Rating: 
Summary: Not a loser in the bunch
Review: "Shared universe" collections are usually haphazard at best, but the essential Borderlands is brilliant all the way through. Some touching, some funny, all imaginatve, wild, and evocative of a place we all wish to be lost in. Elves, drugs, and rock and roll, with a very literate twist. No need to have read prior books, this one will sweep you up and carry you away. The only short story collection in my "best books" list.
Rating:
Summary: Not a loser in the bunch
Review: "Shared universe" collections are usually haphazard at best, but the essential Borderlands is brilliant all the way through. Some touching, some funny, all imaginatve, wild, and evocative of a place we all wish to be lost in. Elves, drugs, and rock and roll, with a very literate twist. No need to have read prior books, this one will sweep you up and carry you away. The only short story collection in my "best books" list.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: A little precious and twee, but still worth reading. I had just read Emma Bull's Finder (set in the same universe), which is a good novel and has a lot of emotional depth. These short stories were just to short and obvious in comparison. I was also annoyed by the tour guide format, especially the "rah-rah" aspects which came out quite smug. Oh well.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Back to the Border! Yeahhhhhh! Put on your dancin' shoes everybody! This book is totally awesomely one hundred per cent groovy!
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST ONE YET!
Review: Chicago Reader(review below), I challenge you to a duel by pistols (no make that Border-magic) at dawn! You are wrong, wrong, wrong! This book is still the Borderland we know and love. (Gentrification? Phooey!) B-town is still gritty/still fey/still full of mean streets and rock-n-roll but also full of color/magic/the angst of young human- and elven-beings living life on the edge. The stories make it clear that a few years have passed since the earlier books and the 'town has changed, but Soho is still Soho. And a bit o' change is good, it would be awful if the books stayed stuck in a 1980s vibe. The new book is less "Adam Ant" and "Thompson Twins" than earlier books like Bordertown, Finder, etc.--more "AfroCeltic Sound System" or "Dead Can Dance", more worldbeat and world culture in them which is a great thing as far as I'm concerned, a personal opinion sure but one shared by my circle of Border fans here. The Delia Sherman story was my personal fav (welcome to Bordertown, Ms. Sherman!) but there was plenty o' other good tunes here too. Patricia A. McKillip's story broke my heart, Ellen Kushner's story made me laugh, Midori Snyder is back in fine form and I liked the less polished but raw and dynamic stories by newcomers like Jenna Felice and Donnard Sturgis too. Special nod to Felicity Savage for her cool and snarky tale at the end o' the book. There's one thing me and Chicago Reader can agree on though: Ms. Windling's "guide" pieces are the absolute best. To the writers and editors of this volume: thanx from all us Border Rats here in Flagstaff. Borderland just keeps getting better and better. Those of you readers who may be new to the Border, the other books in the series are great, but start with this one. Start with the best.
Rating:
Summary: Different from other entries in the series, but equally good
Review: Going by other reader reviews of this book, some fans of the series were disappointed by The Essential Bordertown--they felt the stories "just weren't the same" or something. Of course they weren't the same! It has a different character than other books in the series, but that's only to be expected from an anthology, and I enjoyed it immensely. One of its best features, to my mind, is the way "guidebook" excerpts are placed between the stories--for those unfamiliar with Bordertown, they provide excellent background material, and for fans, they're full of little jokes and references to familiar locations/people/events. They also make good transitions from one story to the next. The book contains 13 stories (how apropos) by Patricia A. McKillip, Midori Snyder, Delia Sherman, Donnard Sturgis, Ellen Kushner, Michael Korolenko, Elisabeth Kushner, Charles de Lint, Caroline Stevermer, Steven Brust, Ellen Steiber, Micole Sudberg, and Felicity Savage, of which four particularly struck me. I loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Oak Hill" for many reasons, but one of them is that its protagonist reminded me of myself in junior high--a lonely girl with bad skin looking for magick. I particularly liked the fact that the girl has no terrible reason to come to Bordertown; she just wants something better--something more--than what she has. McKillip's prose is beautiful as ever, and the ending, though of course I won't give it away, is simple and powerful. "Dragon Child" by Midori Snyder is largely set in Dragontown, which has always been one of my favorite areas of Bordertown. Eli, half elvin and half human, escapes from his cruel elvin father to Bordertown, where he struggles to fully free himself from the aristrocratic father who has controlled him all his life. The story doesn't offer any easy answer to Eli's problems; it may be about a boy who blurs the border between the World and Faerie, but it's realistic. "Changeling" by Elisabeth Kushner I admit I was already predisposed to like--young lesbians desperately trying to build a happy life for themselves have always had a special place in my heart. "Oak Hill" shows Bordertown as a place to run to; "Changeling," like "Dragon Child," shows it as a place to run away to. Selkie/Seal (neither her given name, of course; people who come to Bordertown frequently give themselves new names, in the hopes of new lives) is trying to find a place where her "difference" won't stand out, and comes to Bordertown--where it might not be easier, but it might also be better. The final member of my top four, Ellen Steiber's "Argentine," is about an elvin girl who didn't run anywhere--she was banished, her memory erased, to Bordertown, where she does what she seems to do best: steals. Argentine seeks out things that matter to people, and takes them, to feel the love they contain. But no thief's luck lasts forever, as the ghost of a dead man is only too happy to remind her when she takes his living lover's necklace. Steiber makes Argentine a sympathetic character, despite the things she does, and Roberto, already dead, is tragic. This story makes me cry almost every time I read it. The Essential Bordertown definitely holds its own within the series, and I highly recommend it--and if you like it, you should try to find the others, although some are out of print and hard to get ahold of.
Rating:
Summary: Different from other entries in the series, but equally good
Review: Going by other reader reviews of this book, some fans of the series were disappointed by The Essential Bordertown--they felt the stories "just weren't the same" or something. Of course they weren't the same! It has a different character than other books in the series, but that's only to be expected from an anthology, and I enjoyed it immensely. One of its best features, to my mind, is the way "guidebook" excerpts are placed between the stories--for those unfamiliar with Bordertown, they provide excellent background material, and for fans, they're full of little jokes and references to familiar locations/people/events. They also make good transitions from one story to the next. The book contains 13 stories (how apropos) by Patricia A. McKillip, Midori Snyder, Delia Sherman, Donnard Sturgis, Ellen Kushner, Michael Korolenko, Elisabeth Kushner, Charles de Lint, Caroline Stevermer, Steven Brust, Ellen Steiber, Micole Sudberg, and Felicity Savage, of which four particularly struck me. I loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Oak Hill" for many reasons, but one of them is that its protagonist reminded me of myself in junior high--a lonely girl with bad skin looking for magick. I particularly liked the fact that the girl has no terrible reason to come to Bordertown; she just wants something better--something more--than what she has. McKillip's prose is beautiful as ever, and the ending, though of course I won't give it away, is simple and powerful. "Dragon Child" by Midori Snyder is largely set in Dragontown, which has always been one of my favorite areas of Bordertown. Eli, half elvin and half human, escapes from his cruel elvin father to Bordertown, where he struggles to fully free himself from the aristrocratic father who has controlled him all his life. The story doesn't offer any easy answer to Eli's problems; it may be about a boy who blurs the border between the World and Faerie, but it's realistic. "Changeling" by Elisabeth Kushner I admit I was already predisposed to like--young lesbians desperately trying to build a happy life for themselves have always had a special place in my heart. "Oak Hill" shows Bordertown as a place to run to; "Changeling," like "Dragon Child," shows it as a place to run away to. Selkie/Seal (neither her given name, of course; people who come to Bordertown frequently give themselves new names, in the hopes of new lives) is trying to find a place where her "difference" won't stand out, and comes to Bordertown--where it might not be easier, but it might also be better. The final member of my top four, Ellen Steiber's "Argentine," is about an elvin girl who didn't run anywhere--she was banished, her memory erased, to Bordertown, where she does what she seems to do best: steals. Argentine seeks out things that matter to people, and takes them, to feel the love they contain. But no thief's luck lasts forever, as the ghost of a dead man is only too happy to remind her when she takes his living lover's necklace. Steiber makes Argentine a sympathetic character, despite the things she does, and Roberto, already dead, is tragic. This story makes me cry almost every time I read it. The Essential Bordertown definitely holds its own within the series, and I highly recommend it--and if you like it, you should try to find the others, although some are out of print and hard to get ahold of.
Rating:
Summary: suffering from a serious lack of sleep...
Review: I just bought this book last night and stayed up all night to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, actually, I guess you can say I sucked the marrow out of it. I agree with the other reviewers, Terri Windling's guide book is the best part of the collection, but it's all good, baby! I can't wait for "The Moon Wife", Terri's new book. (And I wish Ellen Kushner would come out with another full length novel. Now.)
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't meet up to Expectations
Review: I was dissapointed by this book. The other books in the Bordertown series were so incredible, that I, being the sort I am, expected this one to meet the same criteria. The best part of the Bordertown series is the interpersonal dynamics of the people. This book seemed to rely on the individual to much, there weren't as many friendships and relationships. Which is, to me, what made the other books work so well. I know this is most likely the last of the Bordertown series that we are likely to see. A sad ending to an incredible series.
Rating:
Summary: Glad to return to the Border.
Review: I was excited to see a new Bordertown anthology that included new works by some of my favorite authors: Charles DeLint, Ellen Kushner, Patricia McKillip. The stories, as always, were wonderful. They were funny, sad, poignant. We see the world of the Border from all points of view, elven and human. But even better was the background information. Each story is prefaced by a short informational piece about some aspect of Bordertown life. Music, food, etiquette; you name it, it's covered. I couldn't put the book down. It's one I know I will read again and again.
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