Reviews

Lots of extremely interesting ideas with underbaked executions. I felt that each story's world wasn't built up enough to fully envelope me, leaving me with little to grasp and care about. Stories moved too quickly to keep me engaged, often skipping over periods of time that would have been interesting to read. Overall, I found the stories I read a bit too forgettable to care about continuing. I got about 50% of the way in.

gappedteeth's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

this was a mixed bag. i really liked around half of the 17 stories and found every one of them interesting. some of the stories i felt confused about until far too late into the story (like i couldn't find my footing to even visualize what was happening until a couple pages in). this worked in some stories, but in others, i wished the structure had been reorganized to help the confusion - that could just be a me thing though lol. i did like how a lot of the stories ended somewhat abruptly, the twist or moment it all comes together being right at the last page or two.

my favorite (5-stars!) stories are (in this order) "the general's turn", "fortunato", "at the hand of every beast", and "the evaluator". these felt smart, well-structured, and i could imagine the settings really well.

i also love how she has notes on each of the stories at the end of the book. reading these made me like the collection even more (and helped me appreciate some of the things i overlooked in the stories i was unsure about). her personality really comes through, which is a treat.