This is a very strong and diverse collection, perfectly representing the Clarkesworld magazine and offering an overview of some of the exciting directions the sf genre is taking.

Notes on the individual stories:

- "Scattered Along the River of Heaven" by Aliette de Bodard (***)
As often with de Bodard, this story shows a glimpse of a complex world, but then stops just short of a satisfactory resolution.

- "All the Painted Stars" by Gwendolyn Clare (****)
Dives straight into the action and then slows down to build the world and resolve the disconnect between a lost alien and an equally overwhelmed group of humans.

- "Prayer" by Robert Reed (****)
Great!

- "A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight" by Xia Jia (translated by Ken Liu) (****)
This melancholy story starts off slowly but eventually opens up its poetic beauty.

- "And the hollow space inside" by Mari Ness (**)
This story about a daughter with a computer for a brain seemed unfinished to me.

- "What everyone remembers" by Rahul Kanakia (*)
Uninteresting story about a post-human insect and the doubts its creators have as they try to survive an apocalypse.

- "The Bells of Subsidence" by Michael John Grist (***)
A search for meaning in a world that offers little. A bit too abstract for my liking, but this one is well-paced and packs an emotional punch.

- "The Switch" by Sarah Stanton (**)
Pleasing plot, implausible tech. More fairytale than cyberpunk.

- "Sunlight Society" by Margaret Ronald (***)

- "A Militant Peace" David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell (***)
Pacifist mil sf.

- "All the Young Kirks and Their Good Intentions" by Helena Bell (****)
I really enjoyed this story but I can't explain why.

- "In Which Faster-Than-Light Travel Solves All of Our Problems" by Chris Stabback (**)
Went nowhere fast.

- "The Womb Factory" by Peter M. Ferenczi (***)
Nice if predictable.

- "Draftyhouse" by Erik Amundsen (*)
The worst Clarkesworld story I've ever read.

- "All the Things the Moon is Not" by Alexander Lumans (***)
Moonsickness on the moon in this more or less post apocalyptic universe.

- "Fade to White" by Catherynne M. Valente (****)
This alternate history dystopia is very impressive though it feels more like a part of something larger rather than a story on its own.

- "Astrophilia" by Carrie Vaughn (****)
A little story about the little things in life in a rural post-tech society. And it's alright.

- "If The Mountain Comes" by An Owomoyela (**)
A drop of hope in a dried-up land.

- "From Their Paws, We Shall Inherit" by Gary Kloster (***)
A story of monkeys, pirates, drunks and hackers. And space travel. And it fits together as well!

- "Sirius" by Ben Peek (*****)
The plot is not particularly interesting (that's putting it nicely) but the format, style and pacing are excellent in this memoir of the demise of a human exoplanet colony! Ben Peek seems to be an author to watch.

- "Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop" by Suzanne Church (***)
Promising if cliched.

- "Iron Ladies, Iron Tigers" by Sunny Moraine (***)

- "Mantis Wives" by Kij Johnson (*****)

- "Pony" by Erik Amundsen (***)

- "Robot" by Helena Bell (***)

- "The Found Girl" by David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell (**)
Decent YA story.

- "muo-ka’s Child" by Indrapramit Das (**)
Not bad but not for me.

- "Honey Bear" by Sofia Samatar (**)

- "The Smell of Orange Groves" by Lavie Tidhar (***)
A somewhat melancholy tale that combines the wish for eternal life with reflections on memory, race and aging in a near-future sf setting.

- "Silently and Very Fast" by Catherynne M. Valente (***)
This novella is much longer than the other stories in the collection, which allows it to be more complex in both structure and content. It is the story of the growing self-awareness of an AI, the dreams that haunt it and the relationships with its creators. While it was not an easy read, it was worth the effort to slowly learn how this creature came into being and how it relates to the world around it..
I still have no idea what the title means.

- "Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes" by Tom Crosshill (****)
Does having a digital personality construct make the loss of a loved one more bearable?

- "You Were She Who Abode" by E. Catherine Tobler (**)
Memory loss and PTSD are not easily resolved by tech.

- "Staying Behind" by Ken Liu (***)
A very human story about life after most of humanity has transcended into digital form.

- "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (****)
A bit moralising, but this is an otherwise well-written story about the dangers of letting technology become too important. ( )