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annettenis's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Sing No Suns, Sing the Night is a collection of stories by Michael Michel that starts as it means to go on with An Ode To Grimdark that not only illustrates how the book got its title but also sets the tone and so the reader's expectations.
As with any collection of short stories it is something of a mixed bag and there were certainly stories I enjoyed more than others, in fact there was only one story that I really disliked which is pretty good for a collection by a new to me author. I was impressed by how different the stories were with characters including vampire warlords, a sentient gun and angelic body snatchers as well as those of the more usual human variety. Despite the diversity in genres on display I was intrigued to see a thread of religious symbolism and a belief in a higher power running through several of the stories and I was impressed with the author's writing style in almost all of them.
The first story in the book , Path To Glory is a strong opener and left me hopeful that this would be a book that I was going to really enjoy sinking my teeth into ( Pun fully intended ) and the follower Beyond The Clouds was both beautiful and heart breaking in equal measure. Absolution Effect with its identity stealing angels was genuinely disturbing, I found myself thinking about it long after I had finished the book. As I said there was one story that I did not enjoy, and unfortunately that was Infinity Held, the last and longest in the book , it lacked clarity and I don't think I fully understood the author's intentions. My favourite story, and one that I certainly would not have minded being a little longer was The Damned, the story of a small crew of survivors on a star ship that has been invaded by an alien . The opening line had me hooked immediately - "There are nine soon to be dead bodies in the spaceship's common room" and I was quickly invested in the fates of these characters, so much so that I would read a whole book about how they ended up in that position in the first place.
This is an eclectic and entertaining collection of short reads and most readers will find something to enjoy.
I read an ARC provided by the author, all opinions are my own.
As with any collection of short stories it is something of a mixed bag and there were certainly stories I enjoyed more than others, in fact there was only one story that I really disliked which is pretty good for a collection by a new to me author. I was impressed by how different the stories were with characters including vampire warlords, a sentient gun and angelic body snatchers as well as those of the more usual human variety. Despite the diversity in genres on display I was intrigued to see a thread of religious symbolism and a belief in a higher power running through several of the stories and I was impressed with the author's writing style in almost all of them.
The first story in the book , Path To Glory is a strong opener and left me hopeful that this would be a book that I was going to really enjoy sinking my teeth into ( Pun fully intended ) and the follower Beyond The Clouds was both beautiful and heart breaking in equal measure. Absolution Effect with its identity stealing angels was genuinely disturbing, I found myself thinking about it long after I had finished the book. As I said there was one story that I did not enjoy, and unfortunately that was Infinity Held, the last and longest in the book , it lacked clarity and I don't think I fully understood the author's intentions. My favourite story, and one that I certainly would not have minded being a little longer was The Damned, the story of a small crew of survivors on a star ship that has been invaded by an alien . The opening line had me hooked immediately - "There are nine soon to be dead bodies in the spaceship's common room" and I was quickly invested in the fates of these characters, so much so that I would read a whole book about how they ended up in that position in the first place.
This is an eclectic and entertaining collection of short reads and most readers will find something to enjoy.
I read an ARC provided by the author, all opinions are my own.
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