2018 books: 35-39

[the_siobhan]

    

Carniepunk by Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne, Mark Henry, Jaye Wells, Allison Pang, Hillary Jacques, Jennifer Estep, Kelly Meding, Nicole Peeler, Jackie Kessler, Kelly Gay, and Seanan McGuire An anthology of short horror stories that take place in carnivals. One of the freebies. I know I've mentioned this before, but the freebies I get are often intended to promote the author's other works and this is especially true of the anthologies. Usually they are excerpts from longer works or stand alone stories set in the same world. That was definitely the case with this book. The quality of the writing was much higher than I normally expect from the free books, and there were a few stories that actually piqued my interest.

    

Little Big by John Crowley A re-read. I originally read this many years ago and I loved it. The plot follows the long and winding lives of the Drinkwater family. They live in a large rambling house in the country named Edgewater, which is a house built out of many houses and is also a door. A few of them also live on The Farm which is in the city and also constructed of many buildings. So if I wasn't being clear, the main characters are a bunch of oddballs and the theme of stories within stories comes up over and over again. The plot moves slowly. It takes place over generations and the things that happen are an accumulation of small events rather than any big dramatic changes. But I truly love the world that he creates here.

    

Absolute Sunset by Kata Mlek Wow this book is bleak. A girl is cursed with dreams of a raven that claims to be helping her by presenting her with visions of catastrophic events but is really just taunting her with her inability to prevent them. This all takes place against a background of social dysfunction and urban decay. The environment of the story reminds me a bit of Sheep Look Up. The stories are completely unrelated but people keep dying because of completely avoidable accidents caused by institutional neglect.

    

Once Upon a Curse: 17 Dark Fairie Tales by Yasmine Galenorn, Alethea Kontis, Annie Bellet, Anthea Sharp, Phaedra Weldon, Christine Pope, Jennifer Blackstream, Donna Augustine, C. Gockel, Audrey Faye, and Jenna Elizabeth Johnson Another free anthology, this time different takes on classic fairy tales. I was less impressed with this one. Some of the concepts were good but the actual writing was so amateur it was distracting.

    

All The Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders Tor occasionally does free give-aways if you subscribe to their newsletter and this was one of the books they offered. Patricia is a budding witch. Laurence is an aspiring inventor. They meet in junior high and become friends before going their separate ways. Over the years they swing in and out of each other's orbits as friends and lovers. Wars, climate change and economic instability make life increasingly more precarious and they end up on opposite sides in a battle between two different groups of people who are trying to save the world. This story is pretty high on the quirky side, and people seem to either really love it or really hate it. I really liked it.

Comments

[greylock]

A re-read. I originally read this many years ago and I loved it.

I knew people loved this, kinda knew what it was about, and selected it when I went to NZ as a read that would keep me occupied on the no-sleep death-tube.
I HATED IT.

A LOT.

I've never read All The Birds In The Sky, but I know a few people who have, and they've not loved it. So, that put me off. That, and the fact every film review Charlie Jane wrote at io9 was... not for me.