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Title: A few good stories
Review: Maybe I have completely different tastes than the editors of this anthology, or maybe there just wasn't a whole lot of excellent fantasy published in 2003 but I found Year's Best Fantasy 4 to be a hit and miss affair. Many of the stories are decent but nothing special. A few are pretty bad. Even the usually reliable Neil Gaiman has a misfire with the dull "Closing Time." Kelly Link's "Catskin" is just plain bizarre (but I suspect it's supposed to be). Among the few excellent stories are the Nebula Award winner "Basement Magic" by Ellen Klages, a clever update on the fairy-godmother story;One Thing About the Night" by Terry Dowling, a creepy ghost story involving a mirrored room; and "Dragon's Gate" by Pat Murphy, a well-told high-fantasy quest adventure. There are also some good stories by Lucius Shepard and Terry Bisson. I should also mention the editor's introductions to the stories often contain plot spoilers so I recommend reading those after reading the story.
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