edited by Tan-Ni Fan
rating:☆☆☆
published: 15th June 2016
spoilers? yes
Goodreads
Galley provided by publisher
Overall rating is averaged from individual ratings
When Shadows Touch Mountains by Helena Maeve ★★★★
This was a solid one to start the anthology off with. It's basically the story of King Arthur, or part of it, but with the reader seeing things from the side of Mordred. It's told from the point of view of Kirth, a man who killed his father and was handed over to a slaver, who subsequently hands him over to Mordred in an attempt to gain favour.
This is one of those ones that works very well as a short story. It felt a bit like a snippet of a longer story, and my one big issue with it was that it wasn't longer. It could easily be a whole book in itself (which I would happily read...).
There was one point where the skip between locations seemed a little abrupt, and there could have been something spent on the time in between, but that was about the only part where I felt it could have been improved.
I loved the inclusion of polyamory, too. It was a nice departure from all the monogamous relationships, and also a great way to avoid those pesky love triangles.
Strait of Monsters by Stephanie Rabig ★★★
More like 2.5.
To be honest, I was a little bored by this one. It told the story of Chryssa, a member of a crew who's ship gets wrecked by Scylla and Charybdis, and who ends up surviving after she is marooned on Medusa's island. Here, she falls in love with Medusa, and decides to stay. That's about all there is to the plot - minus the bit where Perseus shows up to try kill Medusa, and then Chryssa and Medusa fly off on Pegasus to save Andromeda.
I'm not entirely sure what it was lacking for me, though perhaps the characters were a bit flat and unrealistic. I did love that Chryssa was trans though, there is that.
Famished by Cassandra Pierce ★★
This one was just plain weird. There was this house with a basement of dead monks' ghosts who ate people and the owner of the house was perfectly willing (with the help of his creepy butler) to feed them. Until someone he's attracted to shows up at which point he's like hell no.
Again, it was kind of boring and the writing wasn't great. The clubbing scene was kind of strange, and almost didn't fit with the rest of the story. Also, Clive's "big secret" wasn't actually that shocking in the context of the story. I mean, what's one poxy little murder when your boyfriend regularly feeds people to ghosts?
There was also a stifling case of instalove, made even worse by the fact that it's a short story. And the scene where Clive confesses he's gay, he brings it up by saying "I'm not like other blokes...". Sorry to break it to you, bud, but you're not that special.
Then also, this line: "Clive went on hunching his hips and massaging Blaylock's silky throat muscles."
Vinc by Michelle Chow ★★★
Never did I think I would somewhat enjoy a story about a weresalamander, but here I am, proven wrong. It's a little light on the plot, but it was nice to see that there is no instalove whatsoever (thank you, thank you). All that happens is that they start dating, which is loads more realistic than most stories.
I thought perhaps that this story needed a little more context in it as well, because it's light on that too. Like, why are people suddenly becoming infected with this were-virus? Where did it come from?
There was also a magical mystical know-it-all vet, who told the main character to "find his anchor". Teen Wolf much?
Good Things by Sumi ★
This is by far the worst story of the whole anthology. It was about an incubus who suddenly realises that women don't do it for him, he's in fact gay. Which would be OK, but the whole incubus/succubus thing is steeped in dubious consent, and that made this story very uncomfortable.
The whole Erigus/Jeff thing is gross. For one, it's hugely dubious consent, bordering on rape almost, and Jeff does bring that up at one point, but it's never mentioned again. Erigus spends a whole scene mocking Jeff still being a virgin, and the fact that he has a girlfriend even though he's gay. And then, he offers to take Jeff to Hell to be with him forever (which he eventually does to once Jeff's girlfriend-now-wife dies because why not). Just generally, it's pretty messed up.
There's also some pretty dubious comments about Jeff's ethnicity like: "Erigus liked fucking Asian guys because they usually had barely any hair." and "I'm a total lightweight. Asian." O-k-a-y.
Mandelbrot by A. D. Truax ★★★★★
This one was by far my favourite of the whole anthology. It's about Evander, the secret boyfriend of the city's hero, who keeps getting kidnapped by the "villain" who actually just wants to get the hero's attention but it's not working. It reminds me quite a lot of Hero by Perry Moore, which is a great book, and a Disney/Pixar film I can't recall the name of, and probably this story rescues the anthology for me.
Again, it works well as a short story, but equally feels like it could be a longer story too. The characters are great, and the plot is just right for a short story - it doesn't try to fit too much in, but also doesn't skimp on it. I would say, read this anthology just for this story, because it's one of the (few) highlights.
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