The Illustrated Man
Ray Bradbury
William Morrow
Fiction, Collection/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A traveler between towns chances upon a stranger covered in odd tattoos that seem almost alive. The Illustrated Man claims that the images were given to him by an old woman from the far future, and that they are more curse than blessing, for all that they fascinate the traveler. Before bedding down for the evening, the Illustrated Man warns his companion against staring too long - particularly at one blank section in his back. Yet the traveler cannot help himself. In those shifting, dancing lines of ink, he sees eighteen tales unfold: tales of the past, the present, and the future, of invaders from Mars and lost spacemen on Venus, of time traveling refugees and a children's game gone terribly wrong, and more... all inevitably leading toward the revelation in that final, forbidden image.
REVIEW: Ray Bradbury remains one of the true grandmaster wordsmiths, not just in science fiction but general storytelling. This classic collection holds up fairly well for the most part, painting vivid pictures in the mind's eye. He even foresaw the dangers of letting technology raise the next generation in "The Veldt", the tale of a family living in a "smart home" with a mechanical intelligence that does everything, even create and think, for the children. Still, several of his stories can't help but show their age in certain ideas of the future, particularly cultural assumptions about women's roles (or lack thereof) and a reliance on Christian imagery (particularly in "The Man", where an ambitious captain and his crew, out to exploit new planets, arrive at one rustic backwater to discover that another offworlder has just been and left after performing a series of miracles for the natives - a man who is never named but is clearly intended to be Jesus). One sad relic of his time was his idea that the book burners and censors would come from the halls of pure science and reason, striving to drive out "obsolete" imagination and superstition (and with it the creativity and wonder that truly makes humanity human); in our time, we can see that it's superstition that's determined to drive out science and reason as well as imagination. Bradbury's tendency toward downer endings, either slow-motion tragedies or dark final twists of fate, can also be a bit much after several such stories in a row. (My late father referred to Bradbury's works as "anti-science fiction" as he saw the genre as being more about the promise of science and the future, not the dark sides and the inevitable endings of great things, which Bradbury so often explored.) As for the Illustrated Man himself, whose stories bookend the collection, he remains an iconic figure in that gray area between sci-fi, magic realism, and horror. The stories are still worth reading, and still have plenty to say.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
Great Classic Science Fiction (BBC Audio) - My Review
I Am Legend and Other Stories (Richard Matheson) - My Review
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Armageddon Outta Here (Derek Landy)
Armageddon Outta Here - The World of Skulduggery Pleasant: The Definitive Story Collection (So Far)
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 8.5
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, YA? Adventure/Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A hardened posse of war veterans hunts a fugitive dark mage across the American Western frontier... a childhood dare involving a "haunted" house has dire consequences decades later... a man haunted by visions of a peculiar machine may be the conduit for a world-ending event... a string of seemingly random deaths is linked by a cursed pen... These and more tales explore the world and characters surrounding Dublin's infamous skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his friend and apprentice Valkyrie Cain.
This collection includes the previously-reviewed story Apocalypse Kings.
REVIEW: This collection of 22 stories is billed as 8.5 in the series, but some elements of the later tales constitute spoilers for coming events; I suspect it would fit better elsewhere in the timeline. (There are also a few that were apparently written for special events based on group participation or guest-submitted character ideas. They played out fine in Landy's tales, though my first thought was that he was flirting with the "evidently written entirely by the fans" territory that some authors venture into, and there are a few people in that particular pool that one would do better not to be around... but I digress.) Some slot into the main timeline, while others are essentially standalone side adventures, but all work quite well and maintain Landy's particular blend of humor, wonder, intrigue, horror, and tragedy.
Starting with a tale set in 1800's South Dakota and ending with events taking place after (what I presume occurs in) Book 9 (or maybe later; I'm currently only up through Book 8 in the main arc), the stories are presented roughly in chronological order. Several of them only involve the lead duo of Skulduggery and Valkyrie as side characters. A few could've been complete standalones with minor reshaping, particularly "Get Thee Behind Me, Bubba Moon", which features mortal kids inadvertently stumbling into a dark magical secret left behind by a cultist when a traditional neighborhood rite-of-passage dare goes awry; even the tone almost felt more like a standalone, more serious and introspective as the main character finds himself dealing with impossible events. Landy demonstrates his writing range across these tales, some being shorter and sillier (but never embarrassingly goofy), some being longer and much darker. Often, the tales involve tragedy in some form or another, a loss of innocence if nothing else (and it's often more than just that), reflecting how even fleeting contact with the magical world always comes with a cost, a cost often much, much greater than even willing parties anticipate. The world of Skulduggery Pleasant is not a whimsical wonderland but a shadowed realm of sharp edges and sharper teeth with roots firmly in the horror genre, even if the earlier entries lampshade those roots and there's never a shortage of humorous quips. Nobody is safe, not even innocent bystanders, and good hearts and good intentions are no guarantee of a happy ending... or even a survivable ending. The tales varied a bit but were generally strong.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Carnacki the Ghost Finder (William Hope Hodgson) - My Review
Apocalypse Kings (Derek Landy) - My Review
Sparrow Hill Road (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 8.5
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, YA? Adventure/Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A hardened posse of war veterans hunts a fugitive dark mage across the American Western frontier... a childhood dare involving a "haunted" house has dire consequences decades later... a man haunted by visions of a peculiar machine may be the conduit for a world-ending event... a string of seemingly random deaths is linked by a cursed pen... These and more tales explore the world and characters surrounding Dublin's infamous skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his friend and apprentice Valkyrie Cain.
This collection includes the previously-reviewed story Apocalypse Kings.
REVIEW: This collection of 22 stories is billed as 8.5 in the series, but some elements of the later tales constitute spoilers for coming events; I suspect it would fit better elsewhere in the timeline. (There are also a few that were apparently written for special events based on group participation or guest-submitted character ideas. They played out fine in Landy's tales, though my first thought was that he was flirting with the "evidently written entirely by the fans" territory that some authors venture into, and there are a few people in that particular pool that one would do better not to be around... but I digress.) Some slot into the main timeline, while others are essentially standalone side adventures, but all work quite well and maintain Landy's particular blend of humor, wonder, intrigue, horror, and tragedy.
Starting with a tale set in 1800's South Dakota and ending with events taking place after (what I presume occurs in) Book 9 (or maybe later; I'm currently only up through Book 8 in the main arc), the stories are presented roughly in chronological order. Several of them only involve the lead duo of Skulduggery and Valkyrie as side characters. A few could've been complete standalones with minor reshaping, particularly "Get Thee Behind Me, Bubba Moon", which features mortal kids inadvertently stumbling into a dark magical secret left behind by a cultist when a traditional neighborhood rite-of-passage dare goes awry; even the tone almost felt more like a standalone, more serious and introspective as the main character finds himself dealing with impossible events. Landy demonstrates his writing range across these tales, some being shorter and sillier (but never embarrassingly goofy), some being longer and much darker. Often, the tales involve tragedy in some form or another, a loss of innocence if nothing else (and it's often more than just that), reflecting how even fleeting contact with the magical world always comes with a cost, a cost often much, much greater than even willing parties anticipate. The world of Skulduggery Pleasant is not a whimsical wonderland but a shadowed realm of sharp edges and sharper teeth with roots firmly in the horror genre, even if the earlier entries lampshade those roots and there's never a shortage of humorous quips. Nobody is safe, not even innocent bystanders, and good hearts and good intentions are no guarantee of a happy ending... or even a survivable ending. The tales varied a bit but were generally strong.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Carnacki the Ghost Finder (William Hope Hodgson) - My Review
Apocalypse Kings (Derek Landy) - My Review
Sparrow Hill Road (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
Friday, March 21, 2025
I'd Really Prefer Not to Be Here With You, and Other Stories (Julianna Baggott)
I'd Really Prefer Not to Be Here With You, and Other Stories
Julianna Baggott
Blackstone Publishing
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A power glitch reveals a terrifying truth about the adults in an idyllic suburban development, a young woman's morphing tattoo demands she confront a traumatic childhood incident, a peculiar pandemic scatters memories to random people, an AI "gaslighter" begins to question its role in manipulating humans... these and more stories by noted author Julianna Baggott are collected in this volume.
REVIEW: As with many short story collections, these tales could be a mixed bag, though I liked them more than I didn't. Many explore themes related to memories, the traumas of childhood (and parenthood), and the need to confront past hurts and unhealthy patterns if one is to have any hope of a better future. There are also some that explore what personhood means, and how we decide who gets to be recognized and who gets to be silenced. A few felt long, a few others felt abbreviated, and sometimes Baggott didn't seem to quite know where or how to end, what final note would make the strongest impact. Overall, though, they explored some interesting ideas without feeling too repetitive.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Anything Box (Zenna Henderson) - My Review
Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight (Cat Rambo) - My Review
Sister Emily's Lightship and Other Stories (Jane Yolen) - My Review
Julianna Baggott
Blackstone Publishing
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A power glitch reveals a terrifying truth about the adults in an idyllic suburban development, a young woman's morphing tattoo demands she confront a traumatic childhood incident, a peculiar pandemic scatters memories to random people, an AI "gaslighter" begins to question its role in manipulating humans... these and more stories by noted author Julianna Baggott are collected in this volume.
REVIEW: As with many short story collections, these tales could be a mixed bag, though I liked them more than I didn't. Many explore themes related to memories, the traumas of childhood (and parenthood), and the need to confront past hurts and unhealthy patterns if one is to have any hope of a better future. There are also some that explore what personhood means, and how we decide who gets to be recognized and who gets to be silenced. A few felt long, a few others felt abbreviated, and sometimes Baggott didn't seem to quite know where or how to end, what final note would make the strongest impact. Overall, though, they explored some interesting ideas without feeling too repetitive.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Anything Box (Zenna Henderson) - My Review
Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight (Cat Rambo) - My Review
Sister Emily's Lightship and Other Stories (Jane Yolen) - My Review
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Graven Images (Paul Fleischman)
Graven Images
Paul Fleischman
Candlewick
Fiction, YA? Collection/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Noted author Paul Fleischman presents three short stories centered on sculpted images:
The Binnacle Boy: When the crew of the sailing ship Orion is found dead, the carved "binnacle boy" compass holder from the ship's deck is installed in the town square as a memorial... one that may eventually reveal the terrible secret behind the tragedy.
Saint Crispin's Follower: A cobbler's lovelorn apprentice reads signs and portents into a weathercock shaped in the likeness of Saint Crispin, patron of his profession.
The Man of Influence: A stonecarver takes a commission from a ghostly client, only to learn truths he'd rather never have known about his wealthy patrons.
REVIEW: I needed a short audiobook to fill some empty time at work, and this one was available. From the official description, I expected there to be a little more to the sculptures themselves, a little more of a twist to them, though that's likely a bias from tending to read speculative fiction far more than regular fiction. In any event, the stories themselves are decent, though at times they feel like they're stretching their premises. The middle tale in particular runs long once the characters and central gimmick are clear. I found the third story to be the most interesting, as a sculptor obsessed with the class and breeding of his usual clientele is forced to confront just what kind of people have been paying his bills, and what that makes him for serving them so eagerly for years. It came close to losing a half-mark for that sense of stretching, but I gave the collection the benefit of the doubt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Paul Fleischman
Candlewick
Fiction, YA? Collection/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Noted author Paul Fleischman presents three short stories centered on sculpted images:
The Binnacle Boy: When the crew of the sailing ship Orion is found dead, the carved "binnacle boy" compass holder from the ship's deck is installed in the town square as a memorial... one that may eventually reveal the terrible secret behind the tragedy.
Saint Crispin's Follower: A cobbler's lovelorn apprentice reads signs and portents into a weathercock shaped in the likeness of Saint Crispin, patron of his profession.
The Man of Influence: A stonecarver takes a commission from a ghostly client, only to learn truths he'd rather never have known about his wealthy patrons.
REVIEW: I needed a short audiobook to fill some empty time at work, and this one was available. From the official description, I expected there to be a little more to the sculptures themselves, a little more of a twist to them, though that's likely a bias from tending to read speculative fiction far more than regular fiction. In any event, the stories themselves are decent, though at times they feel like they're stretching their premises. The middle tale in particular runs long once the characters and central gimmick are clear. I found the third story to be the most interesting, as a sculptor obsessed with the class and breeding of his usual clientele is forced to confront just what kind of people have been paying his bills, and what that makes him for serving them so eagerly for years. It came close to losing a half-mark for that sense of stretching, but I gave the collection the benefit of the doubt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Friday, October 18, 2024
The Dragon's Child and The Night of the Unicorn (Jenny Nimmo)
The Dragon's Child and The Night of the Unicorn
Jenny Nimmo
Recorded Books
Fiction, CH Collection/Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Author Jenny Nimmo presents two fantasy stories:
The Dragon's Child: The young dragon Dando, a late bloomer, cannot fly, and is accidentally left behind when the others migrate north... just when vicious monsters known as Doggins approach through the dark woods, and a ship full of dangerous humans arrives.
The Night of the Unicorn: A magical night full of shooting stars brings an old unicorn to the fields near young Amber's farm and starts an epic quest by aging chicken Hennie, a journey that will have consequences for the entire farming community.
REVIEW: As the descriptions likely imply, this pair of stories is fairly light in tone, cozy bedtime tales with some peril, some heart, and some whimsy.
The Dragon's Child was the stronger of the pair (though I may be biased, as I'm more of a dragon person than a unicorn person), telling the tale of a little underdog dragon who has to find a reason to grow up before he can fly - a reason he finds unexpectedly in a girl prisoner of the invading humans (who aren't quite ordinary humans), and the leader's spoiled princeling son. There's a hair more depth to everyone, even the baddies (except for the Doggins, of course), than one might expect in a fairy tale.
The Night of the Unicorn underplays the titular unicorn; it's more about the brave little chicken whose quest to find the old rooster William inadvertently weaves together many lives, human and animal. The result feels a little overlong and scattered and doesn't deliver the payoff that the first story offered, though it's generally enjoyable.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Glory of Unicorns (Bruce Coville) - My Review
The Dragons at Crumbling Castle (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Dragon of Lonely Island (Rebecca Rupp) - My Review
Jenny Nimmo
Recorded Books
Fiction, CH Collection/Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Author Jenny Nimmo presents two fantasy stories:
The Dragon's Child: The young dragon Dando, a late bloomer, cannot fly, and is accidentally left behind when the others migrate north... just when vicious monsters known as Doggins approach through the dark woods, and a ship full of dangerous humans arrives.
The Night of the Unicorn: A magical night full of shooting stars brings an old unicorn to the fields near young Amber's farm and starts an epic quest by aging chicken Hennie, a journey that will have consequences for the entire farming community.
REVIEW: As the descriptions likely imply, this pair of stories is fairly light in tone, cozy bedtime tales with some peril, some heart, and some whimsy.
The Dragon's Child was the stronger of the pair (though I may be biased, as I'm more of a dragon person than a unicorn person), telling the tale of a little underdog dragon who has to find a reason to grow up before he can fly - a reason he finds unexpectedly in a girl prisoner of the invading humans (who aren't quite ordinary humans), and the leader's spoiled princeling son. There's a hair more depth to everyone, even the baddies (except for the Doggins, of course), than one might expect in a fairy tale.
The Night of the Unicorn underplays the titular unicorn; it's more about the brave little chicken whose quest to find the old rooster William inadvertently weaves together many lives, human and animal. The result feels a little overlong and scattered and doesn't deliver the payoff that the first story offered, though it's generally enjoyable.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Glory of Unicorns (Bruce Coville) - My Review
The Dragons at Crumbling Castle (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Dragon of Lonely Island (Rebecca Rupp) - My Review
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (Oscar Wilde)
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Oscar Wilde
Naxos Audiobook
Fiction, Collection/Humor/Literary Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: A grim prognostication leads a young lord to desperate measures... an aged and proper English ghost is driven to his wit's end by the new American tenants of his ancestral home... a man consoles a friend about a mysterious lost love... Six stories by Oscar Wilde are collected here:
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime: A "chiromantist" - reader of hands - at a socialite's party convinces the gullible Lord Savile that he's destined to commit a heinous crime, so he determines to get it over and done with before his impending nuptials... only to find murder is far from easy.
The Canterville Ghost: When an American family purchases an old English estate, they also inherit its irascible ghost, who doesn't know what to do with the unaristocratic and utterly unruly foreigners.
The Portrait of Mr. W. H.: A dinner discussion ignites a passion for an alternative solution to the mysteries of Shakespeare's sonnets.
The Model Millionaire: A young man has a fateful encounter with an artist's model.
The Sphinx Without a Secret - An Etching: One man's dream girl hides a mysterious double life... or does she?
The Birthday of the Infanta: A young Spanish princess's birthday party features musicians, a mock bull fight, a puppet play, and a boy dwarf dancer who tragically misunderstands his circumstances.
REVIEW: Once in a while I take a run at classics, which I find sometimes go down easier in audiobook format. This collection gathers a handful of stories from one of the more famous English writers, and while they can still be entertaining, they also can't help but bear traces of their time (quite notable in certain racial depictions), particularly in their tendency to draw themselves out with verbal meanderings that don't always contribute to the story.
The first story is riddled with social satire and caricatures of 19th century socialites (and others), an amusing and sometimes silly send-up of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When the glorified palmist predicts Lord Savile will murder a distant relative, he starts going through the family Rolodex (or the period equivalent) to find a suitable candidate, as he can't possibly get married with a future felony hanging over his head... but his efforts keep failing him. Along the way, he inadvertently discovers a new perspective on life as he pushes outside his posh comfort zone.
The Canterville Ghost reads like an old Disney family movie from before Disney Studios existed, with very silly overtones and goofy, slapstick antics. The ghost - depicted as essentially an immortal prima donna actor who has never before failed to master an audience - tears his metaphoric hair as the Americans not only refuse to be properly frightened out of their wits, but treat the phantom as a vaguely irritating house guest at best and a laughingstock at worst. The ending veers away from the borderline-cartoony earlier tale into something more sentimental and philosophical, the two parts not quite matching. Some nice imagery and a few chuckles, but overall it was too dippy for my tastes.
The third tale would've been barely more than flash fiction had Wilde not spent so much time rehashing and reprinting and re-analyzing Shakespeare's sonnets (which his target audience was likely more than familiar with) in pursuit of a fictional alternate theory as to whom the legendary bard was addressing in the sometimes-cryptic verses. The theory takes on a life and passion of its own, ending friendships and even a life or two in its fervor before passing on to the next listener. It seems to be more of a study of literary enthusiasts and the dangers of obsession.
The shortest tale in the collection, The Model Millionaire never really develops its story and still takes too many words to reach an obvious ending.
The Sphinx Without a Secret sets itself up as a riff on the old tale of the lover with the secret that must never be pried into (only for the other half of the partnership to be unable to resist the mystery, dooming their future happiness), but never quite feels like it earns the tragic ending it delivers.
The last story is the saddest, though it also feels like one with the most padding, painstakingly establishing the girl princess's father and deceased mother and scheming uncle and more, then plodding through the majority of the party before arriving at the dancing dwarf who - only recently sold into servitude by his charcoal-burner father after a carefree childhood in the forests, entirely innocent in the ways of the "civilized" world or the cruelties of the aristocracy - fails to recognize the dangers in trusting a princess. The final line twists a knife.
While Wilde paints some interesting (if inherently exaggerated) characters and makes many pithy observations and one-liners, the stories do show their age. Additionally, the whole presentation suffered from prolonged musical interludes - not just between stories, but between "chapters" within each of the longer stories. A quick bit to signal a scene change might've worked okay, but these were far too long and grew rather annoying, especially when I could never be sure if they were signalling a switch to a new story or just a very long pause in the same tale. They helped weigh the collection down in the ratings, even though overall I found them more engaging than I'd expected, given my hit-and-miss history with classics.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Nonexistent Knight (Italo Calvino) - My Review
Fifty-One Tales (Lord Dunsany) - My Review
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - My Review
Oscar Wilde
Naxos Audiobook
Fiction, Collection/Humor/Literary Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: A grim prognostication leads a young lord to desperate measures... an aged and proper English ghost is driven to his wit's end by the new American tenants of his ancestral home... a man consoles a friend about a mysterious lost love... Six stories by Oscar Wilde are collected here:
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime: A "chiromantist" - reader of hands - at a socialite's party convinces the gullible Lord Savile that he's destined to commit a heinous crime, so he determines to get it over and done with before his impending nuptials... only to find murder is far from easy.
The Canterville Ghost: When an American family purchases an old English estate, they also inherit its irascible ghost, who doesn't know what to do with the unaristocratic and utterly unruly foreigners.
The Portrait of Mr. W. H.: A dinner discussion ignites a passion for an alternative solution to the mysteries of Shakespeare's sonnets.
The Model Millionaire: A young man has a fateful encounter with an artist's model.
The Sphinx Without a Secret - An Etching: One man's dream girl hides a mysterious double life... or does she?
The Birthday of the Infanta: A young Spanish princess's birthday party features musicians, a mock bull fight, a puppet play, and a boy dwarf dancer who tragically misunderstands his circumstances.
REVIEW: Once in a while I take a run at classics, which I find sometimes go down easier in audiobook format. This collection gathers a handful of stories from one of the more famous English writers, and while they can still be entertaining, they also can't help but bear traces of their time (quite notable in certain racial depictions), particularly in their tendency to draw themselves out with verbal meanderings that don't always contribute to the story.
The first story is riddled with social satire and caricatures of 19th century socialites (and others), an amusing and sometimes silly send-up of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When the glorified palmist predicts Lord Savile will murder a distant relative, he starts going through the family Rolodex (or the period equivalent) to find a suitable candidate, as he can't possibly get married with a future felony hanging over his head... but his efforts keep failing him. Along the way, he inadvertently discovers a new perspective on life as he pushes outside his posh comfort zone.
The Canterville Ghost reads like an old Disney family movie from before Disney Studios existed, with very silly overtones and goofy, slapstick antics. The ghost - depicted as essentially an immortal prima donna actor who has never before failed to master an audience - tears his metaphoric hair as the Americans not only refuse to be properly frightened out of their wits, but treat the phantom as a vaguely irritating house guest at best and a laughingstock at worst. The ending veers away from the borderline-cartoony earlier tale into something more sentimental and philosophical, the two parts not quite matching. Some nice imagery and a few chuckles, but overall it was too dippy for my tastes.
The third tale would've been barely more than flash fiction had Wilde not spent so much time rehashing and reprinting and re-analyzing Shakespeare's sonnets (which his target audience was likely more than familiar with) in pursuit of a fictional alternate theory as to whom the legendary bard was addressing in the sometimes-cryptic verses. The theory takes on a life and passion of its own, ending friendships and even a life or two in its fervor before passing on to the next listener. It seems to be more of a study of literary enthusiasts and the dangers of obsession.
The shortest tale in the collection, The Model Millionaire never really develops its story and still takes too many words to reach an obvious ending.
The Sphinx Without a Secret sets itself up as a riff on the old tale of the lover with the secret that must never be pried into (only for the other half of the partnership to be unable to resist the mystery, dooming their future happiness), but never quite feels like it earns the tragic ending it delivers.
The last story is the saddest, though it also feels like one with the most padding, painstakingly establishing the girl princess's father and deceased mother and scheming uncle and more, then plodding through the majority of the party before arriving at the dancing dwarf who - only recently sold into servitude by his charcoal-burner father after a carefree childhood in the forests, entirely innocent in the ways of the "civilized" world or the cruelties of the aristocracy - fails to recognize the dangers in trusting a princess. The final line twists a knife.
While Wilde paints some interesting (if inherently exaggerated) characters and makes many pithy observations and one-liners, the stories do show their age. Additionally, the whole presentation suffered from prolonged musical interludes - not just between stories, but between "chapters" within each of the longer stories. A quick bit to signal a scene change might've worked okay, but these were far too long and grew rather annoying, especially when I could never be sure if they were signalling a switch to a new story or just a very long pause in the same tale. They helped weigh the collection down in the ratings, even though overall I found them more engaging than I'd expected, given my hit-and-miss history with classics.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Nonexistent Knight (Italo Calvino) - My Review
Fifty-One Tales (Lord Dunsany) - My Review
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - My Review
Thursday, September 5, 2024
How to Fracture a Fairy Tale (Jane Yolen)
How to Fracture a Fairy Tale
The Yolen's Short Fiction series, Book 1
Jane Yolen
Tachyon Publishing
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Poetry
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: An Appalachian daughter confronts a mother risen from the grave as a vampire... a Jewish girl follows the prophet Elijah to a dark place and time in history for an important task... a lamb nurse listens to the tales of the residents of Happy Dens, a home for retired fairy tale wolves... an elderly woman discovers a strange old man with an ancient secret on the rocks near the lighthouse where she lives... These and other folklore-inspired tales written by fantasy master Jane Yolen are collected in this volume, with a foreword by Marissa Meyer and an afterword about the author's inspirations.
REVIEW: Though her stories aren't always my cup of cocoa, nobody can dispute the mastery evident in the breadth and depth (and length) of Jane Yolen's work. As in pretty much every anthology and collection, though, these are a mixed bag, some feeling rounded and complete and others fragmentary and almost dreamlike. Likewise, some feel a bit long for their premises while others seem truncated. Styles vary from the old-school storyteller cadence and repetition of classic fairy tales to lighthearted snark to darker and/or more literary takes. I've read a few before, while others were new to me. Endings are only rarely clear-cut happily-ever-afters, several skewing rather dark, but then the original stories were far removed from the sanitized versions many are familiar with today. I added the extra half-star for the notes at the end, which go into a bit of "behind the scenes" details on how Yolen conceived and developed the included stories, along with poems matching the themes.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Oddest of All (Bruce Coville) - My Review
Book of Enchantments (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
Here, There be Dragons (Jane Yolen) - My Review
The Yolen's Short Fiction series, Book 1
Jane Yolen
Tachyon Publishing
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Poetry
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: An Appalachian daughter confronts a mother risen from the grave as a vampire... a Jewish girl follows the prophet Elijah to a dark place and time in history for an important task... a lamb nurse listens to the tales of the residents of Happy Dens, a home for retired fairy tale wolves... an elderly woman discovers a strange old man with an ancient secret on the rocks near the lighthouse where she lives... These and other folklore-inspired tales written by fantasy master Jane Yolen are collected in this volume, with a foreword by Marissa Meyer and an afterword about the author's inspirations.
REVIEW: Though her stories aren't always my cup of cocoa, nobody can dispute the mastery evident in the breadth and depth (and length) of Jane Yolen's work. As in pretty much every anthology and collection, though, these are a mixed bag, some feeling rounded and complete and others fragmentary and almost dreamlike. Likewise, some feel a bit long for their premises while others seem truncated. Styles vary from the old-school storyteller cadence and repetition of classic fairy tales to lighthearted snark to darker and/or more literary takes. I've read a few before, while others were new to me. Endings are only rarely clear-cut happily-ever-afters, several skewing rather dark, but then the original stories were far removed from the sanitized versions many are familiar with today. I added the extra half-star for the notes at the end, which go into a bit of "behind the scenes" details on how Yolen conceived and developed the included stories, along with poems matching the themes.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Oddest of All (Bruce Coville) - My Review
Book of Enchantments (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
Here, There be Dragons (Jane Yolen) - My Review
Friday, July 12, 2024
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good (Helene Tursten)
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good
The Elderly Lady series, Book 1
Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy
Soho Crime
Fiction, Collection/Humor/Mystery
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Maud may be nearing her ninth decade, and her hair may have long ago gone snow white, but she's still spry enough to travel, sharp enough to live alone, and clever enough to handle her own problems... even if solving them requires an inconvenient murder now and again. In this collection of short stories, Maud deals with a pushy neighbor, a greedy antiques dealer, and other difficulties.
REVIEW: The description sounded light and darkly amusing, a woman with serial killer tendencies who gets away with crime because nobody suspects the little old lady (a little old lady who can fake feeble-minded dithering and elderly infirmity well enough to fool trained detectives). The stories themselves, however, never really clicked for me, often feeling long and meandering and overstuffed with backstory, plus there's a certain sameness that settles in early on: Maud is quietly going about her own life when some irritation crops up, she decides murder is the easiest solution, she does the murder, and goes on with her life. (I don't consider it a spoiler when that's pretty much the description of the whole collection, any more than it's a spoiler in a Columbo episode who the murderer is.) The victims, of course, generally deserve punishment (even if murder is a bit intentionally extreme), so she's more or less doing Sweden a favor by dealing with them, but she doesn't feel a shred of remorse, or really much of anything beyond her own wants or needs. There's also a weird and unpleasant vibe to a couple of stories here that blunted the humor of the overall premise for me. The collection is exactly what it promises, but it just wasn't my cup of cocoa and I mostly just wanted it to end so I could get on to some other audiobook.
You Might Also Enjoy:
My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite) - My Review
Billy Summers (Stephen King) - My Review
Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt) - My Review
The Elderly Lady series, Book 1
Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy
Soho Crime
Fiction, Collection/Humor/Mystery
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Maud may be nearing her ninth decade, and her hair may have long ago gone snow white, but she's still spry enough to travel, sharp enough to live alone, and clever enough to handle her own problems... even if solving them requires an inconvenient murder now and again. In this collection of short stories, Maud deals with a pushy neighbor, a greedy antiques dealer, and other difficulties.
REVIEW: The description sounded light and darkly amusing, a woman with serial killer tendencies who gets away with crime because nobody suspects the little old lady (a little old lady who can fake feeble-minded dithering and elderly infirmity well enough to fool trained detectives). The stories themselves, however, never really clicked for me, often feeling long and meandering and overstuffed with backstory, plus there's a certain sameness that settles in early on: Maud is quietly going about her own life when some irritation crops up, she decides murder is the easiest solution, she does the murder, and goes on with her life. (I don't consider it a spoiler when that's pretty much the description of the whole collection, any more than it's a spoiler in a Columbo episode who the murderer is.) The victims, of course, generally deserve punishment (even if murder is a bit intentionally extreme), so she's more or less doing Sweden a favor by dealing with them, but she doesn't feel a shred of remorse, or really much of anything beyond her own wants or needs. There's also a weird and unpleasant vibe to a couple of stories here that blunted the humor of the overall premise for me. The collection is exactly what it promises, but it just wasn't my cup of cocoa and I mostly just wanted it to end so I could get on to some other audiobook.
You Might Also Enjoy:
My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite) - My Review
Billy Summers (Stephen King) - My Review
Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt) - My Review
Friday, May 10, 2024
No Two Persons (Erica Bauermeister)
No Two Persons: A Novel
Erica Bauermeister
St. Martin's Press
Fiction, Collection/Literary Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Millions dream about writing the "great American novel", but only a handful actually do it. Writing is a peculiar alchemy, melding skills, talents, perseverance, timing, and a healthy dose of luck... and even then, once a book is released, there is no sure way to predict how people will react to it, no two people ever reading the same story in the same way. One reader's treasured tale is another's one-star trash, and one generation's brilliant bestseller is the next's cringe-worthy and forgotten dust collector. Some books, though, seem to transcend.
After Alice's wayward brother Peter dies of an overdose, she manages to turn her emotional devastation into a novel, "Theo", about a young man struggling with a broken life - a character who is and is not her brother. Her book survives the gauntlet of the slush pile and debuts to solid reviews, passing into the hands of all manner of readers from all walks of life. Each pick up Theo's story with different expectations, and each are changed in ways Alice could never have imagined.
REVIEW: The title refers to a quote attributed to Edmond Wilson: "No two persons ever read the same book." It's not just about different tastes or different reading levels, but about life experiences and expectations. The book one reads at eighteen will likely seem like a different story entirely at forty. Baurmeister's novel, in truth a collection of shorter stories linked by the fictional novel "Theo", explores that idea, starting and ending with the author Alice. In between, "Theo" comes to the hands a variety of people - an agent's reader, a frustrated artist, a recently-homeless teenager, a widower struggling to move on, an actor facing a crumbled career, and more - in a variety of ways. None of them see the exact story Alice intended, let alone glimpse Peter's shadow lurking behind the main character, but all find something in the story that helps them re-evaluate their lives or rediscover something they'd lost or forgotten. As the novel is discovered by more people, some of the threads overlap around the edges, though each person experiences "Theo" as most reading is experienced: on their own, in their own heads and hearts.
This being "literary" fiction, the stories comprising No Two Persons are prone to meandering and slow character buildups; the central novel often doesn't land in their hands for quite some time. There was also a sense of... I don't want to say "sameness", but a familiarity in characters across several stories. I can't quite put my finger on just why that was, and since it was an audiobook I was listening to at work it's not like I can flip back and check my notes, but I found myself feeling a bit "been there, done that" with more than one character. (And I also had to wonder about some vicarious wish fulfillment in the idea of one woman writing not just any debut novel, but the debut novel, the one that so deeply and irrevocably touches so many readers... and is then apparently able to live off that one success for many years.) Throughout are insights into storytelling, writing, and reading, and even audiobook recording. Speaking of, the audiobook version I borrowed via Libby included an interview between the author and one of the voice actors (it was a "full cast" presentation), which was interesting but sometimes felt like it ran a bit long.
After thinking it over for a while, I wound up shaving a half-star off a Good rating for the meandering and sense of repetition, and also the usual subjective "just not my cup of cocoa" reasons that sometimes hold down ratings. My blog, my call, etc. That said, I can see what it was going for and what it accomplished, even if it didn't quite hit the mark for me.
You Might Also Enjoy:
How This Book Was Made (Mac Barnett) - My Review
Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell) - My Review
Book Love (Debbie Tung) - My Review
Erica Bauermeister
St. Martin's Press
Fiction, Collection/Literary Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Millions dream about writing the "great American novel", but only a handful actually do it. Writing is a peculiar alchemy, melding skills, talents, perseverance, timing, and a healthy dose of luck... and even then, once a book is released, there is no sure way to predict how people will react to it, no two people ever reading the same story in the same way. One reader's treasured tale is another's one-star trash, and one generation's brilliant bestseller is the next's cringe-worthy and forgotten dust collector. Some books, though, seem to transcend.
After Alice's wayward brother Peter dies of an overdose, she manages to turn her emotional devastation into a novel, "Theo", about a young man struggling with a broken life - a character who is and is not her brother. Her book survives the gauntlet of the slush pile and debuts to solid reviews, passing into the hands of all manner of readers from all walks of life. Each pick up Theo's story with different expectations, and each are changed in ways Alice could never have imagined.
REVIEW: The title refers to a quote attributed to Edmond Wilson: "No two persons ever read the same book." It's not just about different tastes or different reading levels, but about life experiences and expectations. The book one reads at eighteen will likely seem like a different story entirely at forty. Baurmeister's novel, in truth a collection of shorter stories linked by the fictional novel "Theo", explores that idea, starting and ending with the author Alice. In between, "Theo" comes to the hands a variety of people - an agent's reader, a frustrated artist, a recently-homeless teenager, a widower struggling to move on, an actor facing a crumbled career, and more - in a variety of ways. None of them see the exact story Alice intended, let alone glimpse Peter's shadow lurking behind the main character, but all find something in the story that helps them re-evaluate their lives or rediscover something they'd lost or forgotten. As the novel is discovered by more people, some of the threads overlap around the edges, though each person experiences "Theo" as most reading is experienced: on their own, in their own heads and hearts.
This being "literary" fiction, the stories comprising No Two Persons are prone to meandering and slow character buildups; the central novel often doesn't land in their hands for quite some time. There was also a sense of... I don't want to say "sameness", but a familiarity in characters across several stories. I can't quite put my finger on just why that was, and since it was an audiobook I was listening to at work it's not like I can flip back and check my notes, but I found myself feeling a bit "been there, done that" with more than one character. (And I also had to wonder about some vicarious wish fulfillment in the idea of one woman writing not just any debut novel, but the debut novel, the one that so deeply and irrevocably touches so many readers... and is then apparently able to live off that one success for many years.) Throughout are insights into storytelling, writing, and reading, and even audiobook recording. Speaking of, the audiobook version I borrowed via Libby included an interview between the author and one of the voice actors (it was a "full cast" presentation), which was interesting but sometimes felt like it ran a bit long.
After thinking it over for a while, I wound up shaving a half-star off a Good rating for the meandering and sense of repetition, and also the usual subjective "just not my cup of cocoa" reasons that sometimes hold down ratings. My blog, my call, etc. That said, I can see what it was going for and what it accomplished, even if it didn't quite hit the mark for me.
You Might Also Enjoy:
How This Book Was Made (Mac Barnett) - My Review
Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell) - My Review
Book Love (Debbie Tung) - My Review
Friday, April 26, 2024
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Jon Scieszka)
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Jon Scieszka, illustrations by Lane Smith
Viking
Fiction, CH Collection/Fantasy/Humor/Picture Book
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A Goldilocks thwarted by the exceptionally oversized chairs at the home of the Three Elephants... a peculiar race to determine if the Hare really can grow hair faster than the Tortoise can run... a giant who insists on adding his own story to a fairy tale collection... a mischievous little man made entirely of stinky cheese... What, these aren't the stories you're used to? Correct - they're not fairy tales. They're fairly stupid tales, brought to you by your narrator, Jack.
REVIEW: This award-winning book still gets decent library circulation, so it was there when we hit a lull at work. Just as the title promises, every story in this collection is stupid and more than a little sarcastic and silly. The fourth wall is gleefully shattered by Jack, a narrator who often has trouble keeping the characters in line, while the little red hen (who canonically made a loaf of bread without assistance despite repeated requests for aid with planting the wheat, milling the flour, and baking the loaf) insists on trying to squeeze her story into whatever blank spaces she can find... even if they're before the title page or on the back cover. The tales are all short enough not to overstay their welcome, as is the book itself. It made this grown-up chuckle more than once.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Chloe and the Lion (Mac Barnett) - My Review
The Boy Who Cried Ninja (Alex Latimer) - My Review
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert N. Munsch) - My Review
Jon Scieszka, illustrations by Lane Smith
Viking
Fiction, CH Collection/Fantasy/Humor/Picture Book
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A Goldilocks thwarted by the exceptionally oversized chairs at the home of the Three Elephants... a peculiar race to determine if the Hare really can grow hair faster than the Tortoise can run... a giant who insists on adding his own story to a fairy tale collection... a mischievous little man made entirely of stinky cheese... What, these aren't the stories you're used to? Correct - they're not fairy tales. They're fairly stupid tales, brought to you by your narrator, Jack.
REVIEW: This award-winning book still gets decent library circulation, so it was there when we hit a lull at work. Just as the title promises, every story in this collection is stupid and more than a little sarcastic and silly. The fourth wall is gleefully shattered by Jack, a narrator who often has trouble keeping the characters in line, while the little red hen (who canonically made a loaf of bread without assistance despite repeated requests for aid with planting the wheat, milling the flour, and baking the loaf) insists on trying to squeeze her story into whatever blank spaces she can find... even if they're before the title page or on the back cover. The tales are all short enough not to overstay their welcome, as is the book itself. It made this grown-up chuckle more than once.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Chloe and the Lion (Mac Barnett) - My Review
The Boy Who Cried Ninja (Alex Latimer) - My Review
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert N. Munsch) - My Review
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The Dragons at Crumbling Castle (Terry Pratchett)
The Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales
Terry Pratchett
Clarion Books
Fiction, CH? Collection/Fantasy/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: One of King Arthur's least promising knights leads a quest to rid Crumbling Castle of a dragon infestation... a race of tiny people, so small they can dwell upon a speck of dust, explore the wild universe within a living room... a boring prince sets out to seek his fortune... an ordinary bus trip takes an extraordinary turn through time... This volume collects fourteen stories written by the legendary author Sir Terry Pratchett.
REVIEW: Long before Discworld debuted and changed the course of fantasy and satire, Terry Pratchett was a teenage journalist who penned numerous little confections like the ones collected here. Some, such as the "carpet people" tales, revisit the same settings and a few of the same characters - those stories would eventually inspire his first published novel, The Carpet People - but many of the rest are just light, often silly amusements. Even then, there are traces of Pratchett's later, more signature style and wit, and every story brims with imagination. If there aren't really any girl characters of note, and if there are hints of some racial stereotypes now and again, well, not only was the author just a teenager, but the stories were written in emulation of older fairy stories, adventure yarns, and once-upon-a-time tales that shared similar blind spots. The whole may not be up to the lofty heights Pratchett would later reach, but are certainly enjoyable and entertaining for what they are.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Odds are Good (Bruce Coville) - My Review
The Bromeliad Trilogy (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Book of Enchantments (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
Terry Pratchett
Clarion Books
Fiction, CH? Collection/Fantasy/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: One of King Arthur's least promising knights leads a quest to rid Crumbling Castle of a dragon infestation... a race of tiny people, so small they can dwell upon a speck of dust, explore the wild universe within a living room... a boring prince sets out to seek his fortune... an ordinary bus trip takes an extraordinary turn through time... This volume collects fourteen stories written by the legendary author Sir Terry Pratchett.
REVIEW: Long before Discworld debuted and changed the course of fantasy and satire, Terry Pratchett was a teenage journalist who penned numerous little confections like the ones collected here. Some, such as the "carpet people" tales, revisit the same settings and a few of the same characters - those stories would eventually inspire his first published novel, The Carpet People - but many of the rest are just light, often silly amusements. Even then, there are traces of Pratchett's later, more signature style and wit, and every story brims with imagination. If there aren't really any girl characters of note, and if there are hints of some racial stereotypes now and again, well, not only was the author just a teenager, but the stories were written in emulation of older fairy stories, adventure yarns, and once-upon-a-time tales that shared similar blind spots. The whole may not be up to the lofty heights Pratchett would later reach, but are certainly enjoyable and entertaining for what they are.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Odds are Good (Bruce Coville) - My Review
The Bromeliad Trilogy (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Book of Enchantments (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Rise (Mira Grant)
Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection
The Newsflesh series
Mira Grant
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Horror/Sci-Fi
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: The zombie apocalypse known as the Rising reshaped human civilization, after nearly destroying it. From the viral origins of the dreaded hybrid Kellis-Amberlee contagion to a new generation that has never known a world without bleach and blood tests and the risen dead as part of daily life, there are countless stories to be told. This collection includes the short stories and novellas in the Newsflesh world:
Countdown: Two scientists work to cure disease, one cancer and the other the common cold, entirely unaware of each other's work... or how their breakthroughs, which could have ended so much human suffering, will instead nearly end the known world.
Everglades: A young woman reflects on childhood visits to Florida as she decides whether life in a zombie apocalypse is worth living.
San Diego 2014: A group of fantasy and science fiction fans gather for a weekend of cosplay and fun, only to find internet rumors of a zombie outbreak to be all too true when the undead crash the gates.
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea: A prominent internet journalist travels to Australia to experience their radically different take on the apocalypse and visit the infamous "rabbit-proof fence" that contains their viral-amplified wildlife.
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell: A Seattle elementary school thought it had effective protocols in place to prevent a zombie outbreak on the grounds, only to be proven disastrously wrong.
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus: An off-the-grid scientist and her team find an emaciated, insane stranger, harbinger of an all-too-human threat.
All the Pretty Little Horses: After becoming heroes during the Rising, a Berkeley professor and his grief-shattered wife struggle to fill a gaping, child-sized hole in their lives.
Coming to You Live: After taking on top government agencies and losing too many colleagues, former internet journalists Shaun and Georgia Mason had thought that fleeing to the Canadian wilderness meant they could be free of the traumas that had warped their lives, only for their fragile peace to be broken.
REVIEW: Grant's Newsflesh world, based on solid viral research and understanding of human nature, expands beyond the core cast with these additional tales. From the origins of the outbreak, a tragic combination of unintended consequences and the fallout of fearmongering "fake news" journalism that doesn't care what wildfires it sparks so long as it feeds the lucrative outrage machine, through the chaos and tragedy of the early days and on past the end of the third book in the core trilogy (I have yet to read the fourth entry), Rise fleshes out what already felt like a solid world and fills in more details on several characters. Here, we get the backstory of the elder Masons whose artificial, camera-dependent "love" of Rising orphans Sean and Georgia left the two adoptive siblings so psychologically damaged, as well as the origins of the drug-addicted killer "Foxy". We also see how the rest of the world responded to the Rising, and what might be on the horizon if people can let go of their addiction to fear (and the power that some groups gain through manipulating that fear). Hidden in the cracks are glimmers of hope that a better future is possible, though there's also plenty of death and darkness and violence, enough to break the strongest wills. Through all the tales, the world leaps to life in its many well-researched details and distinctive characters. As in the original stories, the biggest threat is often not the hybrid Kellis-Amberlee virus or the undead, but the all-too-living terror and calculated monstrosity of people, though some of the worst damage they do is not out of malice at all. Short introductions by the author explain inspirations and intents. My only real complaint, one that I can't exactly blame this collection for, was that it had been long enough since I read the Newsflesh books that it took me a while to remember the whos and whats and wheres of the core cast and referenced events. The rest ranks right up their with the main series, earning it top marks.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Feed (Mira Grant) - My Review
Dread Nation (Justina Ireland) - My Review
I Am Legend and Other Stories (Richard Matheson) - My Review
The Newsflesh series
Mira Grant
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Horror/Sci-Fi
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: The zombie apocalypse known as the Rising reshaped human civilization, after nearly destroying it. From the viral origins of the dreaded hybrid Kellis-Amberlee contagion to a new generation that has never known a world without bleach and blood tests and the risen dead as part of daily life, there are countless stories to be told. This collection includes the short stories and novellas in the Newsflesh world:
Countdown: Two scientists work to cure disease, one cancer and the other the common cold, entirely unaware of each other's work... or how their breakthroughs, which could have ended so much human suffering, will instead nearly end the known world.
Everglades: A young woman reflects on childhood visits to Florida as she decides whether life in a zombie apocalypse is worth living.
San Diego 2014: A group of fantasy and science fiction fans gather for a weekend of cosplay and fun, only to find internet rumors of a zombie outbreak to be all too true when the undead crash the gates.
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea: A prominent internet journalist travels to Australia to experience their radically different take on the apocalypse and visit the infamous "rabbit-proof fence" that contains their viral-amplified wildlife.
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell: A Seattle elementary school thought it had effective protocols in place to prevent a zombie outbreak on the grounds, only to be proven disastrously wrong.
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus: An off-the-grid scientist and her team find an emaciated, insane stranger, harbinger of an all-too-human threat.
All the Pretty Little Horses: After becoming heroes during the Rising, a Berkeley professor and his grief-shattered wife struggle to fill a gaping, child-sized hole in their lives.
Coming to You Live: After taking on top government agencies and losing too many colleagues, former internet journalists Shaun and Georgia Mason had thought that fleeing to the Canadian wilderness meant they could be free of the traumas that had warped their lives, only for their fragile peace to be broken.
REVIEW: Grant's Newsflesh world, based on solid viral research and understanding of human nature, expands beyond the core cast with these additional tales. From the origins of the outbreak, a tragic combination of unintended consequences and the fallout of fearmongering "fake news" journalism that doesn't care what wildfires it sparks so long as it feeds the lucrative outrage machine, through the chaos and tragedy of the early days and on past the end of the third book in the core trilogy (I have yet to read the fourth entry), Rise fleshes out what already felt like a solid world and fills in more details on several characters. Here, we get the backstory of the elder Masons whose artificial, camera-dependent "love" of Rising orphans Sean and Georgia left the two adoptive siblings so psychologically damaged, as well as the origins of the drug-addicted killer "Foxy". We also see how the rest of the world responded to the Rising, and what might be on the horizon if people can let go of their addiction to fear (and the power that some groups gain through manipulating that fear). Hidden in the cracks are glimmers of hope that a better future is possible, though there's also plenty of death and darkness and violence, enough to break the strongest wills. Through all the tales, the world leaps to life in its many well-researched details and distinctive characters. As in the original stories, the biggest threat is often not the hybrid Kellis-Amberlee virus or the undead, but the all-too-living terror and calculated monstrosity of people, though some of the worst damage they do is not out of malice at all. Short introductions by the author explain inspirations and intents. My only real complaint, one that I can't exactly blame this collection for, was that it had been long enough since I read the Newsflesh books that it took me a while to remember the whos and whats and wheres of the core cast and referenced events. The rest ranks right up their with the main series, earning it top marks.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Feed (Mira Grant) - My Review
Dread Nation (Justina Ireland) - My Review
I Am Legend and Other Stories (Richard Matheson) - My Review
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman)
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders
Neil Gaiman
HarperAudio
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Poetry/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The months of the year meet to trade stories over a campfire... a mysterious circus proves to be more than it appears... a club of gourmands seeks the ultimate rare delicacy... a man witnesses proof that his reality is not as it seems... These and more tales and poems are related in this collection of stories from modern master Neil Gaiman.
REVIEW: I've mentioned in previous reviews that I find Gaiman a bit hit-and-miss; I can appreciate what he does, but his stories aren't always my cup of cocoa. This is also not the first time I've seen a couple of these; his mashup of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft, "A Study in Emerald", I've previously read in another anthology, and the poetic short story "Instructions" has been spun off into a picture book (which I haven't specifically read, but have seen go through the sort at the library shipping center where I work). From those two examples alone, one can infer that there's a broad range of tones and potential target audiences in this collection. As usual for Gaiman, the ideas are always imaginative, and even when the tales weren't quite to my taste they were well executed. In an introduction, he explains the inspirations behind most of them, though part of me wished he'd related them closer to the stories in question; in an audiobook, one can't exactly flip back and forth to an opening section as one reaches a story. The American Gods novella, "Monarch of the Glen", lost some context for me since I haven't read that novel, but stood alone well enough to be understood. Overall, it's a decent collection of tales, even if some of the endings are deliberately ambiguous.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Odds Are Good (Bruce Coville) - My Review
Fifty-One Tales (Lord Dunsany) - My Review
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
Neil Gaiman
HarperAudio
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Poetry/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The months of the year meet to trade stories over a campfire... a mysterious circus proves to be more than it appears... a club of gourmands seeks the ultimate rare delicacy... a man witnesses proof that his reality is not as it seems... These and more tales and poems are related in this collection of stories from modern master Neil Gaiman.
REVIEW: I've mentioned in previous reviews that I find Gaiman a bit hit-and-miss; I can appreciate what he does, but his stories aren't always my cup of cocoa. This is also not the first time I've seen a couple of these; his mashup of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft, "A Study in Emerald", I've previously read in another anthology, and the poetic short story "Instructions" has been spun off into a picture book (which I haven't specifically read, but have seen go through the sort at the library shipping center where I work). From those two examples alone, one can infer that there's a broad range of tones and potential target audiences in this collection. As usual for Gaiman, the ideas are always imaginative, and even when the tales weren't quite to my taste they were well executed. In an introduction, he explains the inspirations behind most of them, though part of me wished he'd related them closer to the stories in question; in an audiobook, one can't exactly flip back and forth to an opening section as one reaches a story. The American Gods novella, "Monarch of the Glen", lost some context for me since I haven't read that novel, but stood alone well enough to be understood. Overall, it's a decent collection of tales, even if some of the endings are deliberately ambiguous.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Odds Are Good (Bruce Coville) - My Review
Fifty-One Tales (Lord Dunsany) - My Review
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
I Am Legend and Other Stories (Richard Matheson)
I Am Legend and Other Stories
Richard Matheson
Tor Books
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A lone man endures after a vampire plague destroys the world... a failed writer's rage manifests dangerously in his home... a war is fought by unconventional means... a mild-mannered fellow starts hearing a telephone ring inside his head... These and other short stories by master Richard Matheson appear in this collection.
REVIEW: Richard Matheson is considered a master, with his style influencing generations and several of his stories considered genre classics. Unfortunately, like with many collections, I found my reaction here mixed, not at all helped by some very bad dating on many themes. In Matheson's world, men are apparently powered by rage and sexual hunger, while women (universally the weaker sex in every way) exist to torment males even as they enable civilization by blunting said male rage and hunger (when they're not deliberately inflaming them, or simply being too silly and naive to understand the consequences of their actions) - and his portrayal of race is really best not examined. Matheson also has a way of dragging things out, even in short stories. The strongest entry by far is the titular tale I Am Legend, basis for multiple movies and clear inspiration for innumerable tales of apocalyptic survival, especially ones with supernatural overtones. While survivor Robert Nevill discovers a "rational" cause for the plague of undead bloodsuckers, it's still a story of vampires (with a touch of zombie) and doesn't hesitate to use the term. As a standalone, it would've gotten a higher rating, for all that it still had a bit of cringe around the edges. The rest of the stories, unfortunately, were a very mixed bag, often feeling too long once the gimmick was clear and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The audiobook version I listened to was not helped at all by the narrators, who could be hard to hear over ambient warehouse noise and sometimes seemed to be going for goofy caricature in how they presented some of the character voices. For all that Matheson's style was generally decent (when not running overlong) and he explored some interesting horror concepts (disregarding the parts that haven't aged well), I don't expect I'll read more from him, even if he is a genre master.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Feed (Mira Grant) - My Review
Full Throttle: Stories (Joe Hill) - My Review
The Shining (Stephen King) - My Review
Richard Matheson
Tor Books
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A lone man endures after a vampire plague destroys the world... a failed writer's rage manifests dangerously in his home... a war is fought by unconventional means... a mild-mannered fellow starts hearing a telephone ring inside his head... These and other short stories by master Richard Matheson appear in this collection.
REVIEW: Richard Matheson is considered a master, with his style influencing generations and several of his stories considered genre classics. Unfortunately, like with many collections, I found my reaction here mixed, not at all helped by some very bad dating on many themes. In Matheson's world, men are apparently powered by rage and sexual hunger, while women (universally the weaker sex in every way) exist to torment males even as they enable civilization by blunting said male rage and hunger (when they're not deliberately inflaming them, or simply being too silly and naive to understand the consequences of their actions) - and his portrayal of race is really best not examined. Matheson also has a way of dragging things out, even in short stories. The strongest entry by far is the titular tale I Am Legend, basis for multiple movies and clear inspiration for innumerable tales of apocalyptic survival, especially ones with supernatural overtones. While survivor Robert Nevill discovers a "rational" cause for the plague of undead bloodsuckers, it's still a story of vampires (with a touch of zombie) and doesn't hesitate to use the term. As a standalone, it would've gotten a higher rating, for all that it still had a bit of cringe around the edges. The rest of the stories, unfortunately, were a very mixed bag, often feeling too long once the gimmick was clear and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The audiobook version I listened to was not helped at all by the narrators, who could be hard to hear over ambient warehouse noise and sometimes seemed to be going for goofy caricature in how they presented some of the character voices. For all that Matheson's style was generally decent (when not running overlong) and he explored some interesting horror concepts (disregarding the parts that haven't aged well), I don't expect I'll read more from him, even if he is a genre master.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Feed (Mira Grant) - My Review
Full Throttle: Stories (Joe Hill) - My Review
The Shining (Stephen King) - My Review
Monday, March 28, 2022
Memory's Legion (James S. A. Corey)
Memory's Legion
The Expanse novellas
James S. A. Corey
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A Martian engineer's new drive design will change the face of the solar system - but he will never live to see it. An Earthborn hero seeks atonement through death after a raid on a Belter station. A hardened boy on Baltimore's lawless streets faces a choice that will determine his future. An aging Belter, stranded on a colony world, sees history about to repeat itself. These and other tales from the Expanse universe are gathered in this print collection for the first time, including author notes and a new story, The Sins of Our Fathers.
REVIEW: With this book, the long-asked-for print compilation of the short stories and novellas, the long and winding journey of the Expanse universe seems to finally be at an end (though, of course, I've learned that "end" doesn't always mean "end"). I've read several of these as e-books, but a few I hadn't gotten to yet, and the author notes were interesting. As for the new story, it addresses a loose end while touching on events after the finale of the ninth book, as humanity is once again thrust into a new era of its existence with minimal warning, bringing with it the same habits and cycles that have both elevated and held back the species since its origins. Overall, it's a nice collection of stories to supplement the main books.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
The Expanse Volume 1: Origins (James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert, and Georgia Lee) - My Review
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Dennis E. Taylor) - My Review
The Expanse novellas
James S. A. Corey
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A Martian engineer's new drive design will change the face of the solar system - but he will never live to see it. An Earthborn hero seeks atonement through death after a raid on a Belter station. A hardened boy on Baltimore's lawless streets faces a choice that will determine his future. An aging Belter, stranded on a colony world, sees history about to repeat itself. These and other tales from the Expanse universe are gathered in this print collection for the first time, including author notes and a new story, The Sins of Our Fathers.
REVIEW: With this book, the long-asked-for print compilation of the short stories and novellas, the long and winding journey of the Expanse universe seems to finally be at an end (though, of course, I've learned that "end" doesn't always mean "end"). I've read several of these as e-books, but a few I hadn't gotten to yet, and the author notes were interesting. As for the new story, it addresses a loose end while touching on events after the finale of the ninth book, as humanity is once again thrust into a new era of its existence with minimal warning, bringing with it the same habits and cycles that have both elevated and held back the species since its origins. Overall, it's a nice collection of stories to supplement the main books.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
The Expanse Volume 1: Origins (James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert, and Georgia Lee) - My Review
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Dennis E. Taylor) - My Review
Friday, January 21, 2022
Full Throttle (Joe Hill)
Full Throttle: Stories
Joe Hill
William Morrow
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A biker gang is hunted by a trucker with a vendetta... a brother and sister follow a child's call for help into a field of tall grass that is less benign than it appears... a girl in the future rents an artificial friend to salvage a terrible birthday... a ruthless corporate "woodcutter" on an English train finds himself seated across from a wolf in a business suit... news of an "event" halfway around the world changes everything for the passengers of a commercial jet over the middle of America... These and other chilling stories by noted author Joe Hill appear in this collection.
REVIEW: Another audiobook to pass time at work, this edition featured different narrators for each story (some of which were better than others, or at least easier to hear in a somewhat noisy warehouse environment), plus an introduction and acknowledgements of influences and details of writing each story. As with most collections and anthologies, I found the contents a bit of a mixed bag. While each was solidy written, some clicked with me better than others, and a couple or three felt slightly drawn out past effectiveness. There's also a strong tendency to downer endings, which Hill himself acknowledges. Overall, though, these stories kept me entertained (which is more than I could say for the three audiobooks that failed to engage me before I got to this one in my Overdrive queue), and effectively evoked tension and terror, plus the additional information was interesting.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Anything Box (Zenna Henderson) - My Review
Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill) - My Review
Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight (Cat Rambo) - My Review
Joe Hill
William Morrow
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A biker gang is hunted by a trucker with a vendetta... a brother and sister follow a child's call for help into a field of tall grass that is less benign than it appears... a girl in the future rents an artificial friend to salvage a terrible birthday... a ruthless corporate "woodcutter" on an English train finds himself seated across from a wolf in a business suit... news of an "event" halfway around the world changes everything for the passengers of a commercial jet over the middle of America... These and other chilling stories by noted author Joe Hill appear in this collection.
REVIEW: Another audiobook to pass time at work, this edition featured different narrators for each story (some of which were better than others, or at least easier to hear in a somewhat noisy warehouse environment), plus an introduction and acknowledgements of influences and details of writing each story. As with most collections and anthologies, I found the contents a bit of a mixed bag. While each was solidy written, some clicked with me better than others, and a couple or three felt slightly drawn out past effectiveness. There's also a strong tendency to downer endings, which Hill himself acknowledges. Overall, though, these stories kept me entertained (which is more than I could say for the three audiobooks that failed to engage me before I got to this one in my Overdrive queue), and effectively evoked tension and terror, plus the additional information was interesting.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Anything Box (Zenna Henderson) - My Review
Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill) - My Review
Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight (Cat Rambo) - My Review
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf (Grant Snider)
I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf
Grant Snider
Harry N. Abrams
Nonfiction, Collection/Comics/Creativity
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Cartoonist Grant Snider presents more comics about the wonders of reading, the magic of books, and the struggles and rewards of writing.
REVIEW: Much like The Shape of Ideas, this collection offers an interesting, somewhat irreverent look at reading, readers, books of all kinds, and the act of creating words. Also like the previous collection, some of the cartoons reach a point, and some never quite get there. The poetry-themed comics in particular seemed to circle around concepts without quite reaching what they were aiming for, but then I've never been a huge poetry reader. There's also a whiff of repeated concepts now and again, easier to see in a collection than in random comics seen online here and there. Overall, though, it's a fun celebration of all things bookish.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Frequently Asked Questions: An Unshelved Collection (Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes) - My Review
The Shape of Ideas (Grant Snider) - My Review
Book Love (Debbie Tung) - My Review
Grant Snider
Harry N. Abrams
Nonfiction, Collection/Comics/Creativity
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Cartoonist Grant Snider presents more comics about the wonders of reading, the magic of books, and the struggles and rewards of writing.
REVIEW: Much like The Shape of Ideas, this collection offers an interesting, somewhat irreverent look at reading, readers, books of all kinds, and the act of creating words. Also like the previous collection, some of the cartoons reach a point, and some never quite get there. The poetry-themed comics in particular seemed to circle around concepts without quite reaching what they were aiming for, but then I've never been a huge poetry reader. There's also a whiff of repeated concepts now and again, easier to see in a collection than in random comics seen online here and there. Overall, though, it's a fun celebration of all things bookish.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Frequently Asked Questions: An Unshelved Collection (Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes) - My Review
The Shape of Ideas (Grant Snider) - My Review
Book Love (Debbie Tung) - My Review
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Princeless: Princesses (Jeremy Whitley)
Princeless: Princesses
The Princeless series, Volume 8
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Various Artists
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, MG? Collection/Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Humor
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since escaping her tower with her guardian dragon Sparky, Princess Adrienne has quested to free her sisters from their own towers... but they'd all been expecting to go from prisoner to prize/bride. Now, they have to decide what to do with their freedom, even as a greater war looms on the horizon.
REVIEW: The trope-challenging Princeless series has shown some stretch marks, but the previous volume picked up the pace some, so I looked forward to seeing where it was going. This collection, sadly, represents another backslide. Whitley seems to be dithering and fluffing to stretch things out at this point, and even though these adventures all ultimately tie into the greater series, I didn't think the stories needed their own volume. Two of them don't really go anywhere, and one is a story we already knew. The humor also feels spotty. If this had come earlier in the series, I probably would've just walked away, but since it seems there are only one or two volumes left I'll probably stick it out to the end.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Robots Vs. Princesses Volume 1 (Todd Matthy) - My Review
Norroway Volume 1: The Black Bull of Norroway (Cat Seaton) - My Review
Princeless: Short Stories Volume 1 (Jeremy Whitley) - My Review
The Princeless series, Volume 8
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Various Artists
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, MG? Collection/Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Humor
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since escaping her tower with her guardian dragon Sparky, Princess Adrienne has quested to free her sisters from their own towers... but they'd all been expecting to go from prisoner to prize/bride. Now, they have to decide what to do with their freedom, even as a greater war looms on the horizon.
REVIEW: The trope-challenging Princeless series has shown some stretch marks, but the previous volume picked up the pace some, so I looked forward to seeing where it was going. This collection, sadly, represents another backslide. Whitley seems to be dithering and fluffing to stretch things out at this point, and even though these adventures all ultimately tie into the greater series, I didn't think the stories needed their own volume. Two of them don't really go anywhere, and one is a story we already knew. The humor also feels spotty. If this had come earlier in the series, I probably would've just walked away, but since it seems there are only one or two volumes left I'll probably stick it out to the end.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Robots Vs. Princesses Volume 1 (Todd Matthy) - My Review
Norroway Volume 1: The Black Bull of Norroway (Cat Seaton) - My Review
Princeless: Short Stories Volume 1 (Jeremy Whitley) - My Review
Friday, June 21, 2019
The Last Wish (Andrzej Sapkowski)
The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher
The Witcher series, Collection 1
Andrzej Sapkowski
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In a land plagued by monsters and curses and magics ancient and foul, the people needed extraordinary hunters to keep them safe. Thus were created the witchers: trained from childhood in arts martial and magic, physically mutated through rituals and potions, specially equipped beyond any mere human or elf or dwarf to deal with unnatural dangers. But as generation succeeds generation, the dangers grow fewer and the people more numerous. These days, monsters are increasingly rare and witchers increasingly reviled and mistrusted... though some still rise to become legends, such as Geralt of Rivia, known as the White Wolf. As one of the last of his dying kind, he wanders near and far in search of troubles to resolve - though, in truth, the troubles often come to him.
REVIEW: Geralt of Rivia, debuting in 1986, has featured in numerous short stories, novels, video games, and - soon - a Netflix Original series. These tales being considered fantasy classics, and being curious about the upcoming series, (and, yes, taking advantage of a recent Kindle discount), I decided to give the stories a try. Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I started with the first full novel before realizing that the short stories were necessary introductions. After reading this collection, though, I don't think I'll be getting back to that novel any time soon.
The Last Wish tweaks several popular fairy tales and folk story tropes, from Snow White to Beauty's notorious Beast and more, often to effects both dark and humorous, if a self-mocking humor. Geralt knows he is part of a dying breed, in a world where wonders are dying by man's hand... a world where he is seemingly destined to outlive his usefulness, to be hated for what he represents even as he is still needed to safeguard the dawning of humanity's absolute rule. All around him are reminders of his impending obsolescence and his impotence against the flow of time and progress... but a witcher still has to eat, and curses still need breaking, even if the people whom he helps are as likely to turn on him after the deed as pay him for his services. Unfortunately, the world also leans heavily on stereotypes and sexism. Women in particular can rarely wield power without being cruel, selfish, and manipulative, bordering on (and often outright) evil. The tales meander to the point where I started losing the plot threads and was tempted to skim, as people babbled endlessly. I didn't particularly care for what I saw of Geralt, and especially got sick of his sometimes-sidekick, the bard Dandelion, a true one-trick-pony of a comic relief companion. Some of the tales are essentially standalones, but others slowly (and I do mean slowly) build a rough arc - which, skirting spoilers, ends on a cliffhanger, right after a story that drug the rating down a full half-star to a flat Okay. Needless to say, by then I was rather tired of the whole thing, so I feel no compulsion to read onward.
Though I enjoyed some of the trope-tweaking and there were several good (and surprisingly deep) moments scattered about, ultimately the whole just isn't my cup of cocoa: too dated and especially too sexist. (The last full story, the titular "The Last Wish," really hit some bad-vibe buttons in that department...) If I ever revisit Geralt's world, I think I'll do it via video game, not writing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Traitor's Blade (Sebastien de Castell) - My Review
Swords and Deviltry (Fritz Leiber) - My Review
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore) - My Review
The Witcher series, Collection 1
Andrzej Sapkowski
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In a land plagued by monsters and curses and magics ancient and foul, the people needed extraordinary hunters to keep them safe. Thus were created the witchers: trained from childhood in arts martial and magic, physically mutated through rituals and potions, specially equipped beyond any mere human or elf or dwarf to deal with unnatural dangers. But as generation succeeds generation, the dangers grow fewer and the people more numerous. These days, monsters are increasingly rare and witchers increasingly reviled and mistrusted... though some still rise to become legends, such as Geralt of Rivia, known as the White Wolf. As one of the last of his dying kind, he wanders near and far in search of troubles to resolve - though, in truth, the troubles often come to him.
REVIEW: Geralt of Rivia, debuting in 1986, has featured in numerous short stories, novels, video games, and - soon - a Netflix Original series. These tales being considered fantasy classics, and being curious about the upcoming series, (and, yes, taking advantage of a recent Kindle discount), I decided to give the stories a try. Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I started with the first full novel before realizing that the short stories were necessary introductions. After reading this collection, though, I don't think I'll be getting back to that novel any time soon.
The Last Wish tweaks several popular fairy tales and folk story tropes, from Snow White to Beauty's notorious Beast and more, often to effects both dark and humorous, if a self-mocking humor. Geralt knows he is part of a dying breed, in a world where wonders are dying by man's hand... a world where he is seemingly destined to outlive his usefulness, to be hated for what he represents even as he is still needed to safeguard the dawning of humanity's absolute rule. All around him are reminders of his impending obsolescence and his impotence against the flow of time and progress... but a witcher still has to eat, and curses still need breaking, even if the people whom he helps are as likely to turn on him after the deed as pay him for his services. Unfortunately, the world also leans heavily on stereotypes and sexism. Women in particular can rarely wield power without being cruel, selfish, and manipulative, bordering on (and often outright) evil. The tales meander to the point where I started losing the plot threads and was tempted to skim, as people babbled endlessly. I didn't particularly care for what I saw of Geralt, and especially got sick of his sometimes-sidekick, the bard Dandelion, a true one-trick-pony of a comic relief companion. Some of the tales are essentially standalones, but others slowly (and I do mean slowly) build a rough arc - which, skirting spoilers, ends on a cliffhanger, right after a story that drug the rating down a full half-star to a flat Okay. Needless to say, by then I was rather tired of the whole thing, so I feel no compulsion to read onward.
Though I enjoyed some of the trope-tweaking and there were several good (and surprisingly deep) moments scattered about, ultimately the whole just isn't my cup of cocoa: too dated and especially too sexist. (The last full story, the titular "The Last Wish," really hit some bad-vibe buttons in that department...) If I ever revisit Geralt's world, I think I'll do it via video game, not writing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Traitor's Blade (Sebastien de Castell) - My Review
Swords and Deviltry (Fritz Leiber) - My Review
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore) - My Review
Friday, April 19, 2019
Swords in the Mist (Fritz Leiber)
Swords in the Mist
The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, Book 3
Fritz Leiber
Open Road Media
Fiction, Adventure/Collection/Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: From a malevolent mist prowling the streets of Lankhmar to a mysterious rendezvous on the floor of the wild sea, from the mythic lands of Nehwon to ancient classical Earth, northern swordsman Fafhrd and his little thief companion the Gray Mouser write new chapters in their ongoing legend.
REVIEW: Like previous installments, Leiber weaves tales of wild imagination and grand adventure, the stuff on which sword and sorcery fantasy was built, all overlaid with more than a little humor, both between the characters and in an overall sense of winking at the grandiose nature of the subgenre. (It also, like a lot of classic sword and sorcery, has broad swathes of sexism and some racism worked into its DNA, which do not age particularly well.) Unlike the last two collections, though, these - with one exception - aren't really standalones, but become a somewhat drawn out single tale that meanders here and there and everywhere, even bringing the heroes to a fantastical version of Earth's own ancient history as the characters (despite themselves) take further steps on the road from ordinary adventurers to immortalized archetypes of song and story. It really doesn't help when this particular tale grinds in the sexism and objectification of women. There's still a sense of fun, particularly in their ill-fated adventure on Lankhmar's fiercely competitive Street of the Gods, but the characters are just plain more enjoyable in shorter adventurers (and smaller doses) than in longer works - especially longer works with as thin a backbone as the one they clamber along in this outing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Swords and Deviltry (Fritz Leiber) - My Review
The Mercenary Volume 1: The Cult of the Sacred Fire (Vicente Segrelles) - My Review
The Copper Promise (Jen Williams) - My Review
The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, Book 3
Fritz Leiber
Open Road Media
Fiction, Adventure/Collection/Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: From a malevolent mist prowling the streets of Lankhmar to a mysterious rendezvous on the floor of the wild sea, from the mythic lands of Nehwon to ancient classical Earth, northern swordsman Fafhrd and his little thief companion the Gray Mouser write new chapters in their ongoing legend.
REVIEW: Like previous installments, Leiber weaves tales of wild imagination and grand adventure, the stuff on which sword and sorcery fantasy was built, all overlaid with more than a little humor, both between the characters and in an overall sense of winking at the grandiose nature of the subgenre. (It also, like a lot of classic sword and sorcery, has broad swathes of sexism and some racism worked into its DNA, which do not age particularly well.) Unlike the last two collections, though, these - with one exception - aren't really standalones, but become a somewhat drawn out single tale that meanders here and there and everywhere, even bringing the heroes to a fantastical version of Earth's own ancient history as the characters (despite themselves) take further steps on the road from ordinary adventurers to immortalized archetypes of song and story. It really doesn't help when this particular tale grinds in the sexism and objectification of women. There's still a sense of fun, particularly in their ill-fated adventure on Lankhmar's fiercely competitive Street of the Gods, but the characters are just plain more enjoyable in shorter adventurers (and smaller doses) than in longer works - especially longer works with as thin a backbone as the one they clamber along in this outing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Swords and Deviltry (Fritz Leiber) - My Review
The Mercenary Volume 1: The Cult of the Sacred Fire (Vicente Segrelles) - My Review
The Copper Promise (Jen Williams) - My Review
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