Reviews for The year's best science fiction

The average rating for The year's best science fiction based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-03-19 00:00:00 Michelle Gonzalez 99-cent buy from Goodwill. Keeping track of the stories I've read: 1 - John Kessel "The Juniper Tree" 2/5     Generations of feminist social & technological engineering on the moon with a horrifying murderous guilt twist. Fell flat for me. *27 - Charles Stross "Antibodies" 4/5     I find Stross's blog very amusing and well-written but had never read any of his fiction, despite him being a very prolific author. This story is one that starts out as a maybe-two-star and quickly turns into a 4 or 5 star rating as the earth begins to fall out from under the feet of our protagonists. The beginning will remind you that this was written in 2000, but the end is mind blowing and amusing. Too much talking, though. 42 - Ursula K LeGuin "The Birthday of the World" 3/5     An alternative mythology story that's quite confusing to get into, mostly because the writing is obtuse. I like that God is a man and a woman joined, so you have God Himself and God Herself who are considered one, but have separate religious and ceremonial jobs. *64 - Nancy Kress "Savior" 5/5 Novella-length first contact story. An alien egg object lands in northern Minnesota. Humanity's interactions with the egg and humanity's own foibles spans many generations. A story of destruction and construction. Love the sociology SF of Kress. 549 - M. Shayne Bell "The Thing About Benny" 4/5     Entertaining riff in near future world where many plants are extinct and a young savant who hunts down lost specimens in old office buildings. Oh, and it's a clever Abba tribute. *555 - Robert Charles Wilson "The Long Goodbye" 5/5     A brisk 2.5 pages gives you two differentiated human species 350 years in the future, a grandfather and grandson, space exploration and a huge twist. Awesome! I love RCW.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-11-15 00:00:00 Gerald Pigg This is possibly my least favorite of this anthology series. There are quite a few stories that are mediocre or worse, and many of the good stories are decent yet utterly forgettable. There are a a couple of real standouts though: John Kessel's The Juniper Tree, which is complex and uncomfortable, and Tananrive Due's Patient Zero, which is a magnificent bit of creeping horror. INDIVIDUAL STORY RATINGS AND COMMENTS The Juniper Tree John Kessel 5 stars Morally complex and uncomfortable. A riveting ending. Antibodies Charles Stross 3.5 stars I liked the concept and loved the ending; however, despite only being 15 pages long, it still dragged at times. The Birthday of the World Ursula K. Le Guin 4 stars A fascinating universe and examination of religion Savior Nancy Kress 4 stars A wonderful scifi short story composed of vignettes scoping centuries of Earth's development Reef Paul J. MacAuley 3 stars A dystopian short with a somewhat unsatisfactory ending Going After Bobo Susan Palwick 3 stars A scifi examination of family conflict and the fallout of grief Crux Albert E. Cowdrey 4 stars A scifi novelette in which a detective goes back in time to save the current world The Cure for Everything Severna Park 2 stars I'm deeply uncomfortable with the stereotypical portrayal of Indigenous people in this story. The Suspect Genome Peter F. Hamilton 4 stars A scifi, police procedural novelette that starts with the arrest and still catches you off guard with the twist The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O Michael Swanwick 0 stars DNF How I fucking hate this guy's writing. I have no idea what anyone sees in him. Radiant Green Star Lucius Shepard 1 star DNF White folks need to be conscientious when writing people of color. Does the Black man in your story really need to be owned, need to have been the subject of scientific experiment? Are you making any kind of statement with that, acknowledging the actual history of that, or just perpetuating certain imagery for the thrill with no moral purpose? Do the Asian women in your story need to be sexualized, described as demure yet sensual, perceived through the male, fetishist gaze with desires that only center around men's needs? No, they really don't. Great Wall of Mars Alastair Reynolds 4 stars Two brothers take off on a last chance mission to prevent a war. A complex sci-fi transhumanist tale. Milo and Sylvie Eliot Fintushel 1 star DNF So between this guy saying that someone was "almost a midget" but that was "okay" since the character didn't "act short" and talking about the "totemic soul" of a "primitive", I just don't care what happens in the story because, whatever it is, it's not worth getting slapped in the face with that sort of bigotry. Snowball in Hell Brian Stableford 3 stars I love the transhumanist concepts of this, but it's a bit repetitive On the Orion LIne Stephen Baxter 4 stars Trapped in the remains of a destroyed ship and facing imminent death, a young soldier fiercely clings to his training yet is given cause to ponder the philosophy of it. Oracle Greg Egan 3.5 stars I suspect I might have enjoyed this more if I understood the math and science in it better. I quite liked the ending though. Obsidian Harvest Rick Cook & Ernest Hogan 1 star DNF This is one of those modern hard-boiled style tales, only set in an alternate history. I've never been a fan of the style. Patient Zero Tananarive Due 5 stars A wonderful piece of creeping horror. Perfect to the word. A Colder War Charles Stross 4 stars A military man tries to fulfill his duty to country and family as the world sinks slowly into a Lovecraftian nightmare. The Real World Steven Utley 4 stars A disquieting short that leaves you wondering The Thing About Benny M. Shayne Bell 3 stars An interesting world with interesting characters, but not a particularly interesting story The Great Goodbye Robert Charles Wilson 3 stars Fun bit of flash fiction Tendeléo's Story Ian McDonald 70/23 1 star DNF A fascinating alien contact concept, but the story has a bit of a white savior feel to it despite being written with a black protagonist. There's something quite racially stereotypical about the roles assigned to the various characters as well.