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msoul13's review
3.0
NOTE: I won a free eBook copy of this book in MOBI format from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers (July 2021).
The subtitle of this anthology is "Weird Landscapes"--a fitting description for the volume in its entirety. Most of the stories use setting as a key element in their plot development. The result is a collection of tales that are often eerie and sometimes unsettling, and always veering into unexpected territory. Some stories are more abstract than others and kind of lost me, and I found a few quite tedious, which weakened the collection as a whole. However, I found each entry unique and enjoyed the reading experience.
Here are my reactions to each individual story:
"Between Skin and Sea:" Out with the old, in with the new.
"All That Dead Beauty:" Back to the garden, but not really.
"The White Wood:" Kind of reminded me of "The Woman In Black."
"Bog Goddess:" Salvation is found when you least expect it.
"Parrot’s Drumble:" Poem painting in prose.
"Ochre and Faience:" The Reaper took a roundabout path.
"A Hard Country to Die In:" Like one of those rambling stories your grandmother tells you whilst in your crib.
"Lightening Rose Biggin:" The birth of a mermaid.
"The Green Calling:" Got "Avatar" and "The Shape of Water" vibes from this one.
"The Mydford Medusa:" A neat and creepy tale with a conservationist bent.
"Sanatorium:" Wow, what a freaky poem! Read it twice for the full effect. Eerie and haunting in all the right ways.
"The Lighthouse:" Very "Twilight Zone"-esque, complete with multiple mental breakdowns. The quest for the lighthouse briefly reminded me of Gatsby and the green light.
"The Winter Wife:" A journey towards one’s destiny. (i.e., Death?)
"The Road to Tempol:" An excursion into astral travel. . . .
"Crabtree Field:" We all could use a sanctuary of renewal.
"On Venus Street:" A window into the future, life, and death.
"Work - Die, Heh Heh:" Everyone's drunk.
"Borderline:" Ennui and journalism.
"Icarus Fall:" A note from God?
The subtitle of this anthology is "Weird Landscapes"--a fitting description for the volume in its entirety. Most of the stories use setting as a key element in their plot development. The result is a collection of tales that are often eerie and sometimes unsettling, and always veering into unexpected territory. Some stories are more abstract than others and kind of lost me, and I found a few quite tedious, which weakened the collection as a whole. However, I found each entry unique and enjoyed the reading experience.
Here are my reactions to each individual story:
"Between Skin and Sea:" Out with the old, in with the new.
"All That Dead Beauty:" Back to the garden, but not really.
"The White Wood:" Kind of reminded me of "The Woman In Black."
"Bog Goddess:" Salvation is found when you least expect it.
"Parrot’s Drumble:" Poem painting in prose.
"Ochre and Faience:" The Reaper took a roundabout path.
"A Hard Country to Die In:" Like one of those rambling stories your grandmother tells you whilst in your crib.
"Lightening Rose Biggin:" The birth of a mermaid.
"The Green Calling:" Got "Avatar" and "The Shape of Water" vibes from this one.
"The Mydford Medusa:" A neat and creepy tale with a conservationist bent.
"Sanatorium:" Wow, what a freaky poem! Read it twice for the full effect. Eerie and haunting in all the right ways.
"The Lighthouse:" Very "Twilight Zone"-esque, complete with multiple mental breakdowns. The quest for the lighthouse briefly reminded me of Gatsby and the green light.
"The Winter Wife:" A journey towards one’s destiny. (i.e., Death?)
"The Road to Tempol:" An excursion into astral travel. . . .
"Crabtree Field:" We all could use a sanctuary of renewal.
"On Venus Street:" A window into the future, life, and death.
"Work - Die, Heh Heh:" Everyone's drunk.
"Borderline:" Ennui and journalism.
"Icarus Fall:" A note from God?
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