By Elizabeth Baxter
Genre Scifi Fantasy
Pages 101
Recommended by Elizabeth Baxter
First sentence The circle spinner reached out with trembling hands and flipped the body onto its back.
Synopsis
A collection of short stories about other worlds, altered worlds, and future worlds.
What it has going for it
I've followed Elizabeth's blog for sometime and read about her journey of self publishing. From formatting to editing to picking a cover. So when the book was finally published and available to buy, I promptly downloaded it onto my phone. Unfortunately I didn't read it as promptly. I did finally get to it, though and rather enjoyed it. This surprised me. Not because I had low expectations for Elizabeth's writing but because I'm not a huge fan of the short story. You're introduced into this world, you meet characters and just as you're getting into things it ends. I think if you're going to write short stories you have to be very talented at seamlessly introducing character and worlds without getting too detailed that you lose the story. Luckily Elizabeth is that talented. I won't go into details about every story but I will tell you what my favorite were. There was, One of Those Days which was just plain fun. I think it appealed to me the most because I love urban fantasy and this one had that feel for sure. I really liked, The Blessing of Silence. It was a very unique fantasy world with a immediately likable character that invoked your sympathy. The last story, Fallen Angel, was not at all what you'd expect from the title. It was dark and rather violent and very mysterious. Think cyborgs meet angels. So good! And the ending blew me away.
What's lacking
I repeat. I'm not a huge short story fan. Sometimes a quick look into a character and their world is all we need. But mostly I'm left wanting more. With The Blessing of Silence I really want more. I want the whole long story. You know?
Favorite moment
The ending of Fallen Angel for sure. That one will stick with me in all its disturbing creepiness.
Yea or Nay?
For lovers of short stories I'd say yes, definitely. For the rest of you...hey, it's free on Amazon today. What are you waiting for?
I usually only like reading short stories when they are published alone, rather than in anthologies. I don't know why. That's so weird, isn't it? Maybe it's knowing that the stories are disconnected from each other, unless, of course, they are connected to each other. Usually they're not, though.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked these short stories. That's a tough genre to write in effectively.
Yeah, it's not that weird. I think that sort of bugs me to.
DeleteI'm not a huge fan of short stories, but I do like to have lots of choices on my Kindle. And, hey, you can't beat free!
ReplyDeleteNo you can't. ;)
DeleteI like short stories when I am between books and not too sure what to read. From your review these sound like something I would like. Thanks for cluing me in:)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I hope you enjoy it.
DeleteI do like short stories, but I'm the same as you -- I hate getting to the end and wanting MORE! LOL. I guess it is a good thing if writers can make us feel this way. My favorite form is a novella -- long enough for good worldbuilding and characterization, but not so long that it takes me weeks to read. :) Anyway, nice review!
ReplyDeleteYeah, novellas are good. I really was impressed we these, though.
DeleteI'm not a huge fan of short stories either, unless they are part of a series, like some Sherlock Holmes books that are made of short stories. Most of the times I either want to know more or think the plot is too fast.
ReplyDeleteYeah, It's a little hard to get invested in short stories.
DeleteI totally missed it while it was free, but now I totally want to read Fallen Angel... sounds right up my alley.
ReplyDeleteIt was really cool. I wanted more of that one for sure.
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