The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, edited by Jonathan Strahan, is challenging to review because it is about the pieces rather than the whole. Truthfully, I skipped a couple of stories, but for the most part, I enjoyed the variety and creativity. A stand-out fantasy story was "Probably Still the Chosen One" by Kelly Barnhill. An eleven-year-old girl enters a magical land under her sink and finds she's the chosen one. The priests train her and send her home, promising to return for her when the time is right. So, she waits, wonders, and grows up. On the science side, "Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance," by Tobias Buckell, featured a rogue AI saving the day. Many of the science stories featured some form of AI. I appreciate a well-crafted short story, and many of these stories are that. It was an excellent book to read while watching three granddaughters for a week. I could finish an entire story and feel like I accomplished something!
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River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer is a historical fiction novel. Rachel is a slave on a sugar plantation in Barbados. In 1834, England ended slavery. However, the plantation owners say that even though they are no longer slaves, they are now apprentices, unable to leave for at least six years. Rachel runs away to find her missing children, who were all sold. Eleanor Shearer draws on family history and her studies for her degree in Political History. It is lush with tactile detail and a formidable struggle. Rachel reminds me of a mythical hero facing enormous odds as she moves from understanding the world as a runaway slave to living as a free woman.
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