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belgatherial's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
ntembeast's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing anthology! Varied and rich and educational and so enjoyable! Highly recommend it! I'll be buying my own copy myself now promptly!
pnw_michelle's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I've ever enjoyed a collection of short stories so much in my life. Such a diverse selection, and I can't think of one story in the lot that I didn't enjoy. LOVE.
rremer's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of interesting stories here, and lots of variety. The plots and ideas came from many places and went many places.
bahnree's review against another edition
3.0
"Island lake" by E. Catherine Tobler: Family bonds! Ghosties and possibly-sentient-trees and mermish people. 4/5.
"The puma's daughter" by Tanith Lee: a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but in reverse. The ending made me go ARGH WHY but it was still really great. 5/5.
"The selkie speaks" by Delia Sherman: A really lovely selkie poem. 5/5.
"The elephant's bride" by Jane Yolen: A suttee poem, so yeah, a bit disturbing. 5/5.
"The children of Cadmus" by Ellen Kushner: A retelling of the myth of Actaeon and Artemis. So, depressing again! 4/5.
"The white doe: three poems" by Jeanine Hall Gailey: Some poems that remind me of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, but kinda indulgent. 3/5.
"Thimbleriggery and Fledglings" by Steve Berman: retelling of Odile the Black Swan. Not very many sympathetic characters in this one, but Odile is a very logical amoral character and fascinating to watch. 4/5.
"The Children of the Shark-God" by Peter S. Beagle: My first Beagle story. It felt like a real myth, very beautiful and sad. 4/5.
"Rosina" by Nan Fry: I ENJOYED THIS. Snakes, and, who needs princes anyway. 5/5.
"The puma's daughter" by Tanith Lee: a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but in reverse. The ending made me go ARGH WHY but it was still really great. 5/5.
"The selkie speaks" by Delia Sherman: A really lovely selkie poem. 5/5.
"The elephant's bride" by Jane Yolen: A suttee poem, so yeah, a bit disturbing. 5/5.
"The children of Cadmus" by Ellen Kushner: A retelling of the myth of Actaeon and Artemis. So, depressing again! 4/5.
"The white doe: three poems" by Jeanine Hall Gailey: Some poems that remind me of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, but kinda indulgent. 3/5.
"Thimbleriggery and Fledglings" by Steve Berman: retelling of Odile the Black Swan. Not very many sympathetic characters in this one, but Odile is a very logical amoral character and fascinating to watch. 4/5.
"The Children of the Shark-God" by Peter S. Beagle: My first Beagle story. It felt like a real myth, very beautiful and sad. 4/5.
"Rosina" by Nan Fry: I ENJOYED THIS. Snakes, and, who needs princes anyway. 5/5.
lunaratu's review against another edition
3.0
A good collection as to be expected from the Mythic Anthology series put together by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. However it's not as strong as The Faerie Reel or The Coyote Road (the previous two anthologies in the series). The stories at times suffer from being too similar to their mythological source.
The beauty of this series is that the stories are such fresh and inventive takes on older themes so for the stories to be too close to their inspiration is merely disappointing in this case. However, the fact that the worst thing I can say is that some of the fiction in this book is derivative still goes to demonstrate just how good the book is. The stories that are as innovative as I hoped are beautiful and amazing works of fiction. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
The beauty of this series is that the stories are such fresh and inventive takes on older themes so for the stories to be too close to their inspiration is merely disappointing in this case. However, the fact that the worst thing I can say is that some of the fiction in this book is derivative still goes to demonstrate just how good the book is. The stories that are as innovative as I hoped are beautiful and amazing works of fiction. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
3.0
Full Review at Booklikes
Not all the stories in this collection are stand-outs, and not all, thankfully, have to do with brides. Datlow and Windling, however, should get a huge round of applause and much credit for bringing back the female beast and male looker instead of just staying to the whole typical Beauty and the Beast format.
Stand out stories include:
“Puma’s Daughter” by Tanith Lee.
Not all the stories in this collection are stand-outs, and not all, thankfully, have to do with brides. Datlow and Windling, however, should get a huge round of applause and much credit for bringing back the female beast and male looker instead of just staying to the whole typical Beauty and the Beast format.
Stand out stories include:
“Puma’s Daughter” by Tanith Lee.
lizshayne's review
4.0
I have a sticky relationship with short story anthologies, because I find them difficult to review. There were the stories I loved and the authors I loved and the ones I just reacted to with an "ehh".
Part of the reason is because, sooner or later, I get bored with the variations on a theme style of storytelling inherent in themed anthologies, and just want to read something that isn't another perspective, but is actually new.
That being said, I've also learned that if I stick to anthologies about things I'm really interested in (like magical animals in fairy tales, for example), I do a much better job of getting through them.
It didn't hurt that I found almost all the stories in here to be really good. They were powerful and compelling retellings or creations that I felt got towards many of the ideas behind the beast in fairy tales. And they were good! They were characters you could identify with even in five pages and the people were people, not archetypes despite being in short fairy tale stories.
And, of course, the best of all this is that I now have some new writers to get into.
Part of the reason is because, sooner or later, I get bored with the variations on a theme style of storytelling inherent in themed anthologies, and just want to read something that isn't another perspective, but is actually new.
That being said, I've also learned that if I stick to anthologies about things I'm really interested in (like magical animals in fairy tales, for example), I do a much better job of getting through them.
It didn't hurt that I found almost all the stories in here to be really good. They were powerful and compelling retellings or creations that I felt got towards many of the ideas behind the beast in fairy tales. And they were good! They were characters you could identify with even in five pages and the people were people, not archetypes despite being in short fairy tale stories.
And, of course, the best of all this is that I now have some new writers to get into.
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