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gothnailcare's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
- "The Briar and the Rose" was the absolute gem here in my opinion, and its length and pacing worked for it and not against it.
- "Call Her Savage" felt like bits excerpted from a novel where the rest of the text was missing and sorely needed...
- Similarly, "After the Blood" was conceptually interesting but ended on a note that seemed to set it up as a prequel to... something? Again, was structurally not a successful short story to me.
- “The Last Dignity of Man”: while I really liked it, it was a stark departure from the rest of the stuff in it was collected with and I get why it's polarizing.
The other stories were inoffensive to me but also felt like fairly safe re-tellings or re-interpretations of folktales or fairytales. I understand from reading the reviews that other editions of this book included the author's notes on the inspiration for each story, but the audiobook I listened to — a nine hour audiobook by Recorded Books, Inc, narrated by Catherine Ho — did not include any such notes, either between stories or at the end. I'm not sure what the case is — whether no audiobook editions of this collection have these notes, or whether the author's notes were recorded but cut out of the recording for library copies, as publishers sometimes purposely strip errata from media licensed to libraries. Whatever the case is, I will have to seek them out elsewhere.
I also did not enjoy the narration of this book, which also diminished my experience. I found that the narrator had a habit of not enunciating vowels when doing a "spooky" or "scary" or "growly" voice, which led to me repeatedly rewinding in order to understand what was being said, especially if I was dealing with noise like buses or trains outside my headphones.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Gore
Moderate: War, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Blood, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and Xenophobia
cozyscones's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Excrement and Confinement
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage
smrj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Excrement, and Gore
Minor: Rape
bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Moderate: Excrement, Vomit, War, Rape, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts
The Briar and the Rose: Mind control/someone controlling someone else’s body without consentthenovelmaura's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
I'd only read one of the stories before, when it was featured in The Starlit Wood anthology. "The Briar and the Rose" is near and dear to my heart, as it was one of the tales I included in my senior year capstone project during undergrad. I was able to take my copy of The Starlit Wood and do a side-by-side comparison to see what changes Liu had made, which was a fun experience.
As with most anthologies, I didn't love all of the stories, but I enjoyed enough of them that I wholeheartedly recommend this collection to fans of speculative fiction. Whether you're interested in bone witches, Lex Luthor fan fiction, or Amish vampires, you'll find something here to enjoy!
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Suicide and Rape
jamesflint's review
4.0
Moderate: Gore and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage