Moonsleep and Other Stories by Liz Tuckwell
Genre: Short Story Anthology, Dark Fantasy, Bizarro Fiction
3.5 Stars
One Liner: A decent collection of retellings and spooky tales
Moonsleep and Other Stories is a collection of seventeen short stories (some retellings, some originals) with a blend of genres. Horror, medieval dark fantasy, paranormal, social drama, etc., are a few recurring genres.
Similar to many anthologies, some stories hit the mark, a few remain average, and the rest end up underwhelming. The writing style is crisp and kept me interested.
I read the stories on and off whenever I had time and took notes. This review is a compilation of my notes.
Mirror in Her Hand: Snow White retelling in fantasy noir with some cool twists. Reminded me of those B&W gangster movies, lol.
Tully & the Ghost: A story of greedy queens, ghosts, and slaves. Interesting but not spooky enough.
The Mysterious Mr. Fox: A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with a twist. Is Mr. Fox a fox or something else? One of the best in the book.
A Dead Mermaid on Eel Pie Island: A take on the political scenario (I guess). Falls into bizarro fiction and seems like a part of a supernatural investigative series.
Some People Smell Roses: Well-written story about a woman who can smell death.
Mason’s Revenge: A fractional retelling of Jane Eyre with zombies and stuff. Okayish.
Cinderfeller: A gender-bent Cinderella. Another super cool story in the collection.
Scared of Girls: This got weirder as it ended. Seems like I missed a crucial link.
The Perfect Ham Sandwich: Meh!
A Monster Met: Predictable storyline but engaging. Well written.
The Boom Show: A weird death game. Reads more like a fragment of a larger story.
A Tall Tree Tale: Hmm… oh well! Reminded me of a folktale from my school syllabus.
The Young Woman in the Yellow Bikini: Who is the woman in the yellow bikini? Well-written.
Moonsleep: A combo of witches, apothecaries, potions, nuns, witches, shape-shifters, etc. It needed a larger canvas.
The Temptation of Charlotte Bronte: Will Charlotte Bronte make a deal with the Devil to become a famous author? Did she?
I can’t help but add that the author seems to share the ‘I-can’t-name-a-story’ trait with me. Some titles are bland and don’t do justice to the story.
To sum up, Moonsleep and Other Stories is a decent collection of short stories that aren’t either too scary or gory.
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