Reviews

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women by Geneve Flynn, Lee Murray

yellowmoonreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

This book was good, but not as "horror-esque" as I expected. It's more along the lines of speculative fiction, mixed with dark fantasy/folktales and sprinkled with horror.
đź–¤
Since this is an anthology, I obviously found some of the stories more entertaining than others but overall the writing, settings, and themes were enjoyable throughout the entire book.
đź–¤
It had very strong feminist vibes and a running theme in the book seemed to be about Asian women fighting against, or at times even embracing, the old standards/expectations set for women in Asian society and culture. Which, of course, is always a great, empowering moment that I can respect and admire.
đź–¤
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the authors for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

erinxmegan's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nerdydreamer107's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I received this book as an eARC via Netgalley. This does not influence my opinion.

This was a delightfully creepy short story collection. 
As with nearly every anthology, of course I didn’t like all the stories, but I did enjoy most of them and even the ones I did not like were well written. 
Horror is a relatively new genre for me, but this was a great introduction.
I am fully aware that I will never completely understand what the authors wrote about and expressed through their stories, but all of them were written in a way that most people can understand them and feel for the characters. 
I loved all the furious women in this story, especially the monstrous ones and will definitely be diving into the lore of many of these stories and check out other works by the authors. 

All in all well worth reading, but be aware that these stories are dark and not light and fluffy. It is Horror, after all. 

katrin_loves_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

mindysbookjourney's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging tense medium-paced

4.0

readyourbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

ARC from NetGalley
Pub Day: 3/23/23

I love horror stories, but I have only been consuming them since I met my husband 12 years ago. A lot of those stories have been by writers, directors, and game designers who are all men and mostly white men. In 2020 I realized I had never read a horror novel by a woman and set out to fix that. A few months ago as I was browsing through NetGalley I saw Black Cranes with the tagline, “stories of unquiet women.” I requested it immediately. This is a horror story collection by Asian women and it was so fun to read.

Giving compiled short story collections a single star rating is tough and there are too many for me to rate them individually in an IG post, so I’ll just briefly run down why I gave the book, as a whole, 5 stars. 

Every story was well written. While I might find some stories more compelling than others, none of the writing itself was subpar. Each tale had a unique voice and interesting characters. A few of the stories ended too soon in my opinion, but that just means I need to seek out those author’s other works.

It was well compiled. The editors that put this collection together made really good decisions on which stories to pick and how to order them in the book. I never got whiplash from the ending of one story and the beginning of another and that is really important when trying to string together a bunch of different stories, with different styles and different points of view. I think it was masterfully done.

Finally there are so many different types of stories. There are tales of folk monsters set in the past. Tales of folk monsters set in the present. There are sci-fi tales of transhumanism gone wrong. There is even a zombie story and an addition to the Lovecraft mythos. There is something for everyone. I highly recommend this collection.

raforall's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

STAR Review in my January 2021 Horror Review column for Library Journal: https://www.libraryjournal.com/?reviewDetail=black-cranes-tales-of-unquiet-women

Three Words That Describe This Book: stereotype smashing, immersive, inclusive

Draft Review:

As Alma Katsu, notes in the introduction, Asian women, despite being from vastly different cultures are stereotyped as a monolith: demure and subservient, either sexually fetishized or conversely seen as cold and domineering. But not here, not at all, as readers are presented with 14 stories that are as varied in tone and type as the women writing them. Tales of dangerous science fiction, bleak near future dystopias, reimagined folk tales, battle ready princesses, and just straight up furious horror. While the stories are individually entertaining, it is in the breadth of cultural experiences, storytelling styles, and originality of ideas as they pile on top of one and other where the preconceived notions of both the authors identities and of the limitations of the horror genre itself will be smashed to the delight of readers. Verdict: With the inclusion of biographies and photographs introducing each of the contributors at the back of this volume, readers will be able to fully appreciate the authors as humans, gain insight into their influences, and learn of their other works. Don’t be surprised if you get requests for more by these unquiet women.

certifiedbookdragon's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

As it always happens with collections of stories, there is a tendency for the reader to end up enjoying some more than others, and this book was no exception. Hence, it has not been totally perfect for me.
I generally take this opportunities to read a little from each genre, sometimes even combined. The experience in this case was surprisingly rewarding, because the stories have elements of horror, speculative fiction, and dystopian. Overall, I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, the authors and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. 

anastasia_raf's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark informative inspiring sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Thank you to Netgalley and the RDS Publishing for providing me with an e-book!!

"In Black Cranes: Tales of unquiet Women, Southeast Asian writers of horror both embrace and reject these traditional roles in a unique collection of stories which dissect their experiences of 'otherness,' be it in the colour of their skin, the angle of their cheekbones, the things they dare to write, or the places they have made for themselves in the world."

This collection of short stories was very enticing and intriguing. Some of the stories I loved and some I think, would benefit better as a novella or even a novel.

 The foreword by Alma Katsu was my favorite part of this anthology. It was passionate, so unflinchingly real, and so unapologetic. It was a statement that "Asian women can be many things. The only thing we can't be is defeated." Here are more quotes from it:
"We are expected to attend to the psychical needs: lifting, carrying, feeding, bathing. We change their diapers and wipe up their diarrhea, the insult stinging twice as bad for knowing we were always the less-favored child, being women."
"These stories demonstrate the diversity of Asian life as reflected in its storytelling. Just as there is no one type of woman, there is no single, all-encompassing notion of Asia. It is too multifaceted to be contained in one identity."

My favorite stories were:
1. The Genetic Alchemist's Daughter by Elaine Cuyegkeng. The storytelling was flawless. I want a whole book dedicated to this story.
2. A Pet is For Life by Ganeve Flynn. A horrifyingly delicious story.
3. Fury by Christina Sng. I'm a sucker for anything dystopian, and this delivered on so many levels; especially the characters. They were so well rounded and felt like we even got a backstory for them. I would  follow them to every apocalypse.
4.Little worm by Geneve Flynn. Haunting and memorable.
An honorable mention is Mark by Grace Chan. I liked the atmosphere of this story and how unrevealing it was but I believe it was way too short for it to actually stay with you.
The only criticism I have, as with most horror books, is the use of some ableist phrases and/or words, but on that we all have to check further with disabled reviewers, readers,writers.

I had a splendid time reading each and every last one of these stories, and I can't wait for more people to experience them and love them.




Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sarasoleil's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

An excellent collection of short stories ranging from horror to sci-fi written by Asian women who have a story they need to tell, and they all do it so uniquely. Each of these stories has a message and they're told from a variety of lenses. Different POVs, different writing styles, different cultural takes, and while I wasn't fond of every single one, they all left me thinking and appreciating the writing.

It's hard to pick a favorite, so I won't. "Skin Dowdy" by Angela Yuriko Smith stuck out to me differently than anything else I've ever read. Its concepts are so real in how people try and change for others rather than themselves, and it often leads to negative consequences. 
"The Ninth Tale" by Rena Mason was dark and fun, everything that it should have been.
"Frangipani Wishes" by Lee Murray tells a story about ghosts and how they haunt us, and the writing was so beautiful and unique. I absolutely love it.

An amazing read and one I will not hesitate to recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for giving me access to this!