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zoes_human's review
3.5
A solid collection though not without a few stories that simply didn't work at all for me. While most of the stories were enjoyable, only a few truly stood out as excellent.
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty good collection of science fiction stories from a selection of authors. There were very few I didn't get on with, so most were either good or great, so a plus there.
dancarey_404's review against another edition
3.0
Loaned to me by a friend whose opinion I trust. But this thing is huge! I skipped around in it. That's the upside of collections, I guess. It did remind me of the excitement I had as a teen-ager, waiting for the next edition of the SF magazines to come out. Enough so that I have subscribed to the e-book version of Analog.
nwhyte's review against another edition
3.0
This came out in 2005, the year of the Glasgow Worldcon, and I guess that because I felt I had thoroughly chewed over that year's short fiction in the Hugo process I didn't urgently need to read this. That was wrong: Dozois has as ever pulled together an excellent set of stories, full of variety of approach and length. As noted below, I had read only the few stories which got shortlisted for the major awards, and one other which I had seen in its original anthology. Of the stories new to me, the standouts were Stephen Baxter's 'Mayflower II' - I often find his prose style annoying but this time it worked - and Walter Jon Williams' 'Investments', a hard sf story with softer edges. But they are all good, and I should get back into the habit of reading the 'Best of the Year' anthologies as soon as they come out.
The lack of overlap with the 2005 (and 2006 Nebula) award nominations is striking. Dozois includes three of the Hugo novelette nominees, and three novelettes and one novella which made it to the final Nebula ballots, but not a single winner in any category.
The lack of overlap with the 2005 (and 2006 Nebula) award nominations is striking. Dozois includes three of the Hugo novelette nominees, and three novelettes and one novella which made it to the final Nebula ballots, but not a single winner in any category.
christytidwell's review
5.0
I picked this book up at Half Price Books a couple of weeks ago, not having read any of this series of collections before. I'm so glad I did. This is a wonderful way to find great short science fiction. I have subscriptions to Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's, and Analog, which brings lots of good short SF to my door, but this introduces lots of fiction that I would not be able to find on my own.
Some favorites from this collection: "The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi, "Scout's Honor" by Terry Bisson, "Leviathan Wept" by Daniel Abraham, "Shiva in Shadow" by Nancy Kress, "Riding the White Bull" by Caitlin R. Kiernan, "Footvote" by Peter F. Hamilton, and "Mayflower II" by Stephen Baxter.
The stories by Bisson, Kress, Kiernan, Hamilton, and Baxter are really fantastic, filled with lovely writing and fascinating ideas. And this particular combination of authors illustrates just what I like about this collection. Bisson and Baxter are familiar names to me and I have other instances of their work already, but the others--Kress, Kiernan, and Hamilton--are new to me. So the collection is extremely useful in introducing new work by familiar authors and in introducing new authors to a broader public (and to me).
All of these stories (and the many stories I didn't mention here--there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy) are well worth reading and worth being singled out for the collection; Bacigalupi and Abraham's stories are ones, however, that deserve special mention. I plan to incorporate both of these stories into my fall literature course. Bacigalupi's story is about human relationships with animals, both sentimental and practical, and Abraham's story is a political thriller about terrorism and religion. Both raise questions I want to address in my class and manage to do so in new (especially to a group of students who don't really read SF) and interesting ways.
Since beginning to read this collection, I've bought as many of the others of this series as I've been able to by browsing my local Half Price Books stores. I can't wait to read more.
Some favorites from this collection: "The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi, "Scout's Honor" by Terry Bisson, "Leviathan Wept" by Daniel Abraham, "Shiva in Shadow" by Nancy Kress, "Riding the White Bull" by Caitlin R. Kiernan, "Footvote" by Peter F. Hamilton, and "Mayflower II" by Stephen Baxter.
The stories by Bisson, Kress, Kiernan, Hamilton, and Baxter are really fantastic, filled with lovely writing and fascinating ideas. And this particular combination of authors illustrates just what I like about this collection. Bisson and Baxter are familiar names to me and I have other instances of their work already, but the others--Kress, Kiernan, and Hamilton--are new to me. So the collection is extremely useful in introducing new work by familiar authors and in introducing new authors to a broader public (and to me).
All of these stories (and the many stories I didn't mention here--there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy) are well worth reading and worth being singled out for the collection; Bacigalupi and Abraham's stories are ones, however, that deserve special mention. I plan to incorporate both of these stories into my fall literature course. Bacigalupi's story is about human relationships with animals, both sentimental and practical, and Abraham's story is a political thriller about terrorism and religion. Both raise questions I want to address in my class and manage to do so in new (especially to a group of students who don't really read SF) and interesting ways.
Since beginning to read this collection, I've bought as many of the others of this series as I've been able to by browsing my local Half Price Books stores. I can't wait to read more.
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