A review by lulustjames
Monstrous Little Voices, Volume 1: New Tales Shakespeare's Fantasy World by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Foz Meadows, Jonathan Barnes, Kate Heartfield, Emma Newman

3.0

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For fans of Shakespeare and fantasy, Monstrous Little Voices is sure to be a gem, but for the casual Shakespearian aficionado, you might find yourself wanting more. This is a complication of five different stories by five different authors that all choose different pieces of Shakespeare's works, yet weave them together in an overarching story. That said, one book with different authors is always a gamble, one that might not always pay off.

With the different authors writing each of the five stories, it's difficult to say whether it's the content or the style that did and didn't work for me. It's likely a combination of both. I really enjoyed Coral Bones by Foz Meadows, The Course of True Love by Kate Heartfield, and The Unkindest Cut by Emma Newman. Perhaps it's because they dealt in greater detail with fae and witches. Perhaps it's the love and romance. I just really found these three stories to be fantastic.

In Coral Bones, the message is one that is great and should be repeated to all. The form you are in should not dictate the role you should play or how you should be treated. This dips into The Tempest and looks into gender roles and the rigidity that some adhere to them. Also, it features the ever delightful Puck and the loving eternal war between Oberon and Titania. It has a serious message woven through the clever witted tale.

The Course of True Love, is my favourite of Monstrous Little Voices. In it, there is a debate on what the true nature of a person is. Whether it is something immutable or something that is changeable, dependent on your actions. It was also super sweet to see the elderly in a bit of a romance story. Pomona, the wizened old witch was great and had the best quote of the book, which I had featured in this past Thursday Quotables post and Vertumnus was a fantastic bounding partner for her.

Finally, the last of my three favourites is The Unkindest Cut, which seems like the natural culmination of the earlier three stories. Here, we see a prophecy fulfilled after going awry. There is a spirit in a form that is not theirs. We see the idea of one's true nature being based on actions rather than feelings, or words. Here's a spoiler, do not expect a happy ending here.

The final two stories of the collection were, in contrast, lackluster. Even in the Cannon's Mouth was strange. The mixture of stage direction with a narrative format was distracting. The war story background of the shipwrecked survivors flew right over my head. The addition of he who must not be named was interesting, but as a HUGE fan of that work, a bit out of character and strange, until the final lines at least. The story seemed to focus on characters that I didn't really care about, and then ended with characters going on an adventure I really wanted to see. It just didn't work for me. On the Twelfth Night was simply comically strange and so random compared to the earlier four works. It sort of makes sense as the ending of the book, but it's just...weird.

Monstrous Little Voices is a solid three stars. It gives me a great introduction to the different authors and leaves me intrigued to find more of their works. However, all of the stories may not interest all readers. The collection on kindle is definitely worth the price ($5.99 USD at the time of this post) as each individual story is priced at $2.99 USD each.

// I received this title for free in exchange for an honest review //