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magyklyxdelish's review
4.0
First i would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
First I want to say the introduction was beautiful. The cause the proceeds of this book go to is wonderful.
I love short story collections and I love weird stories. Stories that aren't the typical status quo you find on every bookshelf. I live for stories that make you think. I love unreliable narrators. This book contains stories that have all of those things.
Skin like carapace and Crossing were both beautiful stories that made my heart soar. Crossing was a breath of fresh air in an LGBTQ+ coming of age story. That story alone is reason enough to purchase this book honestly.
My love of reading stories with unreliable narrators was met in Jewel of the Vashwa. That one left me with my jaw on the floor with a twist I didn't see coming.
Thin Places was a gut wrenching look at loss. "when you're in mourning it hurts that things don't always hurt" -- man i felt that.
The Hoof Situation was an incredible look at aging and trying to hold on to your youth.
The Bricks of Gelecek is the one that actually made me cry. The story was so unique. Told from the point of view of destruction who falls for creation or at least thats how I interpreted it.
That's not to say there weren't stories i didn't like. The first story had me worried going into this book as it was slow and didn't hook me or interest me at all.
Overall this is a solid collection that I would be happy to add to my bookshelf and would recommend other lovers of story collections add to theirs
First I want to say the introduction was beautiful. The cause the proceeds of this book go to is wonderful.
I love short story collections and I love weird stories. Stories that aren't the typical status quo you find on every bookshelf. I live for stories that make you think. I love unreliable narrators. This book contains stories that have all of those things.
Skin like carapace and Crossing were both beautiful stories that made my heart soar. Crossing was a breath of fresh air in an LGBTQ+ coming of age story. That story alone is reason enough to purchase this book honestly.
My love of reading stories with unreliable narrators was met in Jewel of the Vashwa. That one left me with my jaw on the floor with a twist I didn't see coming.
Thin Places was a gut wrenching look at loss. "when you're in mourning it hurts that things don't always hurt" -- man i felt that.
The Hoof Situation was an incredible look at aging and trying to hold on to your youth.
The Bricks of Gelecek is the one that actually made me cry. The story was so unique. Told from the point of view of destruction who falls for creation or at least thats how I interpreted it.
That's not to say there weren't stories i didn't like. The first story had me worried going into this book as it was slow and didn't hook me or interest me at all.
Overall this is a solid collection that I would be happy to add to my bookshelf and would recommend other lovers of story collections add to theirs
ang44's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? Yes
4.0
Overall, I really enjoyed how thought-provoking this collection of stories was, and some of them were in my usual genres but others really pushed me to try to understand different genres of writing. My favorite stories were fantastical and taking interesting characters with interesting qualities and putting them in strange, other-worldly scenarios. I would reread all of my favorite stories in this book again and would love to explore work by those authors.
There are 9 stories that really fulfilled this for me and that I really loved:
Jewels of the Vashwa, Skin like Carapace, Glasswort; Ice, Meat for Skritches, The Pyramid of Amirah, Crossing, Butter-Daughters, They Said the Desert, and The Bricks of Gelecek.
I organized the rest of the stories into 3 other tiers. The following 7 titles all had very interesting concepts or characters to me, but some were difficult to understand fully the message/the meaning in general and some were vague or technical in language or had unlikeable/unrelatable characters:
The ghost who loved a mannequin, The hoof situation, You go where it takes you, Thin places, And sneer of cold command, Into the wood, and Snow as white as snow.
There are 4 stories that I really enjoyed aspects of their creative concepts, but they genuinely just confused me in some ways:
Amanda invades the museum, Flyover country, A girl who comes out of her chamber, and Landscape of lacrimation.
Finally, these last 3 titles were my least favorite, but I absolutely acknowledge that I just do not always comprehend more futuristic stories and am not always able to tell what is happening in them / it is hard for me to make meaning when it is both futuristic and abstract, and I found these 3 just too confusing to identify value:
Higher Works (could not finish or comprehend at all unfortunately), Festival, and Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire Part B.
There are 9 stories that really fulfilled this for me and that I really loved:
Jewels of the Vashwa, Skin like Carapace, Glasswort; Ice, Meat for Skritches, The Pyramid of Amirah, Crossing, Butter-Daughters, They Said the Desert, and The Bricks of Gelecek.
I organized the rest of the stories into 3 other tiers. The following 7 titles all had very interesting concepts or characters to me, but some were difficult to understand fully the message/the meaning in general and some were vague or technical in language or had unlikeable/unrelatable characters:
The ghost who loved a mannequin, The hoof situation, You go where it takes you, Thin places, And sneer of cold command, Into the wood, and Snow as white as snow.
There are 4 stories that I really enjoyed aspects of their creative concepts, but they genuinely just confused me in some ways:
Amanda invades the museum, Flyover country, A girl who comes out of her chamber, and Landscape of lacrimation.
Finally, these last 3 titles were my least favorite, but I absolutely acknowledge that I just do not always comprehend more futuristic stories and am not always able to tell what is happening in them / it is hard for me to make meaning when it is both futuristic and abstract, and I found these 3 just too confusing to identify value:
Higher Works (could not finish or comprehend at all unfortunately), Festival, and Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire Part B.
kurumipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Death, Body horror, Abandonment, and Sexual content
cavetoad's review against another edition
5.0
So many great stories. Weird, wild, and captivating. Beautifully edited.
luftschlosseule's review
4.0
trigger warning
child abandonment, gore, internment, domestic violence
A child ascending to goodhood in a pyramid. A guy during a pandemic, patting his cat. Somebody on the run, a ghost: All this and much more you can find in this short story collection.
This is a perfect example for speculative fiction short stories in the sense that you won't know what you'll be getting. Some stories could be contemporary, some are set in the distant future, some in a setting that feels like the past but could be another planet. You don't know. You have to look and see.
We have single people, parents, enbies, white folk and people from all over the globe, which I liked a lot. Some stories appealed more to me than others, but there was not one I actively disliked. In more than one case I was upset at the ending, because I wanted more. I would have read hundreds of pages by that author on that setting and these people.
On top of this, the proceeds from this anthology go, at least in some part, to RAICES, an organisation that works on human rights for every human being. So it's a win all over. You get a way to look into different authors, get some weird tales, and give something in return, more than the usual support to the creators, but to another good cause.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A child ascending to goodhood in a pyramid. A guy during a pandemic, patting his cat. Somebody on the run, a ghost: All this and much more you can find in this short story collection.
This is a perfect example for speculative fiction short stories in the sense that you won't know what you'll be getting. Some stories could be contemporary, some are set in the distant future, some in a setting that feels like the past but could be another planet. You don't know. You have to look and see.
We have single people, parents, enbies, white folk and people from all over the globe, which I liked a lot. Some stories appealed more to me than others, but there was not one I actively disliked. In more than one case I was upset at the ending, because I wanted more. I would have read hundreds of pages by that author on that setting and these people.
On top of this, the proceeds from this anthology go, at least in some part, to RAICES, an organisation that works on human rights for every human being. So it's a win all over. You get a way to look into different authors, get some weird tales, and give something in return, more than the usual support to the creators, but to another good cause.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
rowena_m_andrews's review against another edition
4.0
‘Weird Dream Society’ is an accurate name for this collection. It is weird, in so many different ways and it makes for an interesting collection, that is incredibly bleak at times. It’s described as ‘whimsical or dark’, and I would say that it definitely leans more towards the latter, although not to the point where it was overwhelming or completely devoid of hope. The strongest stories in the collection, were those that were not weird just for the sake of being weird, but used the strangeness, the sense of otherness to make a point.
Now, this was not universal and there were a few stories, especially the first that didn’t work for me, either because they fell short of having this ‘point’ or were too weird for me, but that might be personal preference more than anything. Something else that some of the stories suffered from was the concept and writing was fantastic, but the idea needed more than a short story to really do them justice, and if they’d had more space, they would have been my favourite stories.
This was not a comfortable read, some of the stories made my skin crawl, or left me with the need to think and rethink the story, an almost niggling desire to make sense of the ‘weird’ and why it is weird. ‘The Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire, Part B’ in particular was guilty of this, and while it was strictly a ‘story’ it was one of my favourite pieces of the entire collection, because it made me THINK. Other favourites included ‘Glasswort, Ice’ which was beautiful and eerie, and I just loved the idea of Ice Whales; and ‘Skin like Carapace’ and I do feel that this collection, for the flaws there were, grew in strength and made for a fascinating, albeit uncomfortable read.
This will not be a collection for everyone, but if you are intrigued by the weird and other, I think you will find at least a few of the stories appeal to you. It was hard to rate this one, because there were ups and downs, and I feel this is one that if very much down to personal preferences but I would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little out there.
Now, this was not universal and there were a few stories, especially the first that didn’t work for me, either because they fell short of having this ‘point’ or were too weird for me, but that might be personal preference more than anything. Something else that some of the stories suffered from was the concept and writing was fantastic, but the idea needed more than a short story to really do them justice, and if they’d had more space, they would have been my favourite stories.
This was not a comfortable read, some of the stories made my skin crawl, or left me with the need to think and rethink the story, an almost niggling desire to make sense of the ‘weird’ and why it is weird. ‘The Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire, Part B’ in particular was guilty of this, and while it was strictly a ‘story’ it was one of my favourite pieces of the entire collection, because it made me THINK. Other favourites included ‘Glasswort, Ice’ which was beautiful and eerie, and I just loved the idea of Ice Whales; and ‘Skin like Carapace’ and I do feel that this collection, for the flaws there were, grew in strength and made for a fascinating, albeit uncomfortable read.
This will not be a collection for everyone, but if you are intrigued by the weird and other, I think you will find at least a few of the stories appeal to you. It was hard to rate this one, because there were ups and downs, and I feel this is one that if very much down to personal preferences but I would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little out there.
mfletcher's review
5.0
I know that weird may at times be a rather intimidating moniker, but that each of the contributing authors was able to fully embrace it meant that the extraordinary became ordinary and the worlds and happenings far more unique and captivating. The short story format enabled even small ideas to be explored for their practicalities and implications.
Moreso than the worlds, many of these stories left me sitting, quiet and pensive, contemplating what on Earth had just happened (in a good way.) This is certainly not an anthology to be read in one sitting, as you will almost certainly need time to consider and imagine.
I highly recommend this anthology for lovers of stories on the weird and fantastical side of things, but also just anyone who loves to be made to think. You can find a full review on my blog Practically Untitled.
Moreso than the worlds, many of these stories left me sitting, quiet and pensive, contemplating what on Earth had just happened (in a good way.) This is certainly not an anthology to be read in one sitting, as you will almost certainly need time to consider and imagine.
I highly recommend this anthology for lovers of stories on the weird and fantastical side of things, but also just anyone who loves to be made to think. You can find a full review on my blog Practically Untitled.
natrosette's review
4.0
A haunted desert, consciousness rotting away, statues that move after dark, woods that kidnap and devour, beings that can erase you from memory with only their touch – all of this and more is found in the 23 short stories of the Weird Dream Society anthology.
The blurb for Weird Dream Society describes the tales as “playful, whimsical, or dark, but always thoughtful and tinged with the inexplicably weird.” I agree with most of this, but I can’t think of many tales that I interpreted as playful or whimsical. The vast majority would be better described as bleak, though not entirely hopeless. What I appreciated about these strange, dark stories is that most of them, and all of my favorites, were not weird for the sake of being weird but rather delivered a point. There were only a few that missed the mark and, to me, seemed aimless. These were, predictably, my
This anthology is often an uncomfortable read, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable one. If you know you’re not a fan of stories that make your skin crawl or questions that might not have satisfactory answers, this is not the book for you. That doesn’t mean that this anthology is only for fans of horror; I’m certainly not one and I really liked most of the stories. If you were intrigued by the premises listed in the intro of this review, I’m willing to bet that you will find at least a couple of stories here that you love.
Averaging my ratings for every individual story, Weird Dream Society is a 4 out of 5 star read for me. This anthology does not only contain great stories but also supports a great cause, with proceeds from the book going to support RAICES, an organization that “envisions a compassionate society where all people have the right to migrate, and human rights are guaranteed” and works towards this vision by providing legal services for immigrants and refugees. It’s worth mentioning that a number of the short stories in this book contain themes of immigration and/or otherness. Weird Dream Society will be published on May 26th, 2020, and I recommend you pick up a copy if you’re a fan of weird speculative fiction.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find more reviews on my blog!
The blurb for Weird Dream Society describes the tales as “playful, whimsical, or dark, but always thoughtful and tinged with the inexplicably weird.” I agree with most of this, but I can’t think of many tales that I interpreted as playful or whimsical. The vast majority would be better described as bleak, though not entirely hopeless. What I appreciated about these strange, dark stories is that most of them, and all of my favorites, were not weird for the sake of being weird but rather delivered a point. There were only a few that missed the mark and, to me, seemed aimless. These were, predictably, my
This anthology is often an uncomfortable read, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable one. If you know you’re not a fan of stories that make your skin crawl or questions that might not have satisfactory answers, this is not the book for you. That doesn’t mean that this anthology is only for fans of horror; I’m certainly not one and I really liked most of the stories. If you were intrigued by the premises listed in the intro of this review, I’m willing to bet that you will find at least a couple of stories here that you love.
Averaging my ratings for every individual story, Weird Dream Society is a 4 out of 5 star read for me. This anthology does not only contain great stories but also supports a great cause, with proceeds from the book going to support RAICES, an organization that “envisions a compassionate society where all people have the right to migrate, and human rights are guaranteed” and works towards this vision by providing legal services for immigrants and refugees. It’s worth mentioning that a number of the short stories in this book contain themes of immigration and/or otherness. Weird Dream Society will be published on May 26th, 2020, and I recommend you pick up a copy if you’re a fan of weird speculative fiction.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find more reviews on my blog!
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