Marian Allen

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion, and I liked it so I’ve bought a copy, too. In particular, I wanted this collection because it promised more stories of the mermayds (first seen in Marian Allen’s novel Eel’s Reverence, which I liked a lot and the author assures me will be rereleased soon). Even if you’re not familiar with Allen’s previous work, though, this collection is still well worth reading.

Many of the stories are brief glimpses of ideas and concepts, seeming very free and experimental in nature. Some even use gibberish spambot emails as their inspiration. All of the stories have a strong sense of character and voice, focusing more on the people (be they human or otherwise) than on the shiny trappings of sci-fi and science fantasy. As I said, I’m already sold on Allen’s eel-like merpeople, the mermayds: they have three stories full of their distinctive worldview. I also particularly liked Three Men In A Blimp, To Say Nothing Of The Automaton, for its goofy yet down-to-earth take on steampunk.

The stories often start in the thick of the action, and many of them are only a few pages long. If you like long novels that explain everything thoroughly, Other Earth, Other Stars will probably not be your cup of tea. But if you have an appreciation for short stories that are like jagged-edged slivers of peanut brittle — morsels to be savoured, not gulped down — then this is a great sci-fi sampler. A solid 4 stars.… (más)

Thank you to the publishers for providing this ebook in exchange for an honest review. This did not alter my review in any way.

Trust and Treachery is an anthology of short stories, showing some of the best and worst of human nature. Stories of betrayal and mislaid trust abound in this collection that spans across a variety of authors, genres and worlds. One moment you are reading about intergalactic space travel between planets and the relations between their inhabitants, the next the double life of a travelling salesman. This book has got it all, providing something for everyone. But individually, it will probably only have a little for you.

Diverse books are great. But the problem with having such diversity in one anthology means that not every story will have an appeal. I stopped reading at one point in the middle of a story and didn't pick it up again for two days because I just lost interest and had other things to do. Others I really enjoyed and wished I could have read more of. In this sense, it was a good introduction to new authors. But as a whole it made the book hard to get through all at once. Breaking this book up and reading only a couple of stories here and there would have been a better way for me to enjoy this book.

My favourite stories included Neighbour from Hell by Edoardo Albert, Missing Persons by Ann L. Kopchik and Oathbreaker by Kate Marshall, while honourable mentions go to Lunar Epithalamion by Calie Voorhis, for blending the magical and the scientific, and Short Dark Future by Marian Allen because I enjoy seeing idiots outsmarted by intelligent people - a win for everyone ever labelled a 'nerd' or a 'geek'. I had never read anything from any of these authors before, this anthology has brought me to some new writers I look forward to reading more from. I also enjoyed the parts of the story right before the big reveal, when you're anxious and waiting to find out the betrayer and scrambling in your head to work it out before you read the words. Always makes for a fun read! A fairly enjoyable one at 3 stars, although in a collection this wide you're always going to stumble across some you don't enjoy.… (más)

As a pacifistic elderly woman, Aunt Libby is not your everyday fantasy protagonist. That's what first caught my eye about Eel's Reverence and it's what I enjoyed about the story. As a true priest, Libby offers kindness and forgiveness to everyone, even people who have made attempts on her life. She inspires the characters around her to do what's right, which drives the entire story. A lot of characters turn from enemies into friends regardless of whether they're religious themselves. One character seemed like a cliched, cardboard villain at first, but they turned themselves around thanks to Libby's inspiration -- and I found them a downright endearing character by the end. Basically, there's a lot of violence and scheming to liberate the Eel, but Libby and her genuine faith provide a lot of positive themes to balance out the blood.

I did have a few quibbles with the writing. The characters never seem to look after for their horses or think about the horses' needs, even when riding them all day and night through the desert. I doubt this was a conscious choice on the author's part (because the horses show no ill effects), but it still bothered me that those poor horses were being driven like cars. I also found scene description a bit lacking at times, summing up significant actions in a simple "X did Y" manner that didn't capture as much feeling as it could have.

More significantly, Libby's point of view is used at all times, even for scenes she wasn't present in. This became jarring sometimes when Libby hadn't been onscreen for twenty pages and the narrative suddenly referred to "me". Then I'd remember that this is Libby's narration and I'd wonder how she knew all the tiny details of the scene. Did someone tell her all the details she herself would have noticed ...? It would have been more effective to use the POV of someone who was actually there, especially when Loach the mermayd was the focus character. Fair treatment of mermayds was an important issue in the story, and I thought they were an interesting race in general, so I was disappointed that the mermayd worldview was always filtered through a human POV.

But like I say, those are quibbles. They weren't enough to stop me from enjoying the story, and I'm glad I found this book.… (más)