These Dark Faerie Tales are Endless Fun!

You may have noticed I don’t read many short story collections, but I enjoyed Endless Worlds Volume 1, so I checked this out… and guess what? It was even better!! Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this review, I want to give a shoutout to one of the writers for this- Matthew Wright– for bringing this to my attention- highly recommend checking out his super informative blog! Now onto each of these stories…

The Last Citadel of the Innocent – Matthew Wright

Everyone knows how hard it is to write a convincing world in any fantasy novel, let alone a short story- yet this was so well done that I truly felt transported. The level of detail was perfectly balanced and neatly woven into the story, without being overdone. It was entirely gripping and had a great amount of action to balance this out too. The only reason I couldn’t give this first one 5 bananas was that it wasn’t an entirely contained story- to put it simply: I want more!!

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

Lorelai – Ken Mann

I thoroughly enjoyed the distinctive fairy tale vibe in this one. The writing style for the story was spot on. Plus, it was dramatic and twisty from beginning to end.

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

The Liar’s Tale – James Peters

With a great humorous tone, the Liar’s Tale was just the ticket for me. I was already really enjoying this hilarious tale and then the twist at the end cemented my love. I l really appreciated the Russian doll layers to this too, with multiple stories being told at once. Very clever and well executed story!

Rating: 5/5 bananas

 

Gil and the Mystic Quill – Peter Koevari

I’ve always loved these types of “magical pen” stories and this had a great setup. I truly appreciated the complexity here. Strangely enough though, while this had some of the most beautiful writing of all the stories, it also had some clumsier wording.

Rating: 4/5 bananas

RavenDark – N. R. Marxsen

This was inspired by 12 brothers and as I know the original, I can confirm this was a great retelling 😉 Structurally, this was very similar, yet it was way way darker. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I had the thought while reading it that this was so grim, I almost wonder why it wasn’t written this way in the first place, because this perfectly mirrors the vibe I get from a lot of original fairy tales.

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

The Blacksmith and the Beast – Anita Templer

Funnily enough, I wasn’t initially all that crazy about this one- for some reason or other, I wasn’t connecting with the writing. However the twists and turns were literally so amazing that it ended up being one of the best. Once it got into the action, I got very into the adventurous feel and then the ending was so good that it blew me away. All I can say is *wow!*

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

The Witch’s Song – Francis Burns

Yes- another one that I loved! But seriously, this one was great- the setup was so unique and tinged with a creepy atmosphere. I especially liked the writing in this one and the poetry really worked for me here. It was also so gripping that I couldn’t tear my eyes away (hence the fact that my notes ran out here…)

Rating: 5/5 bananas

Fairy Tale Hunter’s – Renee Marski

This last one was certainly the most unique, but because of that it was also much stranger and harder to follow. So I didn’t end up connecting with it as much- all credit for the intriguing premise though.

Rating: 3½/5 bananas

Overall, this collection was intriguing, dramatic and unique- I recommend it for all fans of fantasy!

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

So do you think you’ll check this out? Let me know in the comments!