Review: Eclipse Four

The Eclipse series of anthologies was started by Jonathan Strahan five years ago, and this is the fourth volume.

I'm going to be honest and say I don't like the cover. I want to like the cover. It's nice to see a more feminine color scheme and style on science fiction. It doesn't work. And while you shouldn't judge a book by its cover - people do. Might I suggest avoiding the lilac next time?

At Balticon I ended up with a challenge to write a story out of chronological order. I also picked this book up there. If I'd looked at the book first - Caitlin R. Kiernan does it and she pulls it off. Michael Swanwick's story is also one of the best, but I've always liked his work. I also liked the mall ghosts (Nalo Hopkinson).

Overall, I liked this anthology, but I didn't love it. It was solid, well put together, with no bad stories, but also no great ones that I want to read over and over again. I'm not going to be remembering any of them and I don't have a great hankering to reread. Still, there were no unpleasant surprises either - and other people may disagree.

I do recommend this one if you're looking for something to read on a train or plane - nothing to throw one out of the book, but it's not going to end up on the list of greats. Sorry.

Three and a half stars.

(Book picked up for free at Balticon).