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sarenaspookyreads's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? Yes
5.0
I loved all of the stories in this book! I think my favorite was “To Us May Grace Be Given” but all of the stories were really well written. This is the first book I’ve read from this author, and I’ll definitely check out more of her books!
mushytoads's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
melshoo's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, and Transphobia
Minor: Cannibalism, Deadnaming, and Vomit
christinogle's review
5.0
I enjoyed L.S. Johnson's previous collection, Vacui Magia, and was impressed with this one as well. "Rare Birds, 1959," "Properties of Obligate Pearls," and "We Are Sirens" were the most memorable stories here, to me.
corrie's review
5.0
No long review this time. Just blown away by this women's writing... again.
L.S. Johnson is the bomb! This collection of stories is pure gold. It's deep and sad and powerful and so, so beautiful. It's rather graphic in its violence too, so be warned.
Absolutely worth reading!
5 stars
L.S. Johnson is the bomb! This collection of stories is pure gold. It's deep and sad and powerful and so, so beautiful. It's rather graphic in its violence too, so be warned.
Absolutely worth reading!
5 stars
jaironside's review
5.0
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Short story collections and anthologies are nearly always a mixed bag. That's the nature of the beast when several different authors all contribute to a collection, or a single author writes in multiple styles and genres. There are almost always stories a reader is less invested in. However, there are rare exceptions to this rule where a short story collection is entirely filled with gems. I read one such book earlier this year (How Long til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin). Imagine my delight at discovering another such collection in Rare Birds by L.S. Johnson.
These short stories are strange and beautiful, eerie and thought provoking. Delicately wrought but packing some serious punch. As with all short story collections, I had my favourites, but I can confidently say that there were no weak links here. Every story was compelling and rewarding to read. I've enjoyed the author's previous work, so I was expecting quality. I wasn't expecting to be as addicted to each new story as if I was reader an especially compulsive spy thriller. The stories run the gamut of historical and speculative fiction, featuring terrible beasts from folklore and legend, richly evoked settings, women struggling against the times and of course, Rare Birds - the essence of change.
Rare Birds, 1959
Under the oppressive, patriarchal weight of the image of the 50s home maker, Elsa cheerfully struggles to make ends meet, working as a waitress. A horrific and all too believable attack wrenches her life apart...leading to strange changes in her body and mind. I liked this one despite how uneasy it made me (which I assume was the point.) It reflects on how the damage caused by trauma can effect permanent but not entirely bad changes on a person.
Marigolds
One of my favourites. In a brothel in 18th C Paris, the madam of a brothel experiments with the occult with a view to controlling the political and socio-economic climate. Young prostitute Claire is motivated by other factors and soon begins to question the damage this kind of meddling might be doing. Considering the subject matter is sex work, exploitation, poverty and menstruation, 'lovely' is an odd adjective to apply to this one. And yet it is lovely. Grim setting and gritty tale framed with a really sweet queer love story.
Properties of Obligate Pearls
Ray has been earning money by collecting a particular kind of pearl for some time now. Without delving into spoilers, it's fair to say that she has an eye for the conditions that create the right sort of pearls - which in nature terms are bits of grit or irritant that cause an oyster to calcify a hard, shimmering layer around them, but in this stories terms are both similar and heart breakingly different. When the reader learns just why Ray is so good at spotting likely pearl makers, everything shifts into focus. A rich, strange and sad story about grieving and what it means to accept a burden.
Sabbaths
The heroine of this story is first embraced into a group of free thinking women who defy the stringent world they inhabit, before fearing her own power and making a deadly error. I liked the story but it captured me less than some of the others, though the important message of women being open and loyal to each other and not helping an unjust system grind them down was important.
The Queen of the Lakes
Rose desperately wants a life of learning, a job and home of her own, but girls do not become kings in fairy tales and girls do not receive and should never expect the education which is a male birthright. In the small minded village where she is forced to labour, a series of grisly murders occur right on the shores of the lake. Could it be that not all the creatures of fairytales are fictional? I burned with rage at the injustice of Rose's life and cackled with savage glee when she triumphed. And I really do mean cackled!
We Are Sirens
The sirens hunt together in the modern world, looking for likely lads to prey upon. And more rarely, women to swell their ranks. Their latest hunt has had some unexpected consequences, however. Could it be they've made a mistake? A clever reimagining of the myth of Odysseus and the sirens, which poses some interesting and important questions about gender, equality and morality.
A Harvest Fit for Monsters
Long worn down with loss and sorrow, Alene is the last survivor on her lands. A chance encounter leads to her entertaining a guest and puts revenge within her grasp. If only she could be sure... A dark and entrancing tale about the horrors of war and the price paid not only by the victims but by the perpetrators and the bystanders and those who are left behind.
To Us May Grace be Given
Addy and her mam fight to hold on to their land as a powerful man encroaches, trying to force them to leave. Addy's mother is a hard woman and decides the best way to deal with the threat is to summon a creature who can 'defend' them. Torn between loyalty to her mother and her innate kindness and horror of cruelty, Addy has some hard choices to make. A brilliant and rather dark story about ending cycles of violence and vengeance. More importantly, about how even in the darkest and ugliest of times, something good and beautiful can emerge. There's always something to be thankful for.
This was such an amazing collection of stories, traversing the full range of human experience from learning to guide what trauma and grief shape you into, to taking back your own power, to understanding that having monstrous things done to you can in turn make you monstrous if you allow it. Sometimes a little monstrousness is even necessary, though only if you are firmly in control. This was an excellent book. Highly recommend for all fantasy fans who enjoy short stories of a more literary bent.
Short story collections and anthologies are nearly always a mixed bag. That's the nature of the beast when several different authors all contribute to a collection, or a single author writes in multiple styles and genres. There are almost always stories a reader is less invested in. However, there are rare exceptions to this rule where a short story collection is entirely filled with gems. I read one such book earlier this year (How Long til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin). Imagine my delight at discovering another such collection in Rare Birds by L.S. Johnson.
These short stories are strange and beautiful, eerie and thought provoking. Delicately wrought but packing some serious punch. As with all short story collections, I had my favourites, but I can confidently say that there were no weak links here. Every story was compelling and rewarding to read. I've enjoyed the author's previous work, so I was expecting quality. I wasn't expecting to be as addicted to each new story as if I was reader an especially compulsive spy thriller. The stories run the gamut of historical and speculative fiction, featuring terrible beasts from folklore and legend, richly evoked settings, women struggling against the times and of course, Rare Birds - the essence of change.
Rare Birds, 1959
Under the oppressive, patriarchal weight of the image of the 50s home maker, Elsa cheerfully struggles to make ends meet, working as a waitress. A horrific and all too believable attack wrenches her life apart...leading to strange changes in her body and mind. I liked this one despite how uneasy it made me (which I assume was the point.) It reflects on how the damage caused by trauma can effect permanent but not entirely bad changes on a person.
Marigolds
One of my favourites. In a brothel in 18th C Paris, the madam of a brothel experiments with the occult with a view to controlling the political and socio-economic climate. Young prostitute Claire is motivated by other factors and soon begins to question the damage this kind of meddling might be doing. Considering the subject matter is sex work, exploitation, poverty and menstruation, 'lovely' is an odd adjective to apply to this one. And yet it is lovely. Grim setting and gritty tale framed with a really sweet queer love story.
Properties of Obligate Pearls
Ray has been earning money by collecting a particular kind of pearl for some time now. Without delving into spoilers, it's fair to say that she has an eye for the conditions that create the right sort of pearls - which in nature terms are bits of grit or irritant that cause an oyster to calcify a hard, shimmering layer around them, but in this stories terms are both similar and heart breakingly different. When the reader learns just why Ray is so good at spotting likely pearl makers, everything shifts into focus. A rich, strange and sad story about grieving and what it means to accept a burden.
Sabbaths
The heroine of this story is first embraced into a group of free thinking women who defy the stringent world they inhabit, before fearing her own power and making a deadly error. I liked the story but it captured me less than some of the others, though the important message of women being open and loyal to each other and not helping an unjust system grind them down was important.
The Queen of the Lakes
Rose desperately wants a life of learning, a job and home of her own, but girls do not become kings in fairy tales and girls do not receive and should never expect the education which is a male birthright. In the small minded village where she is forced to labour, a series of grisly murders occur right on the shores of the lake. Could it be that not all the creatures of fairytales are fictional? I burned with rage at the injustice of Rose's life and cackled with savage glee when she triumphed. And I really do mean cackled!
We Are Sirens
The sirens hunt together in the modern world, looking for likely lads to prey upon. And more rarely, women to swell their ranks. Their latest hunt has had some unexpected consequences, however. Could it be they've made a mistake? A clever reimagining of the myth of Odysseus and the sirens, which poses some interesting and important questions about gender, equality and morality.
A Harvest Fit for Monsters
Long worn down with loss and sorrow, Alene is the last survivor on her lands. A chance encounter leads to her entertaining a guest and puts revenge within her grasp. If only she could be sure... A dark and entrancing tale about the horrors of war and the price paid not only by the victims but by the perpetrators and the bystanders and those who are left behind.
To Us May Grace be Given
Addy and her mam fight to hold on to their land as a powerful man encroaches, trying to force them to leave. Addy's mother is a hard woman and decides the best way to deal with the threat is to summon a creature who can 'defend' them. Torn between loyalty to her mother and her innate kindness and horror of cruelty, Addy has some hard choices to make. A brilliant and rather dark story about ending cycles of violence and vengeance. More importantly, about how even in the darkest and ugliest of times, something good and beautiful can emerge. There's always something to be thankful for.
This was such an amazing collection of stories, traversing the full range of human experience from learning to guide what trauma and grief shape you into, to taking back your own power, to understanding that having monstrous things done to you can in turn make you monstrous if you allow it. Sometimes a little monstrousness is even necessary, though only if you are firmly in control. This was an excellent book. Highly recommend for all fantasy fans who enjoy short stories of a more literary bent.
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