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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
A variety of short stories, that I hope show case the rest of the author’s talent. The longest story “The Tangleroot Palace” is an fantasy fairy tale with a modern feel, a powerful arc and beautiful prose.
I got an ARC of this book.
Each of the stories were so different, the only real similarity was they were all pretty. Liu is a gorgeous writer. Every word is beautiful and it shines. The issue for me is I have always preferred a good plot over fancy writing. I need to be able to read and have the plot happen without having to wade through overly flowery language. So this was hit or miss for me.
Some stories were AMAZING. The first one, the one about the dolls, was so incredibly creepy and wonderful. I would have loved to live in that world forever. Then the Brier Rose retelling was pretty, but it was so slow for me. The stories just kept jumping around from overly pretty to ok to amazing. I ended up not finishing most of the stories, because I would find myself bored and not reading for days at a time to avoid a story I wasn't really into.
So overall, I would only recommend this to people that really value writing style. It is pretty and it will have big fans. I am just eh about it though.
Each of the stories were so different, the only real similarity was they were all pretty. Liu is a gorgeous writer. Every word is beautiful and it shines. The issue for me is I have always preferred a good plot over fancy writing. I need to be able to read and have the plot happen without having to wade through overly flowery language. So this was hit or miss for me.
Some stories were AMAZING. The first one, the one about the dolls, was so incredibly creepy and wonderful. I would have loved to live in that world forever. Then the Brier Rose retelling was pretty, but it was so slow for me. The stories just kept jumping around from overly pretty to ok to amazing. I ended up not finishing most of the stories, because I would find myself bored and not reading for days at a time to avoid a story I wasn't really into.
So overall, I would only recommend this to people that really value writing style. It is pretty and it will have big fans. I am just eh about it though.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A dark, delightful group of stories. Fantasy with a feminist flavour, and not one amongst the bunch that I didn't enjoy. Will definitely check out some other works by Majorie Liu!
Utterly, astonishingly fantastic. If this book doesn’t make this year’s shortlist for the World Fantasy Award, then there is no justice in this world.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Declining to give this a star rating, but it didn't resonate with me.
- "The Briar and the Rose" was the absolute gem here in my opinion, and its length and pacing worked for it and not against it.
- "Call Her Savage" felt like bits excerpted from a novel where the rest of the text was missing and sorely needed...
- Similarly, "After the Blood" was conceptually interesting but ended on a note that seemed to set it up as a prequel to... something? Again, was structurally not a successful short story to me.
- “The Last Dignity of Man”: while I really liked it, it was a stark departure from the rest of the stuff in it was collected with and I get why it's polarizing.
The other stories were inoffensive to me but also felt like fairly safe re-tellings or re-interpretations of folktales or fairytales. I understand from reading the reviews that other editions of this book included the author's notes on the inspiration for each story, but the audiobook I listened to — a nine hour audiobook by Recorded Books, Inc, narrated by Catherine Ho — did not include any such notes, either between stories or at the end. I'm not sure what the case is — whether no audiobook editions of this collection have these notes, or whether the author's notes were recorded but cut out of the recording for library copies, as publishers sometimes purposely strip errata from media licensed to libraries. Whatever the case is, I will have to seek them out elsewhere.
I also did not enjoy the narration of this book, which also diminished my experience. I found that the narrator had a habit of not enunciating vowels when doing a "spooky" or "scary" or "growly" voice, which led to me repeatedly rewinding in order to understand what was being said, especially if I was dealing with noise like buses or trains outside my headphones.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, War
Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, Xenophobia
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Sympathy for the Bones 4.5⭐
The briar and the rose 3.75⭐
The light and the Fury 1 ⭐
The last dignity of a man 1.5⭐
Where the Heart lives 2.5⭐
After the Blood 2.5⭐
Tangleroot palace 4 ⭐
The tangleroot palace 2.8⭐
The briar and the rose 3.75⭐
The light and the Fury 1 ⭐
The last dignity of a man 1.5⭐
Where the Heart lives 2.5⭐
After the Blood 2.5⭐
Tangleroot palace 4 ⭐
The tangleroot palace 2.8⭐