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A review by macthekat
Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories by Alisa Krasnostein
5.0
“Cookie Cutter Superhero” by Tansy Rayner Roberts and it was wonderful. I really would love to read more in that universe. I want more of our main character! She is wonderful. Read my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/cookie-cutter-superhero/
“Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon” by aka Ken Liu which was really touching. It actually somehow took me by surprise when the fantastical element showed up because I was enjoying the story so much by that point
"“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams: I am not a particular fan of horror, so this was far from my favourite story. It did hit a lot of emotional notes with me but really I would rather that it hadn't. Full review http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/the-legend-trap/
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee: Aya just lost her mom, who has been living as a migrant worker, somewhere else. Her mom has never been home much and that is making the grief process harder on Aya, who does not know what to think and feel. A good story, but it didn't quite connect with me.
See my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/end-of-service/
“Chupacabra’s Song” by Jim Hines: This story is about a teenager, Nicola Pallas, with some sort of disorder, that makes it hard for her to concentrate. Music is extremely important for her and for the story. It is also a story set around a veterinarian clinic where Nicola helps her dad. Nicola meets someone like her self for the very first time and that sets off the story. This story works around the idea we have in our heads, that people who are like us in one accept must be like us in others - that people who has the same interest as us, like the same thing or has the same job as us, must be good people. And why should they be any better than other people - well it of course turns out that might not be. I don't think I can say more about the story without spoiling it. I liked the story, though it was not one of my favourites in the collection. As always with Hines' stories it is very emotional and made me feel what Nicola was feeling, which was what made it work for me.
“The Day the God Died” by Alena McNamara: For me this was not a very satisfying story. Mostly because as it says, it is not a story - or rather it doesn't follow a conventional narrative path. As the title says, this is the story of a dying god. It is also a story of young quiltbag man, choosing not to deal with his sexuality. Choosing not to be himself. To me the story left me sad and unsettled, which was probably the intent of the story. But that sadly means that I will not be recommending this one to anyone.
“Signature” by Faith Mudge: As a child the story of Rumpelstiltskin, was one of the many stories my aunt told us. She is quite the storyteller - always telling stories form memory, never reading them aloud like my mom would do. So this story instantly resonated with me. Not only was it a modern take on Rumpelstiltskin, the protagonist, Priya Gowda, adores books. I will not tell you a lot of the plot, because it is great. I greatly enjoyed the story and I found a lot of emotional resonance with this one. I very much recommend this one!
“The Lovely Duckling” by Tim Susman: This is the story of Mara Pachacutec who wants to be a shapeshifter, so she applies to shapeshifter school (because of course there is such a thing). Her conservative father, really does not want her to go. That is the main conflict of the story. The story is told as the school files on her application and their correspondence with the school. The form really add to the story, but does make the ending a bit awkward. There is a cute little fairytale in the material as well. I really liked the story, it was very emotional and rather enjoyable.
“Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell” by E. C. Myers: Rene is a medicated schizophrenic and a totally normal teenager in high school. This story is all about teenage life as well as about memory and precognition. Both the protagonist and the other main character is not really good people - or at least they didn't use to be. However they have both grown and are still growing over the course of the story. The story is also about substance use and about sexuality. I enjoyed the story and I really felt with the characters.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart: To me this was a really brave story. The story is about an Australian-somali teenage girl, Kylie Haward, who befriend some alien creatures who settled on Earth after their world was destroyed. The story is very much one about friendship, about being an outsider, about belonging and about identity. I really enjoyed the story and I really felt for Kylie. Great story. Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-tK
“Careful Magic” by Karen Healey: This was definitely one of my favourite stories of the anthology. Helen is such a wonderful protagonist and I was sad when the story ended. Not because it was a sad ending, but because it ended. That's what you want from a short story isn't it? Helen has some sort of OCD, she is also a mage and a really good one at that. It is not her disorder who makes her good at that - it is her talent and her eye for detail - which is great. To me it was a super enjoyable story. Read my full review:http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/careful-magic/
“Walkdog” by Sofia Samatar*: About half way though this story I was about to declare that i didn't particularly like it. But then it really kicked into gear. In many ways it reminded me of "If you were a Dinosaur my Love" by Rachel Swirsky. It had the same kind of twist to it, where all the sudden it turned a lot darker. It pretty much kicked me in the gut. That is one of the things I like about short stories, they can pull tricks like this because you are more likely to read them to the end than a novel, that don't catch you in the first third. The essay style story really worked for this story. Like Swirsky's story it is really hard to talk about without spoiling. Even sharing the themes of the story would really be spoiling it. I suggest you read it your self.
“Celebration” by Sean Eads: This was another sad story - at least to me. I find it heart wrenching that parents refuse to accept that their children's sexuality is something other than what they would want it to be. That they can bring themself to send their children off to have other people "cure" them of their deviance. I really liked the protagonist, Jim, he seems like such an awesome kid.
“The Truth about Owls” by Amal El-Mohtar: I adored this story! This is another story about a child of immigrants and about her struggle with identity. It is also a story about owls and about fairytales. It is a story about the power of belief and a story about the power of language. The story really filled me with emotion and made me feel with and for Anisa. I loved the ending. And yeah owls!
“Krishna Blue” by Shveta Thakrar: I liked the meat of this story, but I really didn't particularly liked where the story was going or where it was ending. I liked the prose and I liked the descriptions of art and color. I liked Naha as a character. But the ending left me kind of cold.
“Every Little Thing” by Holly Kench: Uh I liked this one. I really liked Many and her friend Natasha. They seemed like very real and kind of awesome teenagers. I can definitely recognize both from my classroom. The plot (if you can call it that) was sweet and I really enjoyed the ending. I find myself liking stories with happier endings better than the ones with unhappy endings. I like stories about friendship - especially female friendship and was that. Yeah!
“Happy Go Lucky” by Garth Nix: This story I did not particularly like. I thought the exposition was a bit clumsy and the setup for the story was not fully developed enough to care much about the characters change from Lucky to Unlucky. To me it felt like a clumsy analog for poverty. It was also another sad story in a stack of sad stories - here the order of the stories didn't do the stories any favours.
“Ordinary Things” by Vylar Kaftan: Kate has OCD (or something a lot like it) but she does not recognize that she has it. She just perform rituals. Kate also has a girlfriend who is not what she need at all. Throughout the story she tries to deal with the stress in her life. It is not a fluffy story at all - it is quite dark and grim. But it is also very much a story about friendship. I liked the story but it was quite sad - and wasn't really what I needed at that point.
“Double Time” by John Chu: This story is about ice skating, about parental pressures, about achieving success and about freedom. Shelly has a mother who really pushes her to achieve everything she can be and then some. The mother pushes to the point where Shelly no longer enjoy skating and this is where the story starts. It was a really neat story and I liked how the sci-fi element was just sneaked in there without any fuss.
“Welcome” by William Alexander: "Antonio sailed to the moon" now that is a great opening! This story is almost a fable isn't it? But it is also a story about family relationships. Again this was not my favourite story, but it was quite enjoyable. It ends the anthology on a sad but also joyas note.
Read my full review of the anthology here: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/reading-kaleidoscope/
“Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon” by aka Ken Liu which was really touching. It actually somehow took me by surprise when the fantastical element showed up because I was enjoying the story so much by that point
"“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams: I am not a particular fan of horror, so this was far from my favourite story. It did hit a lot of emotional notes with me but really I would rather that it hadn't. Full review http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/the-legend-trap/
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee: Aya just lost her mom, who has been living as a migrant worker, somewhere else. Her mom has never been home much and that is making the grief process harder on Aya, who does not know what to think and feel. A good story, but it didn't quite connect with me.
See my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/end-of-service/
“Chupacabra’s Song” by Jim Hines: This story is about a teenager, Nicola Pallas, with some sort of disorder, that makes it hard for her to concentrate. Music is extremely important for her and for the story. It is also a story set around a veterinarian clinic where Nicola helps her dad. Nicola meets someone like her self for the very first time and that sets off the story. This story works around the idea we have in our heads, that people who are like us in one accept must be like us in others - that people who has the same interest as us, like the same thing or has the same job as us, must be good people. And why should they be any better than other people - well it of course turns out that might not be. I don't think I can say more about the story without spoiling it. I liked the story, though it was not one of my favourites in the collection. As always with Hines' stories it is very emotional and made me feel what Nicola was feeling, which was what made it work for me.
“The Day the God Died” by Alena McNamara: For me this was not a very satisfying story. Mostly because as it says, it is not a story - or rather it doesn't follow a conventional narrative path. As the title says, this is the story of a dying god. It is also a story of young quiltbag man, choosing not to deal with his sexuality. Choosing not to be himself. To me the story left me sad and unsettled, which was probably the intent of the story. But that sadly means that I will not be recommending this one to anyone.
“Signature” by Faith Mudge: As a child the story of Rumpelstiltskin, was one of the many stories my aunt told us. She is quite the storyteller - always telling stories form memory, never reading them aloud like my mom would do. So this story instantly resonated with me. Not only was it a modern take on Rumpelstiltskin, the protagonist, Priya Gowda, adores books. I will not tell you a lot of the plot, because it is great. I greatly enjoyed the story and I found a lot of emotional resonance with this one. I very much recommend this one!
“The Lovely Duckling” by Tim Susman: This is the story of Mara Pachacutec who wants to be a shapeshifter, so she applies to shapeshifter school (because of course there is such a thing). Her conservative father, really does not want her to go. That is the main conflict of the story. The story is told as the school files on her application and their correspondence with the school. The form really add to the story, but does make the ending a bit awkward. There is a cute little fairytale in the material as well. I really liked the story, it was very emotional and rather enjoyable.
“Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell” by E. C. Myers: Rene is a medicated schizophrenic and a totally normal teenager in high school. This story is all about teenage life as well as about memory and precognition. Both the protagonist and the other main character is not really good people - or at least they didn't use to be. However they have both grown and are still growing over the course of the story. The story is also about substance use and about sexuality. I enjoyed the story and I really felt with the characters.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart: To me this was a really brave story. The story is about an Australian-somali teenage girl, Kylie Haward, who befriend some alien creatures who settled on Earth after their world was destroyed. The story is very much one about friendship, about being an outsider, about belonging and about identity. I really enjoyed the story and I really felt for Kylie. Great story. Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-tK
“Careful Magic” by Karen Healey: This was definitely one of my favourite stories of the anthology. Helen is such a wonderful protagonist and I was sad when the story ended. Not because it was a sad ending, but because it ended. That's what you want from a short story isn't it? Helen has some sort of OCD, she is also a mage and a really good one at that. It is not her disorder who makes her good at that - it is her talent and her eye for detail - which is great. To me it was a super enjoyable story. Read my full review:http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/careful-magic/
“Walkdog” by Sofia Samatar*: About half way though this story I was about to declare that i didn't particularly like it. But then it really kicked into gear. In many ways it reminded me of "If you were a Dinosaur my Love" by Rachel Swirsky. It had the same kind of twist to it, where all the sudden it turned a lot darker. It pretty much kicked me in the gut. That is one of the things I like about short stories, they can pull tricks like this because you are more likely to read them to the end than a novel, that don't catch you in the first third. The essay style story really worked for this story. Like Swirsky's story it is really hard to talk about without spoiling. Even sharing the themes of the story would really be spoiling it. I suggest you read it your self.
“Celebration” by Sean Eads: This was another sad story - at least to me. I find it heart wrenching that parents refuse to accept that their children's sexuality is something other than what they would want it to be. That they can bring themself to send their children off to have other people "cure" them of their deviance. I really liked the protagonist, Jim, he seems like such an awesome kid.
“The Truth about Owls” by Amal El-Mohtar: I adored this story! This is another story about a child of immigrants and about her struggle with identity. It is also a story about owls and about fairytales. It is a story about the power of belief and a story about the power of language. The story really filled me with emotion and made me feel with and for Anisa. I loved the ending. And yeah owls!
“Krishna Blue” by Shveta Thakrar: I liked the meat of this story, but I really didn't particularly liked where the story was going or where it was ending. I liked the prose and I liked the descriptions of art and color. I liked Naha as a character. But the ending left me kind of cold.
“Every Little Thing” by Holly Kench: Uh I liked this one. I really liked Many and her friend Natasha. They seemed like very real and kind of awesome teenagers. I can definitely recognize both from my classroom. The plot (if you can call it that) was sweet and I really enjoyed the ending. I find myself liking stories with happier endings better than the ones with unhappy endings. I like stories about friendship - especially female friendship and was that. Yeah!
“Happy Go Lucky” by Garth Nix: This story I did not particularly like. I thought the exposition was a bit clumsy and the setup for the story was not fully developed enough to care much about the characters change from Lucky to Unlucky. To me it felt like a clumsy analog for poverty. It was also another sad story in a stack of sad stories - here the order of the stories didn't do the stories any favours.
“Ordinary Things” by Vylar Kaftan: Kate has OCD (or something a lot like it) but she does not recognize that she has it. She just perform rituals. Kate also has a girlfriend who is not what she need at all. Throughout the story she tries to deal with the stress in her life. It is not a fluffy story at all - it is quite dark and grim. But it is also very much a story about friendship. I liked the story but it was quite sad - and wasn't really what I needed at that point.
“Double Time” by John Chu: This story is about ice skating, about parental pressures, about achieving success and about freedom. Shelly has a mother who really pushes her to achieve everything she can be and then some. The mother pushes to the point where Shelly no longer enjoy skating and this is where the story starts. It was a really neat story and I liked how the sci-fi element was just sneaked in there without any fuss.
“Welcome” by William Alexander: "Antonio sailed to the moon" now that is a great opening! This story is almost a fable isn't it? But it is also a story about family relationships. Again this was not my favourite story, but it was quite enjoyable. It ends the anthology on a sad but also joyas note.
Read my full review of the anthology here: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/reading-kaleidoscope/