Robots vs. Fairies - Sci-Fi Fantasy Novel | Epic Battle Between Technology and Magic | Perfect for Book Clubs & Fantasy Lovers

This charmingly conceived anthology is not only an epic showdown between the two eponymous entities, it is also a showcase of some of the best voices in SciFi and Fantasy respectively. There's a playful spirit that permeates this anthology, even though many of the stories are quite dark, which feels like a fitting tribute to both robots and fairies; the introduction, written by the editors, is penned as a letter to our future robot OR fairy overlords, and each of the authors weighs in on if they're "team robot" or "team fairy." While this meta approach could have easily come off as twee, it doesn't in the hands of editors as skillful as Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien, who pull off their quirky project with aplomb. The difficulty of an anthology that has something for everyone is of course that it's going to have some stories that are very much NOT for someone, and that's certainly the case here. The stories vary widely, and I found them ranging from spectacular to why-was-this-even-included? But I think that's inevitable in an anthology of this scope. They definitely save the best for last, and Catherynne M. Valente's end piece, which takes the prompt literally and envisions a WWE style match between robots and fairies, is one of the cleverest, most hilarious, and yet also chillingly poignant stories I've read in a long time (and it has a final twist that makes you just want to kiss your fingers in delight.) I'd buy the book for that story alone.