I felt like these stories were trying to do something interesting and original, but then they didn't quite make it. ( )

I usually am pretty opposed to short stories. They tail off just as things get interesting. But Kelly Link is different. Kelly Link doesn't really write stories -- short or otherwise -- her work is something completely different. She operates outside of the usual logic of narrative. Although, to be fair, perhaps my favorite of her works is the most conventional: The Specialists Hat, which I've read in other collections, is just so undeniably spooky. The atmosphere of dread is palpable, and Link sets it up perfectly, you read it thinking that everything might just turn out fine (even though I've read it before) and she gets you just at the last moment.

Her other works in this collection are more atmospheric riddles than stories, per se, but she does them well, with rich atmospheres and a sense of a consistent mythology just beyond the reader's grasp. There's just something really nice about reading someone who's doing something no one else is. ( )

I guess technically I should be marking this as DNF, but I didn't despise it enough for that label, so I'll just mark it as Read* . I made it to 25% (first three stories). They were fine, but not genre (or, being kind, not genre enough). Not quite reality-based, either. I think that I'll just have to classify them as "bleh..." ( )

I was worried for a little while because the first story was by far the one I liked the least, but overall I think the book is a great collection. My favorites: The Specialist's Hat, Flying Lessons, Travels with the Snow Queen, Vanishing Act, Louise's Ghost. ( )

Kelly Link's collection of short stories take place at various locations around the world, most with a young woman as protagonist. The tales, for the most part, are grounded in reality but contain elements of fantasy, fairy tale, or horror as if each story is haunted by something outside of reality. Some stories are better than others but I didn't find any of them particularly satisfying, if that's even something one can ask of fiction. Still Link has a vivid imagination and as this was her first story collection it could be worth checking out her more recent fiction.

One thing I do need to do is make a note about where I find out of books I add to be reading list. While I didn't particularly enjoy this book, I am glad I read it, and I really wonder what inspired me to put on my TBR list in the first place. ( )