Street Wizard
by Simon R Green; Paranormal Romance by
Christopher Barzak; Grand Central Park
by Delia Sharman; Spellcaster 2.0 by Jonathon Maberry; Wallamellon by Nisi Shawl; -30- by Caitlin R Kiernan; Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs; Stone Man by Nancy Kress; In the Stacks by Scott Lynch; A Voice Like a Hole by Catherynne M Valente; The Arcane Art of Misdirection by Carrie
Vaughn; The Thief of Precious Things
by A. C. Wise; The Land of Heart’s Desire
by Holly Black; Snake Charmer by
Amanda Downum; The Slaughtered Lamb
by Elizabeth Bear; The Woman Who Walked
with Dogs by Mary Rosenblum; Words
by Angela Slatter; Dog Boys by
Charles de Lint; Alchemy by Lucy
Sussex, Curses by Jim Butcher, De La Tierra by Emma Bull, Stray Magic by Diana Peterfreund; Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor; Pearlywhite by Marc Laidlaw & John
Shirley
The first thing I’d advise on reading this book is not to
read it like I did – in one sitting. You get a big bumper 24 stories in this
book – and 24 stories in one stretch where none of them are connected directly
made for a long read. And I don’t think they were well connected – “magic” and “city”
are particularly specific enough themes, especially in the Urban Fantasy genre,
to make an anthology out of. Especially if you’re going to throw “fae” in there
as well
I think the first story, Street Wizard by Simon R Green is definitely the story I want to
turn into a full book or series. Just the idea of low level magical
functionaries patrolling London and trying to keep all kinds of magical chaos
under control, all with a heavy taste of grittiness, fascinates me. It’s really
well written and an intriguing concept. I would really love to see an entire
series based around this concept.
I also really liked Wallamellon
by Nisi Shawl bringing in elements of a Yoruba or Yoruba derived religion (I
don’t know which one, exactly, but they worship Yamaya) as well as a very
strong look at race and race relations. It has some excellently compelling
characters, a really powerful feel and atmosphere of the story as well as the
strength and maturity of protagonist. It was definitely an excellent story
Both The Thief of
Precious Things by A. C. Wise and
A Voice Like a Hole by A.C Wise were
powerful stories. Both were the most beautifully written, The Thief of Precious Things created a stark, impactful setting
with almost abstract, alien characters in a truly different dystopia. While A Voice Like a Hole was pretty savage in
its language, painting a picture of bleakness and despair really vividly and
with an incredible description of broken, beautiful singing I’ve come across.
Alchemy by Lucy
Sussex was the most intriguing story, taking place in Ancient Bablyon. There was
a real sense of research, I felt the author either really knew their stuff or
had spent a long time hitting the books (this assessment, of course, comes from
someone whose knowledge of Ancient Babylon would not cover a reasonably large
beer bottle). There was an excellent sense of time and place, a really
fascinating main character – and an ending and process that went completely
against what I would have expected. I particularly liked the different
definition of “black magic”.
Curses by Jim
Butcher, Seeing Eye by Patricia
Briggs and The Arcane Art of Misdirection
by Carrie Vaughn were all part of larger series (Curses also appeared in Side
Jobs. Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu Kabu
also appeared in, unsurprisingly, Kabu
Kabu). In one of those twists, I thought Curses, a fun story about Harry Dresden and the cursed Cubs, far
more amusing and entertaining – but that Seeing
Eye, a story of a witch and a werewolf facing a coven of dark practitioners
was more useful. Didn’t
add anything particularly to Harry’s story, same as The Arcane Art of Misdirection didn’t add an awful lot to the Kitty
Norville world, while Seeing Eye added
some very solid world building to Patricia Brigg’s world.
I also give credit to Paranormal
Romance by Christopher Barzak for having a truly novel take on love spells
(spouses buying love spells to re-kindle their relationships) and Grand Central Park by Delia Sharman for
having a genuinely mundane, intelligent protagonist who is actually overweight
and gets by on her knowledge and smarts. And a nod to both Words by Angela Slatter and The
Woman Who Walked With Dogs by Mary Rosenblum for bringing some disturbing,
snap shot, fairy tale imagery
I wasn’t a big fan of Spellcaster
2.0 by Jonathon Maberry since it
wasn’t so much a story but a long rant about the folly of disbelief and the
arrogance of atheism. I think In the
Stacks by Scott Lynch needed more to it – one encounter out of such a big
world wasn’t enough.
What did surprise me is that this anthology had some
solid inclusion – even for short stories.
Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor and Wallamellon by Niski Shawl had entire Black
or Latino casts – and drew heavily on POC traditions, legends and beliefs. The Thief of Precious Things by A.C.
Wise is predominantly east-Asian and, again, draws heavily on East Asian
legends. Alchemy by Lucy Sussex is set in Babylon, with Babylonian
beliefs and a full POC cast. De La Tierra
by Emma Bull has a Latino protagonist and The
Woman Who Walked with Dogs by Mary Rosenblum heavily implies a Black
protagonist. Dog Boys by Charles de
Lint has a white protagonist and a lot of Latino and Native American
characters. It draws heavily on Native American traditions – but it also comes
off a little as Native American woo-woo versus Latino gangbangers.
Additionaly, Paranormal
Romance by Christopher Barzak, Stone
Man by Nancy Cress, In the Stacks by
Scott Lynch and Pearlywhite by Marc
Laidlaw & John Shirley all have
minor POC characers and Grand Central
Park by Delia Sharman has a brown skinned Queen of the Fae.
Paranormal Romance
also has a bisexual protagonist and a background gay couple. Spellcaster 2.0 by Jonathon Maberry has
a gay protagonist – but he’s a little of a “spiteful queen” stereotype. -30- by Caitlin R Kiernan has a lesbian
protagonist (in the 2nd person) but also has her prostitute herself
to a man. The Land of Heart’s Desire
by Holly Black has a gay almost-protagonist – most of it is from another
character’s POV and he’s largely a sounding board. The Slaughtered Lamb by Elizabther Bear has a trans werewolf that adds
a really wonderful new twist to the endless “all werewolves must be men RAWR!”
trope and is definitely one I would love to see developed
On top of that, Stone
Man, A Voice Like a Hole and Pearlywhite
all touch on homelessness, poverty and class divides
Out of 24 short stories, that’s not too bad a ratio,
compared to many
I think my end take on this anthology is… good, consistently
good, but not great. Looking back after having read the whole thing I can’t
think of a single story I didn’t like or didn’t care for. But nor can I think
of any that stood out in my mind that was awesome or excellent – though there
were definitely some really good ones. It’s a good read and well worth having
on your shelf, but it’s not a must read or one I would yell for you to go out
and buy now
