Every so often I’ve been blessed to come across a writer whose talent leaves me in awe. They practice their art so skillfully, so deftly that it’s like watching the baseball player with the graceful swing or the figure skater with fluid moves — it’s as if they were born to do that very thing. No doubt, lurking somewhere in their DNA is the generic blueprint of bards and troubadours of old. I must confess that, after reading “Jewel Box,” I would count Ms. Lee among them. This was the first work of hers I’d read and this collection of 22 short stories had me hooked from the get go. Whether it’s the scope and depth of her imagination, or the way that each story has a different voice and style (such that it’s hard to believe the same author wrote all of them), all I know is that each story was a delight, taking me on a journey to someplace new and unexpected. My sincerest thanks to Kensington Books for providing we with an ARC of this rich tapestry of short stories from one of the best writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

“Jewel Box: Stories” by E. Lily Yu is a collection of short stories on lots of different topics. The writing was excellent, and the stories had a touch of supernatural/biblical but the stories felt a little overwhelming at times. The stories didn’t all appeal to me but it was well written.

This review is left voluntarily, and thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC of this book.

To be honest I didn’t really enjoy reading this short story collection. This is mainly due to the fact that the themes didn’t resonate with me and I couldn’t connect with a single character. The stories are written beautifully and if you’re into modern fairytales or rather fables with a touch of supernatural or the divine, “Jewel Box” might be a fit for you.

I found this to be a mixed collection of stories. Some sci-fi, some fantastical; some futuristic, others fairytale, all with some hint of the surreal, the odd. Waiting for the off-kilter thing, was like biting into an ice cream and finding a surprise inside. The writing was lovely as well.

The ones I didn't enjoy were:

The Lamp in the Turning - just don't care for anthropomorphising objects in prose. It read a bit like a school exercise.
The Doing and Undoing of Jacob E. Mwangi - it was all about gaming and didn't seem to have much of a point or a character journey.
Courtship Displays of the American Birder - jarringly modern and just seemed to list birds. Maybe this would be more interesting to twitchers.
Time Variance and Imperial Attire - skipped both
The View from the Top of the Stairs - again, a skim read for me as I didn't understand the point. It was essentially "woman builds a bunch of stairs because she wants to".
Lion God - a decent enough read but nothing impressive.

Middling/Fine:

Train Stop got off to a fantastic start, but just... ended. I wanted to know a little more about the world.

My favourite was Braid of Days and Wake of Nights. It felt the most 'finished' to me. Not that the other stories felt incomplete, per se, but this one fleshed out the characters without the narratorial 'distance' of the others, without sounding quite so much like a fable or a fairytale.

E. Lily Yu's Jewel Box Stories is aptly named. It's a story collection filled with rich imagery.

Stories where fairy tale meets science fiction. Stories where a lamp post falls in love with a frequent passerby or a man builds a woman a staircase to the stars or a peddler sells new eyes to the people of a small village. For me, not every story is a gem but that's the way with short story collections - some touch you more than others.

Thank you to Net Galley and Kensington Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, my, I do love these stories! Short stories to read one at a time the way a wise person eats a pound of fine chocolates. Each story contains an assumed world or world view and is a compact fable. E. Lily Eu has been writing short stories for some years. "More than thirty of her stories have appeared in venues from McSweeney's to Tor.com, as well as thirteen best-of-the-year anthologies, and have been finalists for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards." Don't miss these!

Jewel Box: Stories" by E. Lily Yu is an excellent collection of short stories with a fairy tale feel that is grounded in a real world of human pain, folly, joy, and sorrow. The beautiful writing and tight, meaningful prose make this book a highly recommended read worthy of four stars.

The collection of stories seemed to have varied topics and was quite confusing at times. Some were interesting like the lamp in love and the magic carpet. The Lamp at the Turning was a delightful read.

I am also looking forward to what the cover is going to be like:)

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

A collection of stories, mostly sci-fi based, mostly written as fairy tales. I had a hard time connecting with almost all of the stories, with the exception of the bird watchers one. I appreciate the fact they are well-written, literate works, but they just didn't appeal to me. I had to make myself finish.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This will be released on the 3rd of May.



Book Review: Jewel Box: Stories

E. Lily Yu

A Thank you

I would first like to thank Netgalley and Kensington Books for this review copy of the book

Blurb

“A luminous collection of short fiction by award-winning writer E. Lily Yu, Jewel Box showcases incandescent stories from a master of language that reflect and refract the sharp intimacies of our world, burning brilliant against the dark.” (Tor, 2022)

Ebook

As soon as I opened the book, I was glad for the contents page. It was smooth and succinct, with links to every story. You might be asking, why’s that important? Check out other reviews here at R&R. Some books do not include contents pages and it makes for a disappointing reading experience. But Jewel Box: stories has a contents page and links! Hoorah!

Short stories

More short stories? I review what the publishers provide and lately we have had a lot of good short stories. Each collection surprises me and I cannot help but compare to the ones I have read before. Does this make it harder for this anthology to stand out? Recently at R&R we have been blown away by some short stories, really excellent and well-crafted worlds. So I was excited to read a collection by a Hugo nominee. Short stories are fast becoming my favourite medium of 2023. I’ve always loved short stories and I support any writer who uses them. They can be harder to write than longer novels, as you’re boiling a story down into a bite sized meal. But what stories are we used to? Did our ancestors sit in caves and recite sagas? Tapping away with stones until the cave walls were littered with symbols spelling out their one thousand page novels? Of course, there are epic fantasies, sagas, myths, poems and brilliant novels out there all throughout history. But here at R&R we are grateful for the publishers who still believe in short stories, the writers still crafting small tales, and the readers who understand that, although short stories are small, they pack a big punch! (Patea, 2012).

Favourites

You know the drill. If you don’t, you’ve skipped some reviews and are missing out on some great collections. Down below you’ll find a list of the stories that stuck out.

1. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees

This story reminded me of Beatrix Potter and Brian Jacques. Bees and Wasps autonomous and thinking as humans do? Is it such a novel notion when each species build such sophisticated networks all around the world? But nature can be brutal.

2. The Urashima Effect

A story within a story. I enjoyed the tale about the fisherman and the twist at the end was unexpected and rapid

3.Local Stops on the Floating Train

This was again a story within a story. We watch a young woman who has yet to experience her full life, subjected to racism and cruelty on a train. This story hit me, because it seemed so real. How many people stand up for others in the outside world? How many times do we hear about when people instead of acting, record? Instead of speaking, ignore? It was a silent tragedy with subtle sci-fi.

4. The Cat’s Tale

This was a fairy real fairy tale. An amalgamation of all different stories, folded into one captivating tale which, would fit alongside the others quite well. Although, something tells me fairies are not so kind.

Conclusion

E. Lily Yu and Jewel Box: Stories is a unique collection. The stories seemed more like fables, allegories and fairy tales. I felt like the majority of stories were written in the third person omniscient narration (Zwier, 2016). Because of this, I felt detached from the characters and each story I read, seemed to be hinged on exposition. I found myself being told things rather than being shown, this happened at the beginning of a lot of the stories, so instead of feeling immersed, I felt lectured. This happened and then this happened and then after that this happened and only after was I allowed into a story. Some people might enjoy this style, but due to the fairy tale nature of the stories, I found myself often bored. Yu’s writing is well done, sometimes the emotions weaved in her characters were excellent and her use of simile’s and metaphors was great. But, due to constant exposition, each story felt more like a detached account of what happened. I found myself viewing characters from the lens of a microscope, when I would rather be down rubbing shoulders with them. I enjoyed some stories, but I could not help compare to the other anthologies here at R&R we have recently read and reviewed. Writers of the Future Volume 39, Robots through the Ages, there were some really heavy hitters hidden beneath their pages. Stories that made you stop and think. With these fairy tale-esque allegories, they felt more for children. The messages were blunt and direct, the meanings too childish to give you pause. Unfortunately, although I wanted to like this anthology, up against the others that are going to be published this year, I would say if you can only afford one book in these upcoming months, buy the other collections we have reviewed.

References

Tor, (2022). Angels & Monsters, Emperors & Bees: Announcing Jewel Box by E. Lily Yu. Accessed via: https://www.tor.com/2022/08/25/book-announcement-jewel-box-by-e-lily-yu/
Patea, (2012). The Short Story: An Overview of the History and Evolution of the Genre. DQR Studies in Literature. Universidad de Salamanca. Accessed via: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263187850_The_Short_Story_An_Overview_of_the_History_and_Evolution_of_the_Genre
Zwier (2016). SUBTLE SCULPTING: THE PRESSURE POINTS OF THE
OMNISCIENT NARRATOR
AN ACADEMIC AND CREATIVE EXAMINATION. Robert D. Clark Honors College. Accessed via: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/20399/Final%20Thesis-Zwier.pdf?sequence=1

What an incredible, intriguing, wonderful read. The collection is aptly named, and readers are in for a treat. Some stories are fairy tales or fables, some reimaginings of classic settings, some with with unique worlds or twists, some are longer, but most are very short and I finished each story in one sitting. There is darkness and horror here, but mostly sadness, beauty, and fascinating worlds dripping with tears and grief.

It's clear in almost every one of these stories that Yu is interested in the invisible systems that hide behind our lives, our societies. Yet she is not cynical. As well as unveiling devastating truths about the world we live in, Yu also instills hope in (almost) all of these tales. A quote from Yu in Lightspeed magazine, which seems to sum up much of the thematics in her stories in this collection:

"The mesh-like, self-perpetuating networks of power that infiltrate our lives, whether formal or cultural, are both the strongest determinants of our behavior and the most invisible, least understood part of our lives...

The more we can see the strands in these networks, how they interact, and how they influence what we think, do, and say, the more we can think, act, and speak freely and wisely, if we choose. A clear understanding of power not only frees the individual but also protects communities...

If you are unfamiliar with what I’m describing, ask yourself, in a specific situation: to whom do I give the benefit of the doubt? And why? What evidence, particularly patterns of past behavior, supports or does not support that choice?" — Lightspeed magazine


The characters and plots are all just so interesting - a musician who writes his masterpiece to try to save his loved one in a dystopian future, a lamp post in love with a man, a selfrightous judge from Ninevah who meets the Lion God, a ultra-privileged do-gooder in a world destroyed by climate change, a monster trying to survive in a monster-eat-monster world, an exploration of the political systems of bees and wasps, a witch who dicovers the nature of man, a unicorn in Central Park, a cat out for revenge on an evil ogre, and more and more. There is just SO much here. I felt like I was truly picking up a jewel box every time I read a story.

And the prose is rich, beautiful, careful. Some examples that I enjoyed:


“Those who chose evil over good while alive, despite being able to discern between them, find themselves choosing the same in death,” the lion god said.

-

The shattering of the mirror shivered outward through fields of light cones, near and far, until the shattering itself became eternal, immutable fact. The fragments of the mirror drifted down through pasts, presents, and futures, clinging and cutting, like stardust and razors.

-

Old they were, in appearance far older than time: their eyes seams of stars, their fingers the knurls of ancient oaks. They rocked in their maple rocking chairs, knitting blankets with a pattern of silver fish from a silvery wool. The fish gathered in soft clouds around their feet.

-

But neither will I be King.” “And why not?” the cook demanded. “Because you would be a better King than I,” the prince said. “Because I have no heart to rule over anyone, not even a beetle. And because the ways of God are better than the ways of men, better than the ways of wolves or ravens—indeed, they are the best of all.”

-

"The eloquence of bones. We are given, when very young, a very old set of narrative constructions. They’re designed to teach us all sorts of values—what to honor, what to fear, how to treat our elders—and they do so deeply and effectively. Never mind craft or clever literary devices. Fairy tales operate on a values-driven logic, though sometimes those values are situationally necessary rather than true, and in the long run, that logic produces a richer and higher life than the common, self-serving rationalizations of ordinary life. As I see it, that is the basic test of new fairy tales; it is easy to tell when that moral logic is missing or flawed."

-

Lily Yu has created worlds in this collections. If you are a fan of Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, Ken Liu, you will certainly find much to love here, much to twirl within your mind, stories that will bring wonder and shock and beauty and new perspectives. Characters that will stick with you for weeks, months, probably years.

Highly recommended!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. I didn't realize I had already read one of these stories when I requested this book - I had read "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" in an anthology, and I loved it when I read it several years ago, so it was nice to be reminded of that story in this anthology.
This book certainly hits all the right notes for me - My favorite kinds of stories are the ones that lean heavily on the fantastic, while still being rooted in real human emotion (and suffering, most of the time). I read another reviewer that noted that these stories were a bit too cynical for them, which I can understand, but for the most part, my favorite stories were perhaps the most cynical - "The Lion God and the Two Gates," "The Urashima Effect,"

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The title for this collection is not meant to be subtle: Yu's stories are often described as lapidary, each one a perfect little gem, and this is entirely fair. They're beautiful. Several times I said either, "Oh yes, I remember this one!" or "How did I miss this one?"

This is, however, in the category of "short story collections I recommend reading in pieces rather than all in one go." It's not just that all the beautiful language can overwhelm, although I think some readers will have that reaction. It's also that stacked up, the places where Yu's characterization tends toward not just cynicism but a rather surface or obvious cynicism. Standing on their own, each piece is allowed to shine. When taken all together the effect is rather lessened. Happily for all of us, it's perfectly possible to read short story collections a bit at a time and take them in as the singular works they were meant to be.

I was granted access to this ARC by NetGalley.
E. Lily Yu managed to build an extremely good collection of stories. I did enjoy some much more than others, but none of them are less than a simply nice read and some are really excellent.
These short tales go from fable reinterpretations to contemporaneous fantasy shorts, from emotional snippets to political innuendos or allegories. E. Lily Yu gives pain and farewell, destiny and self-determination, war and anarchism, dreams and disappointment. This ends up giving the reader a kind of picture or perspective of humanity that makes the "box" make sense as a whole and fit the contemporary discourse about who "we" are.
Certainly worth reading for those who like or at least don't mind the fantastical elements and that want a book with something to say but isn't preachy about it.
On Fragile Waves, E. Lily Yu's novel, is most definitely on my wishlist.

I have a bad habit: I forget the names of short story writers much more easily, and much faster, than I forget the names of novelists. I don't think it's because I value one more than the other, but perhaps reading things in anthologies I pay slightly less attention to the author's name.

Whatever the reason, I always forget that E. Lily Yu is a spectacular author whose work I love very, very much. Fortunately, this collection has reminded me of that fact with all the subtlety of a shovel to the face. Pretty much every story in this collection is wonderful and thought-provoking and I am beyond happy that I got to read it and see all of this wonderful work in one place.

A few highlights:
"The View from the Top of the Stair" - a woman (I think) whose great passion in life is staircases, who gets an inheritance that allows her to indulge her passion, and what life can be like when you get to be at least somewhat fulfilled. The passion is never mocked, it's not a tragic story of 'never what you wish for', and it's also not at all what you expect.
"The Time Invariance of Snow" - one of the stories I remembered that I had already read, as I was reading. A truly remarkable spin on the Snow Queen: it opens with the heading "The Devil and The Physicist", which gives a small indication of how Yu is approaching the ideas.
"Courtship Displays of the American Birder" - heartbreaking and beautiful and lyrical.
"The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight" - witches and knights and dragons, but not at all as you think you know them.
"Braid of Days and Wake of Nights" - after reading this one, I had to go stare at a wall for a while. Friendship and cancer and unicorns, going on when everything is awful and finding magic in the mundane.
"Ilse, who saw clearly" - is not the story I was expecting from the opening; stolen eyes and a girl who doesn't fit in, learning a craft and then still not fitting in... another one that left me unable to just blithely go on to the next story.
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" - almost certainly my introduction to Yu's work. Wasps who are conquerors and map-makers, bees who get conquered and some of them become anarchists... it doesn't tell you everything about Yu's work but I suspect if this one doesn't work for you, then I suspect her work in general won't.

This collection is magnificent. "Jewel Box" is absolutely right.

An excellent collection of short stories that captivate you right from the start. Each story in the collection draws you in, and speaks to you as you travel through the different journeys. This book has a way of opening up your world as you enjoy reading about bees, angels and people in different stages of their life. A highly recommended read and worthy of five stars.

I loved this. I have read and loved some of the stories from this collection before, so I was very happy to get this as an ARC through NetGalley.
These stories are all very different. Most are strange and magical. I liked the ones that where the most like fairy tales best, like Ilse, Who Saw Clearly, and The Cat's Tale. My favorite was the last story, Small Monsters. It was brutal and strange, and also very heartwarming. The ending made me so happy!

Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu is a short story collection that is sci-fi based and is bittersweet. I've read some of Yu's stories in the past and I was enchanted by them. This book features a collection of different stories that will capture you from the beginning. The writing is distinguished and will really make you think about what you are reading. However, some stories are lackluster.

The reason I give this three stars is that I disliked some stories more than others. Yes, some of the stories were thought provoking and interesting, however some other stories were just mediocre. For example, I was really intrigued by the short story "The Lion and the Two Gates", and I consider it one of the best in the collection. But the first story, "The Pilgrim and the Angel", didn't capture my interest. It wasn't terrible just acceptable. I either really liked the stories or I thought they were just ok. And that goes for the entirety of the collection.

Overall, I liked reading this book. Some stories were better than others, but those stories were amazing. And the others were just ok.

Thank you to Net Galley for letting me review this book!

Jewel Box: Stories is a fabulous collection of short works by E. Lily Yu. Yu’s writing is tight and meaningful, and her stories bring the mythic past and frightening future into resonance with the present. I first encountered Yu’s work when my niece, a senior in high school, was assigned to read the short story “The Wretched And The Beautiful” (contained in this volume). Yu’s stories are exactly the kind I would teach to my own students as the prose can be mined for great depth in both message and style.

The collection opens with “The Pilgrim And The Angel”, which sends a coffee shop owner on a miraculous journey across the world. In other stories a city official serves as judge and jury for disputes among people, a man and woman court one another in a futuristic world filled with toxins, unicorns become metaphors for the mortal coil of life, and witches practice their craft in a time one hundred years after a star has fallen from the constellation Orion. “The Lamp At The Turning” breathes life into streetlamps who serve as “surrogate moons for an age when the moon itself was too distant and dim to guide travelers in the night” , and in “The Cartographer Wasp And The Anarchist Bees” wasp nests unfurl “into beautifully accurate maps of provinces near and far”. Characters in the collection own green glass from the moon and sell eyes of every color, aliens who arrive on the shores of earth represent the plight of immigrants, and enchanted flowers grow on the graves of grandmothers. In short, the collection is full of magic but also grounded in a real world of human pain, folly, joy, and sorrow.

The stories echo with a fairy tale feel and a couple in the collection (“The Time Invariance Of Snow” and “Three Variations On A Theme Of Imperial Attire”) directly pull from Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The stories are easy to digest but beg to be poured over, and I look forward to reading them all again. E. Lily Yu’s contribution to the short story genre is impressive, and I highly recommend her work. Each story in this volume is a jewel to be held to the light, and readers will gain much from contemplating the words and images of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Jewel Box: Stories
by E. Lily Yu
Description
Jewel Box: Stories, the first full short story collection by award-winning writer E. Lily Yu, reflects and refracts the sharp intimacies of our world through stories that are at once strange and humorous and full of power, burning brilliant against the dark.
Angels, monsters, and bees. Birdwatchers, emperors, and prison wardens. These and more populate the twenty-two new and old stories from award-winning author E. Lily Yu, collected for the first time here in her debut short story collection. From the early innovative work that won her the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, such as "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees," to recent short fiction such as "Small Monsters," E. Lily Yu's writing has continued to garner award nominations and recognition from the literary community for its faceted beauty, cutting edge, and uplifting heart.

I very much enjoyed Jewel Box. E.Lily Yu has some profound, touching even fun. I was traveling the world with her words as putting me where I was supposed to be. Twenty-two stories, and loved them.