Phoebe Darqueling

So, I knew this was the first book in a series before I read it, but I didn't realise it was one of those series where each book isn't a stand-alone story. I find that immensely frustrating.

The book starts strong – good characters, good writing – but lost steam for me as it went along. There are a few irritating typos ("arm and arm" instead of "arm in arm", "heals" instead of "heels" etc), and the main character gets whiny and stroppy in a way that isn't endearing.

Not sure I'll be back for book two, although I'm not discounting it completely.

(Received a free copy as part of the Librarything Early Review programme.)… (más)

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

The retellings included in Fairy Tales Punk’d are quite wide in scope, choosing fairy tales I know and ones new to me as well as more modern folk tales. Their genres vary from sweet retellings to twists with darker, although possibly more accurate, ends. The scene dividers offered a subtle hint to the story type by changing one element to reflect each story.

A lot of the tales are steampunk twists, but far from all. There were also those set in a pure fairy tale land, dystopian/post-apocalyptic tales, a private investigator one, and more, offering a lot of variety. Whether they were punk’d depends on what you’re expecting that term to mean.

I may not have enjoyed every story, but I found them well written for the most part. Some went too dark for my preference or didn’t appeal for other personal reasons. It’s rare to read an anthology where every story clicks, though, so I’m happy with what I found here. I was planning to mention only my favorites and maybe a few that came close, but as I reviewed my notes, I found I’d liked something about every story. Perhaps the notes below will inspire you to see if you agree or disagree with my reactions.

Making Bones by Phoebe Darqueling
An interesting mob version of Cinderella with strong writing and ethical dilemmas that caught me up in the moment. I can say no more without spoilers.

Star Tsarina by TJ O’Hare
This is an interesting story, though not a favorite. I found it a little too convenient, and yet the concept fascinated me. I suspect the story was first written for a Pluto anthology. It might have served with some editing of dwarf planet references, but it plays on the unknown in a way I appreciate. It’s also based on a Cossack fairy tale called How the Mole was Made, which speaks to the broad inspiration sources in the anthology.

Steel-blue Babe by Aaron Isett
I enjoyed this retelling of Paul Bunyan and how it plays with the “man behind the myth” concept. I can say nothing more without giving it away, but I liked the narrative voice as well. Very traditional American storyteller.

The Sharp Mechanical Sheep by Kay Gray
I both enjoyed this story and not. Too much about the ram is unexplainable, and the link to Cinderella seemed a stretch. It might have worked out better with Snow White references. At the same time, the steampunk elements are clever, and I found much of the story engaging.

The Girl in the Tower by A. F. Stewart
The story absorbed me enough to make the twist startling. I like how there’s an element of the teaching tale here, despite its modern voice. This tale builds on hints and half-swallowed comments to a place with many possible paths before the end unfolds. A bit creepy, but nicely done.

Hoods and Wolves by Briant Laslo
This is an interesting story. Very cyberpunk and dystopian in concept, with a Terminator feel at times, but the ties to Little Red Riding Hood are strong. I saw the patterns and yet still was fooled as I got caught up in the story.

The Great Astrolabe of Einsem By K. A. Lindstrom
This begins as a story about how a village treats the disabled among them, and how poorly understood science appears as magic (though it’s not that straightforward). I found the story well written, and I enjoyed much of it, but ultimately, this tale was too dark for me.

Liberty by Crysta K. Coburn
This one ends with something left hanging, but even so, it lands firmly in my favorites pile. Liberty is another Cinderella retelling, but uses the source material in an unexpected manner. I liked how she takes hold of her destiny and enjoyed the traditional, rather than steampunk, grease monkey leanings as a switch from the other stories.

A Saturnine, a Martial, and a Mercurial Lunatic by Amber Michelle Cook
This is a posturing, steampunkesque take on Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. It’s dense and hard to read, true to the source material. I admire the effort, if not the tale which I found a bit overdone. The poem is included in full, so you can judge the homage yourself.

The Second Mission of Azarbad the Aeronaut by J. Woolston Carr
This is a fun take on One Thousand and One Nights. It shows only a glimpse into the framing story, along with one of her nightly tales, but I enjoyed the nightly tale and found the framing story amusing. Both are steampunk in feel, personalities, and devices, but the nightly tale retains its Arabic roots.

Black Dog, Wild Wood by Thomas Gregory
While I enjoyed many individual moments in this story, overall, it felt too big for the allowed word count. There’s a lot going on that is either explained in the narrative or left hanging, and I found the end unclear. Still, while I might not have understood the history any better than the deliberately kept ignorant prince, I enjoyed his bewildered acceptance of help from odd places. I loved the crazy mechanical geniuses and even laughed at times. I suspect an expansion to novelette or even novella length would bring all the pieces together and remove any of my doubts.

Mirror in Her Hand by Liz Tuckwell
This story is a neat twist on Snow White with one jarring moment. The male lead is just as obsessed with beauty as the queen and shows it through extreme ageism in just one instance. Frequently, though, he judges the beauty stronger than the villain when contemplating the stepmother. There are a good number of strong moments to help counter the jarring one, with more going on than you might suspect.

Wound by Paul Hiscock
This is a beautiful story, with elements of a teaching tale, and my favorite overall. It’s odd to say that when I felt it left one aspect unresolved, but that just speaks to how much I liked it. A good closure to an anthology full of talented authors.

P.S. I received this Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher in return for an honest review.… (más)

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

I rarely review anthologies because not all the stories work for me in most. I was pleasantly surprised to find something to like in all these stories, even the more horrific I usually shy away from.

A lot of what makes this a successful anthology is the use of not one overall concept but three blended together. The stories are all some sort of mix between fairy tale and myth, and steam/clockwork punk. They also share a common omniscient narrative style, though with different approaches at times. The stories feel like they fit together despite strong differences, a factor in why I wasn’t jerked from one world to another.

The downside of using fairy tale retellings comes in how several of the stories were so well known to me I thought I’d read these particular takes at first. That rarely lasted to the end, however, as these tales offer a creative approach to traditional ones, often changing the lesson to be taught along with the specifics. I will speak in generalities to avoid spoilers in my thoughts on each story.

The Clockwork Nightingale by Bess Raechel Goden

This is a story I’ve read in several iterations, even at least one steampunk version. It lends itself to the world of automatons as a way out of the original story where a thing of nature when trapped loses what made it special. However, in this version, the outcome is a new take on both those elements, and I enjoyed how things turned out.

Sleeping Steaming Beauty by Victoria L. Szulc

Again, an interesting steampunk take on the traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty that has its similarities to the previous story themes.

Odyssey? by Aaron Isett

There were many ways the author could have gone with a ship crewed by clockwork sailors. This one stays a bit closer to the original Homeric poem while offering an interesting twist on the consequences of hearing siren song.

The Marionette by Phoebe Darqueling

This is the darkest tale in the anthology and so the furthest from my preference. However, I appreciated the narrative voice. It went one step further than the others to bring back memories of prison accounts, fictional or true, written by noble prisoners as they awaited a gruesome death in the Tower of London or revolutionary France. The story is told through the lens of future knowledge in a dispassionate account of the truly horrific, almost as though the narrator remains emotionally shut down after what he has experienced. And the last line is beautiful, appropriate, prose.

The Little Wind-up Mermaid by K. Gray

Gray’s story dances on the edge of horror without going over as an overly curious mermaid goes to the surface after great sacrifice. There are some unfinished pieces at the end, but the major conflicts are resolved in a surprising way.

Treasure by Crysta K. Coburn

Several elements are changed to make this Snow White retelling into a steampunk story, but it stays true to a jealousy so strong as to drive the queen mad, and the homage to its origins are clear. I enjoyed the queen’s innovation, if not her intent, and the tinkerer who takes the place of the seven dwarves is fun to read about.

The Queen of Clocks by Thomas Gregory

This is my favorite of all the stories, and a good end to the anthology even though I had some issues with the story’s ending. It felt rushed, leaving me to guess at some of the links in between, but still carried the elements of the traditional fairy tale style. What elevated this story in my regard, though, had everything to do with the clockwork descriptions. How Hans accomplishes his tasks and is of help to those in need is lovely, as are the creations that pepper the story. The puzzles necessary to repair what he is tasked to help are also well thought out.

There are some editing issues in my version I hope have been fixed in a later one, but nothing that could stop me from enjoying the whole. I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially since Phoebe Darqueling’s story was the one to draw me to the anthology and I’m not much of a horror fan.

The first two stories swept away any lingering concerns, and each one had some aspects that shone. I have not found all the stories in an anthology enjoyable for some time, but The Queen of Clocks and Other Steampunk Tales made me reconsider that risk.… (más)

This is probably the best portal fantasy I’ve ever read.

There were so many character arcs that the story was constantly full of suspense and action. I loved the idea of how the portal changed people into animals and animals into people. Buddy was a loveable character, exhibiting all the traits of a dog even when he was human.

His eagerness to jump into danger made him an interesting main character and funny at times. I think my favorite character in the piece though was Adelaide because of her mystery. We don’t learn much about her until the end of the story and until then, her entire character is solemn and different.

This book also included otherworldly creatures that you don’t read about much in other fiction like chimeras and djinn—which I thought was quite unique and refreshing. If you’re looking for a unique read full of action and suspense, this is the book for you… (más)