Reviews - A Thousand Beginnings and Endings

927 reviews for:

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings

Since this is an anthology, I would usually give a rating to every story that’s in it. But I chose not to for this one since these stories are retellings of Asian myths and folklore, and that I’m not familiar with some of these stories (the myths/folklores I mean). They were all very fascinating to read and I find some that I wish were a bit longer because I got invested.

For the Filipino myth and folklore retellings here, I adore what Roshani Chokshi and Melissa de la Cruz did.

Roshani Chokshi did a retelling of the very famous Maria Makiling and her version of the story was close to the version I’ve heard my grandma told me as a kid (though grandma’s version was way less romantic). And let me just say how ECSTATIC I was when I read Melissa de la Cruz’s take on the “aswang”??? LIKE I LOVE THIS MODERN VERSION OF THE CREATURE THAT USED TO HAUNT ME AS A KID. The “aswang” is a creature in Philippine folklore whose stories (or alleged sightings) are used to scare kids (and even adults) and reading about it in a modern setting was just amazing. Though not gonna lie, wish it was set here in the PH though for reasons but *shrugs* I’ll take it.

tien's review against another edition

4.0

Oh Oh Oh There is a retelling of The Butterfly Lovers! I ADORE The Butterfly Lovers and I loved loved loved this dystopian retelling of it that this story eclipsed all the other stories!

Fascinating retelling of folk tales and all received equally differently by diverse readers. I'm sure just as I'm blown away by The Butterfly Lovers and cannot talk of anything else, there is another story in this book which blows another person away. And this is because of their background, their ancestry... the tales they grew up with & have loved since childhood.

nina_bk's review against another edition

3.0

This book was okay. Some of the stories were great but a lot of them were confusing or boring.

archaicgambit's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

My favourite from the short story collection was "the land of morning calm"

aleenak's review against another edition

4.0

Overall a great anthology, and I learned some fascinating mythology and traditional legends from Asia.
Stories that stood out to me are:
The Land of the Morning Calm by [a:E.C. Myers|2968447|E.C. Myers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1286687622p2/2968447.jpg]
Daughter of the Sun by [a:Shveta Thakrar|5097748|Shveta Thakrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1418066758p2/5097748.jpg]
The Crimson Cloak by [a:Cindy Pon|2471183|Cindy Pon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1259643400p2/2471183.jpg]