I sometimes find short fiction anthologies a bit difficult to slog through simply because there's no overarching story. There's nothing driving me onwards once I've finished each individual tale. I feel free to moon around, reading a piece here and a piece there.

I don't have that problem with the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series. Each story impresses me so much that I'm eager to rush into the next one in the hopes that it'll be just as good. And it almost always is.

I've read four of these mammoth anthologies now, and would consider this another solid installment in the series. It contains a lot of really good, literate fiction that explores genre concerns without every sacrificing literary quality. The stories are, for the most part, both thought-provoking and entertaining. There are a few that did little for me, but in each case I could see where the author was coming from and appreciated their grasp of the craft.

My favourite story was definitely "Gestella" by Susan Palwick. Palwick's style threw me straight into the narrative, and her buildup is just gorgeous. Even though I could see just how the story had to end, I found myself hoping against hope that I was wrong. That it had been tagged a horror selection as a mistake. But of course, there's been no error, either in Datlow's selection or Palwick's execution. It was brilliantly done; I'd consider it one of the best horror stories I've yet read. I also found "Prussian Snowdrops" by Marion Arnott, "The Adolescence of Orpheus" by Kurt Leland, and "Annabelle's Alphabet" by Tim Pratt particularly to my liking, and I found myself grinning ear to ear as I finished "His Own Backyard" by James P. Blaylock.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the summations. As always, I found the horror section jumbled and difficult, but the rest were very nicely done. I've acquired some good suggestions for future reading, listening and viewing. My poor TBR list!

My only (minor) complaint is that there isn't more traditional fantasy. While I applaud Datlow and Windling for looking outside normal genre boundaries, it would be nice to see a couple more stories that take a more literary approach to traditional fantasy. There are a few, but the vast majority of these tales are contemporary and/or urban, with decidedly magical realist leanings. It's not a bad thing, but it does nag at me a bit.

But overall, I highly recommend both this particular volume and the series as a whole. I would suggest that you try a volume or two out before you invest in many of them, though; there are plenty of readers who find Datlow and Windling's taste quite different from their own. ( )

What a slog! Ten days to read this immense anthology. Too long. Too many works. I’ve now finished both Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies I bought a while ago. I don’t think I’ll be picking up any more. There were three really outstanding stories, but overall I just don’t think I like enough of the stories to bear with more of the Datlow/Windling Best Ofs. The three I like most were "Onion", "Struwwelpeter", and "Gestella". "His Own Back Yard" follows closely after those. While I didn’t get most of the poetry, I don’t mind it so much because it’s usually short, and those who do like poetry get something they enjoy.

Ful review at my blog ( )

Jointly edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling. The 15th annual collection of the best in both fantasy & horror for 2001. As well as the stories, I especially love the well written and reasoned wrap up of what occured in all media for these genres, plus the pages of Notable Mentions at the end. That list provides so much more scope for further wishlist searching (as well as more author works to expand my library). ( )

Book Description: New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005. Fine. First Edition. Fifteenth Annual Collection.