Rating: 
Summary: Standout edition of a standout series
Review: This is the fifteenth edition I've read, and it's one of the strongest. As always, Dozois includes a wide range of styles and themes, from the lyrical to the hardest of hard science. So...while there's always something for everybody, you can't expect to enjoy every story. My favorites:Good:
"Going After Bobo"--Heartwrenching, poetic character study, but the plot is pretty thin.
"Crux"--Dark detective story/social commentary set in a brutal post-holocaust future dominated by the Orient. Quite violent, with a fast paced and tighty knit plot.
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O"--Time travel with two amazing characters. Provocative, in-your-face prose.
"Radiant Green Star"--Another violent future world dominated by the Orient. This time it's a traditional mystery combined with a poetic coming-of-age story.
"Great Wall of Mars"--A cult of humans with networked implants battle unnetworked humans for survival. Lots of action, great speculation on the potential of the human mind.
"A Colder War"--Alternate Cold War history with aliens causing major problems for both sides. Confusing plot, but highly realistic narrative keeps it interesting anyway. Great:
"The Suspect Genome"--Future world whodunit, set in an England where police work has been somewhat privatized. Brilliant plot construction and writing keep you engaged all the way.
"On the Orion Line"--Man versus powerful and inscrutable aliens deep in space, far in the future. Well developed characters, fast paced and straightforward plot.
"Obsidian Harvest"--Another future world detective story set in England. What makes this one extraordinary is the premise, where the Aztecs dominate the world--human sacrifices, feathered capes, lots of tequila. Add hard-boiled prose in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett (his "Red Harvest" is great) and you have something unforgettable.
"Patient Zero"--Nightmarish account of a dreadful near-future. Great plot, great characters, and makes some strong statements in only fifteen pages.
Rating: 
Summary: A Stellar anthology of fabulous fiction
Review: This latest edition of Gardner Dozois' long-running Year's Best SF anthology series is worth every penny. I enjoyed nearly every story in the volume and found it to be, on the whole, much stronger than previous year's editions. Highlights of the volume include 'The Birthday of the World' by Ursula Le Guin; in which a race of 'gods' struggle for power, 'Crux' by Albert Cowdrey; a time travel adventure that has more similarities to the old pulp stories than most recent SF, 'Radiant Green Star' by Lucius Shepard; a fabulous story about an orphan's search for his father while he performs in a circus in Vietnam, 'Great Wall of Mars' by Alastair Reynolds; the story of a renegade colony on Mars and attempts to eradicate it, 'On the Orion Line' by Stephen Baxter; a story of war in space that I found to be one of Baxter's most literate and readable stories, 'A Colder War' by Charles Stross; a brilliant meld of Cthulu fiction and Cold War politics, and my favorite story in the volume 'Tendeleo's Story' by Ian McDonald; the story of a young girl in Africa who grows up amid invasion by alien spores. Like all anthologies, not all stories will please all readers. I found 'Milo and Sylvie' by Eliot Fintushel to be WAY overlong, boring, and without a coherent plot. 'Snowball in Hell' by Brian Stableford bogged down with too much gengineering talk...too many big words, not enough plot extrapolation. This truly is a collection of the Best SF of the year. There are only a handful of stories that didn't make the book that may have been deserving (stories by Jeffrey Ford, Kage Baker, Charles Sheffield, & Robert Reed spring immediately to mind). By and large the stories in this book are extremely well-written with fascinating plots. Consider 'Oracle' by Greg Egan, a story with thinly veiled characterizations of C.S. Lewis and Alan Turing...this is a story that science fiction is all about. With the exception of the two stories I mentioned earlier, there isn't a sub-par story in this collection. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Stellar anthology of fabulous fiction
Review: This latest edition of Gardner Dozois' long-running Year's Best SF anthology series is worth every penny. I enjoyed nearly every story in the volume and found it to be, on the whole, much stronger than previous year's editions. Highlights of the volume include 'The Birthday of the World' by Ursula Le Guin; in which a race of 'gods' struggle for power, 'Crux' by Albert Cowdrey; a time travel adventure that has more similarities to the old pulp stories than most recent SF, 'Radiant Green Star' by Lucius Shepard; a fabulous story about an orphan's search for his father while he performs in a circus in Vietnam, 'Great Wall of Mars' by Alastair Reynolds; the story of a renegade colony on Mars and attempts to eradicate it, 'On the Orion Line' by Stephen Baxter; a story of war in space that I found to be one of Baxter's most literate and readable stories, 'A Colder War' by Charles Stross; a brilliant meld of Cthulu fiction and Cold War politics, and my favorite story in the volume 'Tendeleo's Story' by Ian McDonald; the story of a young girl in Africa who grows up amid invasion by alien spores. Like all anthologies, not all stories will please all readers. I found 'Milo and Sylvie' by Eliot Fintushel to be WAY overlong, boring, and without a coherent plot. 'Snowball in Hell' by Brian Stableford bogged down with too much gengineering talk...too many big words, not enough plot extrapolation. This truly is a collection of the Best SF of the year. There are only a handful of stories that didn't make the book that may have been deserving (stories by Jeffrey Ford, Kage Baker, Charles Sheffield, & Robert Reed spring immediately to mind). By and large the stories in this book are extremely well-written with fascinating plots. Consider 'Oracle' by Greg Egan, a story with thinly veiled characterizations of C.S. Lewis and Alan Turing...this is a story that science fiction is all about. With the exception of the two stories I mentioned earlier, there isn't a sub-par story in this collection. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Many Diamonds in the Ruff
Review: Was 1999 the greatest year ever for short SF? Definately not. That's exactly why reading through Volume 17 of Gardner Dozier's "The Year's Best Science Fiction" is worth the investment. I wish I had the time to buy and read the great SF magazines like Asimov's and Interzone. But I don't; so I let the editor and his associates do it for me. When I read books in this series, I start by skipping to the editor's comments at the beginning of each story. Gardner's degree of narrative excitement generally helps the reader quickly decide which stories to enjoy first. Also, the reader will find many authors in each volume that should list among their favorites in the genre. Highlights from Volume 17 include: 1. "The Wedding Album", by David Marusek. Highly original and creative. This story seems just on the verge of possibility as our 21st Century technology rapidly advances. Use a daytimer? Remember, kids today don't know what a daytimer is. Maybe their Palm will tell them what it did back in the old days. 2. "10 (to the 16th Power)", by James Patrick Kelly. Haunting. Really. Read it. 3. "People Came From Earth", by Stephen Baxter. Have enjoyed many previous Baxter pieces in the "Year's Best" series. This story is very short, very well done, and very sad. 4. "Hatching the Phoenix", by Frederick Pohl. Give me all the Heechee you can. Please. Especially stuff this good. 5. "A Martian Romance", by Kim Stanley Robinson. Essential for fans of the already classic Mars series. 6. "Son Observe the Time", by Kage Baker. Best written story in the entire Company series. Worth the price of the book in itself. Everything else is gravy. All these gems, plus: Ben Bova, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Tanith Lee, Robert Silverberg, and many other fine modern writers. Short works are the foundation of SF. Books like the Dozier edited "Year's Best" series help remind fans that most creative and fun ideas don't necessarily require 300 or more pages to provide major enjoyment. Previous volumes have rated higher, but this year's effort contains many good stories fans want to read. I would most accurately rate this book at 3.80 stars, rounded up to 4.00.
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