A review by vanessajae
Arcana by C.S. MacCath, Diana Hurlburt, Susan MacGregor, Kevin Cockle, Sarena Ulibarri, Annie Neugebauer, J.G. Formato, Eliza Chan, Rhonda Parrish, Sara Cleto, Beth Cato, Greg Bechtel, Cat McDonald, Sara Dobie Bauer, Brittany Warman, B.D. Wilson, L.S. Johnson, Dan Koboldt, Chadwick Ginther, Alexandra Seidel, Jim C. Hines, Angela Slatter, Gabrielle Harbowy, Joseph Halden

mysterious medium-paced

3.0

The premise of Arcana immediately piqued my interest because just like the meaning of tarot cards, the meaning of stories depends on the reader and in this case, the plot of the stories depended on the author’s interpretation of their assigned card. Despite the 22 different themes, the majority of the stories turned out pretty similar: mostly fantasy, mostly including romance. This works well in terms of coherence, however, also results in the stories blending in together. Stories that managed to stand out to me are “The Marriage of Ocean and Dust” by Alexandra Seidel with its beautiful imagery, “One More Song” by Eliza Chan with its interesting worldbuilding, and “Vestige” by Annie Neugebauer, which appeared completely out of place with its gruesome horror elements but since the assigned tarot card is Death, it seemed fitting. I also enjoyed “Larkspur and Henbane” by Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman and would have loved to read more poems.