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A review by thoughtsonbooks
The Sum Of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound by Heather Osborne, Christie Yant, James Van Pelt, Tyler Keevil, Brenda Cooper, Lucas K. Law, Dominik Parisien, Claire Humphrey, Bev Geddes, Alex Shvartsman, Colleen Anderson, Matt Moore, Edward Willett, Juliet Marillier, Caroline M. Yoachim, Susan Forest, Nisi Shawl, Ian Creasey, Charlotte Ashley, Amanda Sun, Karina Sumner-Smith, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Sandra Kasturi, Hayden Trenholm, A.M. Dellamonica, Kate Story
4.0
This was such a constistently good short story anthology. I have been struggling with anthologies recently so much that I started to consider not reading any anymore. This one, however, was really mostly good. I struggle with reviewing anthologies in general and while I thought this was really worthwhile, there were no stories that became new favourites and that I want to gush about.
The collection of speculative works looks at the concept of caregivers from many different angles; some of which I just adored. I loved the idea of a retirement home for former super villains and their henchmen (and henchwomen) and thought this story was executed wonderfully (The Dunschemin Retirement Home For Repentant Supervillains by Ian Creasey). Bottleneck by A. Am. Dellamonica was action-packed and interesting enough that I would love a whole book set in this world.
As always, there were some stories that did not quite work for me – I mean what is it with stories set in societies that closely resemble beehives? There were two of those here and while the first one did in fact prove to be charming after a while (The Mother’s Keepers by Edward Willet), the second dragged and did not offer anything new I found (Am I Not A Proud Outlier? by Kate Story). Also, this is a premise I have no definitely have read enough of.
So overall, worthwhile but not groundbreaking. I even now struggle to recall most of the stories and I think this will prove to be even more the case in a few weeks time. But I enjoyed it while I read it, which sometimes is enough.
I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Laksa Media Groups in exchange for an honest review.
The collection of speculative works looks at the concept of caregivers from many different angles; some of which I just adored. I loved the idea of a retirement home for former super villains and their henchmen (and henchwomen) and thought this story was executed wonderfully (The Dunschemin Retirement Home For Repentant Supervillains by Ian Creasey). Bottleneck by A. Am. Dellamonica was action-packed and interesting enough that I would love a whole book set in this world.
As always, there were some stories that did not quite work for me – I mean what is it with stories set in societies that closely resemble beehives? There were two of those here and while the first one did in fact prove to be charming after a while (The Mother’s Keepers by Edward Willet), the second dragged and did not offer anything new I found (Am I Not A Proud Outlier? by Kate Story). Also, this is a premise I have no definitely have read enough of.
So overall, worthwhile but not groundbreaking. I even now struggle to recall most of the stories and I think this will prove to be even more the case in a few weeks time. But I enjoyed it while I read it, which sometimes is enough.
I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Laksa Media Groups in exchange for an honest review.