Scan barcode
gothnailcare's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Declining to give this a star rating, but it didn't resonate with me.
- "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.
Content Warnings
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
smrj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Excrement, and Gore
Minor: Rape
bluejayreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
4.0
I so badly wanted my Monstress fix that I went and read an entirely unrelated short story collection just because it was written by the same author. So do with that what you will.
This whole collection has a vibe like a dark fairy tale. Even though three of the stories are ones I would not label “fantasy,” they all had the same mood of magic gone dark and twisted and violent even when there was no magic in the story at all. Several of them also contain forests that are magically twisted and/or otherwise dangerous, but I’m not sure what to make of that theme.
The emphasis in these stories is on the darkness in humans. A lot of the worlds are magical and twisted, but it’s the humans who make them violent and dangerous. There are things out there that can hurt you, but the ones who will do the most damage are frightened and angry people, and you won’t see it coming.
Personally, I like stories that aren’t afraid to go dark. Every single story in this collection goes hard on blood and trauma. That makes it a very intense reading experience – not the kind of book it’s easy to read straight through. The breaks between stories provide a nice opportunity to take a break from all the feelings and trauma in the stories.
None of these stories particularly stood out to me, but none of them were bad. Each was unique and compelling and did a great job grabbing my emotions. It’s not really the Monstress fix I wanted when I picked it up, and I think that prevents me from unequivocally saying it’s awesome, but these stories are all very good.
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
dark
tense
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
4.0
I love a good short story collection, and this one was no exception! I was enthralled by the gorgeous cover when I received an ARC of this book through a bookseller friend. Liu explains in the forward that she wrote all of these stories over the course of several years for other anthologies, and then collected them here and made a few edits for this collection (while trying to resist the urge to make substantial changes).
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Suicide and Rape
doomham's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Rape and Suicide
adancewithbooks's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
Thank you to Tachyon Publications and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Tw/CW: Rape | Miscarriage | Mentions of suicide | Animal Death
I first heard of Marjorie Liu because of the comic Monstress that I am a fan of. So when I saw this gorgeous cover and a story collection by her hand, I knew I had to request.
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this collection. The first two stories certainly didn't grab me like I thought they would but then the story Call her Savage came around and I fell quite in love with how this story was told. And that continued on with the rest of the stories in this collection. Most of the stories have a fairytale like feel and some are even inspired by some of them. There are always strong woman and a lot of diversity to go around, making this a very solid and strong collection as a whole.
Sympathy for the Bones | 3,5 stars
In itself this is a very interesting and creepy story about voodoo. But personally could have done with a bit more of wickedness in Ruth than we got in the story. I just didn't quite feel the fear we were meant to I guess.
The Briar and the Rose | 3 stars
This is a sleeping beauty retelling with quite a bit of a dark twist with a saphic romance. Unfortunately I didn't quite care about the characters.
Call her Savage | 5 stars
This story is set in an alternate China-Britain. It follows a soldier who was trained as a weapon from birth and retired in her own way. But when war threatens, reappears. The politics and the whole interactions just completely drew me in.
The Last Dignity of Man | 4 stars
This was an interesting play on Superman. Our mc is trying to be Lex Luther which is kind of ridiculous on its own. The whole story is really, but then there are the underlaying emotions of loneliness that come through.
Where the Heart Lives | 5 stars
This fairytale story was everything I like to see in a whimsical kind of story. The magical forest one has to stay away with. The orphans taken in by a woman on her own. I just loved all the aspects and I would love to read more about them.
After the Blood | 3,5 stars
A story about humans becoming vampires after a virus. I really liked the idea and the characters but it got confusing in parts.
Tangleroot Palace | 4 stars
This story takes the typical tale of a princess running away from an arranged marriage into a lovely tale about magic and things not being what you think they are. And again, a magical forest. I love those.
Tw/CW: Rape | Miscarriage | Mentions of suicide | Animal Death
I first heard of Marjorie Liu because of the comic Monstress that I am a fan of. So when I saw this gorgeous cover and a story collection by her hand, I knew I had to request.
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this collection. The first two stories certainly didn't grab me like I thought they would but then the story Call her Savage came around and I fell quite in love with how this story was told. And that continued on with the rest of the stories in this collection. Most of the stories have a fairytale like feel and some are even inspired by some of them. There are always strong woman and a lot of diversity to go around, making this a very solid and strong collection as a whole.
Sympathy for the Bones | 3,5 stars
In itself this is a very interesting and creepy story about voodoo. But personally could have done with a bit more of wickedness in Ruth than we got in the story. I just didn't quite feel the fear we were meant to I guess.
The Briar and the Rose | 3 stars
This is a sleeping beauty retelling with quite a bit of a dark twist with a saphic romance. Unfortunately I didn't quite care about the characters.
Call her Savage | 5 stars
This story is set in an alternate China-Britain. It follows a soldier who was trained as a weapon from birth and retired in her own way. But when war threatens, reappears. The politics and the whole interactions just completely drew me in.
The Last Dignity of Man | 4 stars
This was an interesting play on Superman. Our mc is trying to be Lex Luther which is kind of ridiculous on its own. The whole story is really, but then there are the underlaying emotions of loneliness that come through.
Where the Heart Lives | 5 stars
This fairytale story was everything I like to see in a whimsical kind of story. The magical forest one has to stay away with. The orphans taken in by a woman on her own. I just loved all the aspects and I would love to read more about them.
After the Blood | 3,5 stars
A story about humans becoming vampires after a virus. I really liked the idea and the characters but it got confusing in parts.
Tangleroot Palace | 4 stars
This story takes the typical tale of a princess running away from an arranged marriage into a lovely tale about magic and things not being what you think they are. And again, a magical forest. I love those.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Suicide, Miscarriage, and Animal death
More...