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timinbc's review
3.0
There's a good framework here, with the existing word of Bordertown and the useful idea of a time-slip to give the authors some room. Several stories were creative and engaging.
But as I neared the end of the book. it got to be too much of a muchness. I'm finding Bordertown boring. Coffee, music, motorcycles, drugs, sex, elves, like wow man. And yes, I *was* there for the sixties and I'm on my fifth motorcycle and I make vicious coffee, so it's not as if I don't get it.
And it's implausible. The cumulative effect is that Bordertown is one of those places that moves when you try to look at it so you can't see the lack of detail. There seems to have been plenty of construction, and one story suggests huge houses. There are police, sort of, although unexplained. Plumbers, electricians, doctors, nurses, teachers, carpet layers .. nah. Just the occasional dude who's kinda handy and can, like, fix stuff. The economy is ludicrous - a backpack full of brownies seems to be the B'town equivalent of gold bullion. There are, of course, no bad musicians, or for that matter bad drugs. There are gangs, vampires, nasty nasty elves, and everyone's like, hey, man, like keep your head up eh there's some weird shit out there dude.
For one interesting story we can overlook all that. But not for a whole bunch at once.
And I must admit I was soured by Cory Doctorow, writing the same story he always writes, in which an uber-geek makes coffee, builds (whatever) out of a shoelace and a spoon, makes coffee, then mobilizes hundreds of followers, makes coffee, and changes the world. It's just so smug and self-satisfied.
But as I neared the end of the book. it got to be too much of a muchness. I'm finding Bordertown boring. Coffee, music, motorcycles, drugs, sex, elves, like wow man. And yes, I *was* there for the sixties and I'm on my fifth motorcycle and I make vicious coffee, so it's not as if I don't get it.
And it's implausible. The cumulative effect is that Bordertown is one of those places that moves when you try to look at it so you can't see the lack of detail. There seems to have been plenty of construction, and one story suggests huge houses. There are police, sort of, although unexplained. Plumbers, electricians, doctors, nurses, teachers, carpet layers .. nah. Just the occasional dude who's kinda handy and can, like, fix stuff. The economy is ludicrous - a backpack full of brownies seems to be the B'town equivalent of gold bullion. There are, of course, no bad musicians, or for that matter bad drugs. There are gangs, vampires, nasty nasty elves, and everyone's like, hey, man, like keep your head up eh there's some weird shit out there dude.
For one interesting story we can overlook all that. But not for a whole bunch at once.
And I must admit I was soured by Cory Doctorow, writing the same story he always writes, in which an uber-geek makes coffee, builds (whatever) out of a shoelace and a spoon, makes coffee, then mobilizes hundreds of followers, makes coffee, and changes the world. It's just so smug and self-satisfied.
misterjay's review against another edition
4.0
My aunt gave me a copy of "Elsewhere" when I was a young teenager and I read it three or four times, savoring every word and description of the border and Bordertown. I scoured her bookshelves and the local library and the secondhand bookstores looking for the original anthologies that had been published a few years prior to my discovering them. Once I found them, I inhaled them as quickly and as deeply as I had the novels.
All of which is to say I was beyond pleased when I learned that there was going to be a new anthology.
Now, having read the new anthology once, and skimmed back through it a half-dozen times looking for favorite passages and lines, I'm just as happy and as sated and as desperate for more border stories as I was twenty-some years ago.
Particular standouts for me were "Ours is the Prettiest" by Nalo Hopkinson, "A Tangle of Green Men" by Charles de Lint, and, of course, "The Sages of Elsewhere" by Will Shetterly.
"Ours is the Prettiest" is just a superbly atmospheric story; the language of the story, its twists and odd turnings and odder accents provide a welcome dash of spices to the standard Bordertown tale. The story itself is vivid and memorable, but the language is what really got to me.
"A Tangle of Green Men" is the best sort of heartbroken story. Sparse and atmospheric at the same time, a sense of longing and hope permeates the piece and it lingers in the mind well after the book is closed.
And then, of course, of course, of course, there's "The Sages of Elsewhere." Because it's a Wolfboy story and it's always great to see an old friend doing so well.
All of which is to say I was beyond pleased when I learned that there was going to be a new anthology.
Now, having read the new anthology once, and skimmed back through it a half-dozen times looking for favorite passages and lines, I'm just as happy and as sated and as desperate for more border stories as I was twenty-some years ago.
Particular standouts for me were "Ours is the Prettiest" by Nalo Hopkinson, "A Tangle of Green Men" by Charles de Lint, and, of course, "The Sages of Elsewhere" by Will Shetterly.
"Ours is the Prettiest" is just a superbly atmospheric story; the language of the story, its twists and odd turnings and odder accents provide a welcome dash of spices to the standard Bordertown tale. The story itself is vivid and memorable, but the language is what really got to me.
"A Tangle of Green Men" is the best sort of heartbroken story. Sparse and atmospheric at the same time, a sense of longing and hope permeates the piece and it lingers in the mind well after the book is closed.
And then, of course, of course, of course, there's "The Sages of Elsewhere." Because it's a Wolfboy story and it's always great to see an old friend doing so well.
mehitabels's review against another edition
4.0
I am not much of a short story reader, especially mass collections, but the Bordertown series has never disappointed.
What if the world as we know suddenly had an additional world attached? Specifically, the world of fairies. And what if fairies and elves were not the nice [a:J.M. Barrie|5255014|J.M. Barrie|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1318047214p2/5255014.jpg] type, but the haughty, beautiful, and dangerously self-obsessed types of Shakespeare?
This is how the series started, with some of the best sf/fantasy authors in existence penning stories. Now, a decade later, the series starts back up, with timely explanations for missing years and the changes in the world. Fantastic.
What if the world as we know suddenly had an additional world attached? Specifically, the world of fairies. And what if fairies and elves were not the nice [a:J.M. Barrie|5255014|J.M. Barrie|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1318047214p2/5255014.jpg] type, but the haughty, beautiful, and dangerously self-obsessed types of Shakespeare?
This is how the series started, with some of the best sf/fantasy authors in existence penning stories. Now, a decade later, the series starts back up, with timely explanations for missing years and the changes in the world. Fantastic.
jameyanne's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed a lot of the stories in this book. Quite a few of them i actually loved. I found the world fascinating, and i'm really intrigued by the concept of a shared world anthology, but the stories started to feel familiar, and a few, especially the final story, that rubbed me the wrong or were just downright offensive.
jesscinco's review against another edition
5.0
Really beautiful. The stories provoke thought and emotion. I was a fan of the Borderlands stories in High School. I'm so glad they made another anthology. I hope we get another someday.
toastymaloney's review against another edition
3.0
I only got this to read the short story by Cassandra Clare, but read some of the other stories too. I'll probably read more at some point.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
4.0
I have never read anything Bordertown before. After reading this collection though, it's my new goal to track down the rest of the books and read them. (Curse the fact that several seem to be out of print. D:) It had an interesting variety of authors all putting their own spin on Bordertown. Several authors I recgnize or have read before and several other are now on my "to read" list. Some of the poetry/lyrics pieces were a bit meh, but I enjoyed all of the short stories. The first story in the collection was probably my favorite, and Doctorow's was probably my least favorite. It was an interesting story but a) the technological theme made it feel a bit out of place, and b) I feel like Doctorow gets a bit too preachy on some of his pet topics in his stories. I loved how the book dealt with the gap in publication between this book and the others by making a similar time gap happen between our world and Bordertown. It was clever and led to some amusing happenings between the old crowd and the Bordertown newbies.
impybelle's review against another edition
4.0
I've found that books like this either fly by or I get distracted easily and thus it takes me forever to properly finish them. This would be a case of forever. Which is on me because most of the entries in Welcome to Bordertown are fabulous. I'm lazy so I won't point out everything I loved, but I will say that the opener (Welcome to Bordertown) is fantastic and the closer (A Tangle of Green Men) made me cry. I also really liked the jump rope rhyme but it wouldn't get out of my head for a day, and "Ours is the Prettiest" had a fantastic sort of creeping dread that I always enjoy.
I think the only story that didn't live up to my expectations was the Black/Clare offering of "The Rowan Gentlemen" as it bored me. I've never read anything of Clare's before but Holly Black's stuff is usually right up my alley but this just did nothing for me. Luckily (?) it's towards the end and I've skimmed other people's reviews and I think I'm one of the only ones to feel this way so there's that.
I think the only story that didn't live up to my expectations was the Black/Clare offering of "The Rowan Gentlemen" as it bored me. I've never read anything of Clare's before but Holly Black's stuff is usually right up my alley but this just did nothing for me. Luckily (?) it's towards the end and I've skimmed other people's reviews and I think I'm one of the only ones to feel this way so there's that.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
A revisit of a shared-world that was apparently at the beginnings of the modern era of urban fantasy. Kind of an uneven collection but lots of good stuff in here. And a just barely relevant Charles De Lint story to finish it off. The idea is essentially that Bordertown has been unreachable for 13 years and in that time only 13 days have passed - probably inspired by the 13 year gap since "The Essential Bordertown: A Traveller's Guide to the Edge of Faerie" was published. Not high art but I liked it. 4.5 of 5.