Moonsleep and Other Stories by Liz Tuckwell - Book Review

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. 

I received an eCopy from the author and BookSirens.