This is a collection of short stories by Kelley
Armstrong, drawing upon her various worlds as well as several stand alones.
There are a lot of stories that draw from Kelley
Armstrong’s various world series – and some of these I haven’t read. For me
this was particularly a problem for the short stories based on the Cainsville series since I hadn’t read
them. In some ways I think the order of the stories was off, if Devil May Care had come first rather
than last, the world would have been much more explained and developed and,
with that, I would have had more investment and understanding when reading The Screams of Dragons, Gabriel’s Gargoyles and
The Hunt. But, if I had read Devil May Care first, I don’t think the same sense of mystery and alienness
would have pervaded these books.
Thematically and in terms of tone all of these are very
good at invoke the other, the very otherworldy feel of the fae but all with a
strong sense of subtlety. They are unseen and mysterious and it’s all a lot of
look-out-the-corner-of-your-eye-or-you’ll miss it etherealness that really real
worked. They were creepy, they were low key, they were subtle and they were
about normal or seemingly normal people caught up in this mysterious place with
its mysterious people who are just ever-so-slightly off. I think that wouldn’t
have carried the same weight if I’d read Devil
May Care first even though I enjoyed it more, since that book is very up
front and clear about what Cainsville is and why. It would have destroyed the
mystery and the eeriness. I do think I am missing out a lot by not recognising
any of these characters and not appreciating any new angles it my bring
I also haven’t reads the Darkes Powers/Darkness Rising universe and I’m now both eager to
read them and quite frustrated by having read this first. Kat and Branded both seem to take familiar themes from The Otherworld universe but the world
building goes in a very different direction – with the same supernatural
creatures I know so well eventually leading to a complex and rich dystopia. In Kat we see the beginnings of this and Branded takes the extreme several years,
perhaps centuries, afterwards. I’m a little frustrated in fact because I think
I’d love to read this series but now I know where it’s heading I think I will
miss much of the suspense of the characters facing the pending dystopia. I
loved both stories not just for the world setting but also for the characters
with Kat we saw strong female
friendships, family and dedication and Branded
showed a level of cunning and ruthlessness from a female protagonist that was absolutely
applause worthy. It’s a terrible, dark, lethal world – and she does what she
must to survive and thrive in excellent, terrifying fashion.
The main reason I was interested in this book was for
those stories set in the Otherworld
universe – I’ve read them all, I love this series and miss it now it was over,
so it was nice to hark back to it. Though I have to say, in some ways, they
clashed badly with the other stories in this book. The other stories have
desperate, abused children, alien, cruel and downright creepy fae, several
brutal dystopias and some downright disturbing standalones. Then we have the Otherworld stories which are a bit silly
and great fun. I like them, but they’re theme bombs and derail the overall feel
of the book
