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A review by octavia_cade
Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron by Jonathan Strahan
adventurous
medium-paced
3.0
Fun collection of witch-themed stories that are nearly all directed at young adults, although the ending story, by Margo Lanagan, doesn't seem particular attuned to that audience. The stories I liked best were a little more keyed into adolescence, and there's the interesting parallel of coming into all sorts of powers at that time, or becoming aware of them, which is not perhaps blindingly original, but is still something I consistently find appealing. I don't know why, exactly - some things just resonate more than others - but I think I like the reflective possibilities, the potential explorations of maturity and consequence.
I think the story I most enjoyed here was Delia Sherman's "The Witch in the Wood," but the one that most interested me was "Barrio Girls" by Charles de Lint, which is coincidentally the only story here that swings more towards horror than fantasy. I feel as if witches should have some capacity for horror, or at least some interaction with it, and there's a casual sort of brutality to the plot that's very much red-in-tooth-and-claw in a way that I can appreciate.
I think the story I most enjoyed here was Delia Sherman's "The Witch in the Wood," but the one that most interested me was "Barrio Girls" by Charles de Lint, which is coincidentally the only story here that swings more towards horror than fantasy. I feel as if witches should have some capacity for horror, or at least some interaction with it, and there's a casual sort of brutality to the plot that's very much red-in-tooth-and-claw in a way that I can appreciate.