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A review by bookishwendy
Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling
3.0
This was a mixed bag for me, as most story collections are. I love the idea of the "gaslamp fantasy" genre, which in my mind is historical fiction set in the Victorian era, with just a touch of fairy dust. This is the editor's mindset, too, as she elaborates in her introduction about how the rise of the industrial revolution coincided with a renewed interest in the fae and the occult--a sort of emotional revolt against science and technology, against the growth of knowledge and the shrinking of the Unknown.
With that said, I most appreciated the stories that went for seriousness and depth. Hands down, my favorite story was "Phosphorous," which successfully combined the occult with the gruesome (and completely factual) descriptions of "phossy jaw", a condition afflicting factory girls who worked in match factories in which the bones of their jaws would rot and crumble away. Ick.
I also liked "Charged", about a narrator who is struck by lightening and seems to have the ability to control electricity; "Smithfield," an elegy to the loss of gaslamps to candescent lighting; the voice-rich "La Reine d'Enfer"; and the re-imagined Victoria of the title story, learning spells as a young girl.
I didn't care so much for the stories that went more the "fan-fiction of well-known characters in 19th century fiction" route because I felt the authors leaned too much on said pre-established characters, so while these stories were quite quirky, they got little emotional response from me.
With that said, I most appreciated the stories that went for seriousness and depth. Hands down, my favorite story was "Phosphorous," which successfully combined the occult with the gruesome (and completely factual) descriptions of "phossy jaw", a condition afflicting factory girls who worked in match factories in which the bones of their jaws would rot and crumble away. Ick.
I also liked "Charged", about a narrator who is struck by lightening and seems to have the ability to control electricity; "Smithfield," an elegy to the loss of gaslamps to candescent lighting; the voice-rich "La Reine d'Enfer"; and the re-imagined Victoria of the title story, learning spells as a young girl.
I didn't care so much for the stories that went more the "fan-fiction of well-known characters in 19th century fiction" route because I felt the authors leaned too much on said pre-established characters, so while these stories were quite quirky, they got little emotional response from me.