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A review by maree_k
And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste
4.0
I picked this book up on the recommendation of another horror writer/editor whose taste I like, and although I didn't love everything in this collection, there are some outstanding stories that demonstrate great craft and insight.
Five Day Summer Camp - a haunting story about sibling love set in a dystopian land where obedience is everything - has Margaret Atwood tones in its stark depiction of a lives under complete control, and for me is one of the best in the collection. The Tower Princesses is a modern fairy-tale with a twist that impressed me with its originality and honest depiction of teenage life; however its pacing lagged towards the end and I felt it would have been a stronger story with more editing. Others in the collection I really enjoyed include All the Red Apples Have Withered to Gray, another fairy-tale styled story that deals with the expectations based on young women, and the disappointment that failures can bring, and Skin Like Honey and Lace, a love-gone-wrong story that is both disturbing and heartbreaking.
The treatment of women, young women in particular, is a theme running through the anthology. The opening story, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, sets the tone for the whole collection in this regard. Highly original with stunning prose, this story shows Kiste as a serious talent in modern horror.
This isn't a perfect collection, however there are some absolute gems which makes it a must read for lovers of imaginative horror with a literary feel.
Five Day Summer Camp - a haunting story about sibling love set in a dystopian land where obedience is everything - has Margaret Atwood tones in its stark depiction of a lives under complete control, and for me is one of the best in the collection. The Tower Princesses is a modern fairy-tale with a twist that impressed me with its originality and honest depiction of teenage life; however its pacing lagged towards the end and I felt it would have been a stronger story with more editing. Others in the collection I really enjoyed include All the Red Apples Have Withered to Gray, another fairy-tale styled story that deals with the expectations based on young women, and the disappointment that failures can bring, and Skin Like Honey and Lace, a love-gone-wrong story that is both disturbing and heartbreaking.
The treatment of women, young women in particular, is a theme running through the anthology. The opening story, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, sets the tone for the whole collection in this regard. Highly original with stunning prose, this story shows Kiste as a serious talent in modern horror.
This isn't a perfect collection, however there are some absolute gems which makes it a must read for lovers of imaginative horror with a literary feel.