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Rating: 
Summary: A stellar Far, Far Future SF stories collection
Review: Gardner Dozois collects a fine assortment of really far future SF stories in one of his best anthologies to date.The theme of "far far future" is handled in many diverse ways, as the stories themselves were written over almost fifty years. Jack Vance has an excerpt from his Dying Earth series...and Paul McAuley has a prequel to his "Confluence" novels. In between lie classics like Pohl's satiric Day Million, Silverberg's Nightwings and a story related to Gene Wolfe's Book of the Sun series. And many others, from authors like Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson. All in all, this is one of the best SF anthologies I have yet read.
Rating:
Summary: A stellar Far, Far Future SF stories collection
Review: Gardner Dozois collects a fine assortment of really far future SF stories in one of his best anthologies to date. The theme of "far far future" is handled in many diverse ways, as the stories themselves were written over almost fifty years. Jack Vance has an excerpt from his Dying Earth series...and Paul McAuley has a prequel to his "Confluence" novels. In between lie classics like Pohl's satiric Day Million, Silverberg's Nightwings and a story related to Gene Wolfe's Book of the Sun series. And many others, from authors like Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson. All in all, this is one of the best SF anthologies I have yet read.
Rating: 
Summary: BORING!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I have never before written a review for a book, but in this case I felt I owed it to my fellow readers to warn them to save their money. Except for "Bumberboom", and the very last story in the volume (Which was fairly interesting), this book was a complete waste of my money and time. The writing was laborious, complex to the point of being incomprehensible; As if the writers were engaged in a contest to see who could write the most cerebral gibberish. As I said, save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Very Difficult Reading: Not Worth the Effort
Review: Of the 17 stories, I would say most are average. There are a couple of dogs and a few gems. I thought Reed, McDonald, Anderson were excellent. Strong finish, otherwise pretty average, but worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading; don't get too excited, though
Review: Of the 17 stories, I would say most are average. There are a couple of dogs and a few gems. I thought Reed, McDonald, Anderson were excellent. Strong finish, otherwise pretty average, but worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Very Difficult Reading: Not Worth the Effort
Review: Though there are a few gems in this collection, the majority of stories here are difficult to read at best, incomprehensible at worst. Even stories by writers like Joe Haldeman, most of whose stories and novels are clearly written and easily understood, are overly dense and don't "flow" in the least. Just as an example, the first page of the first story (by Jack Vance) in this collection starts like this: "Guyal of Sfere had been born one apart from his fellows and early proved vexation for his sire. Normal in outward configuration, there existed within his mind a void which ached for nourishment." And most of the stories that follow are written in a similar style that reminds of some of the worst writing in the sword-n-scorcery fantasy genre, which I despise. However, I did enjoy the stories by Cordwainer Smith, Frederick Pohl, and Ian McDonald. But, the rest of the stories were really not at all worth the effort. Even after rereading several passages in order to comprehend the overly wordy material, the story lines of most of these were just pointless. And some, like Coranda by Keith Roberts, aren't science fiction at all. Coranda is clearly an example of fantasy, with its pretentious character names and *complete lack* of science. I hate to blame editor Dozois here. I really enjoy reading the magazine he edits, Asimov's, every month, so I do think he usually has good taste in material. But I would think there are better "far future" stories in existence than these. SF writers I love most: Heinlein, Philip Dick, Joe Haldeman (his story in this book is arguably his worst ever), and David Gerrold. All of these authors write (usually) in a straight-forward, easily understood style. It's the stories (and characters) themselves that matter, not pretentious, showoffy, purple prose. This collection, for whatever reason, is just the opposite. Or maybe I'm just a total idiot.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have collection of short science fiction
Review: When Dozois introduced the first of these retrospective anthologies a couple of years ago (THE GOOD OLD STUFF), I didn't buy it at first because of what I considered a hefty price tag for a paperback. Still, every year the best anthology of science fiction I buy is inevitably Dozois' Year's Best collection, so I have a great deal of respect for his selections. Finally, I broke down and bought that earlier volume, and I have bought each since (The Good New Stuff, Explorers, and now The Furthest Horizon). Each of these volumes has been very well-packaged, and filled with some of the best classic science fiction short stories to be found anywhere, but in my opinion this newest volume is definitely the best yet. Granted, this is partly because all of the stories deal with one of my favorite science-fictional premises, the depiction of the extremely distant future. Even with such a seemingly-limited topic, Dozois has managed to assemble a varied and entertaining collection. The real standout stories are Cordwainer Smith's "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" , Jack Vance's "Guyal of Sfere" (originally part of The Dying Earth), James Tiptree, Jr.'s "Slow Music", and Ian McDonald's "The Days of Solomon Gursky", but there are also great works by Brian Aldiss, Frederik Pohl, Avram Davidson (a story I had never seen anywhere before), Walter Jon Williams, Robert Reed, Alexander Jablokov, and Poul Anderson. This volume definitely goes on my permanent bookshelf. I cannot recommend it too highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Dozois' Fault
Review: With the exception of Gene Wolfe's The Map, the best these stories can do is mediocre. Dozois, I'm certain, did an excellent job picking out these stories, and that the fault lies with the authors themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Not Dozois' Fault
Review: With the exception of Gene Wolfe's The Map, the best these stories can do is mediocre. Dozois, I'm certain, did an excellent job picking out these stories, and that the fault lies with the authors themselves.
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