sarahs89's review
2.0
This is a collection of short stories and while I liked many of them, I found as I was just getting into the story, it abruptly was wrapped up. Short stories are not for me it seems and I struggled to finish this book
otl1987's review
4.0
Some of the stories I really loved, some I liked and some I found pointless. Some of them had a deeper meaning that touched me deeply and some of them were adventurous and just fun to read. Overall, I consider this book a very nice collection of short stories. It reminded me of how exciting fantasy books are, which I hadn't read for years.
"The witch's headstone", "The Ruby Incomparable", "Winter's wife" and "Zinder" :Favorites
"The stranger's hands", "The Manticore Spell", "Billy and the wizard" : I could do without reading...
I am going to write something about each one of them, so if you don't feel like reading, just go on to the next review!
"The witch's headstone" I liked a lot. It was the first piece I read of Neil Gaiman and the reason I'm starting the Graveyard Book soon. Really well written and it made me feel I was there. He manages to create a really nice atmosphere. I really don't think that if you read it you can resist The Graveyard Book.
"Holly and Iron" was an interesting story as well. I liked it a lot, but it was not my kind of story. Meaning that I am not the person who will read a whole book on this particular theme. I liked the characters a lot, and the way they were described. A story worth reading.
"Color vision" I also liked a lot. Nice, moving ending. But it was enough as it was.
"The Ruby Incomparable" is definitely one of my favorites. As soon as I finished it I felt the urge of reading more about it, about that world and about Svnae's life. I really liked the deeper meaning of this one. A story that got me thinking. Also, the story that got me searching more of Kage Baker (remember, I am a fantasy rookie).
"A Fowl Tale" was very fun to read. Easy read and very imaginable.
"Slipping sideways through eternity" was nice, interesting how it got connected to real historical facts. But not something I would read again.
"The stranger's hands" I didn't really get. It didn't catch my attention. I finished it just because I can't leave a book with a part unfinished.
"Naming Day" was really fun to read. Really caught my attention, light writing and light reading. A perfect short story.
"Winter's wife" , also one of my favorites. Really liked the characters, the setting, it was all easy to imagine. And I also liked what it really meant. And I loved Winter's wife, the person!
"A Diorama of the Infernal Regions" didn't excite me. It reminded me of strangely dark movies with puppets and strings and fake smiles and lots of red backround. A story I won't miss.
"Barrens Dance" I expected better. Maybe because of some reviews that listed it as one of the best and my sister that kept asking me if I read it yet, with excitement and sparks all over her eyes. Don't get me wrong, it was a really nice story, moving and all, but not my favorite of this selection.
"Stone Man" is one of my favorites. Something between "About a boy" and "Harry Potter". I would love to read more about the battle of the good ones and the "Other Side". I love the fact that it's connected to the real world. I would definitely read more.
"The Manticore Spell". I didn't like that one. Couldn't imagine the characters, nor the settings. It wasn't interesting for me at all.
"Zinder" on the other side, was a very sweet story. Full of wisdom and kindness. It reminds us of the goodness and generosity hidden in all of us. I really enjoyed reading it, I would read it again and I surely recommend it.
"Billy and the wizard" was a stupid, meaningless story. It just left me with the impression that the author was asked to write a story for this collection and he remembered it an hour before the deadline and came up with this. It really discouraged me on finding out more about Terry Bisson.
"The Maggikers" was alright. Didn't find a serious meaning to it. It was a nice read though. But just for once.
"The Magic Animal". Hmmmm... I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. But it was one of the stories that just couldn't get me hooked and I left it every two pages and got back to it again later. I loved the fact that Merlin is involved and all the time traveling was interesting, but that's all.
"The Stonefather" was very long for a short story and the first half was a bit dull and flat for my taste. It reminded me of "The perfume" by Patrick Suskind. After that, it got really interesting, but it was kinda like reading two different stories. I liked how it envolved nature's elements. It was nice overall.
"The witch's headstone", "The Ruby Incomparable", "Winter's wife" and "Zinder" :Favorites
"The stranger's hands", "The Manticore Spell", "Billy and the wizard" : I could do without reading...
I am going to write something about each one of them, so if you don't feel like reading, just go on to the next review!
"The witch's headstone" I liked a lot. It was the first piece I read of Neil Gaiman and the reason I'm starting the Graveyard Book soon. Really well written and it made me feel I was there. He manages to create a really nice atmosphere. I really don't think that if you read it you can resist The Graveyard Book.
"Holly and Iron" was an interesting story as well. I liked it a lot, but it was not my kind of story. Meaning that I am not the person who will read a whole book on this particular theme. I liked the characters a lot, and the way they were described. A story worth reading.
"Color vision" I also liked a lot. Nice, moving ending. But it was enough as it was.
"The Ruby Incomparable" is definitely one of my favorites. As soon as I finished it I felt the urge of reading more about it, about that world and about Svnae's life. I really liked the deeper meaning of this one. A story that got me thinking. Also, the story that got me searching more of Kage Baker (remember, I am a fantasy rookie).
"A Fowl Tale" was very fun to read. Easy read and very imaginable.
"Slipping sideways through eternity" was nice, interesting how it got connected to real historical facts. But not something I would read again.
"The stranger's hands" I didn't really get. It didn't catch my attention. I finished it just because I can't leave a book with a part unfinished.
"Naming Day" was really fun to read. Really caught my attention, light writing and light reading. A perfect short story.
"Winter's wife" , also one of my favorites. Really liked the characters, the setting, it was all easy to imagine. And I also liked what it really meant. And I loved Winter's wife, the person!
"A Diorama of the Infernal Regions" didn't excite me. It reminded me of strangely dark movies with puppets and strings and fake smiles and lots of red backround. A story I won't miss.
"Barrens Dance" I expected better. Maybe because of some reviews that listed it as one of the best and my sister that kept asking me if I read it yet, with excitement and sparks all over her eyes. Don't get me wrong, it was a really nice story, moving and all, but not my favorite of this selection.
"Stone Man" is one of my favorites. Something between "About a boy" and "Harry Potter". I would love to read more about the battle of the good ones and the "Other Side". I love the fact that it's connected to the real world. I would definitely read more.
"The Manticore Spell". I didn't like that one. Couldn't imagine the characters, nor the settings. It wasn't interesting for me at all.
"Zinder" on the other side, was a very sweet story. Full of wisdom and kindness. It reminds us of the goodness and generosity hidden in all of us. I really enjoyed reading it, I would read it again and I surely recommend it.
"Billy and the wizard" was a stupid, meaningless story. It just left me with the impression that the author was asked to write a story for this collection and he remembered it an hour before the deadline and came up with this. It really discouraged me on finding out more about Terry Bisson.
"The Maggikers" was alright. Didn't find a serious meaning to it. It was a nice read though. But just for once.
"The Magic Animal". Hmmmm... I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. But it was one of the stories that just couldn't get me hooked and I left it every two pages and got back to it again later. I loved the fact that Merlin is involved and all the time traveling was interesting, but that's all.
"The Stonefather" was very long for a short story and the first half was a bit dull and flat for my taste. It reminded me of "The perfume" by Patrick Suskind. After that, it got really interesting, but it was kinda like reading two different stories. I liked how it envolved nature's elements. It was nice overall.
slammy90's review
3.0
L'ho comprato entusiasta per le storie di Neil Gaiman e Eoin Colfer.. Del primo era una storia già letta dell'antologia "Il cimitero senza lapidi e altre storie nere", del secondo una senza senso e fin troppo breve.
Delusione cocente :(
Delusione cocente :(
thereadingoutlaw's review
5.0
The first story in the collection, which also happened to be the first story I read, is “The Witch’s Headstone” by Neil Gaiman, the, as far as I’m concerned, Lord and Master of All Things Fantastical And Mysterious.
“The Witch’s Headstone” later became a chapter in Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which I’ve also read and reviewed before. However, I just had to read it again, both because I love Gaiman and because, to be honest, I was beginning to miss that Bod Owens.
The story begins with Bod (short for Nobody) Owens investigating the story that a witch is buried outside of the graveyard in which he lives, on the consecrated ground. After questioning both his “parents” (quick note:: I’m glossing over a good deal of the backstory of Nobody Owens because it’s not talked about in “The Witch’s Headstone”. For the full details, see The Graveyard Book. For the purposes of this review, though, it should be known that Bod is an orphan who has been, essentially, communally adopted by a local graveyard and it’s inhabitants and has been given the “freedom of the graveyard”, meaning he can see and talk to all sorts of spirits normal people can’t) as well as his teachers and guardians, Bod decides he’d like to meet the witch.
Unfortunately, Bod is a good boy and won’t violate the wishes of those who he’s supposed to obey. Perhaps it’s the power of the graveyard, then that sends him hurtling over the fence one day when the branch he’s sitting on in his favorite apple tree breaks. When he awakes, he sees the infamous witch, Elizabeth (Liza) Hempstock, standing over him. He questions her about her life as a witch, how she died, and the fact that all she wants more than anything now is a headstone, something to mark her burial space and, also, her existence. Bod then forms a plan to get Liza the headstone she seeks.
Stealing an ancient and valuable amulet from the Sleer (WE ARE THE SLEER. WE GUARD. I have a friend who has that exact phrase tattooed on the back of her neck, fun little tidbit), an ancient crypt-monster, Bod heads to a local pawnshop to sell the snakestone. When Bod tells him he found the stone in a graveyard, the man becomes enraptured with greedy thoughts of mountains of treasure and locks Bod up in an office while he calls his business partner. It’s then that Liza shows up and, hearing what a nice thing Bod is doing for her, helps him to become invisible and escape, but not before Bod notices and absconds with a heavy stone paperweight on the desk. Bod quickly returns the amulet to the Sleer (IT ALWAYS COMES BACK) and, after recieving a thorough flogging from his parents, makes Liza’s headstone out of the paperweight he stole. He mows the grass over her burial site, and leaves the stone carved just how Liza requested it:
E.H. We don’t forget.
Perhaps the thing I love most about this story, and about Bod in general, is that he really is such a loving boy. Yes, he disobeys his parents. Yes, his curiosity can get him into trouble (we’re talking stolen by demons and taken almost to the gates of hell kind of trouble) but, at the end of the day, he’s generous and caring and a truly warm heart in the cemetary. I also think that Bod gives us the chance, as readers, to read a very well written narrative told in the voice of an ordinary child (Bod never gets to be older than his early teen years) which I think is especially interesting given the fact that Bod is, really, anything but ordinary. He lives in a cemetary, for God’s sake, which isn’t a good start. But Gaiman writes him with such sympathy and love that it’s kind of easy to forget all that. And just love Bod for Bod, which is the best any writer can do, I think – to get a reader to love a character for that character, flaws and all.
I’m moving on now to “Color Vision” by Mary Rosenblum, another story in the Dark Alchemy collection, and I’m about a page in to it. So far it’s a little hard to get in to, but I also wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I read it right after the Gaiman. After all, it’s hard to step away from the mastery Gaiman writes with when it comes to fantasy and fairy tales.
“The Witch’s Headstone” later became a chapter in Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which I’ve also read and reviewed before. However, I just had to read it again, both because I love Gaiman and because, to be honest, I was beginning to miss that Bod Owens.
The story begins with Bod (short for Nobody) Owens investigating the story that a witch is buried outside of the graveyard in which he lives, on the consecrated ground. After questioning both his “parents” (quick note:: I’m glossing over a good deal of the backstory of Nobody Owens because it’s not talked about in “The Witch’s Headstone”. For the full details, see The Graveyard Book. For the purposes of this review, though, it should be known that Bod is an orphan who has been, essentially, communally adopted by a local graveyard and it’s inhabitants and has been given the “freedom of the graveyard”, meaning he can see and talk to all sorts of spirits normal people can’t) as well as his teachers and guardians, Bod decides he’d like to meet the witch.
Unfortunately, Bod is a good boy and won’t violate the wishes of those who he’s supposed to obey. Perhaps it’s the power of the graveyard, then that sends him hurtling over the fence one day when the branch he’s sitting on in his favorite apple tree breaks. When he awakes, he sees the infamous witch, Elizabeth (Liza) Hempstock, standing over him. He questions her about her life as a witch, how she died, and the fact that all she wants more than anything now is a headstone, something to mark her burial space and, also, her existence. Bod then forms a plan to get Liza the headstone she seeks.
Stealing an ancient and valuable amulet from the Sleer (WE ARE THE SLEER. WE GUARD. I have a friend who has that exact phrase tattooed on the back of her neck, fun little tidbit), an ancient crypt-monster, Bod heads to a local pawnshop to sell the snakestone. When Bod tells him he found the stone in a graveyard, the man becomes enraptured with greedy thoughts of mountains of treasure and locks Bod up in an office while he calls his business partner. It’s then that Liza shows up and, hearing what a nice thing Bod is doing for her, helps him to become invisible and escape, but not before Bod notices and absconds with a heavy stone paperweight on the desk. Bod quickly returns the amulet to the Sleer (IT ALWAYS COMES BACK) and, after recieving a thorough flogging from his parents, makes Liza’s headstone out of the paperweight he stole. He mows the grass over her burial site, and leaves the stone carved just how Liza requested it:
E.H. We don’t forget.
Perhaps the thing I love most about this story, and about Bod in general, is that he really is such a loving boy. Yes, he disobeys his parents. Yes, his curiosity can get him into trouble (we’re talking stolen by demons and taken almost to the gates of hell kind of trouble) but, at the end of the day, he’s generous and caring and a truly warm heart in the cemetary. I also think that Bod gives us the chance, as readers, to read a very well written narrative told in the voice of an ordinary child (Bod never gets to be older than his early teen years) which I think is especially interesting given the fact that Bod is, really, anything but ordinary. He lives in a cemetary, for God’s sake, which isn’t a good start. But Gaiman writes him with such sympathy and love that it’s kind of easy to forget all that. And just love Bod for Bod, which is the best any writer can do, I think – to get a reader to love a character for that character, flaws and all.
I’m moving on now to “Color Vision” by Mary Rosenblum, another story in the Dark Alchemy collection, and I’m about a page in to it. So far it’s a little hard to get in to, but I also wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I read it right after the Gaiman. After all, it’s hard to step away from the mastery Gaiman writes with when it comes to fantasy and fairy tales.
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