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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've never been one for short stories, but I definitely liked the idea of YA retellings of Asian folktales. The concepts behind all of them (I.e: the original folktales) were fascinating, some familiar and some new but enjoyable nevertheless.
Being a collection of different writers, obviously some were better suited to my tastes and I enjoyed them more than others (which the retellings of sadly left me bored) .
My personal favourites in order of appearance are Forbidden Fruit (Roshani Chokshi), Olivia's Table (Alyssa Wong), the Smile (Aisha Saeed), Bullet; Butterfly (Elsie Chapman), Nothing into All (Renee Ahdieh) and Eyes like Candlelight (Julie Kagawa).
Good collection overall
Being a collection of different writers, obviously some were better suited to my tastes and I enjoyed them more than others (which the retellings of sadly left me bored) .
My personal favourites in order of appearance are Forbidden Fruit (Roshani Chokshi), Olivia's Table (Alyssa Wong), the Smile (Aisha Saeed), Bullet; Butterfly (Elsie Chapman), Nothing into All (Renee Ahdieh) and Eyes like Candlelight (Julie Kagawa).
Good collection overall
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Crimson Cloak, Eyes Like Candlelight, Daughter of the Sun, Nothing Into All, and Code of Honor were my favorites. This was a nice set of retellings. Those were the ones that will stay with me.
Recommended!
I absolutely loved this collection of retellings of folktales, all with Asian origin. When I was growing up, I loved myths of all kinds, and this book took me right back to reading books like Tales from a Chinese Grandmother and The Rainbow People. The retellings are so interesting in their interpretations of the stories. I enjoyed the challenge of orienting myself to the setting (old-time, modern, or futuristic), and it was fascinating to see how the writers chose to reinvent the stories. I really appreciated how the table of contents shared the country/region of origin for each legend, that the writers wrote a little background after each story, and that there were bios for each writer at the end, so you can look for more from writers you like. I think these stories would be great for the classroom - to read the original and the retelling - and maybe try your own retelling? (I don't know, I'm not a teacher!)
My favorites were "Steel Skin," by Lori M. Lee, and "Bullet, Butterfly," by Elsie Chapman. In addition to reminding me of the two collections from my childhood, it also made me think of two other collections that I loved: The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu, and The Radical Element, edited by Jessica Spotswood.
I absolutely loved this collection of retellings of folktales, all with Asian origin. When I was growing up, I loved myths of all kinds, and this book took me right back to reading books like Tales from a Chinese Grandmother and The Rainbow People. The retellings are so interesting in their interpretations of the stories. I enjoyed the challenge of orienting myself to the setting (old-time, modern, or futuristic), and it was fascinating to see how the writers chose to reinvent the stories. I really appreciated how the table of contents shared the country/region of origin for each legend, that the writers wrote a little background after each story, and that there were bios for each writer at the end, so you can look for more from writers you like. I think these stories would be great for the classroom - to read the original and the retelling - and maybe try your own retelling? (I don't know, I'm not a teacher!)
My favorites were "Steel Skin," by Lori M. Lee, and "Bullet, Butterfly," by Elsie Chapman. In addition to reminding me of the two collections from my childhood, it also made me think of two other collections that I loved: The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu, and The Radical Element, edited by Jessica Spotswood.
This was a wonderful anthology collection. An asian collection of short stories and retellings compiled by a handful of asian authors.
The collection was a lot of fun and it was so nice to see the culture and background of these authors come to life in a new way. We get retellings of many asian myths, legends and more told to us by our favorite authors. You can really tell that the authors themselves had a lot of fun with this project, it comes out in their writing and story telling.
The amazing thing about anthologies and short story collections like this one is that you get to learn as you read. Each retelling is also telling you about the myths, legends and beliefs of these cultures and backgrounds. You're basically having fun while learning, and what's better than that?
I do have to admit that some of the stories felt a bit rushed and not flushed out, at least not as much as they could have been. It made some of the stories either hard to follow or hard to connect with.
But if you're into Asian myths, legend, lore or even the different cultures in a more general sense, this is a wonderful collection to read and I highly recommend it.
The collection was a lot of fun and it was so nice to see the culture and background of these authors come to life in a new way. We get retellings of many asian myths, legends and more told to us by our favorite authors. You can really tell that the authors themselves had a lot of fun with this project, it comes out in their writing and story telling.
The amazing thing about anthologies and short story collections like this one is that you get to learn as you read. Each retelling is also telling you about the myths, legends and beliefs of these cultures and backgrounds. You're basically having fun while learning, and what's better than that?
I do have to admit that some of the stories felt a bit rushed and not flushed out, at least not as much as they could have been. It made some of the stories either hard to follow or hard to connect with.
But if you're into Asian myths, legend, lore or even the different cultures in a more general sense, this is a wonderful collection to read and I highly recommend it.
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I still have no clue how to rate short story collections by different people so I will just say if I were 9 dentists, I would recommend.