A review by julieartz
Grim by Christine Johnson
3.0
I hate giving a rating to an anthology like this because there were stories in here that, standing alone, would only get 2 stars from me, and a couple (especially Figment) that would not only get a five star, but a plea for more, more, more! I really wanted the collection as a whole to be more dark and creepy--the cover, the title, and book trailer really built up that dark aspect, but many of the stories were fairly straight-forward retellings.
One of the things that I love to hate about short stories is that I always want more. More character development, more world building, more depth. Sometimes this can be effective. Leaving a reader with longing after they walk away can be a sign of success. But some of these stories needed more to give them the emotional oomph they needed to stick with me.
That said, there are moments of brilliance in this book. If, like me, you are looking to discover some new favorites in the YA genre, this anthology is worth a read. Most of the stories, even the ones that felt too brief/abrupt to me, had something interesting enough for their authors to end up on my To Read list!
One of the things that I love to hate about short stories is that I always want more. More character development, more world building, more depth. Sometimes this can be effective. Leaving a reader with longing after they walk away can be a sign of success. But some of these stories needed more to give them the emotional oomph they needed to stick with me.
That said, there are moments of brilliance in this book. If, like me, you are looking to discover some new favorites in the YA genre, this anthology is worth a read. Most of the stories, even the ones that felt too brief/abrupt to me, had something interesting enough for their authors to end up on my To Read list!