Yanni Kuznia

1 • Goddess at the Crossroads • The Iron Druid Chronicles • 4.2 • novelette by Kevin Hearne
2 • Ashes • Anya Kalinczyk • novelette by Laura Bickle
3 • The Death of Aiguillon • Dominion of the Fallen • novelette by Aliette de Bodard
4 • One Hundred Ablutions • (2015) • novelette by Jacqueline Carey

I have a hard time passing up a Subterranean Press book for sale on the used shelf. This slim anthology has 4 novelettes that don't have a theme but seem to represent a selection of 2015 darkish fantasy. Three of the stories are set within the framework of existing stories by the authors with the 4th story being the exception. I am not a Kevin Hearne fan (have tried 2 of his novels in the past, both DNF) but his story here was entertaining and irreverent enough, especially if you want to see Willy shake. All four stories were OK to very good. I imagine favorites would vary quite a bit by individual reader. These aren't my sort of stories so I won't look for other books by these authors but I would think regular readers of fantasy would enjoy these.

Books from this publisher often have nice interior illustrations but this anthology only had a fancy cover illustration.… (meer)

This short story collection has three stories set in previously written worlds and one in a new setting. Kevin Hearne’s story is set in his Iron Druid series and has Atticus telling his apprentice the story of how he met Shakespeare. So this is a perfectly good sample for the series. I hadn’t read Laura Bickle before but after reading this story that is also set in a multi book series, it left me wanting to know more about the world and find out about the characters. The Aliette de Bodard story is set as a prequel story that needs no info about the novel’s universe it is set in. The last story by Jacqueline Carey seems to be a standalone story and the world is fleshed out enough that I would like to see more in this setting to find out how the society came to be.

All in all, a good collection of stories and well worth the time and money to track down and read. I already have my copy on order.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
… (meer)