A review by emmafromoz
Hexed by Allyson James, Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn
4.0
I have to admit straight up that I am not a big fan of novellas or short stories (Roald Dahl aside) & this collection hasn't really revised my opinion.
However, one couldn't ask for a classier collection of paranormal authors: Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James & Jeanne C. Stein. Of these, IA, YG & JS are on my automatic to-buy list & Allyson James has been on my to-try list for a while now.
I quite enjoyed all of these stories & have already gone out & bought an Allyson James Stormwalker novel after reading her story here.
For me, the least successful story was the one by Yasmine Galenorn. I felt that her attempts to explain all of the pre-existing relationships between her characters were clumsy & cumbersome & this really detracted from my enjoyment of the story at times. Plus (my usual complaint about novellas) there just wasn't enough space to develop a full-bodied story.
Whether I'd have felt this way if I hadn't read all of her previous novels is difficult to say.
The other three stories were more successful in establishing themselves independently of their origins (all of the stories in this collection are set in the worlds already established by their authors in other novels). Being familiar with these worlds made these stories extra interesting to me, but I think a new reader would be richly rewarded by dipping into Hexed. Definitely one to try if you want a taste of any of these authors....
However, one couldn't ask for a classier collection of paranormal authors: Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James & Jeanne C. Stein. Of these, IA, YG & JS are on my automatic to-buy list & Allyson James has been on my to-try list for a while now.
I quite enjoyed all of these stories & have already gone out & bought an Allyson James Stormwalker novel after reading her story here.
For me, the least successful story was the one by Yasmine Galenorn. I felt that her attempts to explain all of the pre-existing relationships between her characters were clumsy & cumbersome & this really detracted from my enjoyment of the story at times. Plus (my usual complaint about novellas) there just wasn't enough space to develop a full-bodied story.
Whether I'd have felt this way if I hadn't read all of her previous novels is difficult to say.
The other three stories were more successful in establishing themselves independently of their origins (all of the stories in this collection are set in the worlds already established by their authors in other novels). Being familiar with these worlds made these stories extra interesting to me, but I think a new reader would be richly rewarded by dipping into Hexed. Definitely one to try if you want a taste of any of these authors....