Customer Reviews

The 1988 Annual World's Best SF

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This collection is stuffed with something for everyone. "The Pardoner's Tale," set in a future where people's jobs are conscripted and everyone has to do a turn at backbreaking labor no matter what your health condition is, The Pardoner could give you a break, for a price. "Rachel in Love" is a sweet story about a sentient simian. Personally, I found "America" by Orson Scott Card disturbing and a little sexually graphic. I believe "Crying in the Rain" was my favorite story in the book, I was so fascinated I couldn't lift my eyes from the page. I didn't fully understand "The Sun Spider" but it was interesting how the perspective shifted from the husband to the wife. "Angel" might be an angel or he might be something else, but he's sure nice to have around. I liked "Forever Yours, Anna" a lot because the science fiction-y twist didn't come until the end, and up until then it was kinda like a regular mystery. "Second Going" introduced us to a race of aliens called Angli, who seem very benevolent, but what exactly is their purpose here? Why did they choose to contact us? "Dinosaurs" was heartbreaking, and author Williams did a great job causing the reader to identify not with the humans in the tale, but with the aliens. The final tale, "All Fall Down" is somewhat of a sequel to a story in the 1984 collection called "The Leaves of October." It was fascinating to revisit the Hlutr, many years in the future, and see how they once again have to make a decision about whether the humans live or die.