A review by triscuit807
Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa by Tina Makereti

4.0

It was serendipity that I even found this. N.K. Jemisin posted a link on FB 2 days okay that listed 10 women currently writing speculative fiction and Tina Makereti (one of 2 Kiwi authors, Karen Healey - I love her books, esp. "Guardian of the Dead" - was the other) was one of them. This is an anthology and is comparatively short. Some stories are fantastic (in both meanings of the word) and a couple are mundane. The first "skin and bones"is a re-telling of one of the Tane stories; the thing with Maori myth/legend is that it is very earthy. Tane has an erection and uses the warm earth to satisfy his urges; eventually he creates the first woman Hine - I loved this one. Another story, "shapeshifter", is that of Pania, whose statue is located in Napier's harbor. A third fun story, "the god-child", is that of a precocious baby, Eli. Many of the stories focus on birth/pregnancy, others, death. The penultimate story, "mokomoko" picks up the Hine legend when she becomes the guardian of the dead and must defeat Maui to keep death safe for the living. Anyway, this was a totally accidental read, it was lovely, I'm glad I found it, and I highly recommend it. It also satisfies one of the categories of my Reading Challenge "read an anthology by one person" (Read Harder 2015). And isn't the cover beautiful?