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vickie's review
4.0
Comments in <20 words:
Different young voices surprisingly not huge turnoff; so naturally diverse. Some should be full novel!
List of short stories:
* Cookie Cutter Superhero (by Tansy Rayner Roberts)
* The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon (by Ken Liu)
* The Legend Trap (by Sean Williams)
* End of Service (by Gabriela Lee)
* Chupacabra's Song (by Jim C. Hines)
* The Day the God Died (by Alena McNamara)
* Signature (by Faith Mudge)
* The Lovely Duckling (by Tim Susman)
* Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell (by E.C. Myers)
* Vanilla (by Dirk Flinthart)
* Careful Magic (by Karen Healey)
* Walkdog (by Sofia Samatar)
* Celebration (by Sean Eads)
* The Truth About Owls (by Amal El-Mohtar)
* Krishna Blue (by Shveta Thakrar)
* Every Little Thing (by Holly Kench)
* Happy Go Lucky (by Garth Nix)
* Ordinary Things (by Vylar Kaftan)
* Double Time (by John Chu)
* Welcome (by William Alexander)
Different young voices surprisingly not huge turnoff; so naturally diverse. Some should be full novel!
List of short stories:
* Cookie Cutter Superhero (by Tansy Rayner Roberts)
* The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon (by Ken Liu)
* The Legend Trap (by Sean Williams)
* End of Service (by Gabriela Lee)
* Chupacabra's Song (by Jim C. Hines)
* The Day the God Died (by Alena McNamara)
* Signature (by Faith Mudge)
* The Lovely Duckling (by Tim Susman)
* Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell (by E.C. Myers)
* Vanilla (by Dirk Flinthart)
* Careful Magic (by Karen Healey)
* Walkdog (by Sofia Samatar)
* Celebration (by Sean Eads)
* The Truth About Owls (by Amal El-Mohtar)
* Krishna Blue (by Shveta Thakrar)
* Every Little Thing (by Holly Kench)
* Happy Go Lucky (by Garth Nix)
* Ordinary Things (by Vylar Kaftan)
* Double Time (by John Chu)
* Welcome (by William Alexander)
lauredhel's review
5.0
Rarely do I read an anthology where there is but one (maybe two? not, probably just one) story that seems a bit weaker than the rest. And that's probably just because the rest are so strong. This is a fabulous anthology, recommended for all ages.
lizshayne's review
4.0
So I'd kinda been ignoring short stories for most of my lift, although now that I actually pay attention to the Hugos, I'm learning something I should have known already - they can be really good!
And the stories in Kaleidoscope are no exception. Kaleidoscope is, as the title suggests, a collection of diverse works of young adult fantasy and science fiction. The characters are sometimes disabled, sometimes people of color, sometimes LGBTQ and that's sometimes part of the plot and sometimes it's just who they are. It's a bit of a wrench to return to stories where everyone looks the same regardless of how much sense that makes for the story.
There were no bad stories in the bunch. Having said that, "Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts, "The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" by Ken Liu, "Signature" by Faith Mudge, "Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell" by E.C. Myers, and "Careful Magic" by Karen Healey were standouts for their brilliance. Also, I'm now building a list of authors who I had vaguely heard of, but now must track down because of the stories they wrote in here.
And the stories in Kaleidoscope are no exception. Kaleidoscope is, as the title suggests, a collection of diverse works of young adult fantasy and science fiction. The characters are sometimes disabled, sometimes people of color, sometimes LGBTQ and that's sometimes part of the plot and sometimes it's just who they are. It's a bit of a wrench to return to stories where everyone looks the same regardless of how much sense that makes for the story.
There were no bad stories in the bunch. Having said that, "Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts, "The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" by Ken Liu, "Signature" by Faith Mudge, "Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell" by E.C. Myers, and "Careful Magic" by Karen Healey were standouts for their brilliance. Also, I'm now building a list of authors who I had vaguely heard of, but now must track down because of the stories they wrote in here.
hogsandwich's review
4.0
The first half is stronger than the second, but Sofia Samantar's "Walkdog" pushed it up to a 4-star for me. Good god that one is a killer.
kittyg's review
4.0
I started reading this anthology waaaaaay back (so far back I can't even remember when) and then in the middle of reading I totally forgot that I owned it and so I took a good few months 'off' before rediscovering it and continuing with the stories. What I enjoyed most about this was that the title is explicit and the content follows the title really well, this DOES have diverse characters and SFF stories in YA and I really, really enjoyed seeing them and seeing such a range of people, characters, authors and plots being recognised and represented.
I'm going to talk a little bit about each of the stories below as with any collection or anthology there were some I liked more than others:
* Cookie Cutter Superhero by Tansy Rayner Roberts - A really enjoyable and fun so far and I have to say I liked this idea of people becoming heroes. This reminded me a little bit of Wicked + Divine. 4*s
* Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon by Ken Liu - Beautiful imagery about lesbian lovers and ancient stories. Love the blend of sci-fi and fantasy within these, a 3.5*s
* The Legend Trap by Sean Williams - This one wasn't as good as the first two for me. Still interesting and definitely had some diverse elements but I didn't love the idea and therefore it just wasn't as fun. Pretty average, 2*s
* End of Service by Gabriela Lee - Again not really my thing. A bit too odd and short with the twist coming a bit too abruptly and suddenly for my liking. Still well written but just not a brilliant talk 2.5*s.
* Chupacabra's Song by Jim C. Hines - An interesting story for sure. Kind of hinted at attention deficit disorders and yet in a very cool way. The story was short and sweet but some nice ideas were shown and I think it could even have been pushed a bit further into a longer book. 3.5*s
The Day the God Died by Alena McNamara - Not my thing at all, very short, very dull, not even a real story - 1*
* Signature - A very cool little story about a book shop and the people who work there. Our main character is fun and strong-willed, but equally resourceful, and when problems take a supernatural turn for the shop, she steps in. 3.5*s
* The Lovely Duckling by Tim Susman - A wonderfully written story about a girl who cannot escape her father and just wants to fly free... Beautiful, moving and definitely a story I think people can relate to! 4*s
* Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell by E.C.Myers - About a strange new drug that gives vision of possible futures when you kiss another. Weird yet interesting 3.5*s
* Vanilla by Dirk Flinthart - I really liked this as it was about inclusion and alien races. Very good messages and well written too! 4*s
* Careful Magic by Karen Healey - About witches and their powers and also deals a little with bullying and OCD. Likeable, but not so memorable 2.5*s
* Walkdog by Sofia Samatar - Not my thing at all, just dull for me 1*
* Celebration by Sean Eads - Interesting mix of topics. Not sure quite how well it worked in my mind but it was a likeable and easy-to-follow story :) 3*s
* The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar - A strange story. I liked the metaphors back tot he Owls, but I'm not sure I fully 'got' this one. It was late at night when I read it. 2*s
* Krishna Blue by Shveta Thakrar - This one I liked a lot, it's about a girl who discovers an awful power she can't control, absorbing colours. Cool idea, nice execution. 4*s
* Every Little Thing by Holly Kench - This one was certainly focused on friendship coming first and I liked that idea a lot. Nicely written, and the characters realise what's important at the end. 3.5*s
* Happy Go Lucky by Garth Nix - I loved this one and I am happy to say that as I have enjoyed a fair amount of Garth Nix's books and I wanted to try out his shorter fiction. This focuses on a world where Luck is everything and society is based on it. When our main character's family is tested for their Luck things change, not in a great way. 4*s
* Ordinary Things by Vylar Kaftan - This one focused on OCD tendencies and an abusive relationship and I have to say it was a little moving at times seeing through the eyes of a character so stuck in a rut. 4*s
* Double Time by John Chu - This focused on figure skating (something I love to watch) but it wasn't really my thing in terms of where the story went and ended up. 2*s
* Welcome by William Alexander - I really liked the idea of sailing from the Moon to Earth and between the two on one special night of the year. The ideas within this would have translated really well to a longer story in my opinion. 4*s
I'm giving this one a 3.5-4*s out of 5 becuase a lot of the stories within this were really good. Although I didn't have one which totally blew me away there are certainly a few which I will remember and I will be on the look out for more fiction from some of these authors. Definitely an anthology I would recommend trying out!
I'm going to talk a little bit about each of the stories below as with any collection or anthology there were some I liked more than others:
* Cookie Cutter Superhero by Tansy Rayner Roberts - A really enjoyable and fun so far and I have to say I liked this idea of people becoming heroes. This reminded me a little bit of Wicked + Divine. 4*s
* Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon by Ken Liu - Beautiful imagery about lesbian lovers and ancient stories. Love the blend of sci-fi and fantasy within these, a 3.5*s
* The Legend Trap by Sean Williams - This one wasn't as good as the first two for me. Still interesting and definitely had some diverse elements but I didn't love the idea and therefore it just wasn't as fun. Pretty average, 2*s
* End of Service by Gabriela Lee - Again not really my thing. A bit too odd and short with the twist coming a bit too abruptly and suddenly for my liking. Still well written but just not a brilliant talk 2.5*s.
* Chupacabra's Song by Jim C. Hines - An interesting story for sure. Kind of hinted at attention deficit disorders and yet in a very cool way. The story was short and sweet but some nice ideas were shown and I think it could even have been pushed a bit further into a longer book. 3.5*s
The Day the God Died by Alena McNamara - Not my thing at all, very short, very dull, not even a real story - 1*
* Signature - A very cool little story about a book shop and the people who work there. Our main character is fun and strong-willed, but equally resourceful, and when problems take a supernatural turn for the shop, she steps in. 3.5*s
* The Lovely Duckling by Tim Susman - A wonderfully written story about a girl who cannot escape her father and just wants to fly free... Beautiful, moving and definitely a story I think people can relate to! 4*s
* Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell by E.C.Myers - About a strange new drug that gives vision of possible futures when you kiss another. Weird yet interesting 3.5*s
* Vanilla by Dirk Flinthart - I really liked this as it was about inclusion and alien races. Very good messages and well written too! 4*s
* Careful Magic by Karen Healey - About witches and their powers and also deals a little with bullying and OCD. Likeable, but not so memorable 2.5*s
* Walkdog by Sofia Samatar - Not my thing at all, just dull for me 1*
* Celebration by Sean Eads - Interesting mix of topics. Not sure quite how well it worked in my mind but it was a likeable and easy-to-follow story :) 3*s
* The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar - A strange story. I liked the metaphors back tot he Owls, but I'm not sure I fully 'got' this one. It was late at night when I read it. 2*s
* Krishna Blue by Shveta Thakrar - This one I liked a lot, it's about a girl who discovers an awful power she can't control, absorbing colours. Cool idea, nice execution. 4*s
* Every Little Thing by Holly Kench - This one was certainly focused on friendship coming first and I liked that idea a lot. Nicely written, and the characters realise what's important at the end. 3.5*s
* Happy Go Lucky by Garth Nix - I loved this one and I am happy to say that as I have enjoyed a fair amount of Garth Nix's books and I wanted to try out his shorter fiction. This focuses on a world where Luck is everything and society is based on it. When our main character's family is tested for their Luck things change, not in a great way. 4*s
* Ordinary Things by Vylar Kaftan - This one focused on OCD tendencies and an abusive relationship and I have to say it was a little moving at times seeing through the eyes of a character so stuck in a rut. 4*s
* Double Time by John Chu - This focused on figure skating (something I love to watch) but it wasn't really my thing in terms of where the story went and ended up. 2*s
* Welcome by William Alexander - I really liked the idea of sailing from the Moon to Earth and between the two on one special night of the year. The ideas within this would have translated really well to a longer story in my opinion. 4*s
I'm giving this one a 3.5-4*s out of 5 becuase a lot of the stories within this were really good. Although I didn't have one which totally blew me away there are certainly a few which I will remember and I will be on the look out for more fiction from some of these authors. Definitely an anthology I would recommend trying out!
astarlia's review
5.0
Despite having read this before, I actually forgot that it was diversity themed, so i was really enjoying that this book was just a bunch of casually diverse people. The stories are all quite varied, but very good and the diversity is usually background rather than what is driving the plot, which as you may have noticed is something I really want.
tsana's review
5.0
Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios is a crowd-funded anthology that does what it says in the tag line.
It's an incredibly strong anthology, filled with thoughtful and creative stories. The stories cover a wide range of diverse characters, with diveristy stemming from race, gender, chronic/mental illness and disability. I was pleasantly surprised to see several stories deal with characters who fit into more than one of those labels. I also found it awesome that most of the stories weren't about being black/queer/sick/etc but had those aspects as background to the main plot, generally a fantastical one (since it is an SFF anthology).
It's really hard to pick favourites in this collection. Although I didn't love the stories equally, there weren't any duds. (The one I talk about disliking below was because of a theme I'm sick of, not because there was anything wrong with the story per se.) Really, I liked all of them. However, some that stood out to me more than the others were: "Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts, which was just awesome and needs a novel set in its universe; "Signature" by Faith Mudge, which was clever, amusing and ultimately happy-making; "Careful Magic" by Karen Healey about a magical school and a girl dealing with being an outsider for her eccentricities; and "Double Time" by John Chu, which was about ice-skating and having a pushy parent.
Most of the stories, I found, were reasonably upbeat but the anthology was punctuated with a few sadder stories. For example "The Legend Trap" by Sean Williams and "Krishna Blue" by Shveta Thakrar both have ambiguous and not entirely happy endings.
It's hard not to comment on all the stories now, but I've already done that below as I usually do with anthologies and collections. Kaleidoscope is an excellent anthology and I strongly recommend it to everyone. If you haven't already picked up a copy, do so!
~
Cookie Cutter Superhero | Tansy Rayner Roberts — A very strong start to the anthology. A girl with one hand is chosen to join a superhero team. It touches on the lack of female super heroes and deals with the main character’s fear that if the superhero machine “fixes” her, then what does that do to her sense of identity? What would then happen to her when she stopped being a superhero (because they have a limited tenure) and went back to being normal?
The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon | Ken Liu — A portmanteau of two teenage girls in love and a Chinese Fairytale, with a twist on the take of the Fairytale's ending (I think, I'll have to google it later)
The Legend Trap | Sean Williams — Set in the Twinmaker universe and an odd story. It deals with the idea of d-mat teleportation sending people to a parallel universe and some of the consequences of that. I say odd mainly because of the ambiguous ending.
End of Service | Gabriela Lee — A story about the daughter of an overseas worker from the Philippines, struggling to come to terms with her mother's work choices. And of course with a speculative twist.
Chupacabra's Song | Jim C. Hines — A girl discovers chupacabras, magic and cruelty.
The Day the God Died | Alena McNamara — A short story about a character dealing with some heavy issues and a series of encounters with a dying old god.
Signature | Faith Mudge — I loved this story! It was clever and lovely and funny. Bookshops, supernatural contracts and an especially diverse cast.
The Lovely Duckling | Tim Susman — A story told in transcripts and other documents. A trans character works to escape her oppressive father in a world where people can also be shape-shifters. It had several pretty great elements, including the ending.
Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell | E.C. Myers — A drug that lets teenagers see into the future while they are kidding someone. Or a possible future, anyway. A girl on psych meds has a different reaction to it than her peers do and fixates on leaning more.
Vanilla | Dirk Flinthart — Alien refugees have come to live on Earth in this story about an Australian girl with Somalian parents whose two best friends are aliens.
Careful Magic | Karen Healey — A girl with powerful magic and possibly OCD gets caught up in some of her magic-school classmates' shenanigans. A high-stakes magical story.
Walkdog | Sofia Samatar — A progressively sad story told in the form of a school-girl's essay. (Crappy grammar and all.) It's hard to comment on without spoiling, but the essay is ostensibly about the urban legend of Walkdog, the dog who walks you.
Celebration | Sean Eads — A gay teen is sent to gay camp (you know, the deprogramming kind) but when he gets there it's not quite the kind of brainwashing he expected.
The Truth About Owls | Amal El-Mohtar — A girl from Lebanon moves to Glasgow and discovers the joy of owls, Welsh and the truth about the power she feels inside herself. (Sort of.)
Krishna Blue | Shveta Thakrar — This was a weird story and one of the most horrifying. The story itself is wide open to interpretation, so I don't want to blatantly say what it's about other than a girl who doesn't fit in.
Every Little Thing | Holly Kench — A witch who also happen to be chronically ill, her supportive friend and her crush. About the importance of having friends that understand your needs/problems.
Happy Go Lucky | Garth Nix — Honestly, this story didn't really do it for me. It wasn't terrible, but it reminded me of far too many YA dystopian novels, with the usual variation on a theme. The "privileged youth hits hard times in dystopia" is a formula I've run out of patience for. (But I'm torn as to whether the diverse elements' complete irrelevance to the plot is a good or bad thing.)
Ordinary Things | Vylar Kaftan — Probably the least YA story with a 19 year old protagonist. Girl dealing with the end of a serious relationship and seeking safety in ritual.
Double Time | John Chu — An elite figure skating teen in a world where it's possible to jump back in time by up to four minutes to watch your practice or even skate with yourself. It was bittersweet.
Welcome | William Alexander — I think this was the shortest story, and certainly the most fantastical in the collection. The moon and earth are connected by a magical bridge, which smugglers cross at night. A whimsical (if not entirely cheerful) end to the anthology.
5 / 5 stars
It's an incredibly strong anthology, filled with thoughtful and creative stories. The stories cover a wide range of diverse characters, with diveristy stemming from race, gender, chronic/mental illness and disability. I was pleasantly surprised to see several stories deal with characters who fit into more than one of those labels. I also found it awesome that most of the stories weren't about being black/queer/sick/etc but had those aspects as background to the main plot, generally a fantastical one (since it is an SFF anthology).
It's really hard to pick favourites in this collection. Although I didn't love the stories equally, there weren't any duds. (The one I talk about disliking below was because of a theme I'm sick of, not because there was anything wrong with the story per se.) Really, I liked all of them. However, some that stood out to me more than the others were: "Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts, which was just awesome and needs a novel set in its universe; "Signature" by Faith Mudge, which was clever, amusing and ultimately happy-making; "Careful Magic" by Karen Healey about a magical school and a girl dealing with being an outsider for her eccentricities; and "Double Time" by John Chu, which was about ice-skating and having a pushy parent.
Most of the stories, I found, were reasonably upbeat but the anthology was punctuated with a few sadder stories. For example "The Legend Trap" by Sean Williams and "Krishna Blue" by Shveta Thakrar both have ambiguous and not entirely happy endings.
It's hard not to comment on all the stories now, but I've already done that below as I usually do with anthologies and collections. Kaleidoscope is an excellent anthology and I strongly recommend it to everyone. If you haven't already picked up a copy, do so!
~
Cookie Cutter Superhero | Tansy Rayner Roberts — A very strong start to the anthology. A girl with one hand is chosen to join a superhero team. It touches on the lack of female super heroes and deals with the main character’s fear that if the superhero machine “fixes” her, then what does that do to her sense of identity? What would then happen to her when she stopped being a superhero (because they have a limited tenure) and went back to being normal?
The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon | Ken Liu — A portmanteau of two teenage girls in love and a Chinese Fairytale, with a twist on the take of the Fairytale's ending (I think, I'll have to google it later)
The Legend Trap | Sean Williams — Set in the Twinmaker universe and an odd story. It deals with the idea of d-mat teleportation sending people to a parallel universe and some of the consequences of that. I say odd mainly because of the ambiguous ending.
End of Service | Gabriela Lee — A story about the daughter of an overseas worker from the Philippines, struggling to come to terms with her mother's work choices. And of course with a speculative twist.
Chupacabra's Song | Jim C. Hines — A girl discovers chupacabras, magic and cruelty.
The Day the God Died | Alena McNamara — A short story about a character dealing with some heavy issues and a series of encounters with a dying old god.
Signature | Faith Mudge — I loved this story! It was clever and lovely and funny. Bookshops, supernatural contracts and an especially diverse cast.
The Lovely Duckling | Tim Susman — A story told in transcripts and other documents. A trans character works to escape her oppressive father in a world where people can also be shape-shifters. It had several pretty great elements, including the ending.
Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell | E.C. Myers — A drug that lets teenagers see into the future while they are kidding someone. Or a possible future, anyway. A girl on psych meds has a different reaction to it than her peers do and fixates on leaning more.
Vanilla | Dirk Flinthart — Alien refugees have come to live on Earth in this story about an Australian girl with Somalian parents whose two best friends are aliens.
Careful Magic | Karen Healey — A girl with powerful magic and possibly OCD gets caught up in some of her magic-school classmates' shenanigans. A high-stakes magical story.
Walkdog | Sofia Samatar — A progressively sad story told in the form of a school-girl's essay. (Crappy grammar and all.) It's hard to comment on without spoiling, but the essay is ostensibly about the urban legend of Walkdog, the dog who walks you.
Celebration | Sean Eads — A gay teen is sent to gay camp (you know, the deprogramming kind) but when he gets there it's not quite the kind of brainwashing he expected.
The Truth About Owls | Amal El-Mohtar — A girl from Lebanon moves to Glasgow and discovers the joy of owls, Welsh and the truth about the power she feels inside herself. (Sort of.)
Krishna Blue | Shveta Thakrar — This was a weird story and one of the most horrifying. The story itself is wide open to interpretation, so I don't want to blatantly say what it's about other than a girl who doesn't fit in.
Every Little Thing | Holly Kench — A witch who also happen to be chronically ill, her supportive friend and her crush. About the importance of having friends that understand your needs/problems.
Happy Go Lucky | Garth Nix — Honestly, this story didn't really do it for me. It wasn't terrible, but it reminded me of far too many YA dystopian novels, with the usual variation on a theme. The "privileged youth hits hard times in dystopia" is a formula I've run out of patience for. (But I'm torn as to whether the diverse elements' complete irrelevance to the plot is a good or bad thing.)
Ordinary Things | Vylar Kaftan — Probably the least YA story with a 19 year old protagonist. Girl dealing with the end of a serious relationship and seeking safety in ritual.
Double Time | John Chu — An elite figure skating teen in a world where it's possible to jump back in time by up to four minutes to watch your practice or even skate with yourself. It was bittersweet.
Welcome | William Alexander — I think this was the shortest story, and certainly the most fantastical in the collection. The moon and earth are connected by a magical bridge, which smugglers cross at night. A whimsical (if not entirely cheerful) end to the anthology.
5 / 5 stars