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pamwinkler's review against another edition
3.0
Awake by Jack Ketchum was pretty good; but the first and second halves of the story were very disparate and that made it confusing. Each story section was pretty good, so I'll still claim it good overall.
John Henry, The Steel Drivin' Man by Jeff Strand was pretty hilarious.
Fish Out of Water by Keith R.A. DeCandido was good, but so clearly one in a series it was a little disconcerting. It was the only one like that, so it really stuck out! I'm going to look up more of this, but it was good.
Making Music by Kelley Armstrong was good and a lot of fun. I didn't expect it to go the way it did.
Tam Lane by Lisa Morton was good. It was relatively plain to the song; but good just the same.
John Barleycorn Must Die by Marsheila Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte was good. The most action-heavy story in the lot.
Driving Jenny Home by Seanan McGuire was good. I wish the protagonist hadn't made the choice she had, but it was still a good story.
Hollow is the Heart by Simon R. Green was not a good story. It just felt predictable and heavy-handed. I'll admit, I didn't expect the reveal of the villain, but the romance felt forced and boring. Normally his stories are good, so that was also a disappointment. Plus, it ended the book, so I finished the book and just felt annoyed.
Overall, good. Some of the authors took the songs too literally, rather than using them as a jumping off point. But one of those I really liked, so I can't complain too much.
John Henry, The Steel Drivin' Man by Jeff Strand was pretty hilarious.
Fish Out of Water by Keith R.A. DeCandido was good, but so clearly one in a series it was a little disconcerting. It was the only one like that, so it really stuck out! I'm going to look up more of this, but it was good.
Making Music by Kelley Armstrong was good and a lot of fun. I didn't expect it to go the way it did.
Tam Lane by Lisa Morton was good. It was relatively plain to the song; but good just the same.
John Barleycorn Must Die by Marsheila Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte was good. The most action-heavy story in the lot.
Driving Jenny Home by Seanan McGuire was good. I wish the protagonist hadn't made the choice she had, but it was still a good story.
Hollow is the Heart by Simon R. Green was not a good story. It just felt predictable and heavy-handed. I'll admit, I didn't expect the reveal of the villain, but the romance felt forced and boring. Normally his stories are good, so that was also a disappointment. Plus, it ended the book, so I finished the book and just felt annoyed.
Overall, good. Some of the authors took the songs too literally, rather than using them as a jumping off point. But one of those I really liked, so I can't complain too much.
westlinwind's review against another edition
5.0
I received this book as a LibraryThing early reviewer in ebook edition. I must admit to being a cherry picker in most anthologies. I buy them for one or two authors and too often end up flitting through the remainder of the stories without truly enjoying many of them. Not so with this book. Like my beloved Windling/Kushner anthologies, this book has a strong thematic feel that draws on older sources and leaves you wanting to delve into the original material to inform your reading. My only complaint is that I'm wishing desperately it had come with a CD of the old ballads it pulls from so I do't have to do the work of tracking them down myself! I came for Seanan McGuire and stayed for the rest!
matosapa's review against another edition
2.0
An interesting idea and - for the most part - the stories entertained. The star loss came from a few poorly written/concepted stories and nothing really strong or new.
meredith_peruzzi's review against another edition
5.0
I picked up this book for one story, "Fish Out of Water" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, because I'm already a Cassie Zukav fan. I read the story, it was wonderful, and I put the book aside, not being familiar with the other authors (and not being a fan of classic old tunes). It wasn't until later, when a friend who had read all the stories praised the book, that I figured I should go ahead and try the rest.
Holy cats, am I glad I did. Just about all of the stories in this volume are excellent. One or two were a little weaker than the others, but even those were enjoyable. There was one where I spent half the story disappointed because I thought I knew where it was going, and then there was a twist at the end and I'd had it all wrong, and I was delighted. While I was reading, I kept thinking "this is my favorite in the collection," and then I'd get to the next story and say "no, this is my favorite in the collection!"
If I had to call out a few favorites, they'd be as follows:
David Liss - "Sweet William's Ghost" - I should have had no connection with this story. I'm not a gym bunny. I don't have a dead fiancé. I don't know the song it's named for. And yet this story stuck with me even as I read the rest of the book. Something in the voice, in the telling, was so clear that I couldn't forget the story as I moved on to the others. It was outstanding.
Lisa Morton - "Tam Lane" - I'm a historian, and the history in this one was powerful. Not that it's a true story, of course, but that the history of the world in the story leaps off the page. Even the architecture comes to life along with the characters. I wouldn't have minded a bit if it had been twice as long.
Jeff Strand - "John Henry, the Steel Drivin' Man" - How do you take a story as well known as John Henry's and fit it into a book of otherworldly stories? Ask Jeff Strand, because he's done it. That the story takes off from what we know and leaps onto another plane is a testament to his talent. It's well-written, it deepens the legend, and it's just enjoyable.
Please know that I could have written a capsule review for any of the stories in this book, and it would have been full of praise. That I have selected these three in no way diminishes the others; the entire book is good. Grand kudos to Jonathan Maberry for putting together a collection of stories based on music that delights even a non-musical person like me. It is a phenomenal assemblage, and I highly recommend the book.
Holy cats, am I glad I did. Just about all of the stories in this volume are excellent. One or two were a little weaker than the others, but even those were enjoyable. There was one where I spent half the story disappointed because I thought I knew where it was going, and then there was a twist at the end and I'd had it all wrong, and I was delighted. While I was reading, I kept thinking "this is my favorite in the collection," and then I'd get to the next story and say "no, this is my favorite in the collection!"
If I had to call out a few favorites, they'd be as follows:
David Liss - "Sweet William's Ghost" - I should have had no connection with this story. I'm not a gym bunny. I don't have a dead fiancé. I don't know the song it's named for. And yet this story stuck with me even as I read the rest of the book. Something in the voice, in the telling, was so clear that I couldn't forget the story as I moved on to the others. It was outstanding.
Lisa Morton - "Tam Lane" - I'm a historian, and the history in this one was powerful. Not that it's a true story, of course, but that the history of the world in the story leaps off the page. Even the architecture comes to life along with the characters. I wouldn't have minded a bit if it had been twice as long.
Jeff Strand - "John Henry, the Steel Drivin' Man" - How do you take a story as well known as John Henry's and fit it into a book of otherworldly stories? Ask Jeff Strand, because he's done it. That the story takes off from what we know and leaps onto another plane is a testament to his talent. It's well-written, it deepens the legend, and it's just enjoyable.
Please know that I could have written a capsule review for any of the stories in this book, and it would have been full of praise. That I have selected these three in no way diminishes the others; the entire book is good. Grand kudos to Jonathan Maberry for putting together a collection of stories based on music that delights even a non-musical person like me. It is a phenomenal assemblage, and I highly recommend the book.
mindym99's review against another edition
5.0
In "Out of Tune," each short story is based (some of them quite loosely) on an old ballad, and the results are a surprisingly fresh take on the traditional ghost story. The list of writers who contributed to to this volume are quite impressive, and none disappointed. Even in the best of anthologies, there are usually a couple of stories that don't make the grade, either because they don't resonant with the reader or just don't meet the standard set by the others, but there were no stories here that didn't fit or felt inferior, thanks to an excellent pool of talent and skillful editing by Jonathan Maberry. I also enjoyed the short description at the end of each story of the history of the ballad that inspired the piece.
mato's review against another edition
2.0
An interesting idea and - for the most part - the stories entertained. The star loss came from a few poorly written/concepted stories and nothing really strong or new.
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