outlaws, etc. Cool female lead, kept me guessing, would maybe draw me in to reading more of his stuff, but not sure. The one problem I had with it is that, taken entirely on its own, there is nothing to make it science fiction or fantasy. It's a Western. The only tiny clue is maybe that they don't have guns, and they don't use dollars as currency. But there's no tech, no magic, nothing. This struck me as such a weird decision on [a:Jonathan Strahan's|56352|Jonathan Strahan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] part - maybe as part of the series it's clearer, but if you must include it, don't put it first! But anyway, whatever.
Zero for Conduct by [a:Greg Egan|32699|Greg Egan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375595103p2/32699.jpg]. Near future sci fi with interesting sciencey stuff that felt believably researched, an awesome Muslim female lead, nicely down-to-earth setting, fast-paced story. I really liked it.
Effigy Nights by [a:Yoon Ha Lee|3001246|Yoon Ha Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383757366p2/3001246.jpg]. This is a great story, well-shaped and structured, with lovely nods to a fairytale style while also being mostly sci-fi. Some of the description is a bit silly for me - I have a bee in my bonnet about using the short story form to just make up ludicrous concepts that never need to be fleshed out because you only have 30 pages. It just smacks of lazy world-building and there's a line between adding colour and taking advantage. This was a bit too close to the line at the beginning, but the plot was exciting enough to cut through that.
Rosary and Goldenstar by [a:Geoff Ryman|50408|Geoff Ryman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1217410348p2/50408.jpg]. Seriously good. Not to give too much away, a sort-of alternate Elizabethan history featuring John Dee and a certain world-famous playwright talking philosophy, science, astronomy, poetry, all heavily lost in translation with some Danes. Loved it, right up my alley. Will definitely be looking up more of Ryman's stuff.
The Sleeper and the Spindle by [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. Now its own [b:graphic novel|23301545|The Sleeper and the Spindle|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412343723s/23301545.jpg|41358233]. I'm still a bit ambivalent about Neil Gaiman, but this was classic him - a retelling of a fairytale with some twists and turns, gorgeous writing and a darn sight more feminist than the original. No complaints from me.
Cave and Julia by [a:M. John Harrison|10765|M. John Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277603037p2/10765.jpg]. Um, I actually have no memory of this story. I had to practically reread it to remember it at all. It's not...bad. It's just not very memorable, sorry. It's sort of about an island with strange possibly prehistoric caves and tunnels under the ground, where a boy died.
The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest by [a:M Bennardo|16264678|M Bennardo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Man, this is a good one. Verging on horror (not my thing) but mostly staying the right side of too creepy. Does really well at gradually getting more and more tense and sinister. Great stuff.
Water by [a:Ramez Naam|160069|Ramez Naam|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353488211p2/160069.jpg]. The first of several stories that do a sort of psychological thought experiment on future technology. What if we all had brain implants that allowed us to communicate constantly with the internet of things? And that the rich could pay to turn off sensory advertising, but the poor had to put up with everything trying to seem absolutely essential and the best thing ever all the time? Disturbingly plausible.
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399023404p2/130698.jpg]. I basically bought this book because it had a Ted Chiang story in it, and luckily it didn't disappoint. Another thought experiment about how spoken vs written language affects what and how we remember, and how outsourcing memory to computer-saved film of our lives can reveal unwelcome 'truths'. I think this is the longest story in the collection, and it's really good.
The Ink Readers of Doi Saket by [a:Thomas Olde Heuvelt|1864374|Thomas Olde Heuvelt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1462519072p2/1864374.jpg]. Definitely one of the weirder ones, again with a kind of fairytale/mythological feel. Set in Thailand, about a town that magically 'grants wishes'. Really nicely written and a nice series of twists and turns.
Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls by [a:Richard Parks|510191|Richard Parks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463538893p2/510191.jpg]. Quite similar to the previous one, but set in Japan (I think). A bit like [a:Joanne Harris'|9432|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411031584p2/9432.jpg] [b:Runemarks|633446|Runemarks (Runemarks, #1)|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322757188s/633446.jpg|619740], if only because it features going underground to something like the Underworld. Not Norse gods though.
Rag and Bone by [a:Priya Sharma|4538187|Priya Sharma|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1487957918p2/4538187.jpg]. Properly horrible and awesome. A strange alternate London, about 17th-century. Gender non-conforming characters, a hideous upper class who literally use body parts of the poor to stay young and healthy. Really well-written and memorable.
The Book Seller by [a:Lavie Tidhar|572738|Lavie Tidhar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1369652429p2/572738.jpg]. An alternate future Israel, with vampire viruses and strange AI implants and lots of really cool world-building. Definitely going to check out more stuff by him.
The Sun and I by [a:K. J. Parker|240708|K.J. Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429675138p2/240708.jpg], who it turns out on searching is actually [a:Tom Holt|9766|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246502762p2/9766.jpg], author of [b:You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps|371030|You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps (J. W. Wells & Co., #4)|Tom Holt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328849515s/371030.jpg|217454] (which I enjoyed, and which is hilarious because that's based on the W. S. Gilbert character John Wellington Wells, from The Sorcerer, and this story's title and epigraph is from The Mikado. So clearly a massive G&S fan like me. This was a particularly good story, I thought - about a group of sort of layabout rich kids who decide to invent a god to make money from gullible people, and it all gets a bit out of hand.
The Promise of Space by [a:James Patrick Kelly|73418|James Patrick Kelly|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224034139p2/73418.jpg]. One of the shortest stories, and it nearly had me sobbing. Future memory + AI tech meets dementia. Pretty heartbreaking.
The Master Conjurer by [a:Charlie Jane Anders|4918514|Charlie Jane Anders|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1445878289p2/4918514.jpg]. What if magic were possible, but always had bad consequences for the magic-user? Except for one time...maybe. Nice idea, well-executed, fun twist.
The Pilgrim and the Angel by [a:E. Lily Yu|4682018|E. Lily Yu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355015769p2/4682018.jpg]. Another mythology-based story, this time set in Cairo. I enjoyed it more than Cherry Blossoms or the Ink Readers for its simplicity and its humour.
Entangled by [a:Ian R. McLeod|13955420|Ian R. McLeod|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. God, this was another one to tug at your heartstrings. Teenage angst meets class privilege meets jackass 'artist'. Very well-written. Definitely one of the most interesting worlds - everyone becoming telepathically intertwined except for a few, including the lead character. Leading to hippy-style communes and people with very little sense of self outside the collective.
Fade to Gold by [a:Benjanun Sriduangkaew|6569623|Benjanun Sriduangkaew|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1395154938p2/6569623.jpg]. This story plays with horror and mythos without really being either, and it's great. Sort of like The Book Seller, and also not. Really interesting.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by [a:Sofia Samatar|5258016|Sofia Samatar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471361012p2/5258016.jpg]. Samatar manages to weave humour and first-person narration and clever mysterious references and a non-linear story together very cleverly. It reminded me of [b:Sophie's World|10959|Sophie's World|Jostein Gaarder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1343459906s/10959.jpg|4432325], but less flawed.
In Metal, In Bone by [a:An Owomoyela|4356849|An Owomoyela|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I suppose this is some clever allegory about the pointlessness of war. But taken at face value, it's not a bad little story.
Kormak the Lucky by [a:Eleanor Arnason|108548|Eleanor Arnason|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]. Another one that's a lot like [b:Runemarks|633446|Runemarks (Runemarks, #1)|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322757188s/633446.jpg|619740]. From Ireland to Iceland to Elfland to the Fey, Kormak is a slave who serves many masters and learns a lot about magic and magical creatures. Nicely-written, captures the mythic feel well, but not much to shout about.
Sing by [a:Karen Tidbeck|4710501|Karen Tidbeck|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I really liked this one. A planet where the different suns cause people not to be able to speak except by singing. Where most creatures live in some kind of parasitic symbiosis. A stranger comes to study algae and gets more than he bargained for. I just thought the writing was really good here.
Social Services by [a:Madeline Ashby|5216935|Madeline Ashby|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1447519189p2/5216935.jpg]. Unexpectedly (and unpleasantly) full horror. Not my thing at all, and I wish I hadn't read it late at night. Probably not very scary at all if you're not a huge wimp like me, though, and clever ideas.
The Road of Needles by [a:Caitlín R. Kiernan|4798562|Caitlín R. Kiernan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1491390729p2/4798562.jpg]. I'm not sure I really got the point of this one - sci fi and a bit horror - kind of cool, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying. Maybe I missed something somewhere along the way.
Mystic Falls by [a:Robert Reed|57814|Robert Reed|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455117424p2/57814.jpg]. Sort of a story about the possibility we are all in a simulation. A good example, short but sweet.
The Queen of Night's Aria by [a:Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]. This one was great! An opera singer and his accompanist try and tour a war zone between humans and aliens on an Mars, which is also inhabited by sentient bats. Actually a really good story with nice characters as well, and doesn't do what you might expect.
The Irish Astronaut by [a:Val Nolan|8065522|Val Nolan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I would claim that a story about an astronaut going to Ireland is not science fiction. There have been astronauts. Nothing about this story was actually speculative in any way. So it was weird to end with it (like beginning with Some Desperado), and left me with mixed feelings about the whole book to be honest. But it's a reasonably good short story in its own right.
bibliotropic's review
4.0
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 of the things I noticed about this collection fairly early on is the diversity in both characters and authors represented. The stories are not dominated by white men, written by white male authors. It isn’t that white men don’t exist in any stories here, but instead they’re represented as often as women, as often as people of colour, and so there’s actually a fairly good range of culture and gender here. This is indicative of the wonderful shift that’s going on in SFF fandom at the moment, with more people striving for equality and greater representation. It isn’t necessarily that more women or people of colour are writing SFF than they used to (though I don’t doubt that is a factor), but people are taking more care to make sure that they get such work noticed instead of constantly being overshadowed. It’s great to see this reflected, and it made for a book filled with wonderfully diverse stories, not just in characters and authors but in a greater range for tone and content.
There are so many stories in here that are worthy of note. Ramez Naam’s Water was a disturbing and insightful look at the pervasive advertising in our lives and cranks it up to 11 by attaching the concept to cybernetic implants so that companies can directly stimulate your brain and make you crave their product at the chemical level. K J Parker’s The Sun and I was an amazing look at religion, and seemed to me like it was taking the Christian split from Judaism and sticking it in a fantasy world, with the added twist that the religion was made up and a money scam from the get-go. (Or was it?) Madeline Ashby’s Social Services was a very creepy near-future blend of sci-fi and horror, with an ambiguous ending that practically made me shake the book and demand to know what happens next. Yoon Ha Lee’s Effigy Nights was almost like a fairy tale in the poetic language used, and Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle was a rewrite of a fairy tale. Multiple fairy tales, technically, with the kind of unexpected twists and turns that you come to expect from Gaiman’s writing.
I’m not the only person, though, to point out that the earlier stories in the book are the ones that they find the most engaging, the highest quality, and that the stories tend to lose something as the anthology goes on. I won’t say that the worst were saved for last, exactly, but the last few stories were really not to my taste and were it not for the fact that I don’t feel right skipping stories when I’m trying to review anthologies, I would have just passed over them and not have felt any real loss for having done so. They weren’t bad, in terms of sheer objective quality of writing or skill at storytelling. They just weren’t for me, and it seems the same has been said by other reviewers.
But still, the vast majority of stories in this anthology were incredible, and I had a great time reading them. I found a few authors who were new to me and whose work I now want to take a closer look at, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m convinced more than ever that my introduction to K J Parker was just a coincidentally poor one and that I really do need to give their longer work another chance. This is a talented and skilled collection of authors writing an amazing collection of stories, and this is a book that should be gracing your bookshelves. Expect to have your mind blown open a time or two while reading.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
One of the things I noticed about this collection fairly early on is the diversity in both characters and authors represented. The stories are not dominated by white men, written by white male authors. It isn’t that white men don’t exist in any stories here, but instead they’re represented as often as women, as often as people of colour, and so there’s actually a fairly good range of culture and gender here. This is indicative of the wonderful shift that’s going on in SFF fandom at the moment, with more people striving for equality and greater representation. It isn’t necessarily that more women or people of colour are writing SFF than they used to (though I don’t doubt that is a factor), but people are taking more care to make sure that they get such work noticed instead of constantly being overshadowed. It’s great to see this reflected, and it made for a book filled with wonderfully diverse stories, not just in characters and authors but in a greater range for tone and content.
There are so many stories in here that are worthy of note. Ramez Naam’s Water was a disturbing and insightful look at the pervasive advertising in our lives and cranks it up to 11 by attaching the concept to cybernetic implants so that companies can directly stimulate your brain and make you crave their product at the chemical level. K J Parker’s The Sun and I was an amazing look at religion, and seemed to me like it was taking the Christian split from Judaism and sticking it in a fantasy world, with the added twist that the religion was made up and a money scam from the get-go. (Or was it?) Madeline Ashby’s Social Services was a very creepy near-future blend of sci-fi and horror, with an ambiguous ending that practically made me shake the book and demand to know what happens next. Yoon Ha Lee’s Effigy Nights was almost like a fairy tale in the poetic language used, and Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle was a rewrite of a fairy tale. Multiple fairy tales, technically, with the kind of unexpected twists and turns that you come to expect from Gaiman’s writing.
I’m not the only person, though, to point out that the earlier stories in the book are the ones that they find the most engaging, the highest quality, and that the stories tend to lose something as the anthology goes on. I won’t say that the worst were saved for last, exactly, but the last few stories were really not to my taste and were it not for the fact that I don’t feel right skipping stories when I’m trying to review anthologies, I would have just passed over them and not have felt any real loss for having done so. They weren’t bad, in terms of sheer objective quality of writing or skill at storytelling. They just weren’t for me, and it seems the same has been said by other reviewers.
But still, the vast majority of stories in this anthology were incredible, and I had a great time reading them. I found a few authors who were new to me and whose work I now want to take a closer look at, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m convinced more than ever that my introduction to K J Parker was just a coincidentally poor one and that I really do need to give their longer work another chance. This is a talented and skilled collection of authors writing an amazing collection of stories, and this is a book that should be gracing your bookshelves. Expect to have your mind blown open a time or two while reading.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
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