Scan barcode
landofkait's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
josb's review
3.0
I am a person that has started to transfer my appreciation for superheroes to a deep appreciation for villains and the queer/subversive subtext they embody. A collection of short stories that removes the queer subtext felt like a big deal. The stories themselves seemed decently written, but the moods between stories were so different. One story described the gory murderous glee of a villain in detail and then was followed by an ultra campy villain and hero rivalry. It made it really hard to get into the mood and made me dread starting a new story because I had no way of knowing how it was going to end up.
This might be for you if you are looking for darker shorts. There are some lighthearted titles, but they felt more on the bittersweet side. I felt like if I was a little more prepared for the stories this would have been more enjoyable, therefore, I am adding a quick synopsis of the shorts below as well as any noticeable content warnings I could recall in each story for any future readers.
Final Grades - Erica Friedman
Supervillain trains the next generation of villains as students in a Post Secondary setting
CW: student-instructor seduction
Date Night - Tristan J. Tarwater
Villian goes on a date night that turns eventful
Eden's Revenge - Missouri Vaun
Eden plots an act of revenge against a man and the system that wronged her family
CW: kidnapping
Gentleman Jack - Barbara Ann Wright
"Jack" robs banks and finds a rival in a clever law enforcement agent
CW: mind control/suggestion
Fallen - Audrey Chase
An evil goddess enacts a plot to hurt her superhero rival
CW: gore, drug use/addiction, emotional abuse
The Devil Inside - JD Glass
A reporter interviews the devil and finds herself in the middle of a coupe
Glitter Bomb - Emily Kay Singer
Villian enacts a plan to take over the city with her "rainbow love gun" but chaos ensues when her rival superhero and a fellow villain appear.
CW: mind control, fatphobia, non-consensual advances (kissing, groping)
For Want of a Heart - A. Merc Rustad
Bartender finds herself making a deal with a Winter Goddess to help her out of a bind.
CW: addiction (gambling),
Absolution - Claire Monserrat Jackson
A super-powered disgraced detective teams up with an old friend to solve a problem at a Neo-Amish settlement.
CW: homophobia
So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent - Jude McLaughlin
A hero spends the day at a mad scientist's lab interacting with the experiments.
CW: ableism
The Prado by Chance - Leia Weathington
A morally grey Interpol officer is hired to protect valuables and gets a surprising offer.
CW: mentions of drugs, voyeurism, excessive alcohol use
Jaguar Light - Susan Smith
Jaguar stops a fellow villains' takeover plot.
Chrome Crash - Mari Kurisato
Dirae attempts to find a powerful telepathic who has no control of her powers.
CW: gore, animal death, mass murder
This might be for you if you are looking for darker shorts. There are some lighthearted titles, but they felt more on the bittersweet side. I felt like if I was a little more prepared for the stories this would have been more enjoyable, therefore, I am adding a quick synopsis of the shorts below as well as any noticeable content warnings I could recall in each story for any future readers.
Final Grades - Erica Friedman
Supervillain trains the next generation of villains as students in a Post Secondary setting
CW: student-instructor seduction
Date Night - Tristan J. Tarwater
Villian goes on a date night that turns eventful
Eden's Revenge - Missouri Vaun
Eden plots an act of revenge against a man and the system that wronged her family
CW: kidnapping
Gentleman Jack - Barbara Ann Wright
"Jack" robs banks and finds a rival in a clever law enforcement agent
CW: mind control/suggestion
Fallen - Audrey Chase
An evil goddess enacts a plot to hurt her superhero rival
CW: gore, drug use/addiction, emotional abuse
The Devil Inside - JD Glass
A reporter interviews the devil and finds herself in the middle of a coupe
Glitter Bomb - Emily Kay Singer
Villian enacts a plan to take over the city with her "rainbow love gun" but chaos ensues when her rival superhero and a fellow villain appear.
CW: mind control, fatphobia, non-consensual advances (kissing, groping)
For Want of a Heart - A. Merc Rustad
Bartender finds herself making a deal with a Winter Goddess to help her out of a bind.
CW: addiction (gambling),
Absolution - Claire Monserrat Jackson
A super-powered disgraced detective teams up with an old friend to solve a problem at a Neo-Amish settlement.
CW: homophobia
So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent - Jude McLaughlin
A hero spends the day at a mad scientist's lab interacting with the experiments.
CW: ableism
The Prado by Chance - Leia Weathington
A morally grey Interpol officer is hired to protect valuables and gets a surprising offer.
CW: mentions of drugs, voyeurism, excessive alcohol use
Jaguar Light - Susan Smith
Jaguar stops a fellow villains' takeover plot.
Chrome Crash - Mari Kurisato
Dirae attempts to find a powerful telepathic who has no control of her powers.
CW: gore, animal death, mass murder
djotaku's review
5.0
disclaimer: I kickstarted this anthology
Before I get to my usual anthology review in which I collect all my status updates into one place, I wanted to mention a bit about why I kickstarted this book and how I like the overall collection. One day I was trawling through the fiction section of Kickstarter when I came across this book (which had a different title at the time) and it ticked a few boxes for me. First of all, I've always found it fun to read a story from the villain's point of view. So often authors take the easy route and create an anti-hero if they want to tell a story without a goodie-two-shoes protagonist. To make a villain sympathetic takes work. Second, it was clear some of the stories would take an irreverent tone. While good parody and satire are hard to pull off, I'm pretty tolerant about mediocre parody and satire. Finally, while LGBT characters are starting to take off - especially in YA fiction, it's still somewhat of a relative rarity. Even harder to find is a LGBT character that doesn't conform to heteronormative tropes: the sexy lesbian, the lispy gay guy, etc. Most aren't aware of bears and other categories and that LGBT people come in as many shades of the rainbow (no double-entendre intended) as straight people do. So it was fun to read about things like seduction from a woman's point of view, from a bi point of view, from a transgender point of view and see how they're the same and how they're different. And there are stories in which it matters that the characters are gay super heroes and stories in which it matters as much as the super hero being left-handed.
Anyway, I found it supremely enjoyable and if you're into super hero stories and want to read something a little different, check it out.
Final Grades - the headmistress at a school for villains walks us through the year. Partway through - I have an idea how it might end, but unsure. Appears her superpower is manipulating others into doing what she wants. While I had an idea the plot would revolve around a challenge to someone (given the setup), the end result was a delicious surprise. (note: some graphic sex in that short story)
Date Night: Queer Villainess goes on a date as a civilian. Things go a little pear-shaped. I caught the twist quite a few beats ahead of the protagonist, but still a fun read.
Eden's Revenge: "The file said this woman’s hacker handle was NrdGrl so she’d expected a pimply faced, nerdy science type. The centerfold for sexy librarians greeted Grey instead." Someone decides the way to get revenge for being hurt is a tech-reset. Fun to read protagonist/antagonist seduction from a female point of view as well as a queer one and see the similarities and differences compared to usual.
Gentleman Jack: A fine, fine story in which the author takes the metaphorical power women have over others with their sexuality and makes it an actual power that some can control. Very fun read that takes place in 1800s.
Fallen: A villain gets revenge on a super hero. This is the first one so far to be tragic rather than fun. Doesn't make it a bad story, just a little less into the relishing of the villainy.
The Devil Inside: Back to fun stories. A reporter interviews the Devil. Shenanigans ensue. Great world that would be fun for a novella length story.
Glitter Bomb:
"I fixed my powder blue eye-mask and took a moment to make sure the mandatory cleavage window sat right in the middle of my chest."
Yup, it's meta and irreverent and awesome. You know how some crow about the gay agenda to make everyone gay? What if that was actually a super villain plot?
For Want of a Heart: Another serious one, but I enjoyed a bit more than the other serious one. Redemption and free will are big topics and it's told rather well. Could be a prequel short story to either a utopia or dytopia story.
Absolution: A witch curses a community when she's burned at the stake. Also, takes place in a future dystopia.
So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent: Starts off fun, then gets serious, then fun again. Probably #2 favorite in the collection thus far. Superhero and her mad-scientist girlfriend enlist help from a villain mad-scientist.
The Prado By Chance: A nice change in that the protagonist is not the super-villain. Instead she's an investigator for an INTERPOL that has nothing to do since the rise of super humans. A fun world I'd like to spend more time in.
Jaguar Light: A villain decides to use magic to depower all the super heroes.
Chrome Crash: A very serious story on which to end things. A story worthy of Alan Moore or Jonathan Hickman or anyone else who has ever considered the grey morality of heroes in the real world as opposed to the fantasies we normally see in the Caped Comics.
Before I get to my usual anthology review in which I collect all my status updates into one place, I wanted to mention a bit about why I kickstarted this book and how I like the overall collection. One day I was trawling through the fiction section of Kickstarter when I came across this book (which had a different title at the time) and it ticked a few boxes for me. First of all, I've always found it fun to read a story from the villain's point of view. So often authors take the easy route and create an anti-hero if they want to tell a story without a goodie-two-shoes protagonist. To make a villain sympathetic takes work. Second, it was clear some of the stories would take an irreverent tone. While good parody and satire are hard to pull off, I'm pretty tolerant about mediocre parody and satire. Finally, while LGBT characters are starting to take off - especially in YA fiction, it's still somewhat of a relative rarity. Even harder to find is a LGBT character that doesn't conform to heteronormative tropes: the sexy lesbian, the lispy gay guy, etc. Most aren't aware of bears and other categories and that LGBT people come in as many shades of the rainbow (no double-entendre intended) as straight people do. So it was fun to read about things like seduction from a woman's point of view, from a bi point of view, from a transgender point of view and see how they're the same and how they're different. And there are stories in which it matters that the characters are gay super heroes and stories in which it matters as much as the super hero being left-handed.
Anyway, I found it supremely enjoyable and if you're into super hero stories and want to read something a little different, check it out.
Final Grades - the headmistress at a school for villains walks us through the year. Partway through - I have an idea how it might end, but unsure. Appears her superpower is manipulating others into doing what she wants. While I had an idea the plot would revolve around a challenge to someone (given the setup), the end result was a delicious surprise. (note: some graphic sex in that short story)
Date Night: Queer Villainess goes on a date as a civilian. Things go a little pear-shaped. I caught the twist quite a few beats ahead of the protagonist, but still a fun read.
Eden's Revenge: "The file said this woman’s hacker handle was NrdGrl so she’d expected a pimply faced, nerdy science type. The centerfold for sexy librarians greeted Grey instead." Someone decides the way to get revenge for being hurt is a tech-reset. Fun to read protagonist/antagonist seduction from a female point of view as well as a queer one and see the similarities and differences compared to usual.
Gentleman Jack: A fine, fine story in which the author takes the metaphorical power women have over others with their sexuality and makes it an actual power that some can control. Very fun read that takes place in 1800s.
Fallen: A villain gets revenge on a super hero. This is the first one so far to be tragic rather than fun. Doesn't make it a bad story, just a little less into the relishing of the villainy.
The Devil Inside: Back to fun stories. A reporter interviews the Devil. Shenanigans ensue. Great world that would be fun for a novella length story.
Glitter Bomb:
"I fixed my powder blue eye-mask and took a moment to make sure the mandatory cleavage window sat right in the middle of my chest."
Yup, it's meta and irreverent and awesome. You know how some crow about the gay agenda to make everyone gay? What if that was actually a super villain plot?
For Want of a Heart: Another serious one, but I enjoyed a bit more than the other serious one. Redemption and free will are big topics and it's told rather well. Could be a prequel short story to either a utopia or dytopia story.
Absolution: A witch curses a community when she's burned at the stake. Also, takes place in a future dystopia.
So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent: Starts off fun, then gets serious, then fun again. Probably #2 favorite in the collection thus far. Superhero and her mad-scientist girlfriend enlist help from a villain mad-scientist.
The Prado By Chance: A nice change in that the protagonist is not the super-villain. Instead she's an investigator for an INTERPOL that has nothing to do since the rise of super humans. A fun world I'd like to spend more time in.
Jaguar Light: A villain decides to use magic to depower all the super heroes.
Chrome Crash: A very serious story on which to end things. A story worthy of Alan Moore or Jonathan Hickman or anyone else who has ever considered the grey morality of heroes in the real world as opposed to the fantasies we normally see in the Caped Comics.
crookedspider's review
3.0
I really loved that the queerness of the characters wasn’t the whole/sole plot point for the stories (as if that’s the only reason why queer characters are protagonists) and that the queer characters in this anthology are all spread across a spectrum of moralities (the villains and the heroes). The stories were also very different from each other, with each of the stories having their own colourful worlds and and uniquely powerful voices. Overall, it was a fun ride, much like a rollercoaster at a theme park. I’ll definitely me checking out more releases by North West Press in the future. In bold are the stories that I particularly liked (keep in mind that I have a preference for more serious stories), with a small comment on each of the stories in the collection.
1. Final Grades by Erica Friedman
This story had a really interesting setting of a supervillain school, which I thought gave the reader a very interesting “frame” going into the story. There’s a plot twist at the end which was not completely unpredictable though, since it was already revealed at the start of the story that only a single person has ever graduated from the supervillain school.
2. Date Night by Tristan J. Tarwater
Another classic supervillain story, where the supervillain goes on a date which gets interrupted by her sidekick. Her date though turns out to be someone unexpected. A fun, fast paced short read with some somewhat predictable twists (which kept the story moving and interesting) and flashy action near the end.
3. Eden’s Revenge by Missouri Vaun
Unlike the previous two stories, this is not a supervillain story but more of a vengeance story where our protagonist/villain is seeking revenge against the man who caused her sister’s suicide. It was all right, I didn’t really gel with this story as well though for some reason. Part of it could be because I didn’t really care for the protagonist - again, most likely a personal preference thing. Not sure about how I feel about the protagonist’s revenge plan being explained as “insanity” at the end of the story though...
4. Gentleman Jack by Barbara Ann Wright
Our protagonist/villain, a smug cross-dressing robber with charm abilities, meets her match in a stubborn, slightly uptight law women armed with science. This has potential to be a satisfying rom-com plot. I kind of wished that the story was a teeny bit longer just to see their cat-and-mouse relationship develop, but at the same time it ended at a place where it felt right. Great character chemistry.
5. Fallen by Audrey Chase
A much more serious story than the previous ones (which were all pretty light-hearted), which also has the gore factor turned up significantly higher. The grittiness and violence in this story was a refreshing change, and showed how terrifying and devastating a villain’s actions can be. This story, I feel, has one of the more interesting “grey” villains, with less clear-cut motives and “evilness”, which I really liked, but may not be for everyone. I would say this is the first story in the collection that I would peg as a tragedy.
6. The Devil Inside by JD Glass
A reporter visits hell to interview the devil herself, then gets interrupted by a mutiny. It was a fun read at first, with the little quips and jokes (eg. hell monsters needing moisturizers for their dry non-human skin), but it soon got on my nerves when the jokes started to get a bit too repetitive/play too much into stereotypes/too random and irrelevant to the plot, only present to provide some cheap humour, and it felt like the writer is a bit too confident of how funny they are and is smugly rubbing it in your face; however, humour is a very subjective thing and it might just be that it didn’t hit the right buttons in me. I felt like the “twist” at the end was confusing and didn’t make any sense/fit into the plot too.
7. Glitter Bomb by Emily Kay Singer
A fun, nonsensical read that relishes in just how absurd its own plot is. Obviously, this is not a story you read for a “deep” plot, or even a plot that makes sense, which is fine because the author is obviously aware of that, and plays around with the common “superhero story” tropes, which makes it even more entertaining. It ends with a tidy, sweet and romantic ending (for people who like happy endings).
8. For Want of a Heart by A. Merc Rustad
Oh man, this story made me cry a few tears. Maybe because for a moment I really clicked with the protagonist and identified with what she was going through in the story. Not a happy ending (no spoilers though!), but I really loved the use of language, in this story for some reason. I feel like this is a bud that could have been expanded into a much longer, more elaborate complex story, with more fleshed out characters and more complex motivations, which in some ways is a shame. Personally, probably up there as one of my favourites in this anthology, although I felt that the ending was a bit rushed which made the reveal at the end less impactful.
9. Absolution by Claire Monserrat Jackson
You can tell that the author has really put some thought in terms of world building - the history that was briefly mentioned, the magic system etc. This story takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where the Fae (fairy-land) has sort of burst through into the human world and caused all sorts of problems, and our protagonist in this story is a spunky (presumably powerful) for-hire problem-solver with magic powers, who has a undead “Afterlife” chain-smoking sidekick. I really liked the characters and the world-building, and there seems to be an entire novella the author has written based on this world, which I will definitely be checking out.
10. So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent by Jude McLaughlin
Our main protagonist visits the lab of an evil mad scientist with her girlfriend, which is great because all the previous stories have yet to feature an evil mad scientist. This story felt like an small exploration of the “mad scientist” trope, featuring both a “good” mad scientist (our protagonist’s girlfriend) and an “evil” one, but at the same time, the scientist characters felt distinct from each other and developed enough. I liked the sense of rivalry between the scientist characters, and personally I liked the main protagonist quite a bit.
11. The Prado By Chance by Leia Weathington
Our main protagonist is an underpaid, underappreciated, and unabashedly corrupt FBI agent who one day gets a little surprise on one of her under-the-table “missions”. I like how our protagonist needs to rely mainly on her cunning to manipulate and carry out her plans and not any kind of super power or ability like the other stories; it makes the protagonist feel immediately a few degrees more human and closer to home, especially since greed and corruption are very human in nature.
12. Jaguar Light by Susan Smith
Our protagonist, a petty criminal who lives in accordance with her desires and fancies, teams up with her nemesis when another villain gains power that gets out of control. I really liked the incorporation of Aztec mythology as the source of power for our protagonist in the story; I also thought that the main villain was pretty lame (and I’m not just referring to her name), because there I didn’t feel any real punch behind her desire for power. She’s pretty flat as a character, and with such weak motivations that I didn’t feel that threatened at any point in the story at all. Her connection to the protagonist was also kind of explained in a one-liner which feels a little too casual. However, I liked the dynamics and contrasts between the protagonist and her nemesis.
13. Chrome Crash by Mari Kurisato
This story is a little messy and hard to describe but I’ll try my best: the story splits into two at the beginning, following the history of two girls with powers who seem to be unrelated at first, but we discover their connection to each other as the story progresses. It sounds vague I know, but I had the feeling of looking into murky water when I was reading this story. One thing that confused me the most was that at the beginning of the story we got a whole chunk of a part of one of the girls’ pasts, which I thought was her origin story at first in relation to the rest of the story, but upon nearing the end I realized that it had no bearing on the original plot of the story at all - it was not an origin story, nor explained any of the character’s personality, traits, trauma, etc, etc, and that whole chunk could have been taken out with no change to the original story. Also, regarding the connection between the two girls as mentioned earlier: the whole time when I was reading the story, I was asking why? What is the purpose of their connection? What I feel, is that this story is some sort of chopped up lite version of another story where important bits that make the story coherent are missing, which is such as shame because I really like the villain characters, small traces of the what is good and what is evil debate, the exploration of the involvement of politics and the military in superpowers etc. It had such great potential.
This review is a lot longer than my usual review and took much much longer than I thought it would to write. I may be slightly harsh in my comments on certain stories, and I’m certainly biased towards some stories than others, so I’ll say again here that I enjoyed this anthology and would encourage anybody who would like to read short stories about lesbian villains to pick this up.
1. Final Grades by Erica Friedman
This story had a really interesting setting of a supervillain school, which I thought gave the reader a very interesting “frame” going into the story. There’s a plot twist at the end which was not completely unpredictable though, since it was already revealed at the start of the story that only a single person has ever graduated from the supervillain school.
2. Date Night by Tristan J. Tarwater
Another classic supervillain story, where the supervillain goes on a date which gets interrupted by her sidekick. Her date though turns out to be someone unexpected. A fun, fast paced short read with some somewhat predictable twists (which kept the story moving and interesting) and flashy action near the end.
3. Eden’s Revenge by Missouri Vaun
Unlike the previous two stories, this is not a supervillain story but more of a vengeance story where our protagonist/villain is seeking revenge against the man who caused her sister’s suicide. It was all right, I didn’t really gel with this story as well though for some reason. Part of it could be because I didn’t really care for the protagonist - again, most likely a personal preference thing. Not sure about how I feel about the protagonist’s revenge plan being explained as “insanity” at the end of the story though...
4. Gentleman Jack by Barbara Ann Wright
Our protagonist/villain, a smug cross-dressing robber with charm abilities, meets her match in a stubborn, slightly uptight law women armed with science. This has potential to be a satisfying rom-com plot. I kind of wished that the story was a teeny bit longer just to see their cat-and-mouse relationship develop, but at the same time it ended at a place where it felt right. Great character chemistry.
5. Fallen by Audrey Chase
A much more serious story than the previous ones (which were all pretty light-hearted), which also has the gore factor turned up significantly higher. The grittiness and violence in this story was a refreshing change, and showed how terrifying and devastating a villain’s actions can be. This story, I feel, has one of the more interesting “grey” villains, with less clear-cut motives and “evilness”, which I really liked, but may not be for everyone. I would say this is the first story in the collection that I would peg as a tragedy.
6. The Devil Inside by JD Glass
A reporter visits hell to interview the devil herself, then gets interrupted by a mutiny. It was a fun read at first, with the little quips and jokes (eg. hell monsters needing moisturizers for their dry non-human skin), but it soon got on my nerves when the jokes started to get a bit too repetitive/play too much into stereotypes/too random and irrelevant to the plot, only present to provide some cheap humour, and it felt like the writer is a bit too confident of how funny they are and is smugly rubbing it in your face; however, humour is a very subjective thing and it might just be that it didn’t hit the right buttons in me. I felt like the “twist” at the end was confusing and didn’t make any sense/fit into the plot too.
7. Glitter Bomb by Emily Kay Singer
A fun, nonsensical read that relishes in just how absurd its own plot is. Obviously, this is not a story you read for a “deep” plot, or even a plot that makes sense, which is fine because the author is obviously aware of that, and plays around with the common “superhero story” tropes, which makes it even more entertaining. It ends with a tidy, sweet and romantic ending (for people who like happy endings).
8. For Want of a Heart by A. Merc Rustad
Oh man, this story made me cry a few tears. Maybe because for a moment I really clicked with the protagonist and identified with what she was going through in the story. Not a happy ending (no spoilers though!), but I really loved the use of language, in this story for some reason. I feel like this is a bud that could have been expanded into a much longer, more elaborate complex story, with more fleshed out characters and more complex motivations, which in some ways is a shame. Personally, probably up there as one of my favourites in this anthology, although I felt that the ending was a bit rushed which made the reveal at the end less impactful.
9. Absolution by Claire Monserrat Jackson
You can tell that the author has really put some thought in terms of world building - the history that was briefly mentioned, the magic system etc. This story takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where the Fae (fairy-land) has sort of burst through into the human world and caused all sorts of problems, and our protagonist in this story is a spunky (presumably powerful) for-hire problem-solver with magic powers, who has a undead “Afterlife” chain-smoking sidekick. I really liked the characters and the world-building, and there seems to be an entire novella the author has written based on this world, which I will definitely be checking out.
10. So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent by Jude McLaughlin
Our main protagonist visits the lab of an evil mad scientist with her girlfriend, which is great because all the previous stories have yet to feature an evil mad scientist. This story felt like an small exploration of the “mad scientist” trope, featuring both a “good” mad scientist (our protagonist’s girlfriend) and an “evil” one, but at the same time, the scientist characters felt distinct from each other and developed enough. I liked the sense of rivalry between the scientist characters, and personally I liked the main protagonist quite a bit.
11. The Prado By Chance by Leia Weathington
Our main protagonist is an underpaid, underappreciated, and unabashedly corrupt FBI agent who one day gets a little surprise on one of her under-the-table “missions”. I like how our protagonist needs to rely mainly on her cunning to manipulate and carry out her plans and not any kind of super power or ability like the other stories; it makes the protagonist feel immediately a few degrees more human and closer to home, especially since greed and corruption are very human in nature.
12. Jaguar Light by Susan Smith
Our protagonist, a petty criminal who lives in accordance with her desires and fancies, teams up with her nemesis when another villain gains power that gets out of control. I really liked the incorporation of Aztec mythology as the source of power for our protagonist in the story; I also thought that the main villain was pretty lame (and I’m not just referring to her name), because there I didn’t feel any real punch behind her desire for power. She’s pretty flat as a character, and with such weak motivations that I didn’t feel that threatened at any point in the story at all. Her connection to the protagonist was also kind of explained in a one-liner which feels a little too casual. However, I liked the dynamics and contrasts between the protagonist and her nemesis.
13. Chrome Crash by Mari Kurisato
This story is a little messy and hard to describe but I’ll try my best: the story splits into two at the beginning, following the history of two girls with powers who seem to be unrelated at first, but we discover their connection to each other as the story progresses. It sounds vague I know, but I had the feeling of looking into murky water when I was reading this story. One thing that confused me the most was that at the beginning of the story we got a whole chunk of a part of one of the girls’ pasts, which I thought was her origin story at first in relation to the rest of the story, but upon nearing the end I realized that it had no bearing on the original plot of the story at all - it was not an origin story, nor explained any of the character’s personality, traits, trauma, etc, etc, and that whole chunk could have been taken out with no change to the original story. Also, regarding the connection between the two girls as mentioned earlier: the whole time when I was reading the story, I was asking why? What is the purpose of their connection? What I feel, is that this story is some sort of chopped up lite version of another story where important bits that make the story coherent are missing, which is such as shame because I really like the villain characters, small traces of the what is good and what is evil debate, the exploration of the involvement of politics and the military in superpowers etc. It had such great potential.
This review is a lot longer than my usual review and took much much longer than I thought it would to write. I may be slightly harsh in my comments on certain stories, and I’m certainly biased towards some stories than others, so I’ll say again here that I enjoyed this anthology and would encourage anybody who would like to read short stories about lesbian villains to pick this up.
More...