seshathawk's review
2.0
Like many people before me, I got this book for the Diana Wynne Jones story, "Mela Worms." I got excited when it came in the mail as the cheesy and dated cover and blurb promised me sexy (and possibly cheesy and sexist) science fiction stories. It sounded amazing.
The Diana Wynne Jones story did not disappoint. It, alone of all the stories in the book, fulfilled the promise of sexy science fiction (and was NOT overly sexist on top of that). It was completely engaging, not creepy, funny, and had the same spirit and tone as many of Jones's other stories do. I completely loved it.
The rest of the book, for the most part, fell flat. A couple of the stories ("Odd Attachments" and "The Horn") were a little too creepy for me to read right before bed and stuck in my head a little too long. A couple of them ("Iron Shoes," which was a wonderful Snow White story, and "The Beautiful Biting Machine," a nicely futuristic and slightly horrific Tanith Lee story) I really enjoyed. Many of them I found unremarkable ("Pamela's Pursuit," "The Palomino Boy," "The Cat and the Sleep Compiler," "The Motivation," "Cruel as the Grave," and "Howie Dreams"). "Wildland" was sexist and irritating despite an interesting start. "The Amorous Adventures of Hogfoot Right" was at the same time cute, bizarre, and a smidge sexist. I enjoyed "A Little Magic." "The Song of Women" and "The Growing Place" were dull to me.
Mostly, I was disappointed by how the book failed to deliver on the promises both in the blurb and in the introduction. A lot of the stories didn't seem to have much to do with sex or even romance; they were just odd. Many of them didn't even skew towards the science fiction/fantasy angle, but more into horror or dark fantasy. A couple of the stories were very wordy and difficult to slog through, since I prefer character-driven stories to stories driven by plot and held up by exposition. Granted, it was published in 1989, so I think a lot of the stories are just dated. A book with the same premise, published today, could be very different. It's possible my expectations were too high, since I love the genre of science fiction romance, but overall, the book was a disappointment, save for the Diana Wynne Jones story.
The Diana Wynne Jones story did not disappoint. It, alone of all the stories in the book, fulfilled the promise of sexy science fiction (and was NOT overly sexist on top of that). It was completely engaging, not creepy, funny, and had the same spirit and tone as many of Jones's other stories do. I completely loved it.
The rest of the book, for the most part, fell flat. A couple of the stories ("Odd Attachments" and "The Horn") were a little too creepy for me to read right before bed and stuck in my head a little too long. A couple of them ("Iron Shoes," which was a wonderful Snow White story, and "The Beautiful Biting Machine," a nicely futuristic and slightly horrific Tanith Lee story) I really enjoyed. Many of them I found unremarkable ("Pamela's Pursuit," "The Palomino Boy," "The Cat and the Sleep Compiler," "The Motivation," "Cruel as the Grave," and "Howie Dreams"). "Wildland" was sexist and irritating despite an interesting start. "The Amorous Adventures of Hogfoot Right" was at the same time cute, bizarre, and a smidge sexist. I enjoyed "A Little Magic." "The Song of Women" and "The Growing Place" were dull to me.
Mostly, I was disappointed by how the book failed to deliver on the promises both in the blurb and in the introduction. A lot of the stories didn't seem to have much to do with sex or even romance; they were just odd. Many of them didn't even skew towards the science fiction/fantasy angle, but more into horror or dark fantasy. A couple of the stories were very wordy and difficult to slog through, since I prefer character-driven stories to stories driven by plot and held up by exposition. Granted, it was published in 1989, so I think a lot of the stories are just dated. A book with the same premise, published today, could be very different. It's possible my expectations were too high, since I love the genre of science fiction romance, but overall, the book was a disappointment, save for the Diana Wynne Jones story.
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