alexandralh's review against another edition
1.0
What did I just read...
So sad because I had a lot of hope for this anthology but I only ended up liking 3/16 of the short stories: Cas, An, Dra by Natalie Parker, Hurdles by Brandy Colbert, and Waiting by Sabaa Tahir. I guess the latter 2 are more ~realistic~ but everything else was all fantasy and I don't remember signing up for that. :(
So sad because I had a lot of hope for this anthology but I only ended up liking 3/16 of the short stories: Cas, An, Dra by Natalie Parker, Hurdles by Brandy Colbert, and Waiting by Sabaa Tahir. I guess the latter 2 are more ~realistic~ but everything else was all fantasy and I don't remember signing up for that. :(
alisarae's review against another edition
Some of these stories were great, others were not. But it’s cool to see that love triangles that span aaalllll genres and sexualities—everyone loves a love triangle!
sharpiemyshoe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jkherz25's review against another edition
Enjoyable at first, but dragged on. There were a few too many short stories in a book that was altogether not as subversive as it was trying to be, and it got repetitive.
francisopal's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty boring and basic version of something that could've been totally fantastic.
bookishbay's review against another edition
2.0
average: 2.18
Riddles in Mathematics by Katie Cotugno- 2.5
Dread South by Justina Ireland- 5
Omega Ship by Rae Carson- 2
La Revancha Del Tango by Renee Ahdieh- 2
Cass, An, and Dra by Natalie C. Parker -5
Lessons For Beginners by Julie Murphy- DNF
Triangle Solo by Garth Nix- DNF
Vim and Vigor by Veronica Roth- 3.5
Work in Progress by E.K. Johnston- 2.5
Hurdles by Brandy Colbert-3
The Historian, The Garrison, and the Cantankerous Cat Woman by Lamar Giles- DNF
Waiting by Sabaa Tahir- DNF
Vega by Brenna Yovanoff- 4.5
A Hundred Thousand Threads by Alaya Dawn Johnson- DNF
Before She Was Bloody by Tessa Gratton- DNF
Unus, Duo, Tres by Bethany Hagen- 5
Riddles in Mathematics by Katie Cotugno- 2.5
Dread South by Justina Ireland- 5
Omega Ship by Rae Carson- 2
La Revancha Del Tango by Renee Ahdieh- 2
Cass, An, and Dra by Natalie C. Parker -5
Lessons For Beginners by Julie Murphy- DNF
Triangle Solo by Garth Nix- DNF
Vim and Vigor by Veronica Roth- 3.5
Work in Progress by E.K. Johnston- 2.5
Hurdles by Brandy Colbert-3
The Historian, The Garrison, and the Cantankerous Cat Woman by Lamar Giles- DNF
Waiting by Sabaa Tahir- DNF
Vega by Brenna Yovanoff- 4.5
A Hundred Thousand Threads by Alaya Dawn Johnson- DNF
Before She Was Bloody by Tessa Gratton- DNF
Unus, Duo, Tres by Bethany Hagen- 5
emmapc23's review against another edition
2.0
The first 8 or so stories are wonderful, really decreases in quality from there.
iggyebab's review against another edition
3.0
I have tried several of the short story compilations from YA authors in the past with mostly meh results. This one had several that were really well done and I hope theses characters find themselves in full length novels.
The best for me were: Dread South (I am assuming these characters will be in Dread Nation) and omega Ship. I also enjoyed waiting and cass, an, Dra. Several others were decent stories but felt unfinished (I know, I know).
The best for me were: Dread South (I am assuming these characters will be in Dread Nation) and omega Ship. I also enjoyed waiting and cass, an, Dra. Several others were decent stories but felt unfinished (I know, I know).
beaniedorman's review against another edition
4.0
This anthology, written by sixteen power-house YA authors, features stories that are in some way related to love triangles. No two stories are the same, and each is a clever play on the overused trope that has become a staple in teen fiction.
I enjoyed reading this one so, so much. Every story was interesting and original, and one or two really stuck with me after reading. I went into it thinking it would be a quick read because I would end up skimming some of the stories (as I usually do with anthologies) but in reality I read nearly all of them. I was absolutely hooked by the cleverness of these authors. This is going to be a book that I'll recommend to so many different people because of the diversity and wide range of the stories. I won't go through and review each story because there were so many of them, but I will list my favorites with brief summaries. You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that this one is worth the read.
Favorites:
"Omega Ship" by Rae Carson: Only three humans remain after a spaceship meant to preserve humanity fails. What matters more: the fate of the human race, or the desires of the humans that are left?
"La Revancha Del Tango" by Renee Ahdieh: Maya is in Buenos Aires for the night and goes out tango dancing, meeting some interesting people during the night.
"Cass, An, and Dra" by Natalie C. Parker: Cass can see possibilities of futures, and she always chooses the futures that are with An. Until she sees the ones with Dra.
"Vim and Vigor" by Veronica Roth: a story of fandom and friendship.
"Work in Progress" By E. K. Johnston: a thought-provoking combination of three different stories about the same three people, each giving a different insight into who they are.
"Waiting" by Sabaa Tahir: Ani is going off to college, starting a new phase in her life, and must decide who fits better with her after the change: basketball star Felix, or Sam, her friend who had been sent to prison.
"Vega" by Brenna Yovanoff: a story of a girl, a boy, and the sprawling, electric city of Las Vegas.
"Unus, Duo, Tres" by Bethany Hagen: a tale of two vampires and their love for a dying girl, and for each other.
I enjoyed reading this one so, so much. Every story was interesting and original, and one or two really stuck with me after reading. I went into it thinking it would be a quick read because I would end up skimming some of the stories (as I usually do with anthologies) but in reality I read nearly all of them. I was absolutely hooked by the cleverness of these authors. This is going to be a book that I'll recommend to so many different people because of the diversity and wide range of the stories. I won't go through and review each story because there were so many of them, but I will list my favorites with brief summaries. You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that this one is worth the read.
Favorites:
"Omega Ship" by Rae Carson: Only three humans remain after a spaceship meant to preserve humanity fails. What matters more: the fate of the human race, or the desires of the humans that are left?
"La Revancha Del Tango" by Renee Ahdieh: Maya is in Buenos Aires for the night and goes out tango dancing, meeting some interesting people during the night.
"Cass, An, and Dra" by Natalie C. Parker: Cass can see possibilities of futures, and she always chooses the futures that are with An. Until she sees the ones with Dra.
"Vim and Vigor" by Veronica Roth: a story of fandom and friendship.
"Work in Progress" By E. K. Johnston: a thought-provoking combination of three different stories about the same three people, each giving a different insight into who they are.
"Waiting" by Sabaa Tahir: Ani is going off to college, starting a new phase in her life, and must decide who fits better with her after the change: basketball star Felix, or Sam, her friend who had been sent to prison.
"Vega" by Brenna Yovanoff: a story of a girl, a boy, and the sprawling, electric city of Las Vegas.
"Unus, Duo, Tres" by Bethany Hagen: a tale of two vampires and their love for a dying girl, and for each other.
bizzybee429's review against another edition
4.0
Average Rating: 2.96 (but I raised it to four because I do what I want)
No, but in all seriousness, I think when people say they hate love triangles what they mean is they hate poorly written love triangles. Because for every series with an excellently crafted, satisfying love triangle…….., there are ten that are so terrible that the two crappily written romances take away from what would otherwise be a good book.
But, largely, this anthology largely contains stories from the first category. The stories were heartwarming, funny, well-written, from a variety of different genres, and you know what? they. had. love. triangles. And I loved it! I’m part of the group that loves a good triangle in fiction, and so this book was so fun for me! Not to mention that literally every single story had at least one poc main character, and the vast majority had lgbt characters. So awesome!
”Riddles in Mathematics” by Katie Cotugno: ★★★★
This may have not been the best story to start the collection off with—I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I did some of the others – but I felt the chemistry between Ro and the other two members of the love triangle. This one was interesting because it was kind of two love triangles in one, with Steven/Taylor/Ro and Taylor/Ro/Mariette and I really connected with Ro’s character. I would totally read this book, if it were a full novel and not just a short story. It was super cute!
”Dread South” by Justina Ireland: ★★★★★
Holy crap. If [b:Dread Nation|30223025|Dread Nation|Justina Ireland|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497900615s/30223025.jpg|50676909] wasn’t already one of my most hyped releases for 2018, it would be now. Justina Ireland is a genius. There’s no other way to put it. Black Civil-War era zombie hunters is the kind of concept and idea that I’m sure is going to spark movie and video game adaptations of Dread Nation, and “Dread South” was an amazing sneak peek into the alt-history timeline that will be released next year. Plus it was sapphic. This story, alone, was worth the cost of this anthology, and if you take one thing from this review, it should be go pre-order Dread Nation right now. Stop reading this. Go go go
”Omega Ship” by Rae Carson: ★
if I could describe how I feel about this short story in one picture it would be this:
”La Revancha Del Tango” by Renée Ahdieh: ★
WTF THIS WAS SO RANDOM and it wasn’t even a love triangle??? Also, the guy was kinda strange and annoying and crusty and gross. I wasn’t a fan. There was no chemistry, no plot, and no characters I liked.
”Cass, An, and Dra” by Natalie C. Parker: ★★★★★
Holy cow. I don’t even want to talk about the plot because I want it to be a surprise for readers, but this one wrenched my heart back and forth and back and forth. I thought the title was a little weird, but I suppose I can forgive. This is another one of my favorites – I reread it as soon as I finished it. The ending absolutely ruined me and I’m sitting here like “wtf just happened to me.”
”Lessons for Beginners” by Julie Murphy: ★★★
I wasn’t feelin’ this one as much as I thought I would!! It was cute, but nothing stood out to me, and it felt largely plot-driven instead of character-driven. I probably would have given it two stars if not for the stunning diversity! I think this was another story that would have benefitted from being a full-length novel rather than a short story, and I want to check out some books by Julie Murphy because the cuteness made me “awwww.”
”Triangle Solo” by Garth Nix: ★
This is so bad it’s almost funny except for it’s not because it was kinda gross. Utterly horrible. The plot is this: Everyone lives on Mars. Suddenly a hot girl reappears in class and everyone falls instantly in love because she is HOT and she is BEAUTIFUL and no one even knows her personality but everyone falls in immediate love because she is HOT and BEAUTIFUL. Both of the guy characters have personalities, so can someone please explain to me how the only girl character has less personality than the instrument that the guys are so pissy about? And one quote that really annoyed me was, ”Relationships aren’t just all about charm and good looks.” and I mean, out of context it wouldn’t even be annoying, but there’s a conversation between Connor and Anwar before this part where Anwar was like “yeah Kallie was pretty cool in seventh grade but she wasn’t HOT or BEAUTIFUL but now that she is back and HOT and BEAUTIFUL I really want to date her” and Connor agreed. So why is it that the guys are seen as more than their par, or sub-par looks but when it comes to Kallie, all that matters is that she’s hot?? the answer is this: misogyny
”Vim and Vigor” by Veronica Roth: ★★★★★
Veronica Roth has officially changed my views on her writing from “meh/subpar” to “murders me every time I think about it” with one short story. What’s she doing writing dystopia?? Come over and write soft sci-fi contemporaries. I would totally read those. This was the second story in a row I laughed at the end of, though in this one it was a good way, because that trope subversion and twist full-on surprised me. This was a cute and fun-to-read story that made me laugh and cry.
”Work in Progress” by E.K. Johnston: ?????
Gonna be real here: I saw that this was written in second person and immediately skipped it because I was too tired for that crap. No rating because I literally read one sentence.
”Hurdles” by Brandy Colbert: ★★
Listen – I love Brandy Colbert’s writing style, and her stories are always beautifully diverse, but this is the second piece I’ve read by her (the first being [b:Little & Lion|25062038|Little & Lion|Brandy Colbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494949090s/25062038.jpg|44745282]) where the main character emotionally cheats on her significant other. That alone lowered the rating for me. The ending was also really unsatisfying – open endings are great when they work, but it just did not work for me.
”The Historian, The Garrison, and the Cantankerous Cat Woman” by Lamar Giles: ★★
This one honestly just bored me to death. I skipped a large chunk in the middle because it was so bleh. Two stars instead of one because I liked the creativity of the footnotes, and the title makes me smile.
”Waiting” by Sabaa Tahir: ★★★
THIS MADE ME SO MAD and the reason for that is both from a personal standpoint and an objective standpoint. Be ready for a rant under the spoilers.. The writing was good and two of the characters were well-developed, but the ending just made me so angry that I’m doing 3.5 stars instead of 5. I’m petty,
”Vega” by Brenna Yovanoff: ★
At the risk of sounding like an idiot: I don’t understand the ending of this story. The writing was wayyy too flowery and I wasn’t really paying attention, and I literally have no idea what happened. This also wasn’t even a love triangle, and I legitimately don’t understand how it has a place with the rest of these stories.
”A Hundred Thousand Threads” by Alaya Dawn Johnson: ★
I’m sorry, but I could just not get into this one. At all. I’ve never really been able to read books that are made of blog posts and interviews and such – I could never get into [b:Illuminae|23395680|Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443433956s/23395680.jpg|26653661] or anything written the same way, because I kind of like to…. not have to pay a ton of attention to what I’m reading. That’s just me though, and I’m sure that this one was really awesome for other people! Just not me.
”Before She Was Bloody” by Tessa Gratton: ★★★★★
uhhhhh this was awesome and a little terrifying. The world-building reminded me a lot of [b:Reign the Earth|25566671|Reign the Earth (The Elementae, #1)|A.C. Gaughen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495476215s/25566671.jpg|45365178], and the characters were the kind of anti-heroes that I love to read about. Though it was a little confusing at times, that was probably my fault and not the stories lol. I really want to see this one as a full-length novel.
”Unus, Duo, Tres” by Bethany Hagen: ★★★★★
WOWWWW. This was such a strong, heartbreaking ending. This broke my heart. I’ve never really been a fan of vampires because blood makes me a little queasy, but this short story completely won over my heart. It made me tear up. It was beautiful, diverse, and so well-written. Another one of my favorites.
In conclusion, this anthology rocked my socks off. Even though there were a,,,, lot more stories than I previously thought there were that didn’t really sit well with me, the ones that did work blew me away with amazing characters, awesome writing, and sick world-building. This is a wonderful addition to and reader’s library – both those who are a fan of the love triangle, and even those that will never be a fan.
No, but in all seriousness, I think when people say they hate love triangles what they mean is they hate poorly written love triangles. Because for every series with an excellently crafted, satisfying love triangle…….., there are ten that are so terrible that the two crappily written romances take away from what would otherwise be a good book.
But, largely, this anthology largely contains stories from the first category. The stories were heartwarming, funny, well-written, from a variety of different genres, and you know what? they. had. love. triangles. And I loved it! I’m part of the group that loves a good triangle in fiction, and so this book was so fun for me! Not to mention that literally every single story had at least one poc main character, and the vast majority had lgbt characters. So awesome!
”Riddles in Mathematics” by Katie Cotugno: ★★★★
This may have not been the best story to start the collection off with—I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I did some of the others – but I felt the chemistry between Ro and the other two members of the love triangle. This one was interesting because it was kind of two love triangles in one, with Steven/Taylor/Ro and Taylor/Ro/Mariette and I really connected with Ro’s character. I would totally read this book, if it were a full novel and not just a short story. It was super cute!
”Dread South” by Justina Ireland: ★★★★★
Holy crap. If [b:Dread Nation|30223025|Dread Nation|Justina Ireland|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497900615s/30223025.jpg|50676909] wasn’t already one of my most hyped releases for 2018, it would be now. Justina Ireland is a genius. There’s no other way to put it. Black Civil-War era zombie hunters is the kind of concept and idea that I’m sure is going to spark movie and video game adaptations of Dread Nation, and “Dread South” was an amazing sneak peek into the alt-history timeline that will be released next year. Plus it was sapphic. This story, alone, was worth the cost of this anthology, and if you take one thing from this review, it should be go pre-order Dread Nation right now. Stop reading this. Go go go
”Omega Ship” by Rae Carson: ★
if I could describe how I feel about this short story in one picture it would be this:
which sucks because the first few paragraphs sucked me right in!! but, really, this one was just weird and I think its issue is it has the same amount of world-building that a regular book would have, but as a short story it just didn’t work. Too much info-dumping. I also disliked all of the characters. I feel as though this one was, like, aiming for a feminist story, but I felt as though that decision Eva made was waaaaaaayyyyyy idiotic. An alternate title for this story could be “A Lesson in Hetero- and Cis-normativity.” All in all, I was not a fan.
”La Revancha Del Tango” by Renée Ahdieh: ★
WTF THIS WAS SO RANDOM and it wasn’t even a love triangle??? Also, the guy was kinda strange and annoying and crusty and gross. I wasn’t a fan. There was no chemistry, no plot, and no characters I liked.
”Cass, An, and Dra” by Natalie C. Parker: ★★★★★
Holy cow. I don’t even want to talk about the plot because I want it to be a surprise for readers, but this one wrenched my heart back and forth and back and forth. I thought the title was a little weird, but I suppose I can forgive. This is another one of my favorites – I reread it as soon as I finished it. The ending absolutely ruined me and I’m sitting here like “wtf just happened to me.”
”Lessons for Beginners” by Julie Murphy: ★★★
I wasn’t feelin’ this one as much as I thought I would!! It was cute, but nothing stood out to me, and it felt largely plot-driven instead of character-driven. I probably would have given it two stars if not for the stunning diversity! I think this was another story that would have benefitted from being a full-length novel rather than a short story, and I want to check out some books by Julie Murphy because the cuteness made me “awwww.”
”Triangle Solo” by Garth Nix: ★
This is so bad it’s almost funny except for it’s not because it was kinda gross. Utterly horrible. The plot is this: Everyone lives on Mars. Suddenly a hot girl reappears in class and everyone falls instantly in love because she is HOT and she is BEAUTIFUL and no one even knows her personality but everyone falls in immediate love because she is HOT and BEAUTIFUL. Both of the guy characters have personalities, so can someone please explain to me how the only girl character has less personality than the instrument that the guys are so pissy about? And one quote that really annoyed me was, ”Relationships aren’t just all about charm and good looks.” and I mean, out of context it wouldn’t even be annoying, but there’s a conversation between Connor and Anwar before this part where Anwar was like “yeah Kallie was pretty cool in seventh grade but she wasn’t HOT or BEAUTIFUL but now that she is back and HOT and BEAUTIFUL I really want to date her” and Connor agreed. So why is it that the guys are seen as more than their par, or sub-par looks but when it comes to Kallie, all that matters is that she’s hot?? the answer is this: misogyny
”Vim and Vigor” by Veronica Roth: ★★★★★
Veronica Roth has officially changed my views on her writing from “meh/subpar” to “murders me every time I think about it” with one short story. What’s she doing writing dystopia?? Come over and write soft sci-fi contemporaries. I would totally read those. This was the second story in a row I laughed at the end of, though in this one it was a good way, because that trope subversion and twist full-on surprised me. This was a cute and fun-to-read story that made me laugh and cry.
”Work in Progress” by E.K. Johnston: ?????
Gonna be real here: I saw that this was written in second person and immediately skipped it because I was too tired for that crap. No rating because I literally read one sentence.
”Hurdles” by Brandy Colbert: ★★
Listen – I love Brandy Colbert’s writing style, and her stories are always beautifully diverse, but this is the second piece I’ve read by her (the first being [b:Little & Lion|25062038|Little & Lion|Brandy Colbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494949090s/25062038.jpg|44745282]) where the main character emotionally cheats on her significant other. That alone lowered the rating for me. The ending was also really unsatisfying – open endings are great when they work, but it just did not work for me.
”The Historian, The Garrison, and the Cantankerous Cat Woman” by Lamar Giles: ★★
This one honestly just bored me to death. I skipped a large chunk in the middle because it was so bleh. Two stars instead of one because I liked the creativity of the footnotes, and the title makes me smile.
”Waiting” by Sabaa Tahir: ★★★
THIS MADE ME SO MAD and the reason for that is both from a personal standpoint and an objective standpoint. Be ready for a rant under the spoilers.
Spoiler
SAM PICKED THE WRONG GUY AND I AM SO ANGRY ABOUT IT. But, honestly, I would have been able to deal with that had the E N T I R E story not been building up she and Felix’s relationship, only to pull the rug out from under the reader and be like you like this guy?? You think they’d be cute together?? Too bad. the story did nothing to build up the relationship between Sam and whats-his-face (I can’t even remember his NAME) and it was a poor choice, writing-wise, to have her end up with a guy who hadn’t been present for the first twenty pages of the novella. It was so bait-and-switch and seemed to be solely for the purpose of surprising the reader. I was not a fan”Vega” by Brenna Yovanoff: ★
At the risk of sounding like an idiot: I don’t understand the ending of this story. The writing was wayyy too flowery and I wasn’t really paying attention, and I literally have no idea what happened. This also wasn’t even a love triangle, and I legitimately don’t understand how it has a place with the rest of these stories.
”A Hundred Thousand Threads” by Alaya Dawn Johnson: ★
I’m sorry, but I could just not get into this one. At all. I’ve never really been able to read books that are made of blog posts and interviews and such – I could never get into [b:Illuminae|23395680|Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443433956s/23395680.jpg|26653661] or anything written the same way, because I kind of like to…. not have to pay a ton of attention to what I’m reading. That’s just me though, and I’m sure that this one was really awesome for other people! Just not me.
”Before She Was Bloody” by Tessa Gratton: ★★★★★
uhhhhh this was awesome and a little terrifying. The world-building reminded me a lot of [b:Reign the Earth|25566671|Reign the Earth (The Elementae, #1)|A.C. Gaughen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495476215s/25566671.jpg|45365178], and the characters were the kind of anti-heroes that I love to read about. Though it was a little confusing at times, that was probably my fault and not the stories lol. I really want to see this one as a full-length novel.
”Unus, Duo, Tres” by Bethany Hagen: ★★★★★
WOWWWW. This was such a strong, heartbreaking ending. This broke my heart. I’ve never really been a fan of vampires because blood makes me a little queasy, but this short story completely won over my heart. It made me tear up. It was beautiful, diverse, and so well-written. Another one of my favorites.
In conclusion, this anthology rocked my socks off. Even though there were a,,,, lot more stories than I previously thought there were that didn’t really sit well with me, the ones that did work blew me away with amazing characters, awesome writing, and sick world-building. This is a wonderful addition to and reader’s library – both those who are a fan of the love triangle, and even those that will never be a fan.