Book Review: Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Orson Scott Card
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   [Short Stories]
Ace, Nov 2001, $24.95, 416 pp.

This latest "best ... of the century" actually consists of twenty-six tales from the second half of the twentieth century and one story from the 1940s. Either that means science fiction matured considerably after World War II, the editor is too young to appreciate the early years, or the anthology should be labeled differently. In either case, the contributions are all aces and represent the wide gamut of the genre divided into three classifications: "The Golden Age, "The New Wave", and "The Media Generation". Though I enjoyed the other two periods, my favorite stories are from "The New Wave" because I cut my molars on several of these including having read some while working on a masters thesis involving science fiction. Regardless of nostalgia or other reasons for personal taste, each entry is powerful and shows how enlightening the genre can be when written by masters like those who rendered entries to MASTERPIECES: THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE CENTURY.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner