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brendalovesbooks's review
3.0
There were some good stories here, and some I just completely skipped over because they weren't interesting to me at all. Overall a pretty good collection of short fantasy stories. (Keep in mind I'm not really a fan of short stories)
mehitabels's review
4.0
It's foolish of me to read collections, because it just leads to more authors to add to my TO BE READ shelf . . .
haitianrich's review
5.0
The great essay on the validity genre fiction by Ursula Leguin at the end of this anthology makes it even more worth reading.
rebeccacider's review
4.0
This is an impressive collection of fantasy short stories, most of them from the last two decades. I enjoyed most of them unreservedly. There are also two excellent essays at the back about the history of fantasy and its relationship to the literary canon.
I didn't like the way that the book was packaged, with the tag line of "fantasy is back" - there has been a continuous tradition of thoughtful, well-written fantasy in the twentieth century; it's just been overlooked and then overshadowed by bad sword & sorcery paperbacks. I'm also wondering when fantasy set in invented worlds will join the quasi-canon of literary fantasy - everyone praises Tolkien and Le Guin, then proceeds to include mostly urban and historical fantasy in their short story collections.
Peter Beagle did good at including women writers, less good at representing non-white or non-class-privileged experiences.
Favorite stories: probably Stephen King's "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut," Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire" (totally as good as the hype), Jeffrey Ford's "The Empire of Ice Cream," Kij Johnson's "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss." And I'd already read and loved the Susanna Clarke short story.
I didn't like the way that the book was packaged, with the tag line of "fantasy is back" - there has been a continuous tradition of thoughtful, well-written fantasy in the twentieth century; it's just been overlooked and then overshadowed by bad sword & sorcery paperbacks. I'm also wondering when fantasy set in invented worlds will join the quasi-canon of literary fantasy - everyone praises Tolkien and Le Guin, then proceeds to include mostly urban and historical fantasy in their short story collections.
Peter Beagle did good at including women writers, less good at representing non-white or non-class-privileged experiences.
Favorite stories: probably Stephen King's "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut," Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire" (totally as good as the hype), Jeffrey Ford's "The Empire of Ice Cream," Kij Johnson's "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss." And I'd already read and loved the Susanna Clarke short story.
shalot's review
3.0
This collection was just alright. I didn't find myself reaching for it out of interest but I wanted to get through it since I owned it. The stories that I thought were the best were 'Lady of the Skulls' by Patricia A. McKillip, 'The Barnum Museum' by Steven Millhauser, 'The Empire of Ice Cream' by Jeffrey Ford, and 'John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner' by Susanna Clarke. The one nice surprise from the book is that Yann Martel's story was 4 stars: amazing because I hated 'Life of Pi' so much.
onceuponasarah's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this collection of fantastical short stories. One that really stood out to me was "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford. Without giving away too much of the plot (which would ruin it), this was such an imaginative and creative idea for a story. The writing was somewhat difficult to get used to - those always turn out to be my favorite - yet it drew you in as you kept reading. I did have to skip some of "The Barnum Museum", as I found it disjointed and didn't really understand it. The rest of the stories were pretty good, for the Susanna Clarke one it kind of helps if you've read her Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell book - it adds an extra layer to the story.
The collection as a whole is imaginative, and I found myself contemplating the stories days after I read it. I recommend it to fans of fantasy.
The collection as a whole is imaginative, and I found myself contemplating the stories days after I read it. I recommend it to fans of fantasy.
kozyisathetuna's review
I was, like, 12 and half the stories flew over my head. Will try again soon cause they are interesting and well-written stories! That being said, I absolutely loved "The Lady of the Skulls".
lamusadelils's review
5.0
Siempre me ha gustado mucho el género fantastico, pero como todo mundo, suelo encontrar que en esa sección de la librería hay muchos libros con portadas de vikingos musculosos y/o doncellas con delgados vestidos y orejas puntiagudas junto a un lago en medio del bosque a la luz de la luna.
Sin embargo, hay mas en la fantasía que ese tipo de libros. Como este. Aquí, Peter S. Beagle reunió varias historias de fantasía que están del otro lado del género. Que no necesitan elfos ni espadas para ser fantásticos. Como si las historias no defendieran el género por si mismas, hay un par de buenos ensayos acerca del tema.
Las historias son muy buenas en su mayoría, aunque no son precisamente nuevas para gente que conoce el género. La primera historia de este libro, Ancestor Money, está en otra antología que comenté hace muy poco: [b:Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories|189109|Mothers & Other Monsters Stories|Maureen F. McHugh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328690125s/189109.jpg|182819]. Snow, Glass and Apples es una muy conocida historia de Neil Gaiman. Y así hay otras que me parecían familiares y conforme iba leyendo las iba ubicando en colecciones fantásticas anteriores.
Sin embargo, el libro cumple su función como un buen ejemplo de que hay mucho mas dentro de la fantasía que los clichés. Y de que no por ser fantasía una historia es menos buena.
Sin embargo, hay mas en la fantasía que ese tipo de libros. Como este. Aquí, Peter S. Beagle reunió varias historias de fantasía que están del otro lado del género. Que no necesitan elfos ni espadas para ser fantásticos. Como si las historias no defendieran el género por si mismas, hay un par de buenos ensayos acerca del tema.
Las historias son muy buenas en su mayoría, aunque no son precisamente nuevas para gente que conoce el género. La primera historia de este libro, Ancestor Money, está en otra antología que comenté hace muy poco: [b:Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories|189109|Mothers & Other Monsters Stories|Maureen F. McHugh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328690125s/189109.jpg|182819]. Snow, Glass and Apples es una muy conocida historia de Neil Gaiman. Y así hay otras que me parecían familiares y conforme iba leyendo las iba ubicando en colecciones fantásticas anteriores.
Sin embargo, el libro cumple su función como un buen ejemplo de que hay mucho mas dentro de la fantasía que los clichés. Y de que no por ser fantasía una historia es menos buena.
lilithkind's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0