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tehani's review
3.0
For the most part, I enjoyed almost every story in this quite long collection. Having said that, this is not an adult-aimed short story collection, and interestingly, I think it doesn't actually target a particular age group exactly. It doesn't quite fit as middle grade, as some of the material is quite mature, but for the opposite reason, I wouldn't put it as straight YA either. Instead, it very much straddles upper primary into secondary, which is clever marketing if the publisher is targetting school libraries!
There are a number of "tie-in" short stories here - I caught works that match the novel worlds of Isobelle Carmody, Sean Williams, Paul Collins and George Ivanoff, although there may have been others. None of these would require prior knowledge of the worlds the stories spring from, but this did add an extra fillip of fun to discovery.
One reason I dropped a star on the rating for this was that many of the works included weren't, for me, true short stories - while not badly written, a number of the pieces were character studies, mood pieces, vignettes, or extended jokes. I think that's okay for the age group, but it didn't work for me as an adult reader.
Altogether though, an extensive collection of many of Australia's top authors which will do well in school libraries.
There are a number of "tie-in" short stories here - I caught works that match the novel worlds of Isobelle Carmody, Sean Williams, Paul Collins and George Ivanoff, although there may have been others. None of these would require prior knowledge of the worlds the stories spring from, but this did add an extra fillip of fun to discovery.
One reason I dropped a star on the rating for this was that many of the works included weren't, for me, true short stories - while not badly written, a number of the pieces were character studies, mood pieces, vignettes, or extended jokes. I think that's okay for the age group, but it didn't work for me as an adult reader.
Altogether though, an extensive collection of many of Australia's top authors which will do well in school libraries.
weirdfi's review
4.0
3 and a 1/2 stars.
Being in a bit of a short attention span phase, I finally got around to reading this from it's launch.
Being in a bit of a short attention span phase, I finally got around to reading this from it's launch.
thiefofcamorr's review
3.0
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
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