Scan barcode
amyhuang's review
2.0
I’m dying to find an anthology that gets me firing on all cylinders. Granted, I don’t read that many anthologies, but the last was probably [b:Rogues|20168816|Rogues|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404616147l/20168816._SY75_.jpg|27565413], from (*checks*)… 2014‽
Read my full review here: https://amyhuang.work/blog/2020/3/14/the-weight-of-words-by-dave-mckean
Read my full review here: https://amyhuang.work/blog/2020/3/14/the-weight-of-words-by-dave-mckean
cloudslikethis's review
4.0
Wow I finally finished this!
My favorite stories were No One Dies in Nowhere by Cathrynne M Valente (no one’s surprised) and All I Care About is You by Joe Hill. Also loved the opening comic by Dave McKean.
My favorite stories were No One Dies in Nowhere by Cathrynne M Valente (no one’s surprised) and All I Care About is You by Joe Hill. Also loved the opening comic by Dave McKean.
dokushoka's review
4.0
When I got this in the mail, it came with a little card that told me who my book was packed by and that Subterranean Press makes "Readable Works of Art." I absolutely agree. This book is quite beautiful in both presentation and for all the pictures (and stories) inside it.
(This isn't the first SP book I own though; I have Catherynne M. Valente's The Bread We Eat In Dreams and Speak Easy, but I had to track the first down on eBay and it cost me a pretty penny. The second I bought through Amazon because of circumstances. However, this will not be the last SP book I buy through them because I'm quite impressed with their packaging and their products.)
Forgive me if I fall into the standard descriptions for a few of the stories; I find it hard to talk about some of them without blabbing out spoilers and I do think it's just better if you read the book yourself.
The Weight of Words - This is a short, almost little comic strip about, well, the weight of words, how heavy certain words and situations are on us.
Belladonna Nights - Taking place far into the future, where waiting a hundred years for a party to be set up is not a problem, this story is pretty haunting. It begins with the main character, Shaula, finding flowers, the titular Belladonna, being left outside her abode during the reunion of the Mimosa Line. (If that doesn't make sense, don't worry it becomes clear within the story.) Shaula finds out that Campion, a man from the Gentian Line, has been leaving her flowers but has been otherwise avoiding her. Well, at least up until the night of her threading, when she would be sharing her memories with the rest of the Mimosa Line via uploading them. She finally gets to confront him about the flowers and the truth is revealed.
I've never read House of Suns, but it doesn't really feel like you need to to understand this story. (However, I will definitely be looking into that book now.) And, God, I liked this story. It was a really good Sci-Fi story and it was just long enough to explain everything and wrap itself up neatly, albeit in a pretty heartbreaking way.
The Orange Tree - Solomon ibn Gabirol, a writer, has a skin disease, which basically makes him a leper. After dealing with his loneliness for some time, he goes to the carpenter's house and asks them to create a female golem for him. He lives with her but this relationship is pretty terrible.
The ending? Phenomenal. I loved the carpenter's mother and Qasmūna so much. The little counts of loneliness reminded me a bit of Everything is Illuminated.
Monkey and the Lady - A creation myth retold with a monkey and, well, a lady. The monkey creates the universe and all in it and continuously tries to impress a lady, who is not that into his shenanigans.
This just smacked of Gaiman's signature style. For such a short story, Gaiman just nailed everything.
No One Dies in Nowhere - Valente writes a detective story! There are two narratives going on, both describing what it's like to live in Nowhere, one is from the point of Belacqua, a detective who's obsessed with a murder mystery novel he found, and Pietta's POV, which describes how bleak everything actually is.
This was the whole reason I bought the collection because I'm such a massive fan of Valente these days and she didn't disappoint in this story. Maybe it's because I'm living a Nowhere or Pietta kind of life because I felt like Valente really brought out how there was just NOTHINGNESS in Nowhere.
Objects in the Mirror - Framed between a script-like visit to a psychiatrist's office is the story of a girl who climbs into a sheltered cove and talks to First Mother.
There's A LOT to this story and I don't wanna either give it all away or regale you with my opinion on it. I just wanna say though that I've been dying to read something by Kiernan for a MINUTE and I'm so glad I finally got to because I'm very impressed.
Yummie - A man begins experiencing hallucinations of the titular Yummie after recovering from a heart attack.
I think this might be one of my favorites from the collection, or at least one of the strongest in my opinion. It was just such a ... fun story (what with Yummie as a character) after all the other serious ones.
Robo Rapid - In the distant future, aliens have invaded but humans have repelled them with the titular characters. However something went wrong and they've begun attacking and capturing the last tribes of humans in the desert for ritualistic sacrifices every time the moon ~goes away~. Sheann's family is unfortunate enough to be attacked and captured and she refuses to sit by and let this doom come to them.
I think this was the longest story in here and quite a lot of it is given to exposition and traveling across the desert Sheann and Nim live in. Regardless, I liked the ending (well, not the very last line)
All I Care About Is You - In the future, a young girl (Iris), on her birthday, meets a robot (Chip), while needing help getting home. For one hour, he offers to help make her birthday special since it's been a disappointment so far.
I've never read Joe Hill before and, upon beginning this story, it gave me David Wong teas (WHICH IS A GOOD THING), but it came into its own and that ending... I'm messed up, Hill. Congratulations.
The Language of Birds - Russell recounts what it's like to be a lucid dreamer in his college days and his first love, Emily, and how they grew apart.
I love that this story played around with the typography and that it also felt a bit like reading a dream. (If that makes any type of sense.)
Broken Face - A prisoner, the titular one, recounts in three stories reasons why they might be in prison.
This one was very different from anything I've ever read, but that's a good thing. I loved that ending as well.
The Train of Death - I feel like this is too short to write a proper review of. It's literally just a paragraph and it's about the (abbreviated) death of literature.
(I'm so sorry some of these are just little blurbs, I had jury duty in the middle of finishing this book up and it disrupted my reading schedule.)
(This isn't the first SP book I own though; I have Catherynne M. Valente's The Bread We Eat In Dreams and Speak Easy, but I had to track the first down on eBay and it cost me a pretty penny. The second I bought through Amazon because of circumstances. However, this will not be the last SP book I buy through them because I'm quite impressed with their packaging and their products.)
Forgive me if I fall into the standard descriptions for a few of the stories; I find it hard to talk about some of them without blabbing out spoilers and I do think it's just better if you read the book yourself.
Belladonna Nights - Taking place far into the future, where waiting a hundred years for a party to be set up is not a problem, this story is pretty haunting. It begins with the main character, Shaula, finding flowers, the titular Belladonna, being left outside her abode during the reunion of the Mimosa Line. (If that doesn't make sense, don't worry it becomes clear within the story.) Shaula finds out that Campion, a man from the Gentian Line, has been leaving her flowers but has been otherwise avoiding her. Well, at least up until the night of her threading, when she would be sharing her memories with the rest of the Mimosa Line via uploading them. She finally gets to confront him about the flowers and the truth is revealed.
I've never read House of Suns, but it doesn't really feel like you need to to understand this story. (However, I will definitely be looking into that book now.) And, God, I liked this story. It was a really good Sci-Fi story and it was just long enough to explain everything and wrap itself up neatly, albeit in a pretty heartbreaking way.
The Orange Tree - Solomon ibn Gabirol, a writer, has a skin disease, which basically makes him a leper. After dealing with his loneliness for some time, he goes to the carpenter's house and asks them to create a female golem for him. He lives with her but this relationship is pretty terrible.
The ending? Phenomenal. I loved the carpenter's mother and Qasmūna so much. The little counts of loneliness reminded me a bit of Everything is Illuminated.
Monkey and the Lady - A creation myth retold with a monkey and, well, a lady. The monkey creates the universe and all in it and continuously tries to impress a lady, who is not that into his shenanigans.
This just smacked of Gaiman's signature style. For such a short story, Gaiman just nailed everything.
No One Dies in Nowhere - Valente writes a detective story! There are two narratives going on, both describing what it's like to live in Nowhere, one is from the point of Belacqua, a detective who's obsessed with a murder mystery novel he found, and Pietta's POV, which describes how bleak everything actually is.
This was the whole reason I bought the collection because I'm such a massive fan of Valente these days and she didn't disappoint in this story. Maybe it's because I'm living a Nowhere or Pietta kind of life because I felt like Valente really brought out how there was just NOTHINGNESS in Nowhere.
Objects in the Mirror - Framed between a script-like visit to a psychiatrist's office is the story of a girl who climbs into a sheltered cove and talks to First Mother.
There's A LOT to this story and I don't wanna either give it all away or regale you with my opinion on it. I just wanna say though that I've been dying to read something by Kiernan for a MINUTE and I'm so glad I finally got to because I'm very impressed.
Yummie - A man begins experiencing hallucinations of the titular Yummie after recovering from a heart attack.
I think this might be one of my favorites from the collection, or at least one of the strongest in my opinion. It was just such a ... fun story (what with Yummie as a character) after all the other serious ones.
Robo Rapid - In the distant future, aliens have invaded but humans have repelled them with the titular characters. However something went wrong and they've begun attacking and capturing the last tribes of humans in the desert for ritualistic sacrifices every time the moon ~goes away~. Sheann's family is unfortunate enough to be attacked and captured and she refuses to sit by and let this doom come to them.
I think this was the longest story in here and quite a lot of it is given to exposition and traveling across the desert Sheann and Nim live in. Regardless, I liked the ending (well, not the very last line)
All I Care About Is You - In the future, a young girl (Iris), on her birthday, meets a robot (Chip), while needing help getting home. For one hour, he offers to help make her birthday special since it's been a disappointment so far.
I've never read Joe Hill before and, upon beginning this story, it gave me David Wong teas (WHICH IS A GOOD THING), but it came into its own and that ending... I'm messed up, Hill. Congratulations.
The Language of Birds - Russell recounts what it's like to be a lucid dreamer in his college days and his first love, Emily, and how they grew apart.
I love that this story played around with the typography and that it also felt a bit like reading a dream. (If that makes any type of sense.)
Broken Face - A prisoner, the titular one, recounts in three stories reasons why they might be in prison.
This one was very different from anything I've ever read, but that's a good thing. I loved that ending as well.
The Train of Death - I feel like this is too short to write a proper review of. It's literally just a paragraph and it's about the (abbreviated) death of literature.
(I'm so sorry some of these are just little blurbs, I had jury duty in the middle of finishing this book up and it disrupted my reading schedule.)
More...