1 star for Hamilton's story, 2 for Galenorn's, 4 for Liu's & Shinn's, averaging out to 3 stars. :)Hamilton's "Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?" - There was a good premise here, and an interesting setup, unfortunately it fell flat once the action started. No clear reason why the heroine succeeded in her tasks, and everything felt rushed. People often read these sorts of books to try out different authors, and having read quite a bit of Hamilton's writing in the past, I can only say that anyone who went for one of her books after reading this little piece of fluff would be in for quite a surprise. ;)Galenorn's "Shadow of the Mist" - I've never read anything else by her, but this felt like the main purpose was to introduce us to all the characters from her series. The world had some appeal, but the heroine was passive and oddly cruel by turns. She also had the Bland Perfect Supportive Fiance, who I couldn't care about because he seemed to have no personality.Liu's "Tangleroot Palace" - I'm glad I didn't give up after the first two, as this was a charming little fairy-tale style piece, with an adventurous princess, a mysterious troupe of players, and a very scary, evil queen. I guessed at the "twist" early on, but in a fairytale that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've read a few comic books she's done before, and after this I think I'd look for one of her novels.Shinn's "The Wrong Bridegroom" - Also very nicely put together. The princess in this case starts out a bit annoying, but her maturation is part of the journey, and the cast of characters were all enjoyable. It was especially cute how the chapters were titled after fairy tale tropes (eg "The Wicked Stepmother". Can He Bake a Cherry Pie? 5 STARSI don’t think this is a retelling of a fairy tale… if so I don’t recognize it… but this is how I think they should be… it seems too often that to make the female hero of the story a hero for today we take away the qualities we deem girly… but it was that she was so good at doing “women’s work” and acting in the meek and sweet way women were expected too that got her through the obstacles set before her… I’m not saying that women shouldn’t be able to slap on some armor and handle a sword… but that we don’t necessarily have to act like men in order to be heroic… that there is strength in being girly… and she also shows intelligence that still gives the ending a great twist that I was rather surprised over but really happy about that made this short story wonderful…The Shadow of Mist 3 STARSOne problem I had with this story is that it didn’t fit into this group of short stories as well… the others had a fairy tale feel about it while this one was just paranormal… but more than anything it seemed like this should’ve been a novel… because there was so much that wasn’t really explained… and so many character that didn’t really get brought to life and ended up one character was basically the same as the next… it didn’t matter which one was there helping Siobhan because I couldn’t remember which was which anyway… and they mention things like the skins they needed to shift into their selkie form that wasn’t really explained… and the Otherworld that kept being brought up but the reader really knows nothing about… I would’ve liked this much better as a fully formed novel than as this short story that leaves so much hanging…The Tangleroot Palace 4 STARSWhile I felt the ending was rather anticlimactic… and a little predictable… the story was still an interesting one and fun… I liked that Sally to begin with wasn’t the picture perfect princess… she liked getting dirty in the garden and really lived her life and enjoyed it… and also her escape from a marriage she didn’t want and the journey she takes really showed some growth in realizing her responsibility to the kingdom, but also how she had to take the chance to see what she was capable of outside of the castle… it had an intriguing idea behind it all and that’s what I liked the most…The Wrong Bridegroom 5 STARSToo often it seems that if the Prince or Princess has a choice they’re expected to pick a commoner rather someone of nobility or whatever… and I liked that this story shows how it probably would really go in that case… how it isn’t necessarily about being better than someone or being richer… it’s about the personalities and the type of life someone wants to live… each has its perks but ultimately you have to find that someone who can hold up the responsibilities that fall to you… and not just who might seem like a lot of fun for a night…
What do You think about Never After (2009)?
Four novellas by Laurrell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Majorie M. Liu, and Sharon Shinn.
—Eli
