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A review by alba_marie
Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales by Gavin J. Grant, Kelly Link
4.0
I have to admit - I had high hopes. Monster stories!? Edited by Kelly Link? Yes please!
It kind of lived up to my expectations. Frustratingly, it was FAR too YA for my tastes. Some of the stories were great, but many were very meh. I know story collections will always vary in quality, but this one had a few good or decent stories and a few really bad ones - more variation than preferred. Anyway, see my thoughts on the individual stories below (more my reactions rather than plot summaries).
Moriabe's Children - Krakens are an unusual choice for monster (usually only showing up to sink pirate ships) and I liked that aspect of it. However, I found the writing style to be somewhat confused, and I didn't find it a nice way to start this collection. The human characters - particularly the parents - were so horrible and gross, and there was a lot of domestic and child abuse. Other reviewers apparently liked it but I found it harrowing and not nice reading. 1/5
Old Souls : The story was okay but could have been developed more. Wouldn’t have taken a ton of work to turn it from decent to very memorable. I did like the concept though, and liked that the vampire, though he looked young, was more interested in the elderly people closer to his age. Its true though - we are such a “looks-based” society - why is it that 100+ year old vamps and monsters are always interested in HS teens? Surely to them that would like dating a baby? Just cause they look young (young when turned) their minds are far older from all that added experience. It’s sexy though - and sex sells. This story would not make a sexy film. 3/5
Rules for Intergalactic Smugglers: This is the story I would have led with, and likely my favourite in the collection. And that's high praise considering the fact that the monster was essentially a giant talking alien spider (EW). I found the monster actually quite interesting and enjoyed watching the badass heroine overcome her fears. 5/5
Quick Hill : I found this one really sad and disturbing. It's set in an alternate USA during WWII where monsters are really, and a poor teenage boy is forced into an arranged marriage against their wishes...to a hill. To appease the weirdo townspeople. And...that was supposed to be heroic, I think? Anyway I found the messaging off, and didn't enjoy the story, which was too long anyway. 1/5
The Diabolist: It was sort of interesting - usually demons are my jam - but I didn’t love this one. Pretty unmemorable. I mostly just felt bad for the demon. 2/5
Wings in the Morning : Definitely very weird and usually high fantasy isn’t for me, but I liked this one. Enjoyed the YA/adult balance here. My only critique is that the characters ages sometimes seemed off. How old are they meant to be? The elf, Serene, seemed way older than Eric who she was supposedly dating the summer before. (Definitely caught a whiff of Eoin Colfer’s elves - Serene reminded me of Holly!) But overall, I liked the characters, thought the romances were well developed for the amount of pages we had, and loved the half-human half-harpy storyline. 4/5
This Whole Demoning Thing : This story was okay, though yay more high school kids. At least this high school was BONKERS - full of kids who turn into monsters at puberty. I didn’t enjoy the band/HS setting but thought the world building was interesting. Would have preferred to see this world with adult/older teen characters and less focus on the bully. 3/5
Left Foot, Right : Swampy and weird, and honestly I really hated this one. I struggled to follow it, it was just too strange and too vague. I spent the whole story confused and the ending wasn’t satisfying. 1/5
The Mercurials: I hated this one and ended up skipping it. It was boring. Seemed very Puritan and that is not my jam. Not even sure what the monster was in this one and I can't really rate it because I gave up just a few pages in hence the zero. 0/5
Kitty Capulet : This story is set in New Zealand and focuses on a maori folklore creature. It was a little preachy - very “save the environment” and “white man is ruining native culture” but essentially I liked the story. I get that the author has a message they wanted to deliver but I think it took over the story too much at some moments. I really liked Kitty and Ruaikiri was interesting4/5
Sons of Abyss: This one was definitely weird and creepy. Takes place in a version of hell - which is usually my jam - with demons fighting angels - also usually my jam - but I found it hard to fall for this story. I think the characters just didn’t click with me, and also too many animals sacrificed.2/5
A Small Wild Magic: This was a graphic novel story about a bird-genie. I usually like genies/jinns but I didn’t think that this had anything new or interesting to say. I found it hard to follow - so many bubbles - and even hard to keep track of all his useless wishes. Only thing I liked was when he asked for money and she was like “ok so who do I rob?” And he was like ‘wait doesn’t the money just appear??” I guess the ending was cute but like is this how all graphic novels work? A bit of tension and ending with a head resting on his elbow? I just thought it was vaguely cute but a little bland. 3/5
New Boyfriend: I really liked it - of course I did, because this is Kelly Link's own contribution. It was weird but just weird enough. In this universe, one can purchase a monster fake plastic Boyfriend (and I know what you're thinking, this is definitely YA so nope this is not a sex doll. That was my first thought too). I like the Ghost Boyfriend and wish we got to learn a little more about who he was pre-ghost and who mysterious past love. I liked the female friendships and also totally got Immy and her frustrations that everything felt fake and vaguely ridiculous, I even understood her jealousy of her friend Ainslie. I really liked Immy's discussions of death and love with her dad, and found their back and forth really interesting - I think it's great when adults talk to their kids like adults. I esp. liked his talk of her Twilight version of love as “a trick” and her comeback about parental love as also being “a trick” because parents are stuck with their kids no matter what. His response about it being the best trick ever played was very endearing. 5/5
The Woods Hide in Plain Sight : Omg this one was really, really good - one of my faves! It was sort of a “make fun of twilight” thing and I thought it was really well done. All I wanted to do throughout my workout was finish so I could find out how it would end, and would Emiline become a vampire or not.5/5
Mothers Lock up your Daughters because They are Terrifying : Really quite disappointing. I had high hopes for this one. It had a great name, it was the ending story, the other ones towards the end of have been mostly decent. But I disliked it, had zero interest in the motherhood themes or the adoption themes. I skimmed it just to get it done but it was quite boring and very preachy. 1/5
It kind of lived up to my expectations. Frustratingly, it was FAR too YA for my tastes. Some of the stories were great, but many were very meh. I know story collections will always vary in quality, but this one had a few good or decent stories and a few really bad ones - more variation than preferred. Anyway, see my thoughts on the individual stories below (more my reactions rather than plot summaries).
Moriabe's Children - Krakens are an unusual choice for monster (usually only showing up to sink pirate ships) and I liked that aspect of it. However, I found the writing style to be somewhat confused, and I didn't find it a nice way to start this collection. The human characters - particularly the parents - were so horrible and gross, and there was a lot of domestic and child abuse. Other reviewers apparently liked it but I found it harrowing and not nice reading. 1/5
Old Souls : The story was okay but could have been developed more. Wouldn’t have taken a ton of work to turn it from decent to very memorable. I did like the concept though, and liked that the vampire, though he looked young, was more interested in the elderly people closer to his age. Its true though - we are such a “looks-based” society - why is it that 100+ year old vamps and monsters are always interested in HS teens? Surely to them that would like dating a baby? Just cause they look young (young when turned) their minds are far older from all that added experience. It’s sexy though - and sex sells. This story would not make a sexy film. 3/5
Rules for Intergalactic Smugglers: This is the story I would have led with, and likely my favourite in the collection. And that's high praise considering the fact that the monster was essentially a giant talking alien spider (EW). I found the monster actually quite interesting and enjoyed watching the badass heroine overcome her fears. 5/5
Quick Hill : I found this one really sad and disturbing. It's set in an alternate USA during WWII where monsters are really, and a poor teenage boy is forced into an arranged marriage against their wishes...to a hill. To appease the weirdo townspeople. And...that was supposed to be heroic, I think? Anyway I found the messaging off, and didn't enjoy the story, which was too long anyway. 1/5
The Diabolist: It was sort of interesting - usually demons are my jam - but I didn’t love this one. Pretty unmemorable. I mostly just felt bad for the demon. 2/5
Wings in the Morning : Definitely very weird and usually high fantasy isn’t for me, but I liked this one. Enjoyed the YA/adult balance here. My only critique is that the characters ages sometimes seemed off. How old are they meant to be? The elf, Serene, seemed way older than Eric who she was supposedly dating the summer before. (Definitely caught a whiff of Eoin Colfer’s elves - Serene reminded me of Holly!) But overall, I liked the characters, thought the romances were well developed for the amount of pages we had, and loved the half-human half-harpy storyline. 4/5
This Whole Demoning Thing : This story was okay, though yay more high school kids. At least this high school was BONKERS - full of kids who turn into monsters at puberty. I didn’t enjoy the band/HS setting but thought the world building was interesting. Would have preferred to see this world with adult/older teen characters and less focus on the bully. 3/5
Left Foot, Right : Swampy and weird, and honestly I really hated this one. I struggled to follow it, it was just too strange and too vague. I spent the whole story confused and the ending wasn’t satisfying. 1/5
The Mercurials: I hated this one and ended up skipping it. It was boring. Seemed very Puritan and that is not my jam. Not even sure what the monster was in this one and I can't really rate it because I gave up just a few pages in hence the zero. 0/5
Kitty Capulet : This story is set in New Zealand and focuses on a maori folklore creature. It was a little preachy - very “save the environment” and “white man is ruining native culture” but essentially I liked the story. I get that the author has a message they wanted to deliver but I think it took over the story too much at some moments. I really liked Kitty and Ruaikiri was interesting
Spoiler
I really liked that Kitty’s mysterious saviour at the river was actually the tanhiwa.Sons of Abyss: This one was definitely weird and creepy. Takes place in a version of hell - which is usually my jam - with demons fighting angels - also usually my jam - but I found it hard to fall for this story. I think the characters just didn’t click with me, and also too many animals sacrificed.
Spoiler
I found Bon really disgusting and creepy, and the story tried to head off in another direction at the end, making his dad to be the bad guy, but I just found that unfitting with the rest of the tale. To me, it makes more sense that Bon was doing it to himself to attain extra power.A Small Wild Magic: This was a graphic novel story about a bird-genie. I usually like genies/jinns but I didn’t think that this had anything new or interesting to say. I found it hard to follow - so many bubbles - and even hard to keep track of all his useless wishes. Only thing I liked was when he asked for money and she was like “ok so who do I rob?” And he was like ‘wait doesn’t the money just appear??” I guess the ending was cute but like is this how all graphic novels work? A bit of tension and ending with a head resting on his elbow? I just thought it was vaguely cute but a little bland. 3/5
New Boyfriend: I really liked it - of course I did, because this is Kelly Link's own contribution. It was weird but just weird enough. In this universe, one can purchase a monster fake plastic Boyfriend (and I know what you're thinking, this is definitely YA so nope this is not a sex doll. That was my first thought too). I like the Ghost Boyfriend and wish we got to learn a little more about who he was pre-ghost and who mysterious past love. I liked the female friendships and also totally got Immy and her frustrations that everything felt fake and vaguely ridiculous, I even understood her jealousy of her friend Ainslie. I really liked Immy's discussions of death and love with her dad, and found their back and forth really interesting - I think it's great when adults talk to their kids like adults. I esp. liked his talk of her Twilight version of love as “a trick” and her comeback about parental love as also being “a trick” because parents are stuck with their kids no matter what. His response about it being the best trick ever played was very endearing. 5/5
The Woods Hide in Plain Sight : Omg this one was really, really good - one of my faves! It was sort of a “make fun of twilight” thing and I thought it was really well done. All I wanted to do throughout my workout was finish so I could find out how it would end, and would Emiline become a vampire or not.
Spoiler
I loved the Twilight spoof, where it turns out that the vampire dude who looked sexy was actually a creepy serial killer who was lonely so he made a collection of dolls to keep him company. Because vampires used to be scary (Carmilla, Dracula, Anne Rice, etc). Then we romanticised them and sexified them and voila, the serial killer monsters are now sexy and date hot girls so its okay that they also kill people. This story mocks that.Mothers Lock up your Daughters because They are Terrifying : Really quite disappointing. I had high hopes for this one. It had a great name, it was the ending story, the other ones towards the end of have been mostly decent. But I disliked it, had zero interest in the motherhood themes or the adoption themes. I skimmed it just to get it done but it was quite boring and very preachy. 1/5