Tag Archives: Fantasy

April 24, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Heart of Water and Stone

Book cover for Heart of Water and Stone  by EE Ottoman. Image on cover shows some small white wildflowers growing next to stream that has a rocky bed in it and some stones piled beside it, too. The water is rippling slightly as if it’s a somewhat windy - but not stormy - day. Title: Heart of Water and Stone

Author: EE Ottoman

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 12, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQ, Romance, Historical

Length: 68 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Girin is a troll, content with his simple, quiet life in the forest—a life thrown into chaos when he stumbles across an unconscious human on one of the mountain paths. The human is not an ordinary one either, but a witch—tortured, branded, and mere steps from death when Girin finds him. Unable to leave him there to die alone, Girin takes the human home to nurse him back to health. But he quickly learns that keeping one stubborn human alive is a far more difficult task than he first surmised …

Content Warning: Historical references to slavery, torture, and the belief in witchcraft.

Review:

Goodness comes in many forms.

Trolls aren’t common protagonists in fantasy, so I was excited to meet one here. It’s always nice when authors purposefully seek out themes and types of their genres that are not currently in vogue. Yes, it can be a risk in some cases depending on how audiences react, but I’d argue it’s one worth taking. It’s much more interesting to read tales that flip the reader’s expectations around and play around with who we’re supposed to sympathize with than it is to read one that sticks closely to the tropes. (Not that tropes are bad things, of course! There’s simply something to be said for thinking critically about why specific ones are being used).

I would have liked to see more world building in this piece, especially as it was related to Girin’s communication with the mountain during a point of conflict in one of the later scenes. There were so many things I wanted to know about how their relationship worked and what the mountain might be capable of doing to help him. If this had been explained better, I would have happily gone with a higher rating.

The slow-burn romance worked well for the characters and storyline. Both Girin and Ronan had plenty of reasons to be cautious about falling in love, so it made perfect sense for them to build a strong friendship first. This also meant that the romantic elements of the plot were often overshadowed by the fantasy and adventure themes which was a positive thing to this reader. A dash of this sort of content is plenty for my tastes most of the time.

Heart of Water and Stone made me smile.

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March 13, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Apis

Book cover for Apis by Liz Boysha. Image on cover shows a drawing of a black woman who has patches of something gold and glowing on her skin. She’s holding her chin up with one hand has she looks thoughtfully and happily off to the viewer’s right. There are blue, purple, and yellow flowers woven into a halo-like object above her head. Title: Apis

Author: Liz Boysha

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 15, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQ, Contemporary

Length: 166 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A woman wakes up to find bees are living inside her. It’s a love story.

Content Warning: References to growing up in multiple foster homes. Rape. Attempted sexual abuse. Miscarriage. Bee stings. Stabbings. Fainting. Anaphylaxis from bee stings. A house fire that resulted in a child being orphaned. Metastatic breast cancer. Infertile foster parents who disrupt the placement of their foster child after getting pregnant.  Miscarriage. TI will not be discussing any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Hope isn’t a thing with feathers in this universe, but it does have wings.

The world building left plenty to the imagination which fit Astrid’s personality and backstory nicely. She wasn’t the sort of person who would ever stick her nose where it didn’t belong, and she appreciated the same treatment from others. Her fierce desire for independence coloured everything she said and did, including her limited interest in what was happening around her unless it personally affected her in some way. This was a slightly unusual choice, so I commend Ms. Boysha for taking that risk in writing a character who, in a different set of hands, could come across in a much harsher light. There is something to be said for characters who have strong boundaries and aren’t afraid to enforce them, and I hope to meet more characters like this in the future.

One of the things I struggled with as I read part one was how many different traumatic things kept happening to the characters, particularly the protagonist Astrid. Including one to a few of them would have been enough to keep the storyline moving forward, but to have wave after wave of awful experiences that were shared but generally never resolved was too much for my tastes. This is something I’m saying as someone who reads horror and is accustomed to a decent level of scary and disturbing scenes. Other readers may disagree, of course, but I think this would have been a stronger work if Astrid had been given time to process and heal from a smaller number of painful experiences.

With that being said, I was intrigued by how Ms. Boysha used these scenes as possible fodder for the metaphor she was exploring. (I say possible because I believe there are other explanations that could also be just as valid). Trauma of any form can resurface months, years, or decades later in ways that may not make immediate sense to someone who isn’t aware of the backstory. Yes, I’m being vague here, but the details are best teased out by other readers for themselves so you can form your own theories about what this tale means. I found it meaningful to draw parallels between Astrid’s early life experiences and how her life unfolded after the events of the first scene.

Apis filled me with questions.

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February 20, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Priye

Book cover for Priye by Lynn Strong. Image on cover shows a drawing of a striped grey and white kitten looking up and just to the right. It’s not quite making eye contact with the viewer. Behind the cat is a black doorway and, above the doorway, and golden wall that has been subtly carved with dozens of small circles and petal-like shapes that repeat themselves in pleasing patterns. Title: Priye

Author: Lynn Strong

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 3, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Alternate History

Length: 63 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Wander the world of the Catsprowl with a Miyazaki-style look through the eyes of a catfolk kitten in a large, multicultural, multi-religious city which is full of book-keepers and bath-houses, priests and prophets and pigeons, and even one small kitten’s nemesis: soap and water. (This is one of the three novellas collected in Chai and Cat-tales.)

Priye

For a small alley-kitten, human words make a tricky tangle of misunderstandings that bite back. Purring and hissing and yowling are much more clear.

A human named her Priye, though, and he taught her that it means someone who is darling, someone who is treasured.

Growing up in the nooks between three cultures is hard, but Priye wants to make her own way. And she wants to repay the kind people who feed small hungry kittens.

But it’s not always easy to hunt when everyone else is bigger and stronger and faster. The humans who named her like soap and water entirely too much.

But maybe they have a point about sharing things instead of hunting things? (They absolutely do not have a point about soap, though. Soap is the most horrible thing ever.)

For the neurospicy folks who struggle with the words people expect, this one is for you. For the disabled folks and those who need to hear that your value isn’t in your work output, this one is for you too.

Content Warning: An accidental injury.

Review:

Cozy fantasy is underrated.

Xenofiction is one of those micro genres I’m always excited to discover! The world looks different when viewed through the eyes of a kitten who is regularly flabbergasted by the ridiculous things humans say and do. Honestly, my favourite scenes in this piece were the ones that described silly human customs and choices in vivid detail without Priye quite understanding the significance of them in that moment. What a fabulous opportunity to view the world from a different perspective while wondering if the main character might someday understand some of these things a little better.

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to the world building, especially when it came to what cats are and are not capable of doing in this universe. Without giving away too much information, the cats in this world are different from the ones in ours in a few significant ways, and I was surprised that those moments were given more time to shine. There was more the author could have done with these details, and I would have gone for a full five-star rating if that had happened.

The conflict was understated and suited the plot nicely. It was exactly the sort of thing I’d expect a kitten to eventually have to deal with, and I liked the way her feline and human companions rallied around her once it occurred. This remained firmly in the cozy niche of the fantasy genre while still leaving room for a reader to wonder what might happen next. It was a smart balance between providing a challenge for Priye to overcome and remaining true to the playful and relaxing vibes of this tale as a whole.

Priye made me yearn for more.

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February 13, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Witch of Cromer

Book cover for The Witch of Cromer by Benjamin Parsons. image on cover shows a black, white, and grey drawing of a woman wearing a long white dress and white veil. her long hair whips out behind her as if she’s facing the wind. She’s holding a wand in one hand and a large crab in the other and gazing intently at the crab. Around her neck is a large black scarf with white crosses or x’s on it. Title: The Witch of Cromer

Author: Benjamin Parsons

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 2, 2011

Genres: Fantasy

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Besotted Steven is so desperate to make Bridget love him that he decides to try supernatural means to win her heart. But is he ready to face the consequences of dabbling in witchcraft? And dare he try to outwit the famous and fatal Witch of Cromer? Part of the collection The Green Lady and Other Stories.

Content Warning: Murder

Review:

Love is a gift…right?

While this wasn’t specifically set during Valentine’s Day, the themes reminded me of the pressure society puts on people to couple up. Steven believed his life wouldn’t be complete unless he could share it with Bridget, and he was determined to convince her to feel the same way. Unrequited love is a painful but normal chapter in life for many of us, so I enjoyed the author’s take on what could happen when this feeling slammed up against the societal expectation that everyone ought to find their special someone.

There was a small but purposeful mistake Steven made early on that I wished had been revisited in greater detail. Would his fate had been different if he had made a different choice instead, or would he have ended up in the same place in life either way? I’m the sort of reader who looks forward to pondering about these sorts of loose ends, but in this particular case I think the storyline would have been even stronger if the author had spent even a few sentences on in the final scene to give the audience some hint as to what he thought might have happened if that earlier moment in Steven’s life had turned out differently.

The twist at the end was something I wondered about in advance, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that has to be a surprise in order to be satisfying. I liked the way it answered some of the most important questions this reader had while also leaving room for interpretation for most of the other stuff that wasn’t wrapped up succinctly. If this review inspires any of you to check out this tale for yourselves, I’d be excited to hear your takes on it as well as your theories about what might have happened next. There are so many details I had to leave out here in order to avoid spoilers, but this was a thought-provoking spin on love and romance for sure.

The Witch of Cromer was a wild ride.

 

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January 16, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of A Divine Tale

Book cover for A Divine Tale by Jonathan Antony Strickland. Image on cover shows a few dozen small snow people that have been built next to each tower. They each look to be about 1-2 feet high. Each snowman has a face made of things like coal or carrots or little rocks, but each face is different from the next. Some look angry while others are worried, surprised, thoughtful, or bored depending on how you interpret the placement of their eyebrows, mouth, eyes, and nose. Title: A Divine Tale

Author: Jonathan Antony Strickland

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 8, 2012

Genres: Fantasy, Humour

Length: 13 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

This is a story about Seglaman the Snow God, and how other God’s use his sorry tale as a reminder to younger less experienced God’s as a warning to never become too comfortable when ruling over mortals who worship them.

Review:

Kindness matters.

While religion was discussed in this tale, this was not at all what I’d consider the inspirational genre. For one thing, the protagonist was a Snow God who, to be frank, was not the nicest deity around. Mr. Strickland also wasn’t shy about pointing out some of the dangers of blindly following any sort of belief whether it’s religious, political, ideological, or otherwise. My hope is that other readers will be intrigued by this approach to what can be a sensitive topic for some and willing to listen with an open mind regardless of your personal beliefs.

This came across to me as more of the first draft of a story than the finished product. There wasn’t much time spent on character or plot development, and that made it more difficult for me to remain interested in what was happening than I hoped I would be.  A lot was going on here with Seglaman’s relationship with the mortals he ruled over that I wished had been explained in greater detail. As much as I wanted to give this tale a higher rating, I had too many lingering questions to do so.

With that being said, the ending made me smile. It veered off into the direction I was hoping it would head, so I was able to see Seglaman’s reaction to something he never saw coming in advance. My apologies for keeping this vague, but other readers should be pleasantly surprised by those moments like I was. It went a long way in tying up loose ends for a Snow God and the mortals he ruled over alike.

A Divine Tale was thought provoking.

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December 26, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of From Shadows to Strength

Book cover for From Shadows to Strength by Jamilette Cintron. Image on cover is a drawing of thick fog winding its way through a pine forest on a dark, overcast day. This scene is framed by a window frame, so the viewer is tucked away safely indoors after all! My first impression was that the viewer would be walking through this damp and cold scene alone. Title: From Shadows to Strength

Author: Jamilette Cintron

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 20, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary

Length: 5 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

After a life-changing surgery, she thought the hardest part was over. But as her body begins to heal, a new battle emerges—one that can’t be seen on the surface. Depression quietly creeps in, threatening to pull her deeper into the shadows. With every step forward, she struggles to find the strength to rise from the emotional wreckage, discovering that the journey of healing is more than physical. It’s a fight for self-love, hope, and the courage to face her darkest fears. This is her story of resilience, a testament to the power of the human spirit to overcome even the deepest scar.

Content Warning: Depression. Anxiety. References to a painful surgery.

Review:

Hope is the thing with feathers, or, in this case, bandages instead.

Recovering from surgery is a process. Even minor procedures take a toll on the body and can make recovery feel endless if someone doesn’t fully know what to expect going in or if they were quietly expecting to heal faster than the average person. Some of the most interesting passages in this piece focus on the mental health aspects of this experience for a patient who desperately wanted to be feeling better by now.

I would have loved to see the metaphor in this short story expanded upon. There were a few different ways to interpret it from what I could tell, but I was never quite sure which interpretation or interpretations the author intended her audience to gravitate towards. Yes, I know I’m being vague here, but this is one of those things that a reviewer must talk circles around in order to avoid giving away spoilers. What I can say is that there were some thought provoking ideas embedded in this piece that could have made this a five-star read with more development.

The ending made me smile. As much as I wanted more details about what was going on, I also appreciated how hopeful it was and how much optimism I had for what the main character might do next. She’d been through so much already that I wanted her to thrive from that point forward. Many of the stories I read have more ambigious endings, so it was refreshing to flip past the final page and feel so good about what I just read.

From Shadows to Strength piqued my curiosity. 

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December 12, 2024 · 1:00 am

Winter Solstice Delights: A Review of Midwinter Magic and Mayhem

Book cover for Midwinter Magic and Mayhem edited by Frances Evelyn. Image on cover is a drawing of a pale-skinned woman who is standing outside in a snowstorm with no clothes on. (You can only see her face, neck, and a little bit of her shoulders). Her straight, dark blonde hair is swirling around her head and she is staring at the audience with a serious expression on her face as the snow blows around her. Title: Midwinter Magic and Mayhem

Author: edited by Frances Evelyn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 15, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Holiday, Romance, Contemporary, Historical

Length: 199 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Short stories for the darkest of nights
Midwinter fantasy from award-winning fantasy authors

Witches, demons, spirits and ghosts haunt these pages, tricking, trapping and seducing unwary mortals. Humans, meanwhile, are wielding magic and the spirits for their own ends, with no guarantee of good intentions or great success. Along the way, God and Lucifer wash their hands of us all.

Real-world and epic fantasy rub shoulders with fantasy romance and horror in this new collection of short stories by much-loved authors. Ration yourself to one a night to colour your dreams or binge through them all in search of your next favourite series.

Why so cheap? What’s the catch?
Don’t you worry about that. Just put out your hand and let us take you into the chill of a winter night. What could possibly go wrong?

Content Warning: Migraines. Ancient curses and ancient blessings. Characters drinking alcohol. Hypothermia. Death. I will not discuss any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Prepare for something delightful.

Galyna received warnings in her dreams from one of her ancestors about various forms of danger that were threatening her and those she loved “The Horse Woman.” This was something established pretty early on on in the storyline, so I don’t consider it a spoiler. What I found interesting about this tale is that Galyna’s ancestor had lived so many generations ago that nobody in the family knew anything about her other than these few sparse facts. Imagine getting warnings from someone so far back in one’s family tree. Where the storyline went from there surprised me and made it difficult to stop reading. What creativity! I’d read an entire book about these characters if such a thing existed.

“Daisy” showed what happened when Janie decided to adopt an odd little stray cat that showed up in her garden one autumn. There are so many details of this story that I can’t share without giving away the plot twists, but what I can say is that I loved Janie’s compassion for her new pet no matter how strange life became for the two of them. One of my all-time favorite tropes involves ordinary people performing acts of kindness for those who can’t possibly repay them. There is something so wholesome about someone who simply wants to make the world a better place in whatever small ways they can without any expectations of being noticed or thanked, and I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of reading about these quiet, sweet moments that happen regularly both in fiction and and in real life.

One of the things that frightens me the most about winter is the possibility of getting stuck outdoors in the cold for too long. After Jessica’s car died, she became so hypothermic she fell asleep and then woke up in a bizarre bar in ‘The Spirit of Winter.” Due to the dangerous beginning of this story, I was pleasantly surprised by where it meandered off to after Jessica’s exposure to the cold weather began to affect her so seriously. It was not at all what I was expecting, but it worked well for the characters and plot and gave me multiple hints about how it could be interpreted depending upon how a reader reacts to certain clues.

Midwinter Magic and Mayhem was the perfect read for the holiday season.

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November 14, 2024 · 1:00 am

Urban Magic: A Review of Bodega Botanica Tales

Book cover for Bodega Botanical Tales by Marianne Rodriguez Bross. Image on cover shows a preteen Hispanic boy who is wearing jeans, white sneakers, and a puffy black jacket standing in the doorway to a greenhouse. What’s interesting about this scene is that the door appears to be outdoors in an alley or urban street as you can see a brick wall surrounding it and some trash on the sidewalk nearby. The greenhouse is lush and filled with flowers and other healthy plants. Title: Bodega Botanica Tales

Author: Maria Rodriguez Bross

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 5, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 46 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Eleven-year-old Jose has always felt invisible, surrounded by problems no one seems to notice—an empty belly, neighborhood bullies, and a mysterious green-and-yellow bracelet given to him by the Bodega man. One fateful day, as Jose’s struggles reach a breaking point, he is rescued by a supernatural being who transports him to a magical bodega that transports him to a breathtaking, enchanted rainforest filled with magic and mystery. In this extraordinary world, Jose meets another supernatural being, named Don Wicho, who grants him a single wish that will change his life forever. Without hesitation, he makes his wish, desperate to escape his troubles. But once he returns to reality, the boundaries between fantasy and his own world begin to blur. As Jose grows older, he wrestles with the consequences of his wish. Was it all just a dream born of childhood anxiety or did it truly happen? When a chance meeting with someone from his past brings up traumatic memories back to the surface, Jose realizes he is not ready to confront the past. But every wish has a cost, and the consequences of that wish are confirmed. Bodega Botanica Tales- Jose’s Story is the first tale in a series of a magical, coming-of-age stories about courage, resilience, and the price of wishes. Perfect for readers who love fantasy, adventure, and magical bodegas.

Content Warning: Bullying, theft, mental illness, and a developmentally-delayed child.

Review:

Cities are full of secrets.

So much of the fantasy I’ve read was set either out in the woods or in tiny little towns near vast stretches of nature that it was refreshing to read something from an urban environment. Being surrounded by thousands of other people doesn’t mean someone can’t still feel alone or in need to guidance from paranormal sources, and I enjoyed the ways Ms. Rodriguez Bross explored how the unseen world might operate in such a setting.

The world building was strong and memorable. I loved the way the neighbourhood bodega was also a character of sorts in this short story. It influenced the lives of the people who visited it in all sorts of intriguing ways, both magical and realistic. Readers who have been lucky enough to live near a bodega will have a few extra treats to enjoy as they read this, but one doesn’t have to have that particular life experience in order to get something fabulous out of this.

Jose was a relatable protagonist who didn’t always know which decision was the right one to make but who did have good intentions in life. Yes, he was a preteen, but this didn’t feel like a middle grade story and that was part of the charm of it and of this character as well. The storyline was a little more serious and gritty than most middle grade fiction even though I’d agree that some kids may relate to those aspects and enjoy them just as much as adults can. In the end, I think the author was right in marketing this to adults, but I appreciated how easily Jose’s concerns about his family could cross over to younger audiences, too, as he decided how to handle everything from his sister’s physical health problems to his mother’s mental health problems and the bullying he was experiencing from other kids. Writing to more than one audience like this isn’t easy, so I appreciated the chance to view Jose from multiple perspectives as he grew older.

Bodega Botanica Tales made me yearn for a sequel. Bravo!

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August 22, 2024 · 1:00 am

The Perfect Job: A Review of Pathways to Bolingbrook

Book cover for Pathways to Bolingbrook by William Brinkman. Image on cover shows a realistic drawing of two young women, one black and one Asian, gazing intently at the viewer. They are wearing long-sleeved dark shirts and jackets and look dressed for cool weather (or maybe a zombie attack!)Title: Pathways to Bolingbrook

Author: William Brinkman

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: February 27, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Historical

Length: 26 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Two desperate women search for answers in this gripping Urban Fantasy double-header.

Miriam craves escape from her dead-end life in Iowa City. A stranger’s offer could make her dream come true… or plunge her into a nightmare.

Sara, reporter for a struggling paper, stumbles on a cryptic recording—one she doesn’t remember making. Could uncovering the truth destroy her career… or her family?

The quiet suburb of Bolingbrook masks dark secrets. Stories about local paranormal activities fill the pages of the local tabloid, Bolingbrook Babbler. Are they just tales or terrifying truths?

Will Miriam embrace a dark path? Will Sara risk everything to expose a secret?

Review:

It takes a special sort of person to accept such dangerous and thankless work.

I enjoyed getting to know Miriam and Sarah in this introduction to their world. They were both intelligent and resourceful women who had already accomplished quite a bit with their lives before being approached by a mysterious man with the sort of job offer most folks will never be aware even exists much less have a chance to try for themselves. While they didn’t meet each other here much to my surprise, I could see a lot of similarities between their personalities that made me wonder what they’d think about each other at some point in the future when the plot does bring them together.

While I totally understand that this was written as an introduction to a series, it would have been nice to have more conflict. Almost all of it was devoted to introducing the two protagonists, briefly describing what their lives had been like so far, and giving hints about why they might decide to take on these new roles. Yes, it was interesting and completely necessary to have all of that background information, but it also meant that the characters didn’t have much to wrestle with during the brief time I knew them. I would have loved to see how they both handled some sort of small problem that could foreshadow what to expect from them in the future.

With that being said, I did enjoy the world building and little snippets of foreshadowing that occurred. Bolingbrook honestly sounds like a rough place to live, but it also seems like it could be full of wonderful surprises for Sarah and Miriam. My hope is that this will provide them plenty of conflict in later instalments as I thought there was a lot of promise here that hadn’t quite been realized yet.

Pathways to Bolingbrook was interesting.

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August 15, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Book cover for Tiny Forgotten Wishes by Janky Fluffy. Image on cover is a drawing of a human brain made with a pink pen or marker. In the upper right hand corner is a smaller and less vibrant drawing of a single pink rose. Title: Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Author: Janky Fluffy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 20, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal

Length: 58 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Little Defective Things: Mother and Father must protect their ordinary daughter from the evils of perfectionism.
Forgotten Toys: She is not a toy and must save herself.
A Pretty Apocalypse: Social media causes the kingdom’s collapse.
Hair Like Starlight, Eyes Like Dreams: A man has a near-death experience and meets an angel.
21 Broken Christmases: The Grim Reaper is a woman and is in charge of more than just death.
Leftover Food for Wellness: A troll meets humans for dinner.
Salt’s Real Kiss: The magic man promises beauty for a price, and Salt refuses to pay.
Of Butterflies & Ghosts: Bobby enters the rundown funeral home and discovers the truth about his wife.
Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes: The genie falls in love.
Her Turquoise Reunion: She survived the most brutal school with kindness.
Tiny Songs for Nocturnal Beings: The ghouls come for their yearly feeding.
Fleeing Monsters: Emelia must survive the monsters. But who are the real monsters?

Content Warning: Death, a cult, ableist characters. I won’t discuss any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Think of this collection like a sampling platter of different worlds and characters. A nibble here and there may fill you up.

Trolls aren’t very common in modern fantasy stories from what I’ve observed, so “Leftover Food for Wellness” piqued my interest. Figuring out why someone would purposefully seek one out in this day and age didn’t take very long, but it did give me food for thought as the arrogant main character made one bad decision after the next. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what those choices were and how they turned out for him, but I liked seeing his reaction to getting his wish. There’s definitely something to be said for making wishes come true…even the ones that never should have been made in the first place.

As intrigued as I was by the premise of “A Pretty Apocalypse,” the plot holes in it made it difficult for me to remain invested in what was happening. Social media has downsides to be sure, but I wasn’t convinced that this alone could cause society to collapse. While all of the stories in this collection were purposefully written to be short and sweet, this was one of multiple examples I thought would have been better if there had been more time to explain what was happening in them.

“Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes” was refreshing. Of course genies should have the chance to fall in love the way humans do! There were a few fun twists in this one which was a little surprising given how short it was. I will tip my cap to the author for pulling that off and for finally making the genie the main character of this sort of tale. That doesn’t happen often enough in this genre for my tastes, so I was glad to see it here.

Tiny Forgotten Wishes was my first introduction to this author’s work, and I look forward to reading more in the future.

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