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A review by impreader
Welcome to Bordertown by Tim Pratt, Jane Yolen, Catherynne M. Valente, Christopher Barzak, Cassandra Campbell, Cory Doctorow, Annette Curtis Klause, Dylan Meconis, Will Shetterly, Holly Black, Janni Lee Simner, Cassandra Clare, Delia Sherman, Steven Brust, MacLeod Andrews, Patricia A. McKillip, Dounya El-Mohtar, Charles de Lint, Ellen Kushner, Ellen Kushner, Amal El-Mohtar, Neil Gaiman, Nalo Hopkinson, Sara Ryan, Terri Windling, Emma Bull, Alaya Dawn Johnson
1.0
I did not, in fact, take the time to read cover to cover, as only brief peridots of prose and story struck out of the noxious fog of self-stroking stupidity. One might consider that slightly harsh. Hyperbole. But no apology: the bordertown stories compiled seem to live in their own little world, beyond reason, fairy tale reason, or even simple story common sense. Their characters are more than fairly un-likeable, unpleasant, and self-pitying. Their world is wracked by a peculiar but pricking ugliness that, though it seems as if it might be trying to portray a mirror of our own, absolutely leaves out wonder, grace, or even surprise. In fact, the most surprising thing about the stories is how very little there is to be surprised about amongst what are meant to be other-worldly fae, monsters and magic. Whereas there may be tradition that calls elves perilous, and their love cruel, Bordertown seems to take that tack to the extreme that elves are not elves, not lovely outside of a video-game like aesthetic of dispoportionate sexual proportion and power, but that they are ugly and dangerous and exploitive of anything more vulnerable.
This leaves a very drab trail to trod for any self-motivated reader looking for a story. It is predictable, self-congratulatory, pasteboard presentation with all the modern day politics to boot. The one exception is a story of two girls who save each other by their friendship, and the power of story telling. It, disappointingly, ends on bleakness.
But this is one faux-fairy tale that quite utterly forgot its wonder.
This leaves a very drab trail to trod for any self-motivated reader looking for a story. It is predictable, self-congratulatory, pasteboard presentation with all the modern day politics to boot. The one exception is a story of two girls who save each other by their friendship, and the power of story telling. It, disappointingly, ends on bleakness.
But this is one faux-fairy tale that quite utterly forgot its wonder.