The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction

by Gardner Dozois (Editor), Rich Larson

For the first time in a decade, a compilation of the very best in science fiction, from a world authority on the genre.

For decades, the Year's Best Science Fiction has been the most widely read short science fiction anthology of its kind. Now, after thirty-five annual collections. comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies. In The Very Best of the Best, legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the finest short stories for this landmark collection.

Contents
The Potter of Bones / Eleanor Arnason
Rogue Farm / Charles Stross
The Little Goddess / Ian McDonald
Dead Men Walking / Paul McAuley
Tin Marsh / Michael Swanwick
Good Mountain / Robert Reed
Where the Golden Apples Grow / Kage Baker
The Sledge-maker's Daughter / Alastair Reynolds
Glory / Greg Egan
Finisterra / David Moles
The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm / Daryl Gregory
Utriusque Cosmi / Robert Charles Wilson
Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance / John Kessel
Useless Things / Maureen McHugh
Mongoose / Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Hair / Adam Roberts
The Things / Peter Watts
The Emperor of Mars / Allen M. Steele
Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain / Yoon Ha Lee
Martian Heart / John Barnes
The Invasion of Venus / Stephen Baxter
Weep for Day / Indrapramit Das
The Girl-thing Who Went Out for Sushi / Pat Cadigan
The Memcordist / Lavie Tidhar
The Best We Can / Carrie Vaughn
The Discovered Country / Ian R. MacLeod
Pathways / Nancy Kress
The Hand Is Quicker ... / Elizabeth Bear
Someday / James Patrick Kelly
The Long Haul, From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 / Ken Liu
Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight / Aliette De Bodard
Calved / Sam J. Miller
Emergence / Gwyneth Jones
Rates of Change / James S.A. Corey
Jonas and the Fox / Rich Larson
Kit: Some Assembly Required / Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz
Winter Timeshare / Ray Nayler
My English Name / R.S. Benedict

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Audiobook, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

704 pages, Hardcover

First published February 26, 2019

About the author

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, both as an editor and a writer of short fiction.
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...

Reviews

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating of whole anthology: 4

This is a terrific anthology, edited by the late, great Gardner Dozois. It’s long too, chock full of stories by many different, and very diverse, authors, so you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck.

The overall quality of the stories is very high. I liked this anthology much better than the one I read previously, The New Space Opera 2. I love science fiction, but I’m not a big space opera fan, so this volume was much more to my liking.

The two audio readers, Will Damron and Vivienne Leheny, are top of the line. The number of characters and atmospheres they successfully created are staggering. My only (very small) quibble with Will Damron is that he’s not great at British accents.

The Potter of Bones by Elinor Arnason

4

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

A lovely story which reminds me of Ursula
LeGuin.

If you need blood, guts, gore, and action,
this won’t be for you.

A slow paced and ambiguous tale of
Haik, a red haired member of a furry race who knows
when and who knows where. Not a lot of
action or a definite ending, but it’s Haik’s story, maybe set in the distant past. Haik creates coveted
pottery with images of the animals she’s
encountered on solitary archaeological
forays along the shore. She puts together
a sort of theory of evolution that’s too
advanced for most of the people around her.
Haik’s female lover is an actress and writer with her
own traveling theater troupe.


Rogue Farm by Charles Stross

4

Audio read by Will Damron

I’ve enjoyed previous Charles Stross stories
for his bizarre sense of humor and general
weirdness. Stross has a unique and totally original voice.
This story doesn’t disappoint.
A cybernetic farm collective that absorbs
individual humans and wants to travel to Jupiter
trespasses on Joe and Maddie’s farm land and they
are pissed. This strange and funny story
includes Stross’s usual peculiar details,
such as a talking, pot smoking dog named Bob.


The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald

5

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

An absolutely brilliant and daring story taking place in Nepal and India in the 2030s and 2040s.
Its subject is different forms of divinity and holiness. In this tale, implanted AIs
are juxtaposed with a brutal world that sees women as commodities and where high tech coexists with a police state crackdown on tech. The tale’s narrator and central character is a young Nepali woman. The author knows a great deal about South Asian cultures, I’m guessing through first hand experience. I won’t say more about this one, except that it’s a must-read. I’m definitely going to read more by this author. He’s amazingly talented.


Dead Men Walking by Paul McAuley

4

Read by Will Damron

War veteran Roy Bruce is living a quiet life on remote Ariel, one of Uranus’s moons.
Ariel is a prison planet for political prisoners and other outlaws and he’s been a prison guard for ten years, breeding musical crickets, attending a sweat lodge, and living in a tiny cabin.
He’s pretty contented. But overnight, everything changes when a terrifying
threat comes into his “silly little life”. Good story.


Tin Marsh by Michael Swanwick

4

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

Two prospecting partners on Venus,
Parang (female) and McArthur (male),
have come to hate each other after months
of working together in isolation. Their
interaction starts to unravel into deadly
insanity.


Good Mountain by Robert Reed

5

Read by Will Damron

Great story. The apocalypse comes
to some unknown world at some
indefinite time, and it’s terrifying.


Where the Golden Apples Grow by Kate Baker

4

Audio read by Will Damron

Powerful story about two boys and a
man and the very dangerous long distance
hauling business on Mars. Among other things.


The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter by Alastair Reynolds

4

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

Strong story. A young woman gets help from an old
woman reputed to be a witch.

I liked this much better than the other work I read by this author, Slow Bullets. This tale was quite different, so he’s a very versatile writer. I’m going to revisit his work, and perhaps read some of his novels.


Glory by Greg Egan

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Strong story about a mathematician
and her colleague, who will go to
any lengths for their research.
Including adopting alien bodies.


Finisterra by David Moles

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Bianca Nazario, an engineer, takes
a dicey but well paying job in space without
fully understanding what’s involved.
But she desperately needs the money...


The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm by Daryl Gregory

4

Audio read by Will Damron

Trovenia is at war. There are “slaybots”,
U-men, etc. The Trovenian leader is the apparently
unkillable Lord Grimm. Strange story. It does
convey the frightening chaos of a war zone quite well.


Utriusque Cosmos

3

Read by Vivienne Leheny

I’m skipping this one, as I recently
read it in the collection The New Space Opera 2 and wasn’t crazy about it.
I’m sure that Vivienne Leheny, an excellent
reader, did a better job than the actress who read it there.


Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance by John Kessel

3

Read by Will Damron

I’m skipping this one too, as it was also
in The New Space Opera 2, a collection
I recently read. This story wasn’t a favorite
either.


Useless Things by Maureen McHugh

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Good story about a woman living
alone in the New Mexico desert, trying
to survive. Apparently not science fiction
though, although it’s unclear...it might be
set in a sort of post apocalyptic America.


Mongoose by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

In the audio the title was read as “The Boojum”, which made more sense than the Kindle title (“Mongoose”), which made no sense. Since Kindle books are riddled with errors, I’m inclined to believe that the audio title was the right one. A Boojum is a type of living being that’s also a space ship. The Lavinia is a Boojum that hosts a crew of pirates. Black Alice, a pirate engineer, has a special relationship with the ship. A Boojum is a dangerous imaginary animal from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Hunting of the Snark”.


Hair by Adam Roberts

4

Read by Will Damron

The narrator is a lawyer for the Company. His client and somewhat narcissistic
best friend, Nic, has come up with a revolutionary invention to eradicate poverty.
Nic has also absconded on his legal obligations to the Company, his employer.
Now what?


The Things by Peter Watts

5

Read by Vivienne Leheny

The movie “The Thing from Another World” from the monster’s viewpoint.
Confusing at times, but a very powerful story.


The Emperor of Mars by Allen Steele

4

Read by Will Damron

A temporary resident of Mars goes crazy.


Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain by Yoon Ha Lee

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

A woman possesses a weapon of unimaginable
destructiveness.


Martian Heart by John Barnes

4

Read by Will Damron

A teenaged couple goes to Mars and
takes up prospecting, with very mixed
results. Nice Martian love story.


The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter

4

Read by Will Damron

Aliens invade Venus and humans on
Earth learn a little about Venus,
a little about the aliens, and a lot about
themselves.


Weep for Day by Indrapramit Das

5

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

Stunning story about a tidally fixed
planet with a day side that never has night
and a night side that never has day. I will
definitely read more by this talented writer.


The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi by Pat Cadigan

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Cute and highly imaginative story about people who choose to change species, and the politics and prejudices associated with that choice (mostly the bigotry of humans against those species). Mainly set in the areas around Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus (with Earth included by reference).


The Memcordist by Lavie Tidhar

4

Read by Will Damron

Strange and haunting story about a future on other planets in our solar system. Pym is the central character, and millions view (in real time) his life and his search for his lost love.


The Best We Can by Carrie Vaughn

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Poignant and vivid story about the frustration of an astronomer who discovers an object near Jupiter that might be a probe sent by an alien civilization (i.e., first contact and perhaps
the most important event in human history) and her difficulty getting others to take her or her idea seriously.


The Discovered Country by Ian R. McLeod

4

Audio read by Will Damron

A strange story about a virtual afterlife where people upload their mental processes to a computer. (Neal Stephenson used a similar concept in his recent book “Dodge”, but his take on it is much different). A well crafted and admirable story, but it left me a little cold for some reason, maybe because it was difficult to care about the characters.


Pathways by Nancy Kress

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

I enjoyed this story. Not surprising, as I’m a long time fan of Nancy Kress. I don’t know if I’d call the story science fiction, though. It does take place in some future version of America with a
libertarian president. But it’s the story of a young and bright but uneducated mountain girl, Ludie, who decides to take part in an experimental study. Ludie, and many of her family, have an
inherited, rare, and fatal genetic disorder (Fatal Familial Insomnia). FFI is a real disease, and the experimental procedure seemed quite plausible to me.


The Hand is Quicker ... by Elizabeth Bear

5

Audio read by Will Damron

A terrifying and depressing story about homelessness in the future, when “undesirables” are literally invisible to the middle and upper classes, who have a virtual technology called “skinning”
that shields them from reality.


Someday by James Patrick Kelly

3

Audio read by Vivienne Leheny

I’ve never been a huge fan of this writer, although he writes well enough. Here, a woman who lives in a small village on a backwater colony planet decides to have a baby. She practices the unusual mating ceremony of her area to conceive the child. I think the surprise ending, which was entirely out of keeping with the rest of the story, ruined it for me. Sometimes surprise endings seem contrived and forced; the one in this story did. Plus, a few of the characters became rather grating as the story progressed. Also, the main character, the woman, seemed a bit undeveloped.



The Long Haul, From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION,
The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 by Ken Liu

4

Audio read by Will Damron

This is a story of an alternative steam punk timeline in our world where long distance transportation is dominated by the more fuel efficient zeppelins rather than by airplanes, which also exist in this alternate timeline. There are lots of places for zeppelins to land, etc. The story describes a zeppelin trip from Zanghou, China to Las Vegas. The zep is hauling cargo. There isn’t a traditional story arc (conflict, denouement, etc.). It’s more like a leisurely travelogue. I love steam punk and zeppelins, so I enjoyed this.


Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight by Aliette de Bodard

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

A lovely, moving story about two siblings grieving the death of their mother, an important scientist. The brother, Quang Tu, is a civil servant. His sister, Tiger in the Banyan, is a living space ship. I haven't always liked other stories by this writer; but I did admire this one.


Calved by Sam J. Miller

Audio read by Will Damron

5

Heart wrenching story about an immigrant in Sweden in the future (he fled NY when the city was destroyed). He’s forced to do menial labor, as he can't get any other work. His great love for his son is the one thing that matters to him. But he’s not sure his son loves him any more.


Emergence by Gwyneth Jones

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

A tale contemplating the future on the Jupiter Moons (and Earth) and its sentient AIs, death, life, immortality, virtual reality, etc. A judicial proceeding goes very wrong and has consequences for several of the people involved.


Rates of Change by James S.A. Corey

3.5

Read by Vivienne Leheny

I wonder why so many male writers create female characters that are shallow and/or dislikeable. The story is interesting, but the central character, Diana, is pretty unsympathetic. Her son is hurt in an accident after changing species. She handles it badly.


Jonas and the Fox by Rich Larson

4

Read by Will Damron

Suspenseful story of a man in hiding in an unexpected place on a colony world engaged in a civil war.


KIT: Some Assembly Required by Kathie Koja and Carter Scholz

4

Read by Will Damron

An AI based on sixteenth century playwright Christopher Marlowe runs amok (that is, passes
the Turing Test). Wasn’t sure how to rate this, but it gets points for creativity.


Winter Timeshare by Ray Nayler

4

Read by Vivienne Leheny

Two lovers go to a lot of trouble to meet in Istanbul once a year in the winter. Their jobs keep them separated the rest of the time.


My English Name by R.S. Benedict

4

Read by Will Damron.

Strangely compelling story (horror really) about a dubious and mysterious Western “changeling”
living in China who “wears” a succession of different bodies of various genders, appearances, and nationalities.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I admired the late Gardner Dozois' taste in stories, I was disappointed in this volume. Not that the stories are bad – they're very good. But the title is deceptive; this is NOT the best of 35 years of science fiction. Gardner published two volumes of “the best of the best” before this, covering the first 20 years of his annual compilation. This volume covers the years 2003-2017.

That leaves out significant authors from the past 35 years: Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, James Tiptree Jr., William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Greg Bear, Gene Wolfe, Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg... there were Giants in the Earth in those days.

Some veteran authors are in this volume: Nancy Kress, Michael Swanwick, Greg Egan, Ian McDonald, James P. Kelly, Pat Cadigan, as well as some exciting new ones like Yoon Ha Lee, Rich Larson, Lavie Tidhar, Elizabeth Bear, Sam Miller.

I rated this volume as high as I did because, as I said, Gardner had excellent taste and these stories are quite good and satisfying, with a good mix of veteran and new authors. But I can't help but feel that it doesn't measure up to the previous volumes. Perhaps that's because I remember those stories when they were new and I was younger.

But maybe the 1980s and 1990s were a bit of a Golden Age for progressive SF, and I was lucky to catch it at the time.

[Andreas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dozois published 35 annual anthologies with his selection of the best SF stories of the previous year. He concentrated those 35 books even further down to three volumes by selecting the best of those:

The first anthology covering 1983-2002, another one publishing only novellas (which I haven’t read yet), and now this anthology covering SF stories and novellas from 2003-2017. Insofar is the title misleading, as this volume is only one of three collecting the best SF short works; and also, they "only" publish works which have been published in his annual anthologies.

Sadly, Dozois passed away shortly after that, so this really concludes his life’s work as an editor.

The annual anthologies are really monstrous doorstoppers. Everyone who reads anthologies knows that they take far longer to digest than any novel of the same size. And it isn’t healthy to read through them like a novel. My mode is mostly one or two stories per day, and writing a review for each one - you'll find the reviews linked below with every story.

What is to be expected from this anthology? First of all, a huge amount of stories: 38 stories spread over 686 pages. In comparison to the first anthology, nearly all of the stories are actually core SF in several typical subgenres. Dozois tended to select literary stories which might not be to everyone's taste, but fit mine very well.

The anthology is exceptionally good, the first five stories already outstanding. There are a couple of five star stories in it, many four star stories, and only one bummer. While the average grade is around four stars, I've rounded up to five stars - because anthologies can't be assessed on an average value only: Most anthologies have a lot of stories in them which don't fit one's taste at all.

I can fully recommend this anthology for readers of SF created in this millenium.
The links to reviews in the list below lead to my blog.

Contents (stories are ordered from oldest to newest):

1 • ★★★★+☆ • The Potter of Bones • 2002 • Planetary SF novella by Eleanor Arnason • retelling of the scientific discovery of evolution theory by an alien Darwin • review
39 • ★★★★★ • Rogue Farm • 2003 • Transhuman SF short story by Charles Stross • a posthuman collective wants to reach Jupiter • review
51 • ★★★★★ • The Little Goddess • 2005 • Near future SF novella by Ian McDonald • India 2047 child-goddess’s coming-of-age • review
84 • ★★★★☆ • Dead Men Walking • 2006 • Quiet War novelette by Paul McAuley • a dying clone dictates his story on an Uranus moon • review
99 • ★★★★☆ • Tin Marsh • 2006 • SF novelette by Michael Swanwick • prospectors on Venus really hate each other • review
114 • ★★★☆☆ • Good Mountain • 2005 • SF novella by Robert Reed • fleeing from a catastrophic fire across a strange world • review
160 • ★★★☆☆ • Where the Golden Apples Grow • 2006 • Mars novella by Kage Baker • Two settler boys have an adventure steering a truck on Mars • review
204 • ★★★★☆ • The Sledge-Maker's Daughter • 2007 • Post-Post-apocalyptic short story by Alastair Reynolds • a hag passes on gifts to a teenage girl • review
222 • ★★★★☆ • Glory • 2007 • Planetary SF novelette by Greg Egan • two xenomathematicians extracted new proofs from remainders of an extinguished race • review
243 • ★★★☆☆ • Finisterra • 2007 • Planetary SF novelette by David Moles • an aeroengineer gets a job to help harvest huuuuuuge floating animals on a foreign planet • review
269 • ★★★☆☆ • The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm • 2008 • Superhero novelette by Daryl Gregory • A welder survives in a war between steampunkish robots and superheroes/villains • review
286 • ★★★★☆ • Utriusque Cosmi • 2009 • Posthuman SF novelette by Robert Charles Wilson • an alien cloudified fleet rescues humans from an apocalyptic catastrophe • review
304 • ★★★+☆☆ • Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance • 2009 • Space Opera novelette by John Kessel • a monk steals the last instance of a creation myth • review
328 • ★★★+☆☆ • Useless Things • 2012 • Near Future SF short story by Maureen F. McHugh • a doll maker makes her way in New Mexico after economic collapse and climate change • review
342 • ★★★★☆ • Boojum • 2009 • Horror Space Opera novelette by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette • pirates on a living space ship make a Lovecraftian bounty • review
358 • ★★★☆☆ • Hair • 2009 • Near Future SF novelette by Adam Roberts • genemodded hair feeds the poor • review
377 • ★★★★★ • The Things • 2010 • First Contact short story by Peter Watts • Carpenter‘s „The Thing“ from the alien‘s perspective • review
391 • ★★★+☆☆ • The Emperor of Mars • 2010 • Near Future SF novelette by Allen Steele • a grunt worker on Mars goes mad • review
407 • ★★★★☆ • Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain • 2010 • Time Travel short story by Yoon Ha Lee • four weapons with different fantastical effects • review
413 • ★★★+☆☆ • Martian Heart • 2011 • YA Near Future SF short story by John Barnes • a pair of young Martian settlers start as prospectors • review
425 • ★★★☆☆ • The Invasion of Venus • 2010 • First contact short story by Stephen Baxter • aliens arrive in the Solar system; they don't head for Earth but for Venus • review
435 • ★★★+☆☆ • Weep for Day • 2012 • SF novelette by Indrapramit Das • review
450 • ★★★★★ • The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi • 2012 • SF novelette by Pat Cadigan • review
467 • ★★★★☆ • The Memcordist • 2012 • SF short story by Lavie Tidhar • review
478 • ★★★☆☆ • The Best We Can • 2013 • First Contact short story by Carrie Vaughn • a quiet alien spacecraft stays in a sub-Saturn orbit • review
487 • ★★★+☆☆ • The Discovered Country • 2013 • Posthuman novelette by Ian R. MacLeod • a man finds himself among the uploaded superrich, renewing old acquaintances • review
510 • ★★★★+☆ • Pathways • 2013 • Near SF novelette by Nancy Kress • medical research •  review
531 • ★★★☆☆ • The Hand is Quicker • Near SF novelette by Elizabeth Bear • perception control • review
547 • ★★★☆☆ • Someday • SF short story by James Patrick Kelly • human reproduction on a colonial planet • review
558 • ★★★★☆ • “THE LONG HAUL from the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009” • alternative history short story by Ken Liu • review
573 • ★★★☆☆ • Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight • 2015 • Xuya Space Opera short story by Aliette de Bodard • a family doesn't get back the memories of a famous scientist, because the government needs it more urgently • review
587 • ★★★★☆ • Calved • CliFi short story by Sam J. Miller • review
598 • ★★★☆☆ • Emergence • SF short story by Gwyneth Jones • review
613 • ★★+☆☆☆ • Rates of Change • SF short story by James S. A. Corey • transplanting brains into designer bodies •  review
624 • ★★★☆☆ • Jonas and the Fox • 2016 • YA SF novelette by Rich Larson • a poet embodied in a child wants to flee the planet after a revolution • review
641 • ☆☆☆☆☆ (DNF at 50%) • KIT: Some Assembly Required • 2016 • short story by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz • only for fans of Marlowe with lots of references. I was totally confused and started skimming - the story led nowhere
652 • ★★★+☆☆ • Winter Timeshare • 2017 • Far future short story by Ray Nayler • Two women meet each year in Istanbul in rented bodies • review
666 • ★★★★☆ • My English Name • 2017 • Weird fiction novelette by R. S. Benedict • a shape shifter works as English teacher in China �� review

[Graeme Rodaughan]

I'm going to read the whole of this book from August 2021, in order (most recently read at top.)

10/Oct/21: 5: Tin Marsh: Up next...

10/Oct/21: 4: Dead Men Walking: Lab born assassins go to war on a prison moon orbiting Uranus. Inventive, and moderately interesting, suffered from being told in flash back by a dying man, so the ending was just a little bit obvious. 3 'Whack'em before getting Whacked,' stars.

10/Oct/21: 3: The Little Goddess: Another story without an actual 'story,' DNF'ed.

04/Sep/21: 2: Rogue Farm: In a future version of England, only one thing has remained unchanged: serving warm beer. As for everything else ... a rogue farm aspires to fly to Jupiter, mayhem ensues. 4 'movable feast,' stars.

15/Aug/21: 1: The Potter of Bones: Struggled to find a story in this one, and DNF'ed it at 20%. Moving onto the next story.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be tough to give a short story collection 4 stars, this was really 3.5 rounded up because the last few left good memories in my head.


The Potter of Bones by Eleanor Arnason 4 stars
Rogue Farm by Charles Stross 4 stars
The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald 2 stars
Dead Men Walking by Paul McAuley 4 stars
Tin Marsh by Michael Swanwick 3 stars
Good Mountain by Robert Reed 4 stars
Where the Golden Apples Grow by Kage Baker 2 stars
The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter by Alastair Reynolds 4 stars
Glory by Greg Egan 5 stars
Finisterra by David Moles 2 stars
The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm by Daryl Gregory 2 stars
Utrinsque Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson 3 stars
Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance by John Kessel 3 stars
Useless Things by Maureen McHugh 3 stars
Mongoose by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette 2 stars
Hair by Adam Roberts 3 stars
The Things by Peter Watts 3.5 stars
The Emperor of Mars by Allen M. Steele 4 stars
Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain by Yoon Ha Lee 2 stars
Martian Heart by John Barnes 3 stars
The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter 3 stars
Weep For Day by Indrapramit Das 4 stars
The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi by Pat Cadigan 3 stars
The Memcordist by Lavie Tidhar 3 stars
The Best We Can by Carrie Vaughn 2 stars
The Discovered Country by Ian R. MacLeod 2 stars
Pathways by Nancy Kress 3 star
The Hand Is Quicker… by Elizabeth Bear 3 stars
Someday by James Patrick Kelly 3 stars
The Long Haul, From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 by Ken Liu 4 stars
Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight by Aliette De Bodard 5 stars
Calved by Sam J. Miller 3 stars
Emergence by Gwyneth Jones 3 stars
Rates of Change by James S.A. Corey 3 stars
Jonas and the Fox by Rich Larson 2 stars
KIT: Some Assembly Required by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz 4 stars
Winter Timeshare by Ray Nayler 4 stars
My English Name by R.S. Benedict 4 stars

[Julio · Rating 5 out of 5]

El título es un poco engañoso pues no se trata de lo mejor de lo mejor de los últimos 35 años, sino de una selección de los alrededor de 15 últimos volúmenes de su antología anual de mejores cuentos de CF - que es, de hecho, una excelente selección. Este libro complementa entonces los dos previos Best of the Best que Dozois ya publicó. Y será inevitablemente el último compendio pues uno de los mejores editores en la historia de la CF (y un muy buen escritor también) falleció hace ya más de un año (mayo 2018), de manera sorpresiva.

Gran y antiguo amigo de George R.R. Martin, quien escribió una triste despedida ( http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/20...) y quien lo comparó con el gran John W. Campbell.

Sus antologías anuales ganaron múltiples premios (mas de 20 en sus alrededor de 30 años de existencia). Y Dozois ganó el premio Hugo como mejor editor casi todos los años que trabajó para Asimov's Science Fiction (15 veces en 17 años).

Este libro, publicado a inicios de 2019, es entonces una especie de testamento. Obviamente es excelente, aunque la chispa, la sorpresa de los cuentos pueda no ser tan luminosa como en otros tiempos...

[Rachel Ramey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I started this 50 hour audio book after covid 19 hit. We listen to it while taking long drives in the evening with our baby. Both of us are delighted with the fabulous story telling. 😀 Elaborate plots with scary twists. No two small stories are the same. We were concerned the technology would be outdated or bland but we were wrong. The book spured on exciting conversations, which helped ease some of the tension from this pandemic. It was bit of a commitment with the large amount of material but well worth it.

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this anthology is, euphemistically puting it, deceptive; in blunt terms, it feels like a fraud. Gardner Dozois had already done 2 anthologies of anthologies, and he called them The Best of the Best (2005), and The Best of the Best - Volume 2 (two years later). This is Volume 3: The title, as it is, feels very much like a publisher's business decision to leverage the editor's death; at a minimum it's disrespectfully and also, it stinks, and furthermore, it's not true (the stories herein don't reflect the last 35 years: For that to stand one has to include in the reasoning the contents of the previous 2 tommes of this trilogy of "anthologies from (or of?) anthologies").

It's regrettable because considering this as The Best of the Best - Volume 3 (encompassing not the last 35 years, but rather the latest 15 years of the editor's career and life), which is what we actually have here, the selection is excellent (diverse, risky, authorative) and thank Dozois for the work. As for me, short stories (and specifically such an anthology of very diverse short stories by very different authors) aren't definitely not my coup of tea; too exhausting. I much prefer a doorstop by Neal Stephenson, say, even with all the non sequiturs and loose ends...

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some excellent writing in here; time to add some new authors to my sci-fi favorites list.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thirty-eight stories total, only two of which I thought worth reading.
I remain at a loss how editors select stories for their publications, let alone how stories are selected as "best." A I wrote in my review of Ellen Datlow's The Best..., my expectations must be out of whack. Sadly, I find better storycrafting in most unknown authors, some self-pubbed, and a few indies than I do from the supposed big names.
But really. Less than 10% of the supposed best held my interest? Most were poorly crafted, poorly told, or were so unengaging I exhausted myself reading through them.
Also as noted in my review of Ellen Datlow's The Best..., I used these stories to learn; what made the two work for me and the other thirty-six agonies to read?
Good learning, that, and also applicable to my own writing. (Good learning, that)^2.

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come

[Tanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an incredible let down. The very best of the best?! You’re telling me that includes what is basically fanfiction of The thing?! I think not. Were there some good stories in here? Absolutely. Were most of them just OK? Yes. I listened to the audiobook and the performances were great, but the stories were mostly quite lackluster.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of sci-fi short fiction. On par with the usual annual collections

[Deborah Replogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful stories. All of them were great. But the book is over 600 pages long and over 2 inches thick. My hands can't handle this kind of weight anymore.

[Shaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite story in this anthology is The Potter of Bones by Eleanor Arnason. It's absolutely brilliant and I love it lots.

Other stories I really liked are:
Where the Golden Apples Grow by Kage Baker
Useless Things by Maureen F McHugh
The Girl Thing Who Went Out For Sushi by Pat Cadigan

Over all, this was an interesting selection of stories. I discussed them all with friends which enhanced my reading experience immensely. There are many stories here that I may have been mostly indifferent about, but they generally led to fascinating discussions and in some respects that is what stories are all about.W

[Anthony Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection, quite a few exceptional stories in here.

[Austin Beeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE VERY BEST OF THE BEST IS RATED 83%.

38 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 25 GOOD / 7 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF

Let’s get this on the table right at the start. The title is a lie. This does not cover the entire 35 years that Gardner Dozois edited ‘Best of the Year’ anthologies, but only 2002 to 2017. There are two other volumes with very similar names that cover the rest of that time.

With that out of the way, this is a fitting tribute to one of the Science Fiction genre’s most important editors. You’ll start to notice a Dozois-style as you read through this stories. He strongly favorited long novellas - some of which could have been published as stand alone books - with dense and interesting world-building. There is also a lot of action and violence in these stories. Full of the kind of action and excitement that one finds in Hollywood SciFi movies, but with substantively more thoughtful worlds.

While only three stories made the “Great List,” most of the ‘merely’ good stories and this collection is highly recommended. It is a good anthology to read as a way of discovering new writers to explore further.

“Good Mountain” by Robert Reed. It might be considered a glorified travelogue, but it does that so gracefully and through such an interesting world. I felt totally immersed in the world of floating wooden islands that coalesce long enough for civilizations to arise. What comes together must break apart. Hence the drama of this great story.

“The Invasion of Venus” by Stephen Baxter. Another Baxter story makes my Great List. One of the things that the universe should accomplish is humble us. This story does a great job of expressing that. Interstellar war breaks out in our solar system, but we aren’t party to it.

“Pathways” by Nancy Kress. Kress writes with great empathy for her characters. This is the story of a bright young woman with no education trying to save her family from a horrible genetic disease by courageously volunteering for a medical experiment that she doesn’t understand. I absolutely adored this.

***

THE VERY BEST OF THE BEST IS RATED 83%.
38 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 25 GOOD / 7 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF


“The Potter of Bones” by Eleanor Arnason. 2002

Average. Well written but ultimate pointless story of a Cat-Person society and one woman who wants to study the fossil record.

“Rogue Farm” by Charles Stross. 2003

Good. A husband and wife work to drive off a “farm,” a grotesque being made of human and mechanical parts.

“The Little Goddess” by Ian McDonald. 2005

Good. In a very well realized future India, we follow a young woman destined for spiritual royalty and her life when that ends.

“Dead Men Walking” by Paul McAuley. 2006

Good. A military clone must risk revealing himself when a series of brutal murders occurs on his adopted planet.

“Tin Marsh” by Michael Swanwick. 2006

Good. A suspenseful cat and mouse game between two prospecting partners on Venus who’s relationship has gone very badly.

“Good Mountain” by Robert Reed. 2006

Great. Riding in the flesh of a giant animal across a planet being chased by apocalypse. This is a spectacularly well realized world, very different from our own, but never so different that you get lost. A travelogue through an alien landscape, with just enough suspense to drive the story.

“Where the Golden Apples Grow” by Kage Baker. 2006

Good. Two young boys from very different backgrounds and the hard life of long distance hauling on Mars.

“The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter” by Alastair Reynolds. 2007

Average. Feels like fantasy, but isn’t. The daughter from the title dodges an abusive man to end up at a witch’s house to get a lot of exposition about the world.

“Glory” by Greg Egan. 2007

Good. Provincial squabbles get in the way of exploration of an ancient civilization’s mathematic remnants.

“Finisterra” by David Moles. 2007

Good. The continents ride on the backs of enormous animals and our character has taken a job to kill one of them.

“The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm” by Daryl Gregory. 2008

Good. The brutal violent reality of living in the Super Villian’s home city.

“Utrinsque Cosmi” by Robert Charles Wilson. 2009

Average. From far beyond the universe, a woman visits herself when she was a girl, before she was ‘raptured’ by the Fleet.

“Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance” by John Kessel. 2009

Good. A fast-paced SF spy story with a monk and soldier on the run with a religion’s holy documents.

“Useless Things” by Maureen McHugh. 2009

Good. In post-apocalyptic New Mexico, a woman tried to make a small living designing high quality dolls, but a chance encounter will change how she views her world.

“Boojum” (inaccurately titled as “Mongoose”) by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. 2009.

Good. A living pirate ship. A horrible booty. An act of mercy. A new frontier.

“Hair” by Adam Roberts. 2009

Average. A tech wiz tries to use a genetic modification to save the starving poor.

“The Things” by Peter Watts . 2010

Poor. “Who’s Goes There?” retold from the alien’s perspective. Hard to focus on with a stupid and offensive ending.

“The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele. 2010

Good. Tragedy drives an astronaut into the worlds of fictional Mars.

“Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain” by Yoon Ha Lee. 2010

Good. Chinese-infused story of a woman in command of a powerful weapon. She is hired to use a weapon that will destroy a person entire lineage.

“Martian Heart” by John Barnes. 2011

Good. SF love story about teenage convicts who have a second chance on Mars. Touching.

“The Invasion of Venus” by Stephen Baxter. 2011

Great. Interstellar war forces humanity to understand its place in the universe.

“Weep For Day” by Indrapramit Das. 2012

Good. On a planet with permanent Dayside and Nightside, a family trip to see a “Nightmare” starts a chain reaction that will change a young woman’s life - and the future of the entire planet.

“The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi” by Pat Cadigan. 2012

Poor. A story about people who change species, but it has nothing interesting to say and is written in an unintentionally unpleasant voice.

“The Memcordist” by Lavie Tidhar. 2012

Good. A future “Influencer” is watched by millions as he searches the galaxy for his lost love.

“The Best We Can” by Carrie Vaughn. 2013

Average. Bureaucracy and other nonsense frustrate an astronomer who has discovered an alien probe near Jupiter

“The Discovered Country” by Ian R. MacLeod. 2013

Good. A perfect digital afterlife is the setting for a man who is sent to reconnect with a former lover who holds a position of power in this ‘world.’

“Pathways” by Nancy Kress. 2013.

Great. Heroic tale of a bright, uncultured, mountain girl who is willing to undergo scientific testing for help discover a cure for her family’s rare genetic disease..

“The Hand Is Quicker…” by Elizabeth Bear. 2014.

Good. The wealthy in the future have a Digital skin that keeps their view of the world pristine and interesting. Until you are unable to make payments.

“Someday” by James Patrick Kelly. 2014

Poor. Strange mating rituals amongst a group of humans who have different biology.

“The Long Haul, From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009” by Ken Liu. 2014

Good. A cozy alternate steampunk history journey by Zeppelin from China to Las Vegas.

“Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight” by Aliette De Bodard. 2015

Good. Two siblings mourn their scientist mother’s death. On is a civil servant. The other is a sentient spaceship.

“Calved” by Sam J. Miller. 2015

Good. An immigrant who fled NY for Sweden tries very hard to have a good relationship with his teenage son leading him into a devastating and ironic mistake.

“Emergence” by Gwyneth Jones. 2015

Average. Lots of creative speculation that never comes around to a compelling story. AI issues of sentience, slavery, immortality and culture difference come to a head when a woman much return to earth from the Outer Worlds.

“Rates of Change” by James S.A. Corey. 2015

Good. In an world where people transfer their consciousness to other bodies, a mother has trouble dealing with a son who chooses to live in a body designed for beneath the sea.

“Jonas and the Fox” by Rich Larson. 2016

Good. A revolutionary poet hides with his family until a tragic death and a surprise discovery change the entire situation.

“KIT: Some Assembly Required” by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz. 2016

Average. Christopher Marlowe (Elizabethan playwright) is brought back from the dead as an AI.

“Winter Timeshare” by Ray Nayler. 2017

Good. A couple spends a year together in Istanbul - in artificial bodies - and that causes problems with the local population.

“My English Name” by R.S. Benedict. 2017.

Good. The challenges of having a life and relationships when you are an unknown thing trying to live within a human body.

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this 2019 anthology is misleading. The stories span only fifteen years (2002 to 2017), and only a few are better than average, with just a couple for which I think time will be kind. It does include several stories from 2014 and 2015 that probably deserve a second chance, because those were the years the Hugo Awards were disrupted by a group of malcontents who manipulated the nominating process, resulting in some real dreck on the ballots in 2015 and 2016. However, the stories from those years published here are not particularly memorable, either. Where are those years' Nebula Award finalists? Here are some of the highlights.

"The Potter of Bones" by Eleanor Arnason (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2002 - novella) 2004 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
This gentle fable is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator far in the future of the protagonist, so how much is true and how much is made up is debatable. The tale of the woman Haik spans many years, from her days as a young apprentice to being a master potter. Along the way she discovers a passion for studying the shells and fossils near her village, incorporating their strange taxonomies into her pots. In this society, women love women and men love men, but when the elders decide a woman must reproduce, they enlist a male to discreetly impregnate her. Another aspect of this society is that these are not strictly humans. They're never fully described, but everyone is covered in fur and have certain other unusual characteristics. Haik meets and falls in love with another woman, an actor and playwright who roams from north to south, performing comedies for some and tragedies for others. Much of the novella centers around their relationship. In the end, Haik develops a theory of evolution based on her fossil studies, a theory that most in her time do not believe.

"The Little Goddess" by Ian McDonald (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2005 - novella) 2006 Hugo Award finalist
4 Stars
This tells the tale of the growth of a girl in Nepal and India in the near future of the 2030-40s. There are certainly science fictional elements in the story, for example, brain implants that allow users to access information instantly. But the heart of the story is a character study of a girl taken from her parents at an early age to serve the king and then later left to make her way on her own.

"Glory" by Greg Egan (The New Space Opera, June 2007 - novelette) 2008 Hugo Award finalist
4 Stars
If you enjoy mathematics and astrophysics, you'll like this story which is filled with lots of both. If you can get past the first section that describes an intriguing way of interstellar travel, the remainder is a nice first-contact story and a quest to find an ancient mathematical proof.

"Finisterra" by David Moles (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2007 - novelette) 2008 Hugo Award finalist
3 Stars
The idea of giant floating, living islands in the atmosphere of a gas giant is intriguing, and the misunderstood engineer and her dealings with the unscrupulous poacher is an interesting character study, but it feels like there needs to be more backstory to fully understand what's going on. And the story ends on an open note, indicating that there is more to come.

"The Things" by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld Magazine, January 2010 - short story) 2011 Hugo Award finalist
4 Stars
A retelling of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) from the point of view of the alien. Humans are the "things" to it, fragile creatures unlike anything it has seen in its journeys across the galaxy. It's hard to write from an alien perspective, but Watts pulls it off.

"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen Steele (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2010 - novelette) 2011 Hugo Award winner
4 Stars
In the near future, Mars is being colonized. One of the workers suffers an emotional shock when his family is killed on Earth in an auto accident, and he goes a little crazy. Not violent, mostly just severely depressed, but he finds solace in the old tales of Mars by writers such as Burroughs and Bradbury, eventually dubbing himself the "Emperor of Mars". It's a thoughtful, poignant story about how getting support from those around you is the right way to treat mental illness.

"The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, November 2012 - novelette) 2013 Hugo Award winner
4 Stars
Here sushi is slang for a human who undergoes surgery to adapt to the harsh environment of the solar system, specifically around Jupiter and the other outer planets. The story is full of other made-up terms and character nicknames, and the reader is dropped straight into it without much in the way of exposition. Nevertheless, things become reasonably clear by the end, when the protagonist takes a giant leap of faith to not only become sushi but also to start a journey of discovery.

"The Hand Is Quicker" by Elizabeth Bear (The Book of Silverberg: Stories in Honor of Robert Silverberg, May 2014 - novelette)
3 Stars
This is a bleak look at a future where the middle class use virtual reality to cover up the awful living conditions of the real world. When a woman has her tax ID revoked, she is forced to live in this dystopia, getting mugged and becoming invisible to most of society.

"Someday" by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's Science Fiction, April-May 2014 - short story)
3 Stars
A "lost" colony of humans on an alien world have developed an interesting way to make babies, apparently multiple fathers contribute to fertilizing an egg, although it was not clear if that was just folklore or real. An expedition of scientists from off-world are studying the colonists about this technique and everything else about them. The story mainly focuses on one young woman's attempt to get pregnant by three men (one of whom is her brother). There is a twist at the end, reminiscent of the kind of endings sf did a lot of in the 1940s and 50s, but it didn't quite work and the story fell a bit flat.

"The Long Haul, from The Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009" by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld Magazine, November 2014 - short story)
4 Stars
In an alternate history, helium airships ply the skies with passengers and cargo, more economically, albeit more slowly, than jet aircraft. A journalist rides with a husband and wife owner/operator team from China to the U.S. to learn firsthand how the business works. It's a quiet character study and advertisement for what might have been (and still could possibly be).

"Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight" by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld Magazine, January 2015 - short story)
3 Stars
When an old woman dies, her memory implants are bequeathed to one of her research partners instead of her eldest son as per custom. The reason given is that her research is vital and only her memories can help others make progress. But the son becomes depressed at his loss of her generational knowledge and wisdom to their family. His sister, whose brain functions have been uploaded into a spaceship, tries to console him. There are some nifty ideas here, many expanded upon in de Bodard's Universe of Xuya series, but by itself it's a little sparse.

"Calved" by Sam J. Miller (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2015 - short story)
3 Stars
This depressing family drama about a divorced father trying to bond with his teenage son could easily have been told in a contemporary setting. The climate change angle is essentially superfluous. At every opportunity the father makes the worst possible choice, but I guess that sometimes happens in real life. Like a lot of stories, much of the conflict could be avoided if the involved parties communicated better (or at all), but in this case both are too stubborn and embarrassed to reveal their truths, leading to pain and suffering.

"Emergence" by Gwyneth Jones (Meeting Infinity, November 2015 - novelette)
2 Stars
I'm writing this about 12 hours after I read the story, and I can barely remember the plot. There is a lot of technobabble relating to virtual existence that is hard to parse. What I do remember is that someone breaks a law and is punished by having to live a whole week in real time. There is also something about living in the Jovian system and rescuing someone on one of the icy moons.

"Rates of Change" by James S. A. Corey (pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) (Meeting Infinity, November 2015 - short story)
3 Stars
In a world where transplanting your mind into another body is common, a mother worries that her son wants a new body for the wrong reasons. When he is critically injured in an accident, the stakes get higher. This is an interesting take on a classic cyberpunk tropes, but I would have liked to see a little more of the consequences.

[Cosmo Crawley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven’t read much science fiction since I devoured the works of Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl, Herbert, Dick and the likes as a high school kid so I thought this book would be an ideal way of getting a taste of what I have been missing for the past 30 years. I was struck by how many of the stories are written in a flat, objective prose style which reads like a piece of reportage or an article in a journal of anthropology. This is fine if it suits the subject matter but when you’ve read thirteen stories in this style you start to hanker after a sense of wonder, or excitement, or horror, or mystery or any of those things which used to keep you reading feverishly until the break of dawn. The other striking feature is that many of the stories don’t have much science fiction in them: there is no futuristic technology or aliens or alternative history or dystopia or global catastrophe or any other the other things which used to have books consigned to the science fiction shelves of book shops. In other cases a few science-fictiony tropes are just tacked on to a story which would have made just as much sense without them. So we might have a tale in which nothing much happens to a group of beings who talk, think and act just like pre-industrial humans except that they have four nipples and are covered in fur. (I admit that I couldn’t finish that one so maybe something did happen to them in the end.) That said, the stories don’t lack variety: there’s a cyber-punkish tale about a human-mechanical hybrid farm which I think is meant to be funny; one where the author can’t decide whether he wants to write a comedy, a satire or a moving reflection on the evils of war – and fails on all counts; one about space pirates who hoist the jolly roger and keelhaul mutineers which is mildly amusing in a Lost in Space sort of way; and one about sword-wielding knights in shining armour who ride in steam trains and commit genocide against the indigenous inhabitants of a tidal locked planet. The latter story isn’t my cup of tea but at least it is well written and atmospheric which was a relief after the surfeit of colourless prose preceding it. A few of the other stories are also interesting and well written, with honourable mention going to Peter Watts’ clever retelling of “Who Goes There” from the alien’s perspective. But surely the test for the success of such an anthology is that it should make you eager to read more works by the authors included. On this count the score for me was one out of 39. I’d never heard of Greg Eagan before but his story “Glory” is a classic of the “first contact with aliens” sub-genre and my next project will be to read his oeuvre from start to finish. For those of you with a better knowledge of contemporary science fiction than I, this should give you enough of an idea of my tastes for you to judge my judgement of this collection.

[Jaishree]

1. The Potter Of Bones - Eleanor Arnason - 4*
2. Rouge Farm - Charles Stross - 3*
4. The Little Goddess - Ian McDonald - 5*
5. Dead Men Walking - Paul McAuley - 4*
6. Tin Marsh - MICHAEL SWANWICK - 4*
7. Good Mountain - ROBERT REED
8. Where the Golden Apples Grow -KAGE BAKER - 5*
9. The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter - ALASTAIR REYNOLDS - 5*
10. Glory - Greg Egan - 4*
11. Finisterra - DAVID MOLES 5*
12. The Illustrated Biography Of Lord Grimm -DARYL GREGORY -:3*
13. Utriusque Cosmi - Robert Charles Wilson - 5*
14. Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance - John Kessel - 4*
15. Useless Things - Maureen F. McHugh -not rating this one... It left me puzzled at the end.. Started out as the story of a woman living alone in a desert in what is probably post-apocalyptic America... And then it suddenly stopped after a attend paragraph that went off at a tangent.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and Disheartening

This collection conveys an idea that Science Fiction has become synonymous with overwritten stuff solely driven by political agenda. The selection of padded pieces with endless dialogues and social commentaries made the process of reading a real drag. There was no humour and hardly anything happened in the stories. Even the few readable pieces were maudlin.
However, almost all of these works sought to 'make a point' somehow. With so many pointy pieces without any real edge, this collection turns out to be a porcupine rather than an anthology.
Editorial work was shabby. In place of 'Mongoose', 'Boojum' has been included.
Overall, not recommended.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

9,5 Even though this collection does not contain the best stories of 35 editions of 'The Year's Best Science Fiction' (only the best of the 15 editions since the last overview of the series), the quality of the stories in here is astounding. As I had made a point of reading Dozois' 'The Year's Best Science Fiction' there were several stories in here I already knew, but as I have not read all volumes there were a lot of stories that were new to me as well. Almost all of the stories had the ineffable sense of being 'classics' in the genre. They had richly imagined worlds, well thought out twists and fascinating characters - and also had something to say about the world. There was a richness to them, that I associate with the best stories, in that they inspired my own imagination. Many stories in here made me think about new stories of my own and I got the urge to write again (even more than usual). It made picking up this hefty collection and dipping in exciting to me. Also, where in the 'The Year's Best Science Fiction'-volumes there were often more 'literary' or 'experimental' stories that I thought at best interesting, but that didn't engage me, they were in the minority here. There were no 'slice of life'-stories, or stories without a clear resolution. I think Dozois' own preferences were on show - and as they allign with my own, I am happy about that. There were some far future stories here (even extreme far future). Several stories about Mars and the perils of living on Mars. There were stories of AI, or the transfer of consciousness - e.g. to live on after death. Several stories played with human nature, with people changing their gender, their looks or even their species at will - what will be the common factor when everything is malleable. Of course there were some stories with climate change as a theme, but fewer than I had expected, because the subject returned often in the yearly collections.
I cannot review all 38 stories of course.
First some let downs.
'Hair' by Adam Roberts was well written but to me felt frivolous.
'The Memocordist' by Lavie Tidhar jumped around in time, but I wasn't able to wrap my head around it.
Then some of my favorites!
'The Potter of Bones' by Eleanor Arnason was a strong opening that at the same time streched the possibilites of the genre. On a different planet than ours, a woman discovers the principle of evolution. A fascinating exploration of curiosity and coming to conclusions - even if the world is not ready to accept them.
'The Little Goddess' by Ian McDonald takes place in future India en Nepal and fuses old traditions and new developments.
Robert Reed in 'Good Mountain' presents a catastrophic scenario on a weird planet. Well imagined, well thought out and with a tense conclusion (with a bit of ambiguity left in). I loved it thoroughly!
'Where the golden apples grow' by Kage Baker had a bit of an old fashioned feel. I had to think of Heinleins juveniles here - with two boys on Mars wishing they could change their positions in life.
Alastair Reynolds' 'The Sledge-Makers Daughter' was great as well - but what would you expect. His story was about a very small sliver of a far larger universe.
Another weird world can be found in 'Finisterra' by David Moles, that had giant living islands floating in the atmosphere of a gas giant, and humans trying to exploit them ... I love these lovingly imagined worlds ...
'Utriusque cosmi' by Robert Charles Wilson combines the largest scale with deep intimacy.
John Kessels 'Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance' has an adventurous story about religious artefacts and freedom. I liked the ending, which left the question whether it's a good ending or not.
The story by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear was a fun 'Lovecraft in space'.
'The Things' by Peter Watts is a classic re-imagining of the 1982 movie 'The Thing' and its inclusion here shows that there's a place for fan fiction.
'Weep for Day' was a touching steampunky story on a tidally locked planet and the human drive to conquer. I liked the protagonist a lot.
'The Best We Can' by Carrie Vaughn' was a wry little story.
'The Discovered Country' by Ian R. McLeod has an interesting exploration of (technological) life after death.
'The hand is quicker ...' by Elizabeth Bear is a depressing story about the way we close our eyes to those less well off than we are.
Another depressing, post climate change story is 'Calved' by Sam J. Miller where the gap between generations widens to an alarming extent. Great character work in this story.
'Jonas and the Fox' by Rich Larson is a tense, exciting story about revolution and the way it eats itself. And someone trying to get away ...
'Winter Timeshare' is a beautiful, touching story about two 'post humans' meeting each other each year in Istanbul.
All the rest of the stories are good as well. So if you are interested in SF short stories, or you are searching for inspiration to jump start your own imagination, this is a great place to start. I think this is a volume that will stay in my collection, and that I will pick up again to read some of my favorites.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all anthologies, I liked some of the stories and disliked others. I particularly liked the stories with strong female protagonists and the last story that laughs a bit at ESL teachers in Asia. I disliked the stories with lots of fighting, and I felt many of the stories ended too abruptly. This is, for me, often a problem with the short story genre. It feels like we barely get to know the characters and their situation, and then the story is over. After many of the stories, I found myself saying, "Wait! That's it!?"

FAVORITES

"The Potter of Bones" about women-run worlds in the future and the love between a maker of unusual pottery, who also collects fossils and thinks about evolution, and a space-wandering actress/writer.

"Finisterra" about the moral dilemmas of the daughter of a family of engineers. She escapes her very restrictive home life and gets herself hired as an engineer, even though she had never been allowed to get an engineering degree. She is a competent engineer, but she discovers her employer is genocidal.

"The Emperor of Mars" about the sensitive, unusual treatment of a man working on Mars who loses his sanity after learning of the death of his family on Earth.

"Calved" about a father who does absolutely the worst thing he can do to re-kindle his relationship with his son.

" My English Name" about a discinerating changling who spends a long period of time as an ESL teacher in China.


VIOLENT FIGHTING

"Dead Men Walking"

"Tin Marsh"

"The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm"

"Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance "

"TheThings"

"The Invasion of Venus"


ABRUPTLY ENDED

"The Sledge-Maker's Daughter"

"Hair"

"The Girl-Thing that Went Out for Sushi"

"Pathways"

"The Hand Is Quicker . . ."

"Some Day"

[Ari Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

[***] The Potter of Bones by Eleanor Arnason
[***] Rogue Farm by Charles Stross
[***] The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald
[***] Dead Men Walking by Paul McAuley
[*] Tin Marsh by Michael Swanwick
[***] Good Mountain by Robert Reed
[**] Where the Golden Apples Grow by Kage Baker
[***] The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter by Alastair Reynolds
[**] Glory by Greg Egan
[**] Finisterra by David Moles
[***] (read before) The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm by Daryl Gregory
[****] Utrinsque Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson
[***] Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance by John Kessel
[**] Useless Things by Maureen McHugh
[***] Mongoose by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
[****] Hair by Adam Roberts
[**] The Things by Peter Watts
[*] The Emperor of Mars by Allen M. Steele
[***] Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain by Yoon Ha Lee
[**] Martian Heart by John Barnes
[***] The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter
[**] Weep For Day by Indrapramit Das
[**] The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi by Pat Cadigan
[**] The Memcordist by Lavie Tidhar
[**] The Best We Can by Carrie Vaughn
[***] The Discovered Country by Ian R. MacLeod
[**] Pathways by Nancy Kress
[***] The Hand Is Quicker… by Elizabeth Bear
[***] Someday by James Patrick Kelly
[**] The Long Haul, From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 by Ken Liu
[**] Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight by Aliette De Bodard
[****] Calved by Sam J. Miller
[*] Emergence by Gwyneth Jones
[**] Rates of Change by James S.A. Corey
[***] Jonas and the Fox by Rich Larson
[***] KIT: Some Assembly Required by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz
[*] Winter Timeshare by Ray Nayler
[***] My English Name by R.S. Benedict

[Cole Schoolland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Collection. See ratings below.

Contents:
**** The Potter of Bones / Eleanor Arnason
**** Rogue Farm / Charles Stross
***** The Little Goddess / Ian McDonald
*** Dead Men Walking / Paul McAuley
**** Tin Marsh / Michael Swanwick
*** Good Mountain / Robert Reed
**** Where the Golden Apples Grow / Kage Baker
**** The Sledge-maker's Daughter / Alastair Reynolds
*** Glory / Greg Egan
**** Finisterra / David Moles
*** The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm / Daryl Gregory
**** Utriusque Cosmi / Robert Charles Wilson
*** Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance / John Kessel
***** Useless Things / Maureen McHugh
** Mongoose / Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
*** Hair / Adam Roberts
**** The Things / Peter Watts
**** The Emperor of Mars / Allen M. Steele
**** Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain / Yoon Ha Lee
**** Martian Heart / John Barnes
**** The Invasion of Venus / Stephen Baxter
**** Weep for Day / Indrapramit Das
*** The Girl-thing Who Went Out for Sushi / Pat Cadigan
** The Memcordist / Lavie Tidhar
**** The Best We Can / Carrie Vaughn
**** The Discovered Country / Ian R. MacLeod
**** Pathways / Nancy Kress
***** The Hand Is Quicker... / Elizabeth Bear*****
*** Someday / James Patrick Kelly
**** The Long Haul, From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 / Ken Liu
*** Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight / Aliette De Bodard
***** Calved / Sam J. Miller
*** Emergence / Gwyneth Jones
**** Rates of Change / James S.A. Corey
**** Jonas and the Fox / Rich Larson
**** Kit: Some Assembly Required / Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz
**** Winter Timeshare / Ray Nayler
***** My English Name / R.S. Benedict

[David Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavens Above! I've only read one story in this collection so far, but it was so good I feel compelled to give it a special plug right now. The Emperor of Mars, by Allen Steele, is absolutely the best science fiction story I have ever read. I'm not a prolific sci-fi reader but having experienced some of the best science fiction writers' work in the short form over the years - Ballard, Blish and Dick included - I have to say The Emperor of Mars even exceeds the work of these maestros. The tale, about a guy working on Mars whose family suffers a terrible fate back on Earth, and suffers badly psychologically as a result, is told with an empathy and humanity that I haven't seen in the other sci-fi short stories I've read so far. Steele also captures Mars' physical harshness and distance from Earth brilliantly but it is the characters and his insights into human psychology that make The Emperor of Mars so great. He also manages to pay homage to the legacy of many science fiction writers on Mars in the process. A brilliantly conceived and written tale that achieves so much in less than 20 pages. Three stars for the fact that this gem alone is in this collection.

[Steve Portigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been following this series off and on for a while. It's a 35 year old series so relatively speaking, I guess not all that long; and I've definitely not read every year. One of the things that attracted me to Goodreads to begin with was a way to keep track of which books in this particular series I had read, so that I don't re-purchase/re-read.

I didn't realize - until looking at this page - that Dozois had passed away and that this is the last entry overall in this series.

One of the limitations is that it's always a significant commitment to get through 700 pages of stories and I usually finish one of these books thinking that I won't do that again for a while :)

I had just started one of the annual collections when this book became available at the library so I'm bracketing this reading experience with two halves a very similar book.

ANYWAY, this collection was as you'd expect a mixed bag, some great storytelling, some great writing, and some "creative" yet inaccessible pieces. Starts strong, drags in the middle, picks up pace at the end.

[Kimberly]

I read 25.5 out of the 38 stories in this collection. My favorites were:

The Potter of Bones (Eleanor Arnason) - the opening story, slow and thoughtful and beautiful, made me want to pay more attention to the world around me.
Dead Men Walking (Paul McAuley) - intriguing setting, really made me want to read his Quiet War series.
Good Mountain (Robert Reed) - conversely, did not make me want to read the other Great Ship works at all, but this piece had great worldbuilding and was just delightfully fucking weird.
The Long Haul, from the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 (Ken Liu) - not much to say about this one, it was just good.
Calved (Sam J. Miller) - the ending hits you like a brick to the teeth, even though you can see it coming.

Dates read are approximate.

[Kimba Wisotsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this anthology does contain some stories that will stick with me forever (“The emperor of mars,” “boojum,” “utriusque cosmi”), not all of these are winners. Or even in the race. Some of this writing is frankly quite weak and underdeveloped. I thought the organization of the stories was well done, as similar stories are grouped together, and the best and worst stories are not clumped (I can’t imagine having to read “rogue farm” right after “memcordist,” and I wish I’d never read “someday” at all).

IMPORTANT is that there is a big typo! The story labeled “mongoose” is actually titled “boojum.” I spent way too long trying to figure out the meaning behind the title

Weirdly, although the book claims 35 years, it spans closer to 15 I think? I’d need to double check, but it def doesn’t cover that many years

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good collection, full of interesting ideas and humanity (or something related). Some more favorites:

Emergence by Gwyneth Jones
My English Name by R.S. Benedict
The Best We Can by Carrie Vaughn

And many others.