Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition

by Rich Horton (editor), Ruth Nestvold, William Shunn

Collects the best science fiction stories written in 2006 by some of the genre's greatest authors, including Joe Haldeman, Alastair Reynolds, and Michael Swanwick. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

476 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of stories. I gave it 4 stars because not all the stories kept my interest.

The stories I liked the best were:
"Okanoggan Falls" by Carolyn Ives Gilman
"Saving for a Sunny Day" by Ian Watson
"The Cartesian Theater" by Robert Charles Wilson
"Incarnation Day" by Walter Jon Williams
"A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed

[Alex Jackl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic short fiction

These stories are all interesting and some of them are great- Benjamin Robinson's story about the House at the e n d of time is fabulous. Must read!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some brilliant stories in here, but enough bad ones to keep me from getting carried away with the rating. Me-Topia by Adam Roberts had some wonderfully poetic Neanderthals that made the whole story for me. Some of these, I'd read before. Inclination by William Shunn was set in a great universe and told a good tale. Jack Skillingstead impressed me once again with Life on the Preservation. The good stories make the book worth it.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the short story form. These were not the best short stories I ever read, but some were good. I liked The Cartesian Theater for its Theory of Mind aspects, though I didn't care for what felt like a disappointing resolution to the main action. Incarnation Day was fascinating. On the other hand, Exit Before saving did nothing for me, nor did Inclination. I think I liked A Billion Eves best of the bunch.

[Illyria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid collection of hard SF that delves deeply into questions of existence and divinity. All the stories are strong, generously and rivetingly fleshed out, but I love, especially, Carolyn Ives Gilman "Okanoggan Falls" and Robert Reed's "A Billion Eves".

The typos are a bit annoying and I don't know why the publisher had to list Joe Haldeman and Michael Swanwick on the cover if none of their works are included in the anthology. Other than that, it's a hugely satisfying book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many anthologies, suffers from being a bit spotty in quality, but basically I enjoyed all of the stories. Some very good ones and a few ho hum. I like the variation of a fast paced idea developed over a short work, but sometimes wish there was more character development. Still I guess you cannot have it both ways!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of meh, out of the 12 stories, I only found a few readable. By far my favorite was "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed but I was able to at least finish "Me-Topia" by Adam Roberts and "The Cartesian Theatre" by Robert Charles Wilson.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda what I expected...some stories were too short, some were too long. Some I didn't like, some I loved.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd and uneven collection of stories.

Incarnation Day by Walter Jon Williams was my favorite story.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not impressed. the Walter Jon WIlliams was interesting - and probably best (virtual children who become real at majorit).

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific collection of stories. There were only 2 that felt out of place but the beauty of an anthology is you can skip the parts you don't care for without disrupting any of the rest.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong anthology with good stories.
Favorites were Okanoggan Falls by Carolyn Ives Gillman, except the ending didn't make any sense to me.
Exit Before Saving by Ruth Nestvoid

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection has a good variety, including some really strong stories. It would have been nice to see more gender parity in the authors.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far and away, the best thing in this is Robert Reed's novella "A Billion Eves," which gets 4 stars. The group as a whole was much weaker.

[Danny]

Several good short stories, and a few not so great. Editor Rich Horton saved the best for last.

[Fritz]

Another anthology, but the entries are better than the Fantasy anthology entries