sheeprustler's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

tronella's review against another edition

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4.0

Hated "A Human Stain", a couple of other meh ones, the rest were great.

8bitlapras's review

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4.0

* = favourites

Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance by Tobias S. Buckell: 5/5*
Waiting Out the End of the World at Patty's Place Cafe by Naomi Kritzer: 4.75/5
Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue by Charlie Jane Anders: 5/5
Confessions of a Con Girl by Nick Wolven: 5/5*
Utopia, LOL? by Jamie Wahls: 2.75/5
The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom by Max Gladstone: 4/5
Paradox by Naomi Kritzer: 3.5/5
Angel of the Blockade by Alex Acks: 5/5* (This one was my absolute favourite!)
The Fisher of Bones by Sarah Gailey: 5/5 (SUPER haunting... I'm still thinking about this one, but I wouldn't count it as a favourite for some reason. However, this is the best story in the anthology in terms of technique and impact, in my opinion)
Crispin's Model by Max Gladstone: 3.5/5
The Dark Birds by Ursula Vernon: 4.75/5
Waiting On a Bright Moon by JY Yang: 5/5
Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics by Jess Barber and Sarah Saab: 5/5*
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson: 3.75/5
The Worshipful Society of Glovers by Mary Robinette Kowal: 4/5

Final average rating: 4.4/5

Overall, it's an extremely solid anthology of short sci-fi/fantasy/horror stories. Usually when I read short story anthologies, there's one or two standouts and the rest are a slog, but that definitely wasn't the case here. I would recommend every single one of the stories I read here, with one or two exceptions.

alexanderp's review

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4.0

This is the first time I have read a "long list" and this wasn't bad. Some of the stories I found to be wanting, but I will list my best picks that maybe should have been short listed.

Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance by Tobias Bucknell (I read this previously in Lightspeed, but I loooove this story.)
Angel in the Blockade - by Alex Acks
Crispin's Model by Max Gladstone
Waiting on a Bright Moon by JY Yang
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson
More...