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ian's review
4.0
The stories feature a great variety of animals and countries from around the world. This is a very solid anthology with a few sour notes. Overall, I loved enough of the stories that they overcame the flaws.
These are my three favorite stories from the collection, with a few notes about each:
The Scent of Lantana/ Bull of Spain– a story of a Bull tired of fighting in the ring, who has to decide who, and what, he is really fighting for. I loved this story. It is easily my favorite out of the entire anthology.
The Moon Like an Unhatched Egg/ Bald Eagle of USA - a group of birds are competing to be the first settlers on Mars. The narrator, a humble songbird, suspects that one of the other competitors might not be playing fair. A cute sci-fi tale with a hopeful and upbeat tone.
Huitaca/ Condor of Colombia– a story of a genetically engineered Human/Condor mix struggling to find her place in the world. Loved this whole tale, but most especially the tear jerker ending.
Now my thoughts on each of the rest of the stories, in the order they appear:
Didus ineptus Linnaeus/ Dodo of Mauritus– a dodo bird wants to get all the tourists off Mauritius, and to give it back to the native species. Didus is an unlikely hero, and an even more unlikely action hero.
A Poor Uncle’s Apprentice/ Lynx of Romania - the tale of an orphan Lynx cub who becomes an apprentice to a wheeling, dealing older Lynx without a family of his own. The characters all speak in third person using odd passive sentence construction. The reason is explained partway through the story, however, I still found it difficult to read and wish it had been toned down a tad. I ended up putting this story down several times because of my struggles to parse the character’s dialogue. I also found I often had to go back and reread pages before I was able to untangle what had happened, making me enjoy this story less than I otherwise would have.
Remembering the Forgotten/ Wolf of Rome - the Wolf of the Roman Empire remembers the old times and reflects on the changes in her land. Bittersweet and poignant.
Crossroads the Namib/ Oryx of Namibia – a gazelle faces his own mortality when he gets lost in the Namib Desert, where he meets an old Oryx. Another tear jerker of a story that will stay with you.
Sdani White Wings/ Mute Swan of Denmark – A story about how the mute swan earned its white feathers. Cute retelling of a local fairy tale.
To the Kingdom They Come –The Malay Tiger and the Singapore Lion visit the court of England to plead for their country's freedom from the Beasts of the English Empire. However things are not as they seem on the surface.
The blatant sexism expressed in this story against the sole female character by both the characters in the story and author left me shaking with anger. This was not an aware depiction of sexism in the world, and it is all the worse for the author to be seemingly unaware of how it affects their story.
I've done the best I can to write up what bothers me about this story without spoilers:
First, the two MCs are surprised to find out another character is female. (because why? Are females not common in this world? /sarcasm)
Second, they belittle other characters for working for a female. "You must be pretty ball-less to allow a lioness to order you around!"
Third, they don't imply but literally say that the only reason the female character is opposing them is because she is female and is just being a bitch. "But at least it was a male lion, then. Much less of a bitch."
Bread and Butter/ Water Buffalo of Vietnam - a weak, sickly Water Buffalo envies the strength of his brothers, but ultimately learns to find his own path. The ending is a bit abrupt but still enjoyable.
The Lion of the Low Countries/ Lion of Belgium – an old map-heraldry lion tries to figure out how to stay relevant in the digital age. A very cute tale. Short, but fun.
These are my three favorite stories from the collection, with a few notes about each:
The Scent of Lantana/ Bull of Spain– a story of a Bull tired of fighting in the ring, who has to decide who, and what, he is really fighting for. I loved this story. It is easily my favorite out of the entire anthology.
The Moon Like an Unhatched Egg/ Bald Eagle of USA - a group of birds are competing to be the first settlers on Mars. The narrator, a humble songbird, suspects that one of the other competitors might not be playing fair. A cute sci-fi tale with a hopeful and upbeat tone.
Huitaca/ Condor of Colombia– a story of a genetically engineered Human/Condor mix struggling to find her place in the world. Loved this whole tale, but most especially the tear jerker ending.
Now my thoughts on each of the rest of the stories, in the order they appear:
Didus ineptus Linnaeus/ Dodo of Mauritus– a dodo bird wants to get all the tourists off Mauritius, and to give it back to the native species. Didus is an unlikely hero, and an even more unlikely action hero.
A Poor Uncle’s Apprentice/ Lynx of Romania - the tale of an orphan Lynx cub who becomes an apprentice to a wheeling, dealing older Lynx without a family of his own. The characters all speak in third person using odd passive sentence construction. The reason is explained partway through the story, however, I still found it difficult to read and wish it had been toned down a tad. I ended up putting this story down several times because of my struggles to parse the character’s dialogue. I also found I often had to go back and reread pages before I was able to untangle what had happened, making me enjoy this story less than I otherwise would have.
Remembering the Forgotten/ Wolf of Rome - the Wolf of the Roman Empire remembers the old times and reflects on the changes in her land. Bittersweet and poignant.
Crossroads the Namib/ Oryx of Namibia – a gazelle faces his own mortality when he gets lost in the Namib Desert, where he meets an old Oryx. Another tear jerker of a story that will stay with you.
Sdani White Wings/ Mute Swan of Denmark – A story about how the mute swan earned its white feathers. Cute retelling of a local fairy tale.
To the Kingdom They Come –The Malay Tiger and the Singapore Lion visit the court of England to plead for their country's freedom from the Beasts of the English Empire. However things are not as they seem on the surface.
The blatant sexism expressed in this story against the sole female character by both the characters in the story and author left me shaking with anger. This was not an aware depiction of sexism in the world, and it is all the worse for the author to be seemingly unaware of how it affects their story.
I've done the best I can to write up what bothers me about this story without spoilers:
First, the two MCs are surprised to find out another character is female. (because why? Are females not common in this world? /sarcasm)
Second, they belittle other characters for working for a female. "You must be pretty ball-less to allow a lioness to order you around!"
Third, they don't imply but literally say that the only reason the female character is opposing them is because she is female and is just being a bitch. "But at least it was a male lion, then. Much less of a bitch."
Bread and Butter/ Water Buffalo of Vietnam - a weak, sickly Water Buffalo envies the strength of his brothers, but ultimately learns to find his own path. The ending is a bit abrupt but still enjoyable.
The Lion of the Low Countries/ Lion of Belgium – an old map-heraldry lion tries to figure out how to stay relevant in the digital age. A very cute tale. Short, but fun.
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