I am a huge time travel stories fan, but I was not able to finish this book. I really gave it a chance, read the first 9 stories, but none of them really engaged me. I feel like they are too far out there. I will probably try it a second time in the future. ( )

473 ( )

I'm not that fond of anthologies, and this one was *too big*, especially for a book group selection where part of the fun is to compare stories we particularly liked or disliked. I didn't care for the (very) vaguely thematic grouping: it would have been more interesting to have them arranged chronologically so we could see the subgenre developing over the last hundred years (that is not an exaggeration). There were a great number of New Wave stories -- a period of experimentation in SF that I particularly disliked. The short nonfiction pieces between sections varied greatly: I liked one of them.

There were a few of the stories that I liked, and one I disliked that I must reluctantly appreciate as art, but I didn't enjoy this collection.

( )

Excellent and diverse collection of some of the best time travel SF.
( )

Another artful anthology from the Vandermeers. The introductions and sections and organization of this anthology is just astounding. Such a good lesson in themes and taste and choice.

One of my favorite Anthologies from the past few years was The Weird. Originally, I was kind of hesitant to get this as I'm not a huge fan of scifi but the variety in this anthology convinced me to get it. I'm glad I did. I think it has something that'll appeal to pretty much everyone. Also, I really enjoyed the non-fiction pieces too including the intro by Rian Johnson.

There are too many gems in this collection to name them all here. One of my absolute favorite was "Traveler's Rest" about a soldier who fights a war in a place where time passes more slowly then when he travels back home. The story is a very interesting idea and the ending was fantastic.

Another one of my favorites though was a contemporary piece called "Hwang's Billion Brilliant Daughters" and it's about a man who is propelled into the future every time he sleeps where he meets his descendants. I also really enjoyed "Fire Watch", the story of a history student who is sent back to London during World War II where he serves on the fire watch for St Paul's Cathedral.

"Enoch Soames" was a dark yet humorous tale about a writer who makes a deal with the devil to go into the future to witness his notoriety. "Life Trap" was a short but dark tale about an occult that finds out what happens after death. Lastly, "The Threads of Time" was an interesting story about an agent for the qhal who are allowed to travel into the past to mend time.

I got both a hardcover copy and the kindle ebook. The dust jacket and artwork look great for the physical book. Also, the kindle version is well formatted. Sometimes anthologies on Amazon have formatting problems and problems in the ToC. This did not.

One downside is that the physical book is really big. It's a little too big to hold with one hand so that's why I got the kindle version too. I still go back and reread pieces from The Weird every now and then and I think I'll do the same with TTA ( )