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A review by mariahaskins
Godfall and Other Stories by Sandra M. Odell
5.0
This is a fantastic collection of speculative fiction, and it’s a thrill to read.
The collection includes stories of fantasy, horror, and a dollop of science fiction, and they feature a wide range of settings, moods, and characters. No matter what the setting or genre, Odell has a knack for getting under your skin, digging into the uncomfortable, sometimes painful, truths that hide beneath the surface. She deftly twists each story off-kilter, giving you an unexpected (and sometimes unsettling) point of view.
Her stories can be darkly funny, like the excellent “A Troll’s Trade”; they can squeeze your heart, like the devastating “The Home for Broken”, a story about parents, children, and hard, hard choices; and sometimes she explores ideas that strike you with sheer awe, like the fallen and decaying gods being mined for their natural resources in “Godfall”.
On every page, Odell’s writing feels rooted in real feelings, real lives, and real people. In her work, she often looks at the world from underneath – through the eyes of working people, or those who find themselves on the outside of “polite society”, or the supposedly weak and broken (who often turn out not to be as weak as you might think). She doesn’t glorify any of her characters, and no matter how fantastical the setting, her stories always feel vivid and alive. An excellent short story collection.
The collection includes stories of fantasy, horror, and a dollop of science fiction, and they feature a wide range of settings, moods, and characters. No matter what the setting or genre, Odell has a knack for getting under your skin, digging into the uncomfortable, sometimes painful, truths that hide beneath the surface. She deftly twists each story off-kilter, giving you an unexpected (and sometimes unsettling) point of view.
Her stories can be darkly funny, like the excellent “A Troll’s Trade”; they can squeeze your heart, like the devastating “The Home for Broken”, a story about parents, children, and hard, hard choices; and sometimes she explores ideas that strike you with sheer awe, like the fallen and decaying gods being mined for their natural resources in “Godfall”.
On every page, Odell’s writing feels rooted in real feelings, real lives, and real people. In her work, she often looks at the world from underneath – through the eyes of working people, or those who find themselves on the outside of “polite society”, or the supposedly weak and broken (who often turn out not to be as weak as you might think). She doesn’t glorify any of her characters, and no matter how fantastical the setting, her stories always feel vivid and alive. An excellent short story collection.