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jameyanne's review
5.0
Full disclosure, I wrote one of the stories in this anthology (hope you liked it!), but that’s not why I’m rating this book 5 stars. I had so much fun reading all these stories, seeing all kinds of perspectives of our universe. I had some stories which I liked more than others, but even the stories I didn’t like as much I still found to be really great. I just flew through the book in about 4 hours, and I’m looking forward to picking up the 2015, 2016, and 2017 young explorer’s adventure guides soon.
kieralesley's review
4.0
The Young Explorer’s Adventurer’s Guide anthology series (now in its fourth year) is unique in providing an annual collection of scifi stories aimed at middle grade audiences. I’ve noticed that there’s generally a lack of SFF short fiction markets and material around for this age group, so it’s refreshing to see an example of well-established and well put together anthology.
The 24 stories in this collection range widely in their material, narrative style and even how they approach writing for a middle grade audience. They include stories about kids having adventures on space stations, reconnecting a long-abandoned Earth ecology, exploring new planets with their parents, learning to communicate with alien species, and finding treasures and parts of their society the adults would rather keep secret. The protagonists of these stories are wonderfully diverse, too, focusing on kids from different class and race backgrounds, different genders, and often with physical disabilities that are in no way getting in the way of them having adventures and making a difference.
Highlights for me included:
“Dance Like You’re Alone in Your Environmental Pod” by Eric Del Carlo
“Fluffy Pets are Best” by Holly Schofield
“Station Run” by Sherry D. Ramsey
“On the Lam on Luna” by Morgan Bliss
“Nocturnal Noise” by L.G. Keltner
“Clockwork Carabao” by Marilag Angway
The variety of stories included here is a bit of a double-edged sword, though. I found that that it meant that there were more stories that didn’t grab me than did, and that the tone of the stories varied from patronising to seemingly too complex or adult in concepts or morality. I found the collection a bit uneven in that sense and while this is a good, broad selection of stories, they didn’t quite come together as a coherent whole anthology for me.
Having said that I think it’s the correct decision by the editors. This anthology is aimed at middle grade audiences who may be encountering scifi content for the first time and should therefore be trying to cover as much conceptual ground as possible to have the greatest possible chance of resonating with the audience. The 2018 Young Adventurer’s Guide certainly does an excellent job at that.
I’m keen to read future annual editions of this anthology and would love to see if Dreaming Robot Press has plans to expand their range of publications for this age group (thematically linked anthologies perhaps?).
An advance copy of this book was kindly provided by Dreaming Robot Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The 24 stories in this collection range widely in their material, narrative style and even how they approach writing for a middle grade audience. They include stories about kids having adventures on space stations, reconnecting a long-abandoned Earth ecology, exploring new planets with their parents, learning to communicate with alien species, and finding treasures and parts of their society the adults would rather keep secret. The protagonists of these stories are wonderfully diverse, too, focusing on kids from different class and race backgrounds, different genders, and often with physical disabilities that are in no way getting in the way of them having adventures and making a difference.
Highlights for me included:
“Dance Like You’re Alone in Your Environmental Pod” by Eric Del Carlo
“Fluffy Pets are Best” by Holly Schofield
“Station Run” by Sherry D. Ramsey
“On the Lam on Luna” by Morgan Bliss
“Nocturnal Noise” by L.G. Keltner
“Clockwork Carabao” by Marilag Angway
The variety of stories included here is a bit of a double-edged sword, though. I found that that it meant that there were more stories that didn’t grab me than did, and that the tone of the stories varied from patronising to seemingly too complex or adult in concepts or morality. I found the collection a bit uneven in that sense and while this is a good, broad selection of stories, they didn’t quite come together as a coherent whole anthology for me.
Having said that I think it’s the correct decision by the editors. This anthology is aimed at middle grade audiences who may be encountering scifi content for the first time and should therefore be trying to cover as much conceptual ground as possible to have the greatest possible chance of resonating with the audience. The 2018 Young Adventurer’s Guide certainly does an excellent job at that.
I’m keen to read future annual editions of this anthology and would love to see if Dreaming Robot Press has plans to expand their range of publications for this age group (thematically linked anthologies perhaps?).
An advance copy of this book was kindly provided by Dreaming Robot Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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