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innerweststreetlibrarian's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This is a bizarre compilation. I would have rated it higher if it were not for the inclusion of one of the longest short stories in the book, which was utter rubbish. I don’t understand why it was in the book at all.
There are some quite good stories in here, and the concept of getting a bunch of different authors to write about characters in the same world was a really interesting one.
It’s definitely showing it’s age, in ways that were quite jarring. Particularly in the last story about the lesbian, and how “coming out” as paranormal related to what “coming out” as gay would have been like in the late 80’s/early 90’s when this was written.
I have a LOT of content warnings to add for the overall collection too, but the most important one is please don’t waste your time reading about Pitbull Brittan, the human penis-man made entirely of erectile tissue. It could have been very funny, but it was just disappointingly, gratuitously violent, racist, sexist, classist and stupid in a way that none of the other stories were. Ugh. So bad. Ignore that one and this is a 4-star collection.
There are some quite good stories in here, and the concept of getting a bunch of different authors to write about characters in the same world was a really interesting one.
It’s definitely showing it’s age, in ways that were quite jarring. Particularly in the last story about the lesbian, and how “coming out” as paranormal related to what “coming out” as gay would have been like in the late 80’s/early 90’s when this was written.
I have a LOT of content warnings to add for the overall collection too, but the most important one is please don’t waste your time reading about Pitbull Brittan, the human penis-man made entirely of erectile tissue. It could have been very funny, but it was just disappointingly, gratuitously violent, racist, sexist, classist and stupid in a way that none of the other stories were. Ugh. So bad. Ignore that one and this is a 4-star collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture
Minor: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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