A review by marimoose
Love Is Hell by Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Marr, Justine Larbalestier
3.0
After I'd been resolved to not liking this book, it was probably the last story that made me rethink it and go: "You know, the stories aren't all that bad."
Well, in a YA-"omg love" sense. Not all the stories ended well (I was particularly fond of how "Fan Fictions" ended up, it was just so odd, but so interesting!). I think overall, however, Scott Westerfeld and Melissa Marr had my favorite stories.
Okay, yes, I picked the book up because I saw Westerfeld's name on the list of authors, so there was always going to be bias there. His "Stupid Perfect World" was written in his YA Uglies style, so I wasn't exactly blown over by the change of style from his Leviathan trilogy (and while I certainly preferred the latter, the former worked fine with this story). He managed to put in a little info about a scifi-world, created lovely repeat-phrases (like "meeker", which I'm not particularly what it means still), and put in two characters whose points of view were entertaining.
And yes, I've heard of Melissa Marr and Wicked Lovely is probably in my reading list somewhere. So I'm actually pleased at how her "Love Struck" turned out, mostly because it was all about selkies! I really can't resist a fairy tale-related story, oh no. And the story was adorable, albeit I could have used a bit more story with the brother (there was so much background unsaid that I would have liked the story to go for more than 40-something pages!).
The other three stories had something interesting to say about love as well, though again, perhaps not my favorites. "Thinner than Water" had to do with falling in love with the fae folk and the repercussions after living with a all-too traditional family; it was nicely done (again, my same complaint goes to the fact that the story was too short). "Fan Fictions" dealt with a girl crazy in love who appears to be morphing a story to meld with her own life (who wouldn't want their favorite fictional guy to literally come out of the page and serenade her?). And "Sleeping with the Spirit" started the anthology off with the supernatural feel (think a YA Ghost with no need for a physical Whoopi Goldberg medium).
Yeah, I think that sums it up.
Well, in a YA-"omg love" sense. Not all the stories ended well (I was particularly fond of how "Fan Fictions" ended up, it was just so odd, but so interesting!). I think overall, however, Scott Westerfeld and Melissa Marr had my favorite stories.
Okay, yes, I picked the book up because I saw Westerfeld's name on the list of authors, so there was always going to be bias there. His "Stupid Perfect World" was written in his YA Uglies style, so I wasn't exactly blown over by the change of style from his Leviathan trilogy (and while I certainly preferred the latter, the former worked fine with this story). He managed to put in a little info about a scifi-world, created lovely repeat-phrases (like "meeker", which I'm not particularly what it means still), and put in two characters whose points of view were entertaining.
And yes, I've heard of Melissa Marr and Wicked Lovely is probably in my reading list somewhere. So I'm actually pleased at how her "Love Struck" turned out, mostly because it was all about selkies! I really can't resist a fairy tale-related story, oh no. And the story was adorable, albeit I could have used a bit more story with the brother (there was so much background unsaid that I would have liked the story to go for more than 40-something pages!).
The other three stories had something interesting to say about love as well, though again, perhaps not my favorites. "Thinner than Water" had to do with falling in love with the fae folk and the repercussions after living with a all-too traditional family; it was nicely done (again, my same complaint goes to the fact that the story was too short). "Fan Fictions" dealt with a girl crazy in love who appears to be morphing a story to meld with her own life (who wouldn't want their favorite fictional guy to literally come out of the page and serenade her?). And "Sleeping with the Spirit" started the anthology off with the supernatural feel (think a YA Ghost with no need for a physical Whoopi Goldberg medium).
Yeah, I think that sums it up.