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A review by katymul
The Tyranny of Sand and Other Tiny Stories by Jesse Stanchak
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I don't usually love short story collections, but I have always admired Drabble Collections from the world of fanfiction. I always thought that that format could only work with established intellectual properties, so that the reader could bring a wealth of existing knowledge and understanding to the 280-character max moment of time. I am delighted to be proven wrong.
While many of the tiny stories do make use of existing mythology and even reference popular stories, the originals suffer nothing from their brevity. In fact, that is used for devastating effect over and over again.
I kept having to put the book down to really think about one of the tiny stories for some time before I could come back for more devastation or hilarity or mystery or just to purge my desire to drop everything and write a full novel based on the prompt.
While many of the tiny stories do make use of existing mythology and even reference popular stories, the originals suffer nothing from their brevity. In fact, that is used for devastating effect over and over again.
I kept having to put the book down to really think about one of the tiny stories for some time before I could come back for more devastation or hilarity or mystery or just to purge my desire to drop everything and write a full novel based on the prompt.