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As with many “Year’s Best” type anthologies (regardless of genre), it is difficult to evaluate Gardner Dozois’ The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection as if it were a whole. Unlike a themed collection (e.g., Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse), you cannot easily ask how each story is helping to advance or otherwise round-out the speculation or evaluation of that given theme. But that’s OK; that’s not why we pick up and read a collection like this. And it’s a hazard we’re willing — nay: happy — to take on.

That said, the rating for the collection here is a computed average of my ratings on the individual stories themselves. Out to four decimal places, the 24th Annual Collection scores: 3.3929

And now for the individual ratings¹ based on the 5-star scale used at GoodReads.com:

1. “I, Row-Boat” (Cory Doctorow) - ★★★
2. “Julian: A Christmas Story” (Robert Charles Wilson ) - ★★★
   • Not sure how this one sits with me; a re-read might better inform whether it’s holding up Christianity or vs. some ethical secularism but… Tough to say on the first hit. Also: steampunkish and yet not; definitely a post-Peak Oil tale and I wonder to myself if it wasn’t short-listed for inclusion in Wastelands or not.
3. “Tin Marsh” (Michael Swanwick) - ★★
4. “The Djinn’s Wife” (Ian McDonald) - ★★★★
   • If you’re too intimidated by River of Gods then this will almost serve as a substitute.
5. “The House Beyond Your Sky” (Benjamin Rosenbaum) - ★★★
   • Attempts depth but comes off as a bit opaque. A compact, dense story though and probably worth a re-read sometime.
6. “Where The Golden Apples Grow” (Kage Baker) - ★★★
   • Interesting and twisted take on the “Prince and the Pauper” fairy tale (though with two paupers). I wanted to like it a lot more but I found the story a bit predictable and maybe just a little pedantic. But I’m curious to see more by this gifted writer.
7. “Kin” (Bruce McAllister) - ★★
   • Couldn’t relate; felt forced. Also: where’s “the greater good” in exceptions?
8. “Signal to Noise” (Alastair Reynolds) - ★★★★★
   • Wow; head-spinningly good.
9. “The Big Ice” (Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold) - ★★★
   • Action for action; great for what it is.
10. “Bow Shock” (Gregory Benford) - ★★★
11. “In the River” (Justin Stanchfield) - ★★★★★
    • This is a good one to rub up against Blindsight for comparison.
12. “Incarnation Day” (Walter Jon Williams) - ★★★★
    • Nice use of voice and tone; also: it’s like a post-human Pinocchio!
13. “Far As You Can Go” (Greg Van Eekhout) - ★★★★
14. “Good Mountain” (Robert Reed) - ★★★
    • Had trouble getting into this one; too far afield?
15. “I Hold My Father’s Paws” (David D. Levine) - ★★★
16. “Dead Men Walking” (Paul J. McAuley) - ★★
17. “Home Movies” (Mary Rosenblum) - ★★★
    • A la PKD, but not enough D.
18. “Damascus” (Daryl Gregory) - ★★★
    • I liked this better as that X-Files episode²  Also: I don’t get the title. (Seems such a shame, had so much potential…)
19. “Life on the Preservation” (Jack Skillingstead) - ★★
    • I wanted to like it but it seemed like a bit of a warm-up…
20. “Yellow Card Man” (Paolo Bacigalupi) - ★★★★
    • Heavy and cynical and intense and sometimes a little hard to follow. Worth a re-read to pull it all together.
21. “Riding the Crocodile” (Greg Egan) - ★★★
22. “The Ile of Dogges” (Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette) - ★★
    • Trying to hard to be exactly what it is?
23. “The Highway Men” (Ken MacLeod) - ★★★★
24. “The Pacific Mystery” (Stephen Baxter) - ★★★★
25. “Okanoggan Falls” (Carolyn Ives Gilman) - ★★★★
26. “Every Hole Is Outlined” (John Barnes) - ★★★★
27. “The Town on Blighted Sea” (A.M. Dellamonica) - ★★★★★
28. “Nightingale” (Alastair Reynolds) - ★★★★★

BONUS ROUND: a quick detail of the reading pace (for comparison purposes only):

Click through for full size.

Review originally published on GoodReads.com.

1. With comments where I have them…[↩]
2. You know the one I’m talking about?  The one from Season Two?[↩]