galexy_brain's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this book of love! It was so refreshing to hear myths and stories from places I don't normally encounter, and even more refreshing that the author decided to switch up some of the misogynistic storylines while still staying true to the original elements of the stories. Though some stories take you through an emotional rollercoaster,
it was a treat that all of them ended optimistically. Sometimes you just need to read a book like that.
 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rafacolog's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

katiemack's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was such a treat to listen to as folktales told in the oral tradition; I felt like I learned a lot about non-Western stories and mythology. The writing is beautiful and poetic while also incorporating hilariously biting remarks and contemporary references; I'd recommend listening to one story at a time to savor them. Some of the stories are stronger and more effective than others; I also wish there had been more LGBTQ+ romance plots--"Nefertiti" was the only one in the collection. Standout tales for me are "Osun," "Scheherazade," "Attem," and "Nefertiti." The last story, "Alagomeji," is about Bolu Babalola's parents, which is sweet and touching. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

purplepenning's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Smart, creative, super interesting short story retellings of myths from around the world, cast into empowering, hopeful love stories from a British-West African perspective. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

d0505's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thenovelmaura's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

2.5

This book sounded like the perfect fit for me: diverse retellings of mythological stories from around the world? Sign me up! Unfortunately, despite the lovely writing style, the execution on the retellings was lacking. A great mythological retelling has to be clever; the author must take the recognizable elements of a story and transpose them in some way—a new setting, a new conflict, gender-swapping the characters—all while retaining enough of the essence to make them feel familiar to the readers.

For most of these stories, Babalola simply put the characters in modern settings and gave them modern jobs. Many of them lost their gifts, powers, or anything else that made them unique; only the names made them recognizable to the reader. All of the stories started to blend together and feel the same, which is a shame considering their diverse origins. The stories that really worked either had enough of the original situations to be fun and interesting (like Thisbe) or had an unexpected twist that kept me engaged (like Nefertiti). Overall, I think Babalola is a talented writer, but this anthology could have been greatly improved if there were multiple authors invited to put their own twists on these classic myths.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sydneybedell's review

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kathleencoughlin's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I thought this collection had some really interesting short stories in it. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but I felt like the fact that these were branded as contemporary retellings of historical/mythical romances actually took away from it a little. The stories are sufficiently different, that I don't think that branding was necessary and ultimately it became somewhat distracting.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

emfass's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I am a HUGE fan of fairy tale/mythology retellings, so there was a good chance I was going to like this anyway. But I was introduced to so many tales I didn't know, PLUS I absolutely adored the way Babalola rewrote stories that are originally misogynistic and occasionally devastating to be hopeful and honor the love story at the center.

I read through the first half of the book rather quickly, trying to meet the deadline for the Bad Bitch Book Club meeting, but over the last few days I have savored the latter half, reading one or two stories a day, and that's my recommendation for anyone else picking this up. (I don't read a lot of short story collections, maybe that's the general approach??)

My favorite stories were:
Scheherazade
Nefertiti
Yaa
Naleli
Thisbe
Tiara
Orin

A few quotes from the introduction that floored me:

Love is the prism through which I view the world. I truly believe it binds and propels us. This isn’t a naive denial of the darkness that we know exists in the world; rather it is a refusal to allow the devastation, the horror, or the heartache to consume us. It is affirming the knowledge that there is light. Love is that light. Romance sweetens the casual bitterness we can encounter; it heightens the mundane and makes the terrestrial supernatural.

Love is tender, tentative, brutal, and bold. It’s messy and magic! It can be the most frightening thing in the world, purely because it feels like safety, and that safety is reliant on total trust in another, with whom we share our hearts, expose ourselves, and allow ourselves to be seen for exactly who we are. But when we allow ourselves to trust like this, there is a freedom that we can attain—a glory. This book is about being seen in all your iterations, in every dynamic, brightly and in color. It’s about the joy and hope that accompany the celebration of that phenomenon.

And from the final story, which is inspired by how her parents met and fell in love:

The eldest of their daughters is so inspired by the king and queen that it forms how she sees the world. She recognizes the mundane mystique of romantic love that is ubiquitous at a glance, but, when you look closer, you notice the tessellation of understanding, patience, friendship, and attraction. She sees both the miracle of the spark igniting and also the working, because it takes work, and for the work to work, you have to respect each other, like each other. She is fascinated by how much romantic love can soften a hard life, highlight the best of you, not condemn the worst of you. It is a gift she cherished witnessing with the king and queen, and so she made it her mission to capture a little of it and gift it to others: the hope of it all, the light of it all.

Time was constructed with love in mind. It is why the moments before a desired kiss stretch, why when your lips are finally introduced with another pair, it feels as if they have wanted to meet for some time, and why a day with your loved one can feel like an eternity on turbo-speed. Achingly, deliciously slow, but too fast, over too quick, melting between too-hot fingers. Time and love are intertwined, they are both measures of life, they are the two clocks. And, for love to operate as it should, it is imperative that the timing should be right. Just as it is in this story.

Lastly, I think this is one of the most gorgeous covers I have ever seen. 😍😍😍

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mandkips's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings