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rebeccacider's review against another edition
4.0
A strong collection, although I liked rather than loved many of the stories. That said, I must register my continual gripe about literary fantasy anthologies eschewing secondary-world fantasy.
Favorite stories:
“Selkie Stories are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar
“A Kiss with Teeth” by Max Gladstone (I LOVED this story)
“The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu
“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado
Favorite stories:
“Selkie Stories are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar
“A Kiss with Teeth” by Max Gladstone (I LOVED this story)
“The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu
“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado
ardoomer's review against another edition
I borrowed this from the library just to read Sofia Samatar’s Selkie Stories Are for Losers short story which was fantastic.
ablotial's review against another edition
4.0
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers: pretty freaking awesome. 5*
Selkie Stories are for Losers: good. I learned what a Selkie is 4*
Tornado's Siren: ... didn't do it for me. 2*
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved: the title makes zero sense to me but the story was cool. Ending was expected though 4*
A Kiss With Teeth: almost perfect. A little long for what it was. 5*
Jackalope Wives: Similar to the selkie one. 3*
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees: didn't really interest me at all, and I barely remember reading it . 1*
The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate: This was pretty funny. Cute. Nothing deep. 3*
The Tallest Doll in New York City: I love the idea of buildings having feelings. I'm unsure whether this was the first time the buildings had done something like this. The people's reactions were weird. 3*
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB: This was neat! I loved the woman. 5*
Here Be Dragons: Awesome, but again too long for what it was. But I loved the dude, and his relationship with his kids and his wife, and the guy who left, and the dragon and . Yeah, awesome. 5*
The One They Took Before: Loved this and the whole premise behind it! 5*
Tiger Baby: I liked parts of this, dealing with her work and drifting thoughts and dating the guy. But the overall story didn't do it for me. 3*
The Duck: Beautiful ending. Let the rock go, and it's just ... gone. 4*
Wing: <3 short but just right. 5*
The Philosophers: The language and genetics stuff in here is fascinating. But how long did these people live exactly? Cant have that many generations at once. And that poor kid sitting there watching and knowing what is coming. Poignant. 5*
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers: I didn't really understand this. And he didn't get to spend enough time there to make it useful. Although I loved the CONCEPT of the bridge blowers, and their society dwindling. 3*
The Husband Stitch: I didn't understand this story. Is the ribbon a metaphor for sex? like the safe hand? But they already had a kid. and the ribbons are all on different places. Do all women have ribbons, or just some? And and and. too many questions. But. I liked the relationship between her and her husband, and her and her son, and all of the instructions for how to read things aloud, and how the men had unique voices but the women did not. Would read something else by this author. 3*
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn: This was the longest story in the book, but it didn't need to be. No less than 3 times I thought the story was over but it wasn't. And I didn't understand where it was going for much of it. In the end it turned out to be really good, but once again I think it could have been done in fewer words. 4*
Selkie Stories are for Losers: good. I learned what a Selkie is 4*
Tornado's Siren: ... didn't do it for me. 2*
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved: the title makes zero sense to me but the story was cool. Ending was expected though 4*
A Kiss With Teeth: almost perfect. A little long for what it was. 5*
Jackalope Wives: Similar to the selkie one. 3*
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees: didn't really interest me at all, and I barely remember reading it . 1*
The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate: This was pretty funny. Cute. Nothing deep. 3*
The Tallest Doll in New York City: I love the idea of buildings having feelings. I'm unsure whether this was the first time the buildings had done something like this. The people's reactions were weird. 3*
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB: This was neat! I loved the woman. 5*
Here Be Dragons: Awesome, but again too long for what it was. But I loved the dude, and his relationship with his kids and his wife, and the guy who left, and the dragon and . Yeah, awesome. 5*
The One They Took Before: Loved this and the whole premise behind it! 5*
Tiger Baby: I liked parts of this, dealing with her work and drifting thoughts and dating the guy. But the overall story didn't do it for me. 3*
The Duck: Beautiful ending. Let the rock go, and it's just ... gone. 4*
Wing: <3 short but just right. 5*
The Philosophers: The language and genetics stuff in here is fascinating. But how long did these people live exactly? Cant have that many generations at once. And that poor kid sitting there watching and knowing what is coming. Poignant. 5*
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers: I didn't really understand this. And he didn't get to spend enough time there to make it useful. Although I loved the CONCEPT of the bridge blowers, and their society dwindling. 3*
The Husband Stitch: I didn't understand this story. Is the ribbon a metaphor for sex? like the safe hand? But they already had a kid. and the ribbons are all on different places. Do all women have ribbons, or just some? And and and. too many questions. But. I liked the relationship between her and her husband, and her and her son, and all of the instructions for how to read things aloud, and how the men had unique voices but the women did not. Would read something else by this author. 3*
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn: This was the longest story in the book, but it didn't need to be. No less than 3 times I thought the story was over but it wasn't. And I didn't understand where it was going for much of it. In the end it turned out to be really good, but once again I think it could have been done in fewer words. 4*
chirson's review against another edition
4.0
Re-reading in The New Voices of Fantasy made me realise that, despite what I'd thought, I never reviewed this when I first read it. But I think that's not a terrible thing; upon re-read, I liked it better. It's satisfying, beautiful and sad. I loved the ending.
It's also interesting how, similarly to Sarah Canary, this reads as either genre or mainstream, selkies in the eye of the beholder.
Merged review:
I received the electronic ARC of this from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are entirely my own.
Seriously uneven, but the strong stories outnumber the weak ones. Overall, The New Voices of Fantasy clearly is an accomplished work. It does what it has surely set out to do: offers a strong and relatively diverse overview of some of the most interesting perspectives in the field today. Still, it is not without some problems of its own.
I honestly loved Machado's, Wong's, Samatar's, Pinsker's and Vernon's stories, but these were writers (and, in some cases, stories) I was already familiar with. I was very glad to read my first fiction from E.Lily Yu and A.C.Wise, whose stories were clever and touching, and original. I think Malik and Sachs were quite good, though not unproblematic (particularly in Malik's case, where the story erases women both literally and figuratively, and never overcomes that problem). Alas, a few stories felt ultimately skippable, and two made me actively angry (Gladstone and Tarry) and left me thinking that the authors didn't think their ideas and the implications they posed through quite well enough.
The best stories of this collection would have been enough to justify its existence; other good stories made for gripping reading; I think a few stories could have been cut resulting in a stronger average, but it was certainly interesting to see what’s happening in the genre right now, according to the editors. What it seems to be is blending of boundaries between literary and genre fantastical stories (as well as horror); significant amount of interest in queer and underprivileged perspectives; a diversity of both authors and subject matter; attempts at grappling with toxic masculinity (unfortunately, not always successfully). That, on the whole, seems to bode quite well. I certainly have been reminded of and acquainted with a few authors to look out for in the future.
(For a more lengthy review singling out individual stories, more useful for readers who have already read the stories themselves, see my blog.)
It's also interesting how, similarly to Sarah Canary, this reads as either genre or mainstream, selkies in the eye of the beholder.
Merged review:
I received the electronic ARC of this from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are entirely my own.
Seriously uneven, but the strong stories outnumber the weak ones. Overall, The New Voices of Fantasy clearly is an accomplished work. It does what it has surely set out to do: offers a strong and relatively diverse overview of some of the most interesting perspectives in the field today. Still, it is not without some problems of its own.
I honestly loved Machado's, Wong's, Samatar's, Pinsker's and Vernon's stories, but these were writers (and, in some cases, stories) I was already familiar with. I was very glad to read my first fiction from E.Lily Yu and A.C.Wise, whose stories were clever and touching, and original. I think Malik and Sachs were quite good, though not unproblematic (particularly in Malik's case, where the story erases women both literally and figuratively, and never overcomes that problem). Alas, a few stories felt ultimately skippable, and two made me actively angry (Gladstone and Tarry) and left me thinking that the authors didn't think their ideas and the implications they posed through quite well enough.
The best stories of this collection would have been enough to justify its existence; other good stories made for gripping reading; I think a few stories could have been cut resulting in a stronger average, but it was certainly interesting to see what’s happening in the genre right now, according to the editors. What it seems to be is blending of boundaries between literary and genre fantastical stories (as well as horror); significant amount of interest in queer and underprivileged perspectives; a diversity of both authors and subject matter; attempts at grappling with toxic masculinity (unfortunately, not always successfully). That, on the whole, seems to bode quite well. I certainly have been reminded of and acquainted with a few authors to look out for in the future.
(For a more lengthy review singling out individual stories, more useful for readers who have already read the stories themselves, see my blog.)
annieb123's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
I love anthologies for a lot of reasons. It's always nice to find new authors to follow. I enjoy short fiction as a break after having so many back to back longer pieces (or trilogies + series); especially in the speculative fiction genre, I can't remember the last time I picked up a new truly one-off standalone novel. It's always exciting even with known authors to see how they react to and solve the different problems inherent in short fiction. I also use anthologies as 'crib notes' to cheat a bit and find out what and where my favorites have published before, for further reading. In short, it's -exactly- the same reasons supermarkets give out taste samples. They know you're hungry, you taste one chili-cheese-nugget and go buy a 5 pound bag. *cha-ching!* Everyone goes home happy.
I love Peter S. Beagle. I've loved (and read, and owned) pretty much everything he's ever published. He's permanently on my shortlist to automatically buy whatever he puts his name on.
I have loved so many Tachyon publications books that again, basically anything they stick their imprint on, I'll line up at the bookstore, wave my filthy lucre and hop up and down impatiently. Tachyon's catalog is impressive and a no-fail reading list for speculative fiction fans. It would be fun to just start at one end of the list and read to the other end.
So getting this book was an automatic "Yes, please, with sugar on top"!
There's something for everyone in this anthology. I found myself checking my reading notes and except for two entries which were '2/5' for me personally, they were all easily in the 4-5 range.
There are 19 stories in the collection, with background info and a short bio included in the intro for each one.
Table of Contents:
“Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong
“Selkie Stories are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar
“Tornado’s Siren” by Brooke Bolander
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
“A Kiss with Teeth” by Max Gladstone
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu
“The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate” by A. C. Wise
“The Tallest Doll in New York City” by Maria Dahvana Headley
“The Haunting of Apollo A7LB” by Hannu Rajaniemi
“Here Be Dragons” by Chris Tarry
“The One They Took Before” by Kelly Sandoval
“Tiger Baby” by JY Yang
“The Duck” by Ben Loory
“Wing” by Amal El-Mohtar
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“My Time Among the Bridge Blowers” by Eugene Fischer
“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado
“The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik
Most anthologies have a thematic cohesiveness. This one's stated purpose was to pass the baton to the next generation of authors and though many of the authors included are well known, they are the 'up and coming' or relatively newly arrived standard bearers.
There are some exquisitely written pieces in this anthology. All of them are worthy.
Four stars!
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
I love anthologies for a lot of reasons. It's always nice to find new authors to follow. I enjoy short fiction as a break after having so many back to back longer pieces (or trilogies + series); especially in the speculative fiction genre, I can't remember the last time I picked up a new truly one-off standalone novel. It's always exciting even with known authors to see how they react to and solve the different problems inherent in short fiction. I also use anthologies as 'crib notes' to cheat a bit and find out what and where my favorites have published before, for further reading. In short, it's -exactly- the same reasons supermarkets give out taste samples. They know you're hungry, you taste one chili-cheese-nugget and go buy a 5 pound bag. *cha-ching!* Everyone goes home happy.
I love Peter S. Beagle. I've loved (and read, and owned) pretty much everything he's ever published. He's permanently on my shortlist to automatically buy whatever he puts his name on.
I have loved so many Tachyon publications books that again, basically anything they stick their imprint on, I'll line up at the bookstore, wave my filthy lucre and hop up and down impatiently. Tachyon's catalog is impressive and a no-fail reading list for speculative fiction fans. It would be fun to just start at one end of the list and read to the other end.
So getting this book was an automatic "Yes, please, with sugar on top"!
There's something for everyone in this anthology. I found myself checking my reading notes and except for two entries which were '2/5' for me personally, they were all easily in the 4-5 range.
There are 19 stories in the collection, with background info and a short bio included in the intro for each one.
Table of Contents:
“Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong
“Selkie Stories are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar
“Tornado’s Siren” by Brooke Bolander
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
“A Kiss with Teeth” by Max Gladstone
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu
“The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate” by A. C. Wise
“The Tallest Doll in New York City” by Maria Dahvana Headley
“The Haunting of Apollo A7LB” by Hannu Rajaniemi
“Here Be Dragons” by Chris Tarry
“The One They Took Before” by Kelly Sandoval
“Tiger Baby” by JY Yang
“The Duck” by Ben Loory
“Wing” by Amal El-Mohtar
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“My Time Among the Bridge Blowers” by Eugene Fischer
“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado
“The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik
Most anthologies have a thematic cohesiveness. This one's stated purpose was to pass the baton to the next generation of authors and though many of the authors included are well known, they are the 'up and coming' or relatively newly arrived standard bearers.
There are some exquisitely written pieces in this anthology. All of them are worthy.
Four stars!
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
gaykittens's review against another edition
4.0
While it has some beautiful gems, the overall collection is hit-or-miss. Some of the authors are already quite established, though often in genre-adjacent SF, which felt like a strange choice for a "new voices" theme. There are some truly questionable clunkers, but it was still worth the read.
colourmeread's review against another edition
3.0
ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It had me at Fantasy. And the cover because look at it! This anthology is a collection of short stories by nineteen breakout writers in the genre. I didn’t know any of these authors going in, but I now have a few I’m watching out for in the future.
I’m a big reader of epic fantasy so it did take me by surprise when I realized these stories were more on the contemporary side of things. I’m also so used to reading long books that many of the stories felt too short/underdeveloped for me.
Here’s a breakdown of my individual ratings:
Hungry Daughter of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong | ★★★★
This story is about a world where certain people have the ability to read people’s vile thoughts and feed off of them. This was one of my favourites stories. I was a fan of Wong’s word choice, vivid imagery, and chilling prose. I felt and saw what the character did and I was glued to the story from start to finish. I was quite sad when it ended because I wanted more of it. I hope Wong goes back to this with a full length novel because it’s hands down one of the best fantasy x horror stories I’ve read.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar | ★★
I don’t think I really understood what this story tried to achieve. It’s about a woman who works at a restaurant and whose mother disappeared. This then reminds the woman about selkies and their disappearances, and how this may affect a potential relationship with a coworker.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander | ★★
A tornado falls in love with a girl and follows her at different points in her life, resulting in disaster each time. I loved the idea but found the execution lacking.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker | ★★★
A story about a place where people jump in a pond with no certainty of ever coming back up. Some people disappear with only their clothes to leave behind, while others tempt fate and jump just to see if they’ll have the same fate or not. There’s no rhyme or reason to the disappearances and the story ultimately focuses on why people still jump in. Overall, mysterious and intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone | ★★★★
I really liked this one. I haven’t read a vampire story after the Twilight and Shadowhunter series so this was quite refreshing. This story focuses on a vampire living his day to day life with his human family. He has to keep reminding himself things he should be doing to avoid raising suspicions, such as breathing or controlling his strength. It might sound boring and nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed Gladstone’s style of writing and really loved the ending.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon | ★★★★★
I absolutely loved this one! Jackalopes are mythical animals from North American folklore that look like a jackrabbit with antler horns. In this story, jackalopes often have a night of dancing where they ‘shed’ their skins and look like beautiful women. A young man steals the skin of one of the jackalopes and partially burns it in the process. He then turns to his grandmother for help and I just love what Vernon writes about human nature.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu | ★★
I could not get into the story. For some reason it just didn’t connect with me.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise | ★★★
This was amusing and entertaining! While there was no plot or action, I appreciated the humour in this one.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Davana Headley | ★★★
An adorable Valentine’s Day story about buildings falling in love and what it’s like for the people inside them to witness it all. It was predictable and a little cheesy, but I loved the idea.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi | ★★★★
This was another favourite! An old spacesuit is haunted by its previous owner, resulting in unexpected and troublesome acts for its new owner.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry | ★★
I had high hopes for this one, mainly because it was the only story that somewhat resembled epic fantasy. It focuses on two men with past reputations as ‘dragonslayers’ and what their life is like now that they’re jobless and stay-at-home dads. There was character development for one of the characters, but the ending ruined it all for me.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval | ★★★★
I loved this one too. It’s about a woman who now lives in the real world, after she lives in a world with magic. The story slowly unravels her past and what happened, and constantly touches on her struggles of wanting to go back while knowing it’s better if she doesn’t.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang | ★★
I wasn’t a fan of this one. It’s about a woman who believes her true form is that of a tiger. It sounds interesting at first, and I think it ends on a hopeful note, but something is just so sad about it all.
The Duck by Ben Loory | ★★★
A duck falls in love with a rock, and everyone makes fun of him for it. I love how this touched on themes of friendship and acceptance, and I would love to see this illustrated. Cute, touching, and impactful.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar | ★★★★★
This was so beautiful. It’s about a girl with a necklace of a book, and people often ask her what’s written inside it. ‘It’s a secret’ she says and they often leave her after that. I love the idea of keeping parts of ourselves, our deepest dreams and desires, and waiting until the right person comes along, to see if we want to share it with them.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs | ★★
Three short stories focusing on father and son relationships and the cyclical nature of passing things from one generation to another.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer | ★
I don’t think the story was bad, I just found it so boring that I often tuned out just for the sake of finishing it. I can’t even tell you what I got from it, because it was that unremarkable.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado | ★★★★
This one was quite sexually explicit and as someone who’s always preferred fade-to-black scenes when it comes to sex, I often felt uncomfortable reading this. That aside though, this story was brilliant and powerful. It’s about a woman who gives everything to the men in her life, but it never seems enough. Very thought provoking ending.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik | ★★
A man is fixated on a story his grandfather told him as a boy, so he goes on a quest to find out if there’s any truth in it. I think this is the longest story in the whole collection, and it bored me the longer it went. The story had potential, but I couldn’t connect to the characters and I couldn’t care less.
This was a mixed bag of goodies with stories I loved and ones I didn’t. I also think it was more a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ kind of experience, because I just prefer a different kind of fantasy. I recommend all stories I rated 4-5 stars, of course. They’re certainly worth checking out.
It had me at Fantasy. And the cover because look at it! This anthology is a collection of short stories by nineteen breakout writers in the genre. I didn’t know any of these authors going in, but I now have a few I’m watching out for in the future.
I’m a big reader of epic fantasy so it did take me by surprise when I realized these stories were more on the contemporary side of things. I’m also so used to reading long books that many of the stories felt too short/underdeveloped for me.
Here’s a breakdown of my individual ratings:
Hungry Daughter of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong | ★★★★
This story is about a world where certain people have the ability to read people’s vile thoughts and feed off of them. This was one of my favourites stories. I was a fan of Wong’s word choice, vivid imagery, and chilling prose. I felt and saw what the character did and I was glued to the story from start to finish. I was quite sad when it ended because I wanted more of it. I hope Wong goes back to this with a full length novel because it’s hands down one of the best fantasy x horror stories I’ve read.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar | ★★
I don’t think I really understood what this story tried to achieve. It’s about a woman who works at a restaurant and whose mother disappeared. This then reminds the woman about selkies and their disappearances, and how this may affect a potential relationship with a coworker.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander | ★★
A tornado falls in love with a girl and follows her at different points in her life, resulting in disaster each time. I loved the idea but found the execution lacking.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker | ★★★
A story about a place where people jump in a pond with no certainty of ever coming back up. Some people disappear with only their clothes to leave behind, while others tempt fate and jump just to see if they’ll have the same fate or not. There’s no rhyme or reason to the disappearances and the story ultimately focuses on why people still jump in. Overall, mysterious and intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone | ★★★★
I really liked this one. I haven’t read a vampire story after the Twilight and Shadowhunter series so this was quite refreshing. This story focuses on a vampire living his day to day life with his human family. He has to keep reminding himself things he should be doing to avoid raising suspicions, such as breathing or controlling his strength. It might sound boring and nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed Gladstone’s style of writing and really loved the ending.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon | ★★★★★
I absolutely loved this one! Jackalopes are mythical animals from North American folklore that look like a jackrabbit with antler horns. In this story, jackalopes often have a night of dancing where they ‘shed’ their skins and look like beautiful women. A young man steals the skin of one of the jackalopes and partially burns it in the process. He then turns to his grandmother for help and I just love what Vernon writes about human nature.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu | ★★
I could not get into the story. For some reason it just didn’t connect with me.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise | ★★★
This was amusing and entertaining! While there was no plot or action, I appreciated the humour in this one.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Davana Headley | ★★★
An adorable Valentine’s Day story about buildings falling in love and what it’s like for the people inside them to witness it all. It was predictable and a little cheesy, but I loved the idea.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi | ★★★★
This was another favourite! An old spacesuit is haunted by its previous owner, resulting in unexpected and troublesome acts for its new owner.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry | ★★
I had high hopes for this one, mainly because it was the only story that somewhat resembled epic fantasy. It focuses on two men with past reputations as ‘dragonslayers’ and what their life is like now that they’re jobless and stay-at-home dads. There was character development for one of the characters, but the ending ruined it all for me.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval | ★★★★
I loved this one too. It’s about a woman who now lives in the real world, after she lives in a world with magic. The story slowly unravels her past and what happened, and constantly touches on her struggles of wanting to go back while knowing it’s better if she doesn’t.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang | ★★
I wasn’t a fan of this one. It’s about a woman who believes her true form is that of a tiger. It sounds interesting at first, and I think it ends on a hopeful note, but something is just so sad about it all.
The Duck by Ben Loory | ★★★
A duck falls in love with a rock, and everyone makes fun of him for it. I love how this touched on themes of friendship and acceptance, and I would love to see this illustrated. Cute, touching, and impactful.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar | ★★★★★
This was so beautiful. It’s about a girl with a necklace of a book, and people often ask her what’s written inside it. ‘It’s a secret’ she says and they often leave her after that. I love the idea of keeping parts of ourselves, our deepest dreams and desires, and waiting until the right person comes along, to see if we want to share it with them.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs | ★★
Three short stories focusing on father and son relationships and the cyclical nature of passing things from one generation to another.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer | ★
I don’t think the story was bad, I just found it so boring that I often tuned out just for the sake of finishing it. I can’t even tell you what I got from it, because it was that unremarkable.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado | ★★★★
This one was quite sexually explicit and as someone who’s always preferred fade-to-black scenes when it comes to sex, I often felt uncomfortable reading this. That aside though, this story was brilliant and powerful. It’s about a woman who gives everything to the men in her life, but it never seems enough. Very thought provoking ending.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik | ★★
A man is fixated on a story his grandfather told him as a boy, so he goes on a quest to find out if there’s any truth in it. I think this is the longest story in the whole collection, and it bored me the longer it went. The story had potential, but I couldn’t connect to the characters and I couldn’t care less.
This was a mixed bag of goodies with stories I loved and ones I didn’t. I also think it was more a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ kind of experience, because I just prefer a different kind of fantasy. I recommend all stories I rated 4-5 stars, of course. They’re certainly worth checking out.
jamiezaccaria's review against another edition
4.0
A pretty diverse collection overall but more of a mix of fantasy and speculative fiction rather than straight fantasy.
My favorites:
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
My favorites:
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
ericrobien's review
3.0
My favorite stories were: Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong, Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker, Here Be Dragons by Chris Terry, and The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado
vicgarc's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Sexual content