A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection by Ellen Datlow, Gavin J. Grant, Kelly Link
4.0
I've been buying this series every year for 18 years, starting with the third volumne (and I picked up the first two as well). This series is great not only for the short fiction contained in each book, but for the essays that appear in the beginning. You get a nice overview of fantasy and horror books, an obit section, film and music overview as well as comics, but not Marvel and DC. It's a must read for me.
This editon was better than last years. Sometimes, the editions seem to have too much from other anthologies the editors have done; this is not the case here.
LIke most editions, this one has a few "really, you thought this was good" stories in it, but overall the stories are wonderful. The collection starts out strong with "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics" by Daniel Abraham. This short story should be a must read for any business major. The collection also finishes on a high note, at least for us dog lovers, with "The Evolution of Trickster Stories AMong the Dogs of North Park After the Change" by Kij Johnson.
Other stand out stories include "Vampires in the Lemon Grove", "The House of Mechanical Pain", "Mr. Poo-Poo", and "Winter's Wife". "Winter's Wife is particularly good because of how it is told; not too much but not too little either. The too little being told is the problem with a few of the stories, including "The Last Worders".
For me, the best story in the collection is "Rats" by Veronica Schanoes, though I would argue that it is not fantasy nor horror. It is a poignant fairy tale, a real fairy tale.
This editon was better than last years. Sometimes, the editions seem to have too much from other anthologies the editors have done; this is not the case here.
LIke most editions, this one has a few "really, you thought this was good" stories in it, but overall the stories are wonderful. The collection starts out strong with "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics" by Daniel Abraham. This short story should be a must read for any business major. The collection also finishes on a high note, at least for us dog lovers, with "The Evolution of Trickster Stories AMong the Dogs of North Park After the Change" by Kij Johnson.
Other stand out stories include "Vampires in the Lemon Grove", "The House of Mechanical Pain", "Mr. Poo-Poo", and "Winter's Wife". "Winter's Wife is particularly good because of how it is told; not too much but not too little either. The too little being told is the problem with a few of the stories, including "The Last Worders".
For me, the best story in the collection is "Rats" by Veronica Schanoes, though I would argue that it is not fantasy nor horror. It is a poignant fairy tale, a real fairy tale.