Title: Robots vs. Fairies
Editors: Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe
Genre: Sci-fi & Fantasy Short Story Anthology
Pages: 373
Rating: 4.5 of 5

The introduction to this collection assumes that we will eventually be ruled by either robots or fairies and includes ample flattery of both sides. After all, we wouldn’t want to anger our future overlords. Each story features robots, fairies, or both (and a couple with robotic fairies). After each story the author takes a page to tell why they are “team robot” or “team fairy.”

As with any short story collection, the tone and quality varied quite a bit between stories. There was only one that I actively disliked (“Ironheart” by Jonathan Maberry was just whiny and depressing). Some of the cleverest ones riffed on classic fairy tales (e.g. Pinnochio, The Tempest, A Midsummers Night’s Dream), but my favorite was the hilarious “Three Robots Experience Objects Left Behind from the Era of Humans for the First Time” by John Scalzi. Only one story featured an actual robots vs. fairies conflict, which I found surprising given the title, but the variety that was present made this a highly entertaining collection that was greater than the sum of its parts.

In unrelated personal news, the move up to Michigan is moving steadily along…just put in an offer on the house (5 minutes from the beach!) and should have a definite move date by Tuesday.