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battykat08's review
2.0
This book really frustrated me. Some of the stories are quite good, but few of them are standalone tales; instead, they are single (and sometimes SO ill-chosen) chapters from works by well-known authors. Of the 16 entries in the collection, only 5 were not excerpts of other stories. Nearly all of the original books would rate 4 or 5 stars, but these disembodied snippets from them do not. This was saved from a 1-star rating because I already love so many of the included authors, and was introduced to a few that I really liked.
This collection should have been clearly titled as a sampler or somehow indicated that it wasn’t an anthology of individual stories; there’s no introduction, foreword, or preface to clue you in, and the page headers name the chapter titles rather than the original books they come from. Only the table of contents notes which are excerpts.
I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed the chapters by Tolkien, Le Guin, C.S. Lewis, Baum, and Carroll all that much if I hadn’t already known and loved the books they came from, not to mention having the benefit of context. I liked most of the excerpts by authors new to me, but the inclusion of so many unfamiliar elements/characters without the explanations that would have been in the original stories (not to mention the arbitrary endings!) was extremely frustrating.
The best: I really liked the excerpts by Mary Norton and Alan Garner, and want to read more from them. Of the complete stories, I especially liked “The White-haired Children;” it was haunting and lovely.
The worst: “By Caldron Pool” from C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle—It started with a lot of unpleasantness, got even worse, and finally ended on a truly awful note with no resolution whatsoever. The worst choice for an excerpt I’ve ever seen. It upset me so much that even as a Narnia fan, I wish I hadn’t read it at all.
This collection should have been clearly titled as a sampler or somehow indicated that it wasn’t an anthology of individual stories; there’s no introduction, foreword, or preface to clue you in, and the page headers name the chapter titles rather than the original books they come from. Only the table of contents notes which are excerpts.
I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed the chapters by Tolkien, Le Guin, C.S. Lewis, Baum, and Carroll all that much if I hadn’t already known and loved the books they came from, not to mention having the benefit of context. I liked most of the excerpts by authors new to me, but the inclusion of so many unfamiliar elements/characters without the explanations that would have been in the original stories (not to mention the arbitrary endings!) was extremely frustrating.
The best: I really liked the excerpts by Mary Norton and Alan Garner, and want to read more from them. Of the complete stories, I especially liked “The White-haired Children;” it was haunting and lovely.
The worst: “By Caldron Pool” from C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle—It started with a lot of unpleasantness, got even worse, and finally ended on a truly awful note with no resolution whatsoever. The worst choice for an excerpt I’ve ever seen. It upset me so much that even as a Narnia fan, I wish I hadn’t read it at all.
thebookishbabbler's review
3.0
3.75
This was a fun bind-up of random stories and I enjoyed it! It wasn't brilliant but it was fun and I had fun reading it.
This was a fun bind-up of random stories and I enjoyed it! It wasn't brilliant but it was fun and I had fun reading it.
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