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125 reviews for:
Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology
C.T. Callahan, B.R. Sanders, Claudie Arseneault, RoAnna Sylver
3.92 AVERAGE
125 reviews for:
Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology
C.T. Callahan, B.R. Sanders, Claudie Arseneault, RoAnna Sylver
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Favourite stories were The Aromatic Lovers, Fishing over the Bones of the Dragon, Seams of Iron, and Busy Little Bees
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
i LOVED this anthology!!! so many of the stories quickly became favourites and unlike some other collections there were none i Hated which is a win!!!
also they’re all aromantic stories 🥲 and as someone that’s demi-romantic i am feeling: soft about it
also they’re all aromantic stories 🥲 and as someone that’s demi-romantic i am feeling: soft about it
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I read this anthology for the representation, and the quality of that varied somewhat. Some stories had really great representation, some less so. There were even a couple where I had no clue who the aromantic character was supposed to be. I liked the representation in "The Aromatic Lovers" by Morgan Swim and "Would You Like Charms With That?" by E. H. Timms the best. The writing quality also varied a bit from story to story. I liked "Seams of Iron" by Adriana C. Grigore the most.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is one of the few books I’ve actually bough full-price instead of getting it thrifted, all because I wanted to support everyone behind it in the only way I could. As someone who’s broke: That means a LOT.
Can I start this out by saying just how happy I am that this exists? Finding aro rep is hard. Finding books with aro characters is even harder. So this? This is fucking awesome, and even though I didn’t like some of the stories I want to say that each and every writer that contributed to this has my utmost respect. Ya’ll rock!
And the representation... oh gosh the representation! People of all different ethnic backgrounds, all genders and pronouns, just so much diversity is here and I ate up every bit of it.
I had two issues with this collection as a whole / issues that spread over a lot of the stories. One was that it was very clear, at least to me, that a lot of these stories were written by people who are not very skilled / used to writing short stories. Let me make this clear: I do not mean these people are bad writers. What I mean is that writing a short story is a very different process than writing a book, or a novel, or an essay. Some of these stories were great or were wonderful ideas but just didn’t work / weren’t made into short stories properly! And that sucked. So yeah, not the best there, and I think a lot of these stories suffered because of that.
The second issue is… Look, I get that one of the main themes of this collection was platonic relationships. But you know what the other was? Aromanticism. And while all the stories explored friendship, some of them didn’t have anything aro-related. Some didn’t even use the word aro / didn’t heavily imply / describe being aro without using the word. I was reading some of these stories going, “okay, where’s the aromantic character(s)?”. I’m all for characters not just being their sexuality but I mean, come on. The anthology is about being aro! Why aren’t you showing me an aro character! It was honestly kind of disappointing, considering I bought this because I wanted aro rep.
But anyway overall this was a good anthology. I liked it! It did have issues though, and I wanted to make them clear. I’ve reviewed all of the stories below:
The Aromatic Lovers
4.5 / 5
Oh this one is lovely!! I loved the concept, I loved the characters, it was just great. The idea of using smells as an indicator of gender / pronouns is so cool?? This honestly would be a 5/5 but there were two things that bothered me. 1) The main character, Matroise, is misgendered in the text on the first page. This isn’t done by another character- it’s literally the author’s mistake and it honestly took me out of the story, and 2) Just a personal issue I had with one of the characters that I’m positive won’t bother most people. Otherwise this is a great story and fantastic intro to the whole book.
Voices In The Air
3 / 5
Yeah, this one was just… a lot. The writing itself was good. But it felt like the author was trying to cram something that should have been SO much longer into the limited space they had, which just didn’t work here. This story was definitely based off a different, much longer and more complex story the author has, and because it was so short I wasn’t able to relate to the characters or anything because it was just a lot of information instead of relatable characters or something.
The best way to describe it would be like watching a movie based off a series but you haven’t seen the series and are getting all your info from the movie. This would definitely be better as a novella or novel, hell even a much longer short story. I didn’t really connect / like any of the characters. Also I… didn’t know who was supposed to be aromantic. Obviously a character doesn’t have to say it explicitly or anything but I didn’t get any aro vibes here. Plus the main “friendship” didn’t even feel like a friendship! It’s an okay story.
Moon Sisters
3.5 / 5
This one was good and I’m sure anyone who likes werewolves will LOVE this! Sadly I do not particularly like werewolves, get squicked out at possessiveness / generally animal qualities being applied to humans(It’s hard to explain FBDHJS), and just didn’t vibe with this story. I love the found family aspect of it though! I’m sure someone else will like it a lot more than I did- also, it was funny! There’s nothing particularly bad about it. Just personal preferences!
Cinder
5 / 5
Oh THIS was some good shit. Disabled protags. A fairytale retelling. The humor was amazing, I LOVED all the concepts introduced. It was just so creative!! I literally laughed out loud and it is SO rare that I do that I was surprised! I absolutely wanted more / wanted it to be longer in the best of ways, meaning it was a great short story and that I just want to read MORE of it. I’m definitely gonna be looking into / out for this author. One of my favorites!!
Not Quite True Love
This is one of the few poems in this book, and it’s a very good one at that. I liked it! I’m no good at rating poetry so that’s really all I can say fgdhbjs, but it’s still a good poem.
Dracanmot Council of human Study Report. Compiled by Usander Greystart
5 / 5
The twist!! Oh the twist!! I LOVED reading this so much, it was charming and funny. What a great short story. One of my favorites for sure- I’m a sucker for this type of thing.
Spacegirl and The Martian
4 / 5
I honestly have no idea why I’m not rating this higher. It just didn’t really feel like anything was happening? There was a conflict but the conflict never got settled, or really expanded on. There was a lot of nuance to the plot but it was never dug into. This could have been really good but instead it was just eh. Definitely had potential though!
Would You Like Charms With That?
4 / 5
What a charming story. The representation made me happy, I loved all the fantasy elements, and the relationships between the characters felt so fleshed-out and organic. I wish it had been longer. There was just something missing here and I’m not sure what.
In The Summer a Banana Tree
Oh this one makes me ache. Another poem. How painful but also beutiful.
Remembering The Farm
A punch to the gut in a good way. Another one of the poems!
Fishing Over The Bones of A Dragon
5 / 5
This is, without a doubt, probably one of the best stories in the book. The writing is amazing, the characters feel real, and the concept is so creative. It’s bitter but leaves on a hopeful ending. It felt like it was the perfect length. It’s hurt / comfort but realistic- GOD I just loved this story! My only “critique”, though I don’t think that’s the word I’m looking for, is that I don’t know who was supposed to be aromantic. Nobody really gave off aro vibes or hinted at it. Because of this the story as a whole didn’t feel like it fully fit into this collection. Still wonderful though.
Asteria III
5 / 5
Probably one of the most solid of all the short stories. It felt like it should be this length, like nothing was missing, and I can tell this author is just really good with the shorter stuff while some of the other stories felt like they were made by people who weren’t used to it. The writing is good and I liked the concept. Just a really good one! Loved it. However it also didn’t have any explicit / implied aro rep, so it did feel a bit out of place.
A Full Deck
5 / 5
How freaking cool. I love this concept. I love the rep. I love the characters. I love the HUMOR, which is really the highlight of this whole thing. I want a whole book based off this!! Literally one of my favorites in the whole book. So fucking good. Probably one of the few 5 / 5s on here where I feel like it’s an actual 5 / 5 instead of just higher than a 4.5 / 5, if that makes sense.
Half A Heart
10 / 5
This. This is my favorite story from the whole damn collection. The relationships. The writing. The second person perspective. It’s all so GOOD. It’s the absolute perfect mix of fantasy and hit So Many of my sweet spots. I just- GOD. This is so amazing. My one gripe? There wasn’t anything explicitly / implied to be aro. I mean I got aro vibes from one of the characters but still. An overall AMAZING short story that I lost my shit over.
Shift
4 / 5
I really liked this one! It’s another werewolf one, and done in a way that doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It has the same vibes as a rom com, if that makes sense, in that it isn’t anything super special but it excels at what it is(and without the romance, obviously). A nice easy read. The writing could have been better, and the climax felt a bit anticlimactic, but still good.
Discography
The last poem in this book and definitely my favorite. It’s short but so fucking good. Just my style of poetry!
Seams of Iron
5 / 5
How sweet! I loved this story, and the characters meshed together so well. It give off such good vibes. The metaphor about the sidewalk hit hard. I don’t know how else to describe it lmao, just some nice witch living in the woods sort of thing!
Not To Die
4.5 / 5
The magic in this story is so unique and portrayed in a way I don’t think I’ve ever really seen before. Overall this story is just very interesting. I didn’t feel anything over it, though.
Busy Little Bees
2.5 / 5
Yeah this was… a lot. I kept waiting for a full explanation of the concept, which was cloning, but it never came, which made the whole story confusing. And the plot itself was just so much crammed into such a small section. It didn’t even have a proper ending! Didn’t like this one one bit.
This is one of the few books I’ve actually bough full-price instead of getting it thrifted, all because I wanted to support everyone behind it in the only way I could. As someone who’s broke: That means a LOT.
Can I start this out by saying just how happy I am that this exists? Finding aro rep is hard. Finding books with aro characters is even harder. So this? This is fucking awesome, and even though I didn’t like some of the stories I want to say that each and every writer that contributed to this has my utmost respect. Ya’ll rock!
And the representation... oh gosh the representation! People of all different ethnic backgrounds, all genders and pronouns, just so much diversity is here and I ate up every bit of it.
I had two issues with this collection as a whole / issues that spread over a lot of the stories. One was that it was very clear, at least to me, that a lot of these stories were written by people who are not very skilled / used to writing short stories. Let me make this clear: I do not mean these people are bad writers. What I mean is that writing a short story is a very different process than writing a book, or a novel, or an essay. Some of these stories were great or were wonderful ideas but just didn’t work / weren’t made into short stories properly! And that sucked. So yeah, not the best there, and I think a lot of these stories suffered because of that.
The second issue is… Look, I get that one of the main themes of this collection was platonic relationships. But you know what the other was? Aromanticism. And while all the stories explored friendship, some of them didn’t have anything aro-related. Some didn’t even use the word aro / didn’t heavily imply / describe being aro without using the word. I was reading some of these stories going, “okay, where’s the aromantic character(s)?”. I’m all for characters not just being their sexuality but I mean, come on. The anthology is about being aro! Why aren’t you showing me an aro character! It was honestly kind of disappointing, considering I bought this because I wanted aro rep.
But anyway overall this was a good anthology. I liked it! It did have issues though, and I wanted to make them clear. I’ve reviewed all of the stories below:
The Aromatic Lovers
4.5 / 5
Oh this one is lovely!! I loved the concept, I loved the characters, it was just great. The idea of using smells as an indicator of gender / pronouns is so cool?? This honestly would be a 5/5 but there were two things that bothered me. 1) The main character, Matroise, is misgendered in the text on the first page. This isn’t done by another character- it’s literally the author’s mistake and it honestly took me out of the story, and 2) Just a personal issue I had with one of the characters that I’m positive won’t bother most people. Otherwise this is a great story and fantastic intro to the whole book.
Voices In The Air
3 / 5
Yeah, this one was just… a lot. The writing itself was good. But it felt like the author was trying to cram something that should have been SO much longer into the limited space they had, which just didn’t work here. This story was definitely based off a different, much longer and more complex story the author has, and because it was so short I wasn’t able to relate to the characters or anything because it was just a lot of information instead of relatable characters or something.
The best way to describe it would be like watching a movie based off a series but you haven’t seen the series and are getting all your info from the movie. This would definitely be better as a novella or novel, hell even a much longer short story. I didn’t really connect / like any of the characters. Also I… didn’t know who was supposed to be aromantic. Obviously a character doesn’t have to say it explicitly or anything but I didn’t get any aro vibes here. Plus the main “friendship” didn’t even feel like a friendship! It’s an okay story.
Moon Sisters
3.5 / 5
This one was good and I’m sure anyone who likes werewolves will LOVE this! Sadly I do not particularly like werewolves, get squicked out at possessiveness / generally animal qualities being applied to humans(It’s hard to explain FBDHJS), and just didn’t vibe with this story. I love the found family aspect of it though! I’m sure someone else will like it a lot more than I did- also, it was funny! There’s nothing particularly bad about it. Just personal preferences!
Cinder
5 / 5
Oh THIS was some good shit. Disabled protags. A fairytale retelling. The humor was amazing, I LOVED all the concepts introduced. It was just so creative!! I literally laughed out loud and it is SO rare that I do that I was surprised! I absolutely wanted more / wanted it to be longer in the best of ways, meaning it was a great short story and that I just want to read MORE of it. I’m definitely gonna be looking into / out for this author. One of my favorites!!
Not Quite True Love
This is one of the few poems in this book, and it’s a very good one at that. I liked it! I’m no good at rating poetry so that’s really all I can say fgdhbjs, but it’s still a good poem.
Dracanmot Council of human Study Report. Compiled by Usander Greystart
5 / 5
The twist!! Oh the twist!! I LOVED reading this so much, it was charming and funny. What a great short story. One of my favorites for sure- I’m a sucker for this type of thing.
Spacegirl and The Martian
4 / 5
I honestly have no idea why I’m not rating this higher. It just didn’t really feel like anything was happening? There was a conflict but the conflict never got settled, or really expanded on. There was a lot of nuance to the plot but it was never dug into. This could have been really good but instead it was just eh. Definitely had potential though!
Would You Like Charms With That?
4 / 5
What a charming story. The representation made me happy, I loved all the fantasy elements, and the relationships between the characters felt so fleshed-out and organic. I wish it had been longer. There was just something missing here and I’m not sure what.
In The Summer a Banana Tree
Oh this one makes me ache. Another poem. How painful but also beutiful.
Remembering The Farm
A punch to the gut in a good way. Another one of the poems!
Fishing Over The Bones of A Dragon
5 / 5
This is, without a doubt, probably one of the best stories in the book. The writing is amazing, the characters feel real, and the concept is so creative. It’s bitter but leaves on a hopeful ending. It felt like it was the perfect length. It’s hurt / comfort but realistic- GOD I just loved this story! My only “critique”, though I don’t think that’s the word I’m looking for, is that I don’t know who was supposed to be aromantic. Nobody really gave off aro vibes or hinted at it. Because of this the story as a whole didn’t feel like it fully fit into this collection. Still wonderful though.
Asteria III
5 / 5
Probably one of the most solid of all the short stories. It felt like it should be this length, like nothing was missing, and I can tell this author is just really good with the shorter stuff while some of the other stories felt like they were made by people who weren’t used to it. The writing is good and I liked the concept. Just a really good one! Loved it. However it also didn’t have any explicit / implied aro rep, so it did feel a bit out of place.
A Full Deck
5 / 5
How freaking cool. I love this concept. I love the rep. I love the characters. I love the HUMOR, which is really the highlight of this whole thing. I want a whole book based off this!! Literally one of my favorites in the whole book. So fucking good. Probably one of the few 5 / 5s on here where I feel like it’s an actual 5 / 5 instead of just higher than a 4.5 / 5, if that makes sense.
Half A Heart
10 / 5
This. This is my favorite story from the whole damn collection. The relationships. The writing. The second person perspective. It’s all so GOOD. It’s the absolute perfect mix of fantasy and hit So Many of my sweet spots. I just- GOD. This is so amazing. My one gripe? There wasn’t anything explicitly / implied to be aro. I mean I got aro vibes from one of the characters but still. An overall AMAZING short story that I lost my shit over.
Shift
4 / 5
I really liked this one! It’s another werewolf one, and done in a way that doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It has the same vibes as a rom com, if that makes sense, in that it isn’t anything super special but it excels at what it is(and without the romance, obviously). A nice easy read. The writing could have been better, and the climax felt a bit anticlimactic, but still good.
Discography
The last poem in this book and definitely my favorite. It’s short but so fucking good. Just my style of poetry!
Seams of Iron
5 / 5
How sweet! I loved this story, and the characters meshed together so well. It give off such good vibes. The metaphor about the sidewalk hit hard. I don’t know how else to describe it lmao, just some nice witch living in the woods sort of thing!
Not To Die
4.5 / 5
The magic in this story is so unique and portrayed in a way I don’t think I’ve ever really seen before. Overall this story is just very interesting. I didn’t feel anything over it, though.
Busy Little Bees
2.5 / 5
Yeah this was… a lot. I kept waiting for a full explanation of the concept, which was cloning, but it never came, which made the whole story confusing. And the plot itself was just so much crammed into such a small section. It didn’t even have a proper ending! Didn’t like this one one bit.