Book review
Edited by George Mann
Published by Solaris Books
Release date Out now

This latest, door stop-sized collection of new fantasy fiction is filled with some of the best and most interesting contemporary voices in the genre….

Running the gamut from historical fantasy to more traditional and contemporary fare, this new Solaris collection showcases not only the heavy hitters like Jeff Vandermeer and Mike Resnick but newer names like James Maxey and TA Pratt.

The beauty of a book like this is that if you don’t like a particular story you can simply skip to the next, and Mann has selected a varied and consistently interesting collection of stories. Mark Chadbourn’s ‘Who Slays The Gyant, Wounds The Beast’ is particularly strong, an Elizabethan tale of espionage and fantasy packed with action, energy and invention. Likewise, James Maxey’s ‘A Tornado of Sparks’ is a genuinely chilling take on Dragon politics, providing some welcome back-story for one of the most interesting characters in his excellent novel Bitterwood.

A very well known figure makes an unexpected and welcome return in Chris Roberson’s excellent ‘Such Small Deer’. And TA Pratt’s ‘Grander Than The Sea’ will please fans of comic series Fables with it’s laconic, wryly amusing take on the politics of modern magic and why, sometimes, a fake elder Sea God is better than a real one.

Inevitably, not every story here will be to your taste; but that’s the point of a varied collection like this. Alasdair Stuart

VERDICT: 8/10
Packed with unique voices and great stories this is a hugely impressive sampler of modern fantasy.