Well curated SF collection. I especially appreciated stories from non euro-centric and asian parts of the world

A good anthologist is worth their weight in gold and Tidhar is such an anthologist. The picks here are superlative, the global representation exciting, and the stories showcase what is best about good sci-fi (for me anyway)---it makes you see the world and yourself again, it is radically epistemological and ontologically subversive; it is full of wonder. Moreover, these qualities unfold amidst excellent characterization and poignant human relationships and self-reflection. That said the styles delightfully range far and wide as do the themes (ai; time travel; alien civilization). Favorites include Nadia Afifi’s “The Bahrain Underground Bazaar," Saad Z. Hossain’s “Bring Your Own Spoon,” and Natalia Theodoridou's “To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds."

The Best of World SF: 2, edited by Lavie Tidhar, is an excellent anthology that offers a glimpse into the diverse and vibrant world of international speculative fiction. The collection features twenty-six stories from twenty-two countries, spanning a range of styles and themes. From the dystopian futures of China and Egypt to the magical realism of Latin America, the stories showcase a rich tapestry of voices and perspectives from around the globe.

One of the strengths of the anthology is the way it showcases both established and emerging writers. The collection includes stories from well-known names like Ken Liu, Nisi Shawl, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, as well as from up-and-coming authors like Xia Jia and Karin Tidbeck. This combination of familiar and new voices creates a sense of both continuity and innovation within the genre.

The stories themselves are consistently engaging and thought-provoking. Many deal with themes of identity, displacement, and cultural clashes, but each author brings their own unique spin to these topics. Some stories, like Tidbeck's "Sing" and Aliette de Bodard's "The Jaguar House, in Shadow," are haunting and evocative, while others, like Vajra Chandrasekera's "Pockets Full of Stones" and Liu's "The Snow of Jinyang," are action-packed and adrenaline-fueled.

Overall, The Best of World SF: 2 is a must-read for anyone interested in speculative fiction or in exploring the myriad ways in which stories can reflect and reimagine our world. Tidhar has done an excellent job curating a diverse and exciting collection that showcases the breadth and depth of international speculative fiction.

"It's easy to tell when a world is roused. Cyclones, earthquakes, lightning, drought, anomalous happenings. The omens are obvious. Harder to spot is the subtle build-up, for worlds lie in deep time and are slow to anger. If the universe is a clock, they are the hour hand and our lives are measured by the tock of the second hand. Most of us have forgotten how to read the lay of the land. Our ears are deaf to the voices in the wind, the soles of our feet numb to the gentle nudge of the soil we trudge upon, our hearts closed to the soul-song upon whose notes life and death flit."

I. love. Sci-fi. I love how as a genre, it can explore the absolutely bizarre and far-fetched, but it can also challenge the status quo much closer to home by reframing the norm as the abnormal. This collection of 29 short stories, carefully collected from all over the world and translated into English - span an entire range of of topics - from space and robots to capitalism, humanity and death.

"I don't toucher her. Not all places are intended for company. Some agonies you chart alone, walking the length of them until you've domesticated every contour and twinge".

Nearly every single tale, for me, masterfully captivated me. From exploring what it means to be free, observing humanity from the perspective of almost everyone except humans, I applaud Tidhar for proactively seeking non-English language tales in a field that is saturated by English-speaking authors and really appreciate the opportunity to discover so many new authors through a single anthology. I took notes and most certainly will seek out these authors for more.

"I allow it, thinking peace, for the first ancestors of any land are born out of self-sacrifice for the sake of the future. The living, and the dead are but part of a continuous present, separated only by an illusion."

I devoured the majority of these stories - granted, I skipped two - and find myself continuing to reflect on them months past finishing them. I took my time finishing this book as it felt like a rich resource I didn't want to deplete in a single week, and I stand by this decision. These stories are an ode to translated literature, to exploring not only new genres but new cultures and challenging our preferences. Prior to this collection, I wouldn't have said I liked robot stories, but after? Sign me up!

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc. I applaud this selection of short stories and eagerly await the (hopefully) third release.

Some really interesting, imaginative, thought-provoking and unique stories among this collection. I really hope many of them go onto be full blown novels. Science Fiction is a genre i didn’t use to read, but int he last couple of years i have become a huge fan! There are some really exciting authors among those in this book!

A very interesting collection of stories and I definitely have a couple of favorites, but overall I was expecting more stuff to wow me because of the list of brilliant authors in this collection.

Once again, Tidhar compiles 29 thought-provoking short stories from around the world. The selections, which span the near to the distant future and include a wide swath of subgenres represent the "leading edge of science fiction." I thoroughly appreciated the work focused on introducing to readers non-Anglophone science-fiction.

Oh gosh, this took me a very, very long time to read. Two reasons for that. The first is simply lack of time, the past few weeks were kinda difficult. And the second reason is that I didn´t enjoy this as much as I hoped.
In collections of short stories, it´s normal to see a whole range of likeability. I mean, you will surely find some gems, some that you like a lot and some that you don´t like at all. Sadly here there are a lot of average stories, which didn´t really encourage me to frequently come back to this collection.

But instead of focusing on these not-the-best stories, I´d like to say a few words about the brilliant ones.
First, I would like to recommend a story from the Philippines about food. Sounds horrible, right? But what the story is pointing out is much, much worse. If you have a look at the present world you will see that we don´t have enough land on which we can safely grow real food for always growing population. Scientists have been working for decades on alternatives. We might quite soon be all fed on ready mix containing all the necessary ingredients. Real food might become too expensive and extremely rare. This story is about what might happen with society, and with people when this scenario becomes a reality. Bloody scary.
Two stories from China are worth your attention too. They explore the topic of freedom in a very concerning way. Before you read these stories please do a bit of research about totalitarian country and how Chine uses technology to control its citizens. Creepy and real !!!!
Brazil - why do people throw out gods and what happened then? Sounds weird? Maybe, but this one is worth your time as well.
And finally, even though robots aren´t my thing, this story from Czech Republic is really awesome. We slowly handle ourselves to AI and robots. What if... they decide to conduct a human genocide? This idea sounds ridiculous, right? It´s impossible and stupid. Well, read this story and then we can talk.

"The Best of World SF: 2" contains 29 thought provoking speculative fiction stories from around the world. (Many of them translations.) It is a tribute to the editor that some of these stories will already be familiar to readers of the various science fiction/fantasy magazines. Although many of these authors in this collection may not be well known names in the West they are all serious and successful authors.

Personally, I have a preference for hard core science fiction that focuses on science and tech while including a healthy dose of adventure. However, the most satisfying stories have a some new concept (e.g., uniquely alien alien society, etc) that make one take a step or two back and ponder. Nearly each of these stories came from a sufficiently different cultural background that I was constantly on my toes adjusting to the new ideas, challenges, and even ways of thinking. This book was less casual entertainment and much more a truly philosophical mind journey.

I recommend this collection for people that enjoy speculative fiction and wish to broaden their perspective on the world.

I thank the editor and publisher for graciously providing a temporary electronic review copy of this collection.,

A worthwhile read, but not an especially enjoyable one, if that makes any sense. A bit of an "eat your vegetables" kind of book, where I knew I was getting positive things out of it (different perspectives, different settings) but didn't really like many of the stories. I was really hoping to uncover new authors to dive into, but of the two best stories, one ("The Easthound") is by Nalo Hopkinson, who needs no discovery, and the other ("The Beast is Dead," a terrific little alt-history number) is by an author, Bef (a.k.a. Bernardo Fernández) who doesn't seem to have very much, if at all, available in translation. So that was a bust, although I guess it will spur me to actually get around to reading Hopkinson.

One big problem with the collection: it's just too long, over 600 pages, and by the end I was just a little fatigued with it. It didn't help that perhaps the two longest stories, Neon Yang's "Between the Firmaments" (a novella, really) and K.A. Teryna's "The Farctory," come 4th from last and last, respectively, and to be honest I didn't have the stamina for them and skipped the bulk of each. Neon Yang is highly regarded in SFF circles so I feel like I probably missed out on something there, but I just couldn't anymore by that point. This is already Volume 2 of this "Best of World SF" business -- cut it down a little, it doesn't hurt to save some material for a Volume 3.

This was a great collection of short stories. Each story had a brief description on why the editor chose it and it's history. I am not a big sci-fi reader but I like to tip my ties into the world to sample some great stories. This one didn't disappoint me as it seem to have something for everyone's taste. It's a great book to find new authors or to help you would out what type of sci-fi books you like. I also like trying the different styles or writing. Obviously when testing the waters I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others but I read and experienced each and every one. I misunderstood the title I thought world would of ment our world meaning dystopia style stories. However this book focuses of writers from all over the world including some translated stories. There were plenty of stories to sample and silly me didn't write down the titles or the ones that were my favourites. I thought the book was heavy on the artifical intelligence stories though. I really liked my sci-fi stories set in space and those write about Mars. The book worked and flowed well. I like the way the author set them into loose sections based on type of story. This would recommend this book to those new to sci-fi and those looking to find new authors. What's good is you can always try a sample of the book from retail sites to see if this book is a perfect fit for you. I especially loved the first few stories. 

So much praise goes out to the editor and publishers for putting together this collection of stories. I'm hoping there is another book but fingers crossed it is organised into sub genres so I can find my best type of SCI-FI stories as this would help others to find their niche market. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-best-of-world-sf-vol-2-by-lavie-tidhar-head-of-zeus-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

A solid collection, and above average overall. Anthologies seem to receive lower ratings than novels for some reason, but this set of stories has some great authors, a nice variety of stories, and will likely satisfy most that pick it up. Good stuff.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

Tidhar did an excellent job picking a wide array of stories, as with writing a beautiful introduction chapter. Good mix of voices representing characters all across the sexual and pronoun spectrum.
My per story ratings are below, from skip to 5. The skipped stories I just didn’t vibe enough with to finish but are still good selections.
Nadia Afifi The Bahrain Underground Bazaar - 4
Lavanya Lakshminarayan The Ten-Percent Thief -skip
Frances Ogamba At Desk 9501… - 4
Isabel Yap Milagroso -5
Saad Z. Hossain Bring Your Own Spoon - Skip
Yukimi Ogawa Blue Grey Blue - 2.5
Xing He Your Multicolored Life translated by Andy Dudak - 3
Nalo Hopkinson The Easthound - 3
Pan Haitian Dead Man, Awake, Sing to the Sun! translated by Joel Martinsen - 4.5
Jacques Barcia Salvaging Gods - 3
Edmundo Paz Soldán The Next Move translated by Jessica Sequeira - 3.5
Dilman Dila The Child of Clay - Skip
Natalia Theodoridou To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds - 3
Bef The Beast Has Died translated by Brian Price Alberto - 5
Chimal Twenty About Robots translated by Fionn Petch - 3.25
Wole Talabi The Regression Test - 5
William Tham Wai Liang Kakak - skip
Usman T. Malik Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love -5
Julie Nováková A Flaw in the Works- 5
Cassandra Khaw When We Die on Mars - 3
Tobias S. Buckell and Karen Lord The Mighty Slinger -3.5
T.L. Huchu Corialis - 4
Clelia Farris The Substance of Ideas translated by Rachel Cordasco - 4
Agnieszka Hałas Sleeping Beauties -4.5
Samit Basu Waking Nydra - 4.5
Neon Yang Between the Firmaments - skip
Bo-Young Kim Whale Snows Down translated by Sophie Bowman - skip
Hassan Blasim The Gardens of Babylon translated by Jonathan Wright - skip
K.A. Teryna The Farctory translated by Alex Shvartsman - skip

What I especially enjoyed was the unique sense of place that each story provided. As they came from different countries, it was quite a mosaic! They were some very unique tales unlike any I had read before and there were also a few that just fell flat. Overall The enjoyable and good vastly outnumbered the few I skimmed through. That’s a good sign for any anthology.

This type of collections is an excellent way to discover new sci-fi gems and new to me authors. There's a lot of fascinating and gripping story, Lavie Tidhar did an excellent job in selecting this hidden gems and this authors.
Some stories are more on the experimental side, some more classic. All of them are well done.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a superb collection of SF from around the world, charmingly introduced by Lavie Tidhar. While I'd like to have had more stories in this volume that hadn't already been reprinted multiple times, I can't complain about revisiting some true masterpieces and finding new wonders along the way. Readers should approach this with a very open mind as to what SF is and how it can be written; traditionalists will have a hard time with some of the more experimental, less linear pieces here. Those looking for new authors to read, new ideas to consider, and new ways of thinking of genre will find a lot to like here.

I am an avid reader. Always looking for new authors in general and scifi in specifics. I often read anthologies where I not only find authors I might not be familiar with, I find some of my favorite authors flexing their writing skills into new directions. I always have an anthology open and ready so I have something to read in those times where you don't have the needed time for a multi chapter book. The authors of a short story must be able to grab the readers attention quickly and wrap their story around the characters with a swift race to the end. Not everyone can do this.
The editor of this anthology has chosen what he feels are the best sf short stories of the year. Some I'd agree, some I wouldn't. That is the wonderful world of antholgies. Welcome, come on in and set a spell. You can thank me later.

This collection truly is the best of world scifi. From past to future, from Earth to space to new worlds, the selection of international authors and stories is impressive and immersive. The range of the writers chosen is extensive and many of the stories linger on the reader's mind long after finishing. Pick it up and find new obsessions!

The trouble with reviewing mixed-author short story anthologies is that you're not always going to like every story, especially in one as eyes-on-the-prize as Lavie Tidhar put together here. This is a very, very personal collection, much more-so than I believe his introduction gives himself credit for. Each story is prefaced with a short description of his reasoning behind a story's introduction, and many of these are collected from author's published works that Tidhar chose rather than commissioned.

All of this is good, wonderful even, but Tidhar's interest in science-fiction is not mine. His is a world of aesthetic beauty, where I want depth; he wants to find meaning in tangible objects like food or colour or grand worldbuilding while I want meaning in ideas and conflict and history. I respect that, of course, but it made working through this collection much harder realizing that I wasn't just going to occasionally be out of my comfort zone but almost every story would be at odds with me.

My favourite stories in this collection are almost exclusively the ones translated from other languages and written specifically for this anthology. Your Multicoloured Life, The Beast Has Died, A Flaw In The Works, Sleeping Beauties, The Gardens of Babylon: they all felt fresh and purposeful and full of ideas in a way that American science fiction glosses over. The Bahrain Underground Bazaar, the opening story, might be the best of the entire collection, as it not only has a sense of space and scale, but it is *about* something, about death and suicide and guilt. This is kind of science fiction white English/American science fiction drowns the voices out. It's honest.

Moreover, I will admit that I did fall for some of Tidhar's aesthetic interest in Yikimi Ogawa's Blue Grey Blue, which in my opinion fails to garner the sympathy and message out of its story, but succeeds at being just very, very good with such brevity and purpose.

All that being said, I disliked a lot more than I liked, and the absolute nadir of this Between the Firmaments by Neon Yang. Poorly written, no focus, and wordy; lost in a thesaurus and full of ill-placed "I did not want to know his truth" (pg. 363) neologisms that do not mean anything. The setting was fine, but for all its Elevated Science Fiction tone, it was utterly meaningless. Not even fun action meaningless: no ideas, just vibes.

Others were less egregious, but bored me. I'm not surprised. Tidhar admits in his introduction that this will not be a traditional best-of anthology, "[a] more usual one simply reprints those stories, printed throughout the previous year, which the editor deems the best for their own personal reasons" (pg 8). So I respect what he has put together, but in the end, as a reader, I wish that it *had* been more traditional. I wish we could have seen World Science Fiction beyond what becomes clear in his story introductions are stories by his friends in various countries -- "If i am to offer a (however skewed) vision of what international SF looks like today" (pg 8) -- It all felt a little slapdash, much like this review.

However, I will say that I will now seek out volume 1. I love science fiction in translation; Tidhar notes that "for nearly any other language, translations from English account for fifty percent or more of all titles, and the figure is considerably higher for science fiction. The average non-Anglophone reader will be well-versed in American literature. The opposite, sadly, cannot be said to be true." (pg. 8). That is why work like this is important, and why even a negative review wants me to give this a much higher rating than I normally would. There's a lot of good here. Just skip the bad.

A mishmash of stories, some were really good, some were okay, a few I skipped after sampling. It's really cool to see all these different styles and voices from across the world, though, and I found several new authors to follow!