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booksbydalia's review against another edition
4.0
Nunca había leído nada de Will y ha sido todo un descubrimiento. Escribe de una manera muy bonita y a la vez muy sencilla pero que es capaz de involucrarte en la historia y consigue que tus emociones se revuelvan a la par que lo hace la historia.
Nos enfrentamos a 18 relatos que aparentemente no tienen nada que ver. Lo único que les une a todos es la gran forma de escribir que tiene Will y que me ha dejado asombrada y también el hecho de que en ninguno de ellos haya un final que te puedas esperar a medida que vas leyendo, porque aunque obviamente tendrá algo que ver con el tema, no necesariamente va a pasar algo en concreto por mucho que todos los detalles apunten a eso.
❤ Es una lectura muy rápida. De por sí no tiene muchas páginas (184) pero es que además cada relato es corto y de fácil comprensión, lo que hace que sea un libro devorable. Will tiene una manera increíble de escribir
❤ ️ Lo que más me ha gustado (sin tener en cuenta la forma de escribir de Will) es el amor con el que están hechos los libros. Y yo personalmente creo que queda muy patente en detalles como poner una tipografía diferente en el título o dibujos hermosos en los relatos, como es el caso.
En resumen, es un libro que me ha gustado un montón, he disfrutado mucho leyéndolo y aunque había momentos duros porque no sabes qué está pasando, sabes que valdrá la pena. Para mí, por todo eso un 4/5.
Nos enfrentamos a 18 relatos que aparentemente no tienen nada que ver. Lo único que les une a todos es la gran forma de escribir que tiene Will y que me ha dejado asombrada y también el hecho de que en ninguno de ellos haya un final que te puedas esperar a medida que vas leyendo, porque aunque obviamente tendrá algo que ver con el tema, no necesariamente va a pasar algo en concreto por mucho que todos los detalles apunten a eso.
❤ Es una lectura muy rápida. De por sí no tiene muchas páginas (184) pero es que además cada relato es corto y de fácil comprensión, lo que hace que sea un libro devorable. Will tiene una manera increíble de escribir
❤ ️ Lo que más me ha gustado (sin tener en cuenta la forma de escribir de Will) es el amor con el que están hechos los libros. Y yo personalmente creo que queda muy patente en detalles como poner una tipografía diferente en el título o dibujos hermosos en los relatos, como es el caso.
En resumen, es un libro que me ha gustado un montón, he disfrutado mucho leyéndolo y aunque había momentos duros porque no sabes qué está pasando, sabes que valdrá la pena. Para mí, por todo eso un 4/5.
lost_goddess's review
The translation is lacking in style and voice, and some of the meaning is lost.
thebookishteacorner's review
3.0
3.5
Here is another book outside of my reading habits that I willingly wanted to try. Some stories are short, and others are extremely short. It's very diverse in terms of genre (horror, true crime, mystery, ...), of time (past, present and future), of types of narrators (age and genre). The author clearly has the ability to write very different things, which makes this book special. Somehow, it just wasn't for me. I had a hard time with some of the stories that left me confused or theorizing, and that's not usually what I'm looking for when I read. Some other stories were more to my liking. I'd still recommend it to readers who are looking for something short, diverse and in the genres mentioned above !
Here is another book outside of my reading habits that I willingly wanted to try. Some stories are short, and others are extremely short. It's very diverse in terms of genre (horror, true crime, mystery, ...), of time (past, present and future), of types of narrators (age and genre). The author clearly has the ability to write very different things, which makes this book special. Somehow, it just wasn't for me. I had a hard time with some of the stories that left me confused or theorizing, and that's not usually what I'm looking for when I read. Some other stories were more to my liking. I'd still recommend it to readers who are looking for something short, diverse and in the genres mentioned above !
roshreviews's review
slow-paced
2.5
In a Nutshell: I am not sure why this collection didn’t work for me. But it just didn’t.
This short story collection contains 28 stories that are quite diverse from each other. They cover a variety of genres (crime, horror, dystopian, sci-fi, mystery…), periods (historical, contemporary, futuristic), lengths (with the shortest story being just a page long), and character perspectives (first, second and third person.) As such, the stories don’t feel repetitive.
This should have made the stories work well for me. But somehow, the writing style didn’t suit my taste. The plots were too meandering for my liking, with sometimes there being no logical connection between the start and the finish. At times, the ending was too abrupt. Many stories were quite conversation-dominated, a stylistic choice that never works for me.
The stories are supposedly “steeped in Spanish culture and tradition.” I might be too dense in this regard, given my lack of familiarity with all thing Spanish, so I could hardly make out anything cultural in the stories. The title seems to promise twists, and there are twists present in the end for many of the stories. But most of these were foreseeable and hence not surprising to me.
I think a part of me expected more darkness from this collection, partly because of the titular crows. The darkness is present only in bits and spurts.
That said, I must give the stories credit for being quite imaginative. Many of the premises were mind-blowingly creative. If only the implementation had worked better for me!
The stories have been translated from Spanish (the author is of Venezuelan origin), but nowhere could I detect a linguistic hurdle and the writing flowed smoothly. Kudos to the translator!
As always, I rated the stories individually. However, most of them ended up with a midway or lower rating. No story reached even the 4-star mark. As such, my overall experience was just average and I cannot pick any story as a memorable one. The closest to the top were ‘Crow Salad’ and ‘Two Rocking Chairs’, with 3.5 stars each.
Most readers seem to have enjoyed this collecting, so either I was the wrong reader for this, or I picked it up at the wrong time. So please go through the other reviews before you take a call on this book.
2.4 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each of the stories.
My thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the DRC of “Twisted Crows: Spanish-Infused Short Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.
This short story collection contains 28 stories that are quite diverse from each other. They cover a variety of genres (crime, horror, dystopian, sci-fi, mystery…), periods (historical, contemporary, futuristic), lengths (with the shortest story being just a page long), and character perspectives (first, second and third person.) As such, the stories don’t feel repetitive.
This should have made the stories work well for me. But somehow, the writing style didn’t suit my taste. The plots were too meandering for my liking, with sometimes there being no logical connection between the start and the finish. At times, the ending was too abrupt. Many stories were quite conversation-dominated, a stylistic choice that never works for me.
The stories are supposedly “steeped in Spanish culture and tradition.” I might be too dense in this regard, given my lack of familiarity with all thing Spanish, so I could hardly make out anything cultural in the stories. The title seems to promise twists, and there are twists present in the end for many of the stories. But most of these were foreseeable and hence not surprising to me.
I think a part of me expected more darkness from this collection, partly because of the titular crows. The darkness is present only in bits and spurts.
That said, I must give the stories credit for being quite imaginative. Many of the premises were mind-blowingly creative. If only the implementation had worked better for me!
The stories have been translated from Spanish (the author is of Venezuelan origin), but nowhere could I detect a linguistic hurdle and the writing flowed smoothly. Kudos to the translator!
As always, I rated the stories individually. However, most of them ended up with a midway or lower rating. No story reached even the 4-star mark. As such, my overall experience was just average and I cannot pick any story as a memorable one. The closest to the top were ‘Crow Salad’ and ‘Two Rocking Chairs’, with 3.5 stars each.
Most readers seem to have enjoyed this collecting, so either I was the wrong reader for this, or I picked it up at the wrong time. So please go through the other reviews before you take a call on this book.
2.4 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each of the stories.
My thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the DRC of “Twisted Crows: Spanish-Infused Short Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.
alisonb's review
3.0
Twisted Crows is presented as a compilation of short stories that celebrate Spanish culture and include some twists and turns along the way. As I immersed myself in this book I found that the synopsis led me to believe these stories would have particular undertones that would evoke twists and turns. While I discovered the latter insinuation to be lacking, the promise of the presence of folktales was the most successful and prevalent aspect of the content of this book.
The writing style appeared discordant at first, but as I adapted to the stylistic choices of the writing I could sense an efficient organization of thoughts which appeared to occasionally present themselves in a stream of consciousness manner. When I caught on to the author's voice I enjoyed this read when I could grasp the message behind the tale.
If I were to define this book, I would say that is a compilation of stories that gaze towards the perceived futuristic and historical experience of humans and their multitudes of achievements and foibles. It is a social commentary and a worldview that attempts to encapsulate how our intimate worlds orbit within a greater context. I also believe different readers will grasp a variety of interpretations and meanings behind this body of Spanish-infused parables.
I read and reviewed an advanced eARC of this book thanks to BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. All honest opinions are my own.
The writing style appeared discordant at first, but as I adapted to the stylistic choices of the writing I could sense an efficient organization of thoughts which appeared to occasionally present themselves in a stream of consciousness manner. When I caught on to the author's voice I enjoyed this read when I could grasp the message behind the tale.
If I were to define this book, I would say that is a compilation of stories that gaze towards the perceived futuristic and historical experience of humans and their multitudes of achievements and foibles. It is a social commentary and a worldview that attempts to encapsulate how our intimate worlds orbit within a greater context. I also believe different readers will grasp a variety of interpretations and meanings behind this body of Spanish-infused parables.
I read and reviewed an advanced eARC of this book thanks to BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. All honest opinions are my own.
srivalli's review
medium-paced
3.0
3 Stars
One Liner: An interesting mix
Anthologies are fun to read for the variety they offer. This collection is translated from Spanish and has twenty-eight stories from different genres, themes, tenses, and POVs. We have historical, contemporary, dystopian, futuristic, horror, gothic, realistic, crime, mystery, etc.
Some stories are in the second-person POV (is this a thing now?) and dialogue heavy. The length also varies, and that adds to its appeal. The translation is rather smooth and seamless (at least for me). The stories do read like they’ve been written in English.
Given the number, I decided not to review them individually but made notes anyway, so I’m adding that part directly to the review. As with most anthologies, I liked some. However, I couldn’t even figure out a couple of stories, so that did dim the enjoyment. Also, I read the book for over a month (don’t go by the GR dates), so it may have affected my reading experience a little.
Here we go:
The Water I Spilled Yesterday- piano, visual artist, ghosts of the house, mental illness (?)
Luis, Luisita and the Luisitos- short, adult-rated with a laugh-out-loud twist
Rot in Hell, Ramón!- missed bus, how life changes for someone else (what’s the connection)
The Legend of the Astronarda- sea, caption, pirate (no idea what it is)
The Mystery of the Bear’s Claw- detective mystery (kinda convoluted)
Madame Lingerie- Casanova bid for madame; quirky maybe
Crow Salad- set in the future and domestic violence (can we please try to make women more assertive, at least in the future. Imagine reading a story set in 2105 with a woman being subjected to domestic abuse. Give us some credit!)
Luke Comes from the Future- The same as previous, with a questionnaire
Barbarito Bond- a retired desk worker at the FBI, talks about his life; read it for the ending
Desideratum- Oh, well, now that’s how you get things done (or maybe not)
Conversation of Tears- different POV, human emotions but not human; well done
Where is Jack Rickshaw?- A journalist struggling to bring or even invent news vanishes; why and how. Interesting
Terror at Lake St. Clair- Spooky, horror-ish, twisted indeed
Mortimer’s Infidelity- What happens when a man confesses to his infidelity and his wife is (too) calm about it? Predictable
Mima- fishermen family, dreams, aspirations, betrayal
On the Shores of the Guatavita- Umm… something happens
Feromondo- Archeology, old manuscript, secret, and then it’s gone
Olivia and Me- a beggar’s life
An Afternoon in Cayapán- A wagon driver’s day in a teeny village on a hot summer noon
Between Two Moons, Your Eyes- Moon’s POV peeking into a house?
Flight 1039- Empty flight for a person? Really?
Aleja Ventura- Life story of an 86yo. Peels off layers, one by one. Nothing is as it seems.
Ludovico- A discussion between a psychopathic son and an estranged father? Or is it?
The Phantom’s Revenge- An invisible guy, second person POV, creepy but maybe surprising at the end
Pocaterra- Commander, political thingy. Betrayal and revenge
Lanky’s Helmet- gang wars, death, life; short and impactful
Letters in the Darkness- A short detective story about a death in a hotel room. Lots of telling, but is fast-paced.
Two Rocking Chairs- A story about a stubborn old man and his life. The ending is rather sweet and made me smile.
As you can see, not many stories managed to wow me. This is a fairly mixed read (timepass types) but not something I’ll remember in the long run.
To summarize, Twisted Crows is a varied collection of short stories that will appeal to a wide range of readers. Each reader will have different preferences, so you might like it better than I did.
Thank you, NetGalley and BooksGoSoical, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
#NetGalley #TwistedCrows
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Death
happily_undignified's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Twisted Crows is a spooky anthology with 28 stories from different authors compiled by Will Canduri. These stories were short and packed a punch of eerie terror and complex twists. I enjoyed reading the terrifying tales and I think they all went together well.
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