What a great introduction to Jo Walton’s work. The poetry was my least favourite, but that’s probably more because how little poetry I read. Thoroughly enjoyed the short stories/first chapters, most of which had me going ‘oh what a great concept’!
Particularly The Panda Coin and Sleeper.

A Burden Shared felt particularly weak & only half thought through - there’s a way of transferring pain to others & yet this is done through an app?

Three Shouts On A Hill was great fun & had me giggling. I’m going to dig out some of the authors novels on the strength of these short stories.

Jo Walton is not only an amazing novelist, but she is an accomplished poet. I’m always in awe of writers who can do both well. I settle into writing a novel with ease, but whenever I need a poem or song lyrics, it’s like pulling hen’s teeth for me to create anything serviceable. Yet poetry seems to flow from Walton with ease, if the poems she has posted on her LiveJournal are an example. Starlings offers both, plus the script of a hilarious play, Three Shouts on a Hill.

One of the many things I loved about this collection was Walton’s comments on the process of writing short fiction (as opposed to longer-form novels). It’s been said that novels teach us what to put in a story and short stories teach us what to take out. Short stories are not truncated novels, at least not good ones, ones that work. They’re like tiny gems, focused and spare. In and out, nailing the ending. Not surprisingly, Walton’s short stories are as personal as her other work. Deceptively subtle, they evoke depths of connection and emotional impact.

This book would make a wonderful gift for someone you love, someone who would love words like this:

Hades and Persephone

You bring the light clasped around you,
and although
I knew you’d bring it, knew it as I waited,
Knew as you’d come that you’d come cloaked in light
I had forgotten what light meant, and so
This longed for moment, so anticipated,
I stand still, dazzled by my own delight.

Starlings by Jo Walton

3 stars

This is Jo Walton’s first short story collection and she prefaces this collection with acknowledging that she isn’t very good at right short stories. I think that it is important to keep that in mind when embarking into this collection. Not all of these stories are good, in fact an awful lot of them are… well, awful. It is a horrible collection and I have read for worse, but this isn’t a particularly strong collection. Starlings is comprised of short stories, a play, and handful of poems. Walton writes in an array of genres within the science fiction and fantasy realm. Her ideas are very unique and outside of the box. I really enjoyed that aspect of this collection because it made the stories diverse in content, but all along the same vein of storytelling. I do think it is important to let readers know that Walton is fantastic at incorporating religious or God-like concepts into her writing and if you hate religious allegories, then this collection is not for you. But I love God and I love being challenged to think about God and know God in different ways and perspectives and I felt that Walton was incredibly strong in this area of storytelling. I love Walton’s prose in her fantasy stories. For me that is when she is at her strongest and I do plan on picking up other work by her, particularly Tooth and Claw, which I’m excited about getting my hands on.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5

Three Twilight Tales – 3 stars The writing for this fantasy is quite beautiful and I loved the ending, but the formatting did not fit and it wasn’t until the ending that I grew to care for this tale. My biggest problem was that this story had no real motivation until the very end.

Jane Austen to Cassandra – 2.25 stars The concept of Jane Austen writing a letter and it winding up in the hands of the wrong Cassandra who happens to be living during the Battle of Troy is cute. However, this has no real purpose as story and is too short to be substantial.

Undeniable Witness – 3.5 stars This is a nice story about an old woman who lives in a nursing home. She claims that she has been visited by aliens and is recording it in hopes of proving that she is not crazy.

On the Wall – 5 stars This story follows the creation of the Magic Mirror and it follows the conflict that the mirror feels as it begins to see how manipulative Bluebell is and the lengths she will go to ensure her own rise to power. This was unique and fantastic. It’s the type of story I gravitate towards, but I absolutely wasn’t expecting to love this one so much. If you only read one story in this collection, find a way to check this one out because it is AMAZING!

The Panda Coin – 1 star I didn’t like the concept of following a coin throughout a futuristic society. There wasn’t enough to time to build up this world extensively and it was too much. I really didn’t like this one.

Remember the Allo-Saur – 1 star Well, that was a waste of time. It’s letter to a famous dinosaur actor. Why?

Sleeper – 3.5 stars This feels very reminiscent of classic dystopians like 1984 and I think a lot of readers will really like this one, especially because the twist is rather impressive.

Relentlessly Mundane – 3.75 stars This follows three children who were once in a mythical world and are struggling as adults in this world. They know that they have to save the Earth, but they don’t know how. My biggest problem was that this story was too short and I wanted it to be a novella. I wanted to see how they were going to save the world and why it needed saving. I left the story with way too many questions and not enough answers.

Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction – 3.25 stars The concept of Nazi Germany become winners of the WWII has always been an interesting one to me and I really like Walton’s take on it, but I wish that it hadn’t been interrupted with newspaper articles. The idea of newspapers articles is cool, but they felt odd.

Joyful and Triumphant: St. Zenobius and the Aliens – 4 stars I loved how unique this take on God and aliens was and it made the story so entertaining.

Turnover – 3.5 stars I liked the world and the concept of people being born on a spaceship going to another planet. The debate that surrounds this novel is interesting, but it doesn’t hold up past that and it falls short.

At the Bottom of the Garden – 3 stars This was depressing, but I didn’t like the path it took and it was far too short.

Out of It – 4 stars This follows an angel trying to win the soul of a powerful man who has sold his soul and it is so good. A lot of these stories would be really interesting to debate and this is one that I would enjoy debating the content surrounding morality.

What a Piece of Work – 4.25 stars This follows a supercomputer who becomes aware that she is becoming the totalitarian computer that begins to censor humans, but the reason why it gains consciousness of this is so interesting. I would love to see this one as a full-length novel.

Parable Lost – 2 stars This story has no answers to give and it is frustrating.

What Would Sam Spade Do? – 3.75 stars There’s a talking do that is a cop! This also follows a futuristic world where cloning has been made possible and there are thousands of Jesi (the plural form of Jesus) walking around. It’s kind of amazing and the is also a mystery about why a Jesus would kill another Jesus.

Tradition – 2.5 stars The idea of following someone’s traditional background is sweet, but it wasn’t spectacular.

What Joseph Felt – 3.5 stars I wish this story had expanded more upon on Joseph’s thoughts on Jesus’s life and how he felt about his step-son being crucified.

The Need to Stay the Same – 2 stars A review of a novel is cool, but it’s a fictional novel and it’s being reviewed within a scifi universe so it is hard to follow.

A Burden Shared – 3.5 stars This follows a mother who takes the pain of her daughter through an app that shares pain and it tackles incredibly tough themes like motherhood, pain, and letting go.

Three Shouts on a Hill- 1.25 stars This play was a hot mess.

Poetry – 3 stars My favorite poem is “Hades and Persephone” because I’m basic and stick to my roots when it comes to my obsessions.

Overall, I think this collection has a lot of strengths, but it also has a ton of weaknesses. I’m interested in checking out Walton’s future short story collections to see her progress because this a comprehensive collection of all her short stories. Walton acknowledges that this collection has some bad stories in it which I think takes a lot of balls to admit and for that alone I see more as a portfolio than as a novel.


Cover Thoughts: I LOVE this cover so much. The illustrations are wonderful.

Thank you, Netgalley and Tachyon Publishers, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the opening words by the author, I felt already a bit put out, her thougths on short stories and her ability to write them, did not sound promising and as such, the whole book turned out to be. I did not like any of the short stories, all of them felt like they had something missing, the poems in the book felt like they were squeezed in just to have a home somewhere. I like Jo's fantasy normally, so I was really disappointed.

Unfortunately, the only thing I liked about this book was the 'Starlings' poem. I found the book to be too wordy and the stories too bizarre. I could not honestly finish reading it because there was nothing to keep me interested. I know there are many Jo Walton fans out there who would disagree with me, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I just could not get into this book.

I tried and I got to just over half way through (which in itself took me far too long) but none of the stories were actually up to a standard that made me want to read the next.

Some of them were okay, but that's it. Just OK. Neither the stories nor the writing could hold my attention.

I don't really read short story anthologies so I'm not sure if this is a reflection on me, or on the book itself. As it stands I probably would not recommend this book to others.

Definitely a middle of the road Anthology for me. I absolutely loved some of the short stories but disliked some as well. The poetry did not resonate with me and I found it difficult to read.

Jo Walton - Starlings

This is Jo Walton’s first short story collection, containing “two short stories I wrote after I knew what I was doing, two I wrote before I knew what I was doing, some exercises, some extended jokes, some first chapters of books I didn’t write, some poems with the line breaks taken out, a play, and some poems with the line breaks left in”. Her words…
Jo Walton is a Welsh-born writer living in Canada. She has won a wide range of awards for her writing, including but not limited to the John W. Campbell, Prometheus, World Fantasy, Nebula, and Hugo Awards. I used to think of her as an SF Poet, but looking at the list of her publications (and awards for them!) I very much stand corrected. Still, per her statement above, the one thing she struggled with were short stories, which is rather different to how many (most?) other SF writers hone their craft, and move into the field of published authors. But, as they say, different strokes for different people. And here we have, within her own definition per the above quote, her first collection of short fiction.

The book starts with a poem on the topics of the birth of new stars - thus the title of the poem, and of the collection overall. It’s a lovely poem, too. And ways too clever for me…
This is followed by an introduction, by the author, on the topic of herself, and her approach to writing short stories. I guess I can safely summarise this as not her forte, but she’s better at it than she used to be.

Reading the collection I can confirm that she definitely does just fine with the format, even if she does not think of most of the contents here as ‘short stories’ herself!
Most to all of the content has been published before over the years, so unless you are completely new to her oeuvre you will most likely trip over the odd story or poem you’ve seen before - I did, occasionally.
I’ll provide short capsule reviews on topics and my impressions for the individual stories below - if you’d rather enjoy this without too many spoilers then you might want to stop here, and go get the book, it’s worth your time and money!

Those Twilight Tales
A run-on collection of stories set in a rural village. Highly evocative, with an ending as beautiful as it is abrupt…

Jane Austen - To Cassandra
Here’s a conceit - one of Jane Austen’s letters goes astray, and is answered, instead of by her friend Cassandra, by the famed lady of the same name present during the siege of Troy. In the same voice, style, and tone as Cassandra would have. Delightful.

Unreliable Witness
This is a 1st person account, nominally transcribed from tape, by a senile old lady in an old people's home who is visited by an Alien.
It's short, delightful, thought provoking, and ever so slightly emotional as most of us have family members in similar situations (minus the Alien, in most cases, I presume. But how would I know, or believe them?).

On the Wall
A Snow White Story, about the origin/youth of the Evil Queen. Not a happy childhood, to put it simply. Told from the perspective - hold it - of the mirror. Splendid.

The Panda Coin
A potpourri of follow-on stories, a kaleidoscope set on a space station populated by humans and artificial beings, with its very own, stratified society. What holds the stories together is that they follow the path of a specific coin, originating in Eriterea-O, with a Panda on it.
We see a closed society run by AIs (called Eyes), with humans and Andys (guess…) being shunted about, and kept down. But the coin … no, that would be spoiling it.

Remember the Allosaur
A director, talking to his (intelligent) Allosaur actor, who wants to play Hamlet. “What a piece of work is man”.

Sleeper
A story about an ex-BBC bod, documentary maker, and life-long Soviet undercover sleeper agent. Set in 2064. So, rather, a story about a simulation of an ex BBC bod, …
Rather neat, if slightly stilted I found. But that might have been on purpose, of course. This raised echoes of Ken McLeods Corporation Wars stories, both in topic and in politics.

Relentlessly Mundane - for Nancy Lebovitz
A tale of 3 friends who went to a magical parallel world as children, and have been preparing ever since to go back. Kinda Narnia, but not. Bringing Narnia out of the Wardrobe? Post-Narnia Stress Disorder?

Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction
News snippets and personal first person accounts interweave to paint a picture of an America in the thrall of repeated downturns, depressions, and rising paranoia. In a world where Germany and Japan are dividing up Russia. Depressing, and scary.

Joyful and Triumphant: St Zenobius and the Aliens
“Of course God could have made the universe without pain, but a universe without pain is a universe without change, without stories. God could have contemplated nothing but their own glory for all eternity. They chose to have a universe with stories, and there are no stories in Utopia. “
On the topic of religion, Saints, God, and the Great Work of Heaven. Wow…

Turnover
A story set on a Generation Ship, around midpoint (thus the title), and one woman’s plan to save her art, Balette ( think zero-g Ballet), when the ship arrives at its destination in 125 years. Fascinating, and I want more of this, please let this be the first chapter of an actual novel Jo writes!

At the Bottom of the Garden
“Katie May was sitting cross-legged on the lawn carefully pulling the wings of a fairy.”
Do you need, besides this first sentence, any other motivation to want to read this story?

Out of It (for Susanna)
Good deed, bad deed, and the good in a bargain with the devil. Only a fragment, sadly.

What a Piece of Work
Hamlet strikes again in the title… but this is a story about Google search as a conscious entity. Right and Wrong. Censorship. Enlightenment. A fascinating train of thought.

Parable Lost
“There’s everything in the Universe in this story, except answers.”
A parable on the big (and small) questions in the Universe.

What Would Sam Spade Do?
A PI/Gumshoe/Sam Spade persiflage, set in a world where, quite a while back, it was fashionable to have a clone of Jesus as a babe (!). Times have moved on, and this world is now awash with Jesi (not a plural you see every day, either…). Writers, Chefs, Bums… PIs. But now one of them has been murdered. By another one, it appears.
Not much of a story, really, but an absolute cracker of a setting and atmosphere.

Tradition
And how they happen. And how we forgot what they were invented/good for, in the first place. It made me smile…

What Joseph Felt
As the title says - Joseph's internal monologue around conception, trip to Bethlehem, and Birth of Jesus. It’s been done before, it’s been done better, IMHO.

The Need to Stay the Same
An SF story. Or, to be specific, a review of one. Pure Intelligences/AIs (?), writing and reading about humans, ‘touch’, physical life, leaves with ‘photosynthesis’ (what a fantastic alien concept!).
As meta as it is fun!

A Burden Shared
Written in the shape of a Play - the story of the heroic quest by 3 Irish siblings, paying compensation for killing the king’s father. Taking in, amongst other things, Japanese Mechs, the Gardens of the Hesperides, the Pope’s Alchemical Gun which can kill a 1000 warriors in 1 shot, and a variety of other mythological artefacts from a bewildering array of cultures and ages.
Something I’d have expected from a Sucharitkul, not a Walton. Heaps of fun.

Poetry Section
I’ll not review every poem separately - some are longer, some are quite short, nearly all are rather impressive and evocative in the right way. There are Songs of Dragons, there are Country Ballads, there is retelling of classics, newly framed Myths and Legends from various cultures, and more…

“For oaths will only bind the honour-bound
Which Odin never was, no that I heard” (from Advice to Loki)

“Godzilla, shuffling closer, know what is what
Size matters.
But then so do prose and plot.” (from The Godzilla Sonnets - Godzilla vs Shakespeare)

And I still think that her poetry is stronger than her prose!

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.


More Jo Walton



Title: Starlings
Author: Jo Walton
Reviewer: Markus
Reviewer URL: http://thierstein.net
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Publisher URL: http://www.tachyonpublications.com
Publication Date: February 2018
Review Date: 180206
ISBN:9781616960575
Pages: 187
Format: ePub
Topic: Short Stories
Topic: Poetry

I have been meaning to read something of Jo Walton's for a while so seing this available from NetGalley I jumped at the opportunity. That said, the author warns you right away that until recently she has found short-stories hard to write. In spite of that, or maybe aided by that? I really enjoyed this collection of stories and poetry. There is something really enjoyable about her writing that makes me confident I will be picking up her books in the future. She grabs you and creates interesting characters even in short pieces. That and she will make you laugh!

Stranger Things: Starlings by Jo Walton (Tachyon Publications, 13th February 2018)

I have always taken the maxim ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ very seriously, but sometimes I can’t help being drawn to a book by its appearance. Starlings by Jo Walton is no exception to this. The cover design is striking and beautiful; realistic depictions of the attractive birds, framed by bold splashes of colour (check out the real cover, my Kindle doesn’t do it justice). After seeing this cover design, how could I not be excited to read on?

Starlings is a collection of short stories, poems and a play, offering an insight into author Jo Walton’s style over a lifetime of writing. In the introduction ,Walton explains that the short story is a style she has little experience with, as her favour and expertise lies in novel writing. Walton muses on the difference between the two prose forms, expressing her lack of confidence in her own ability when it comes to writing shorter fiction. The introduction alone is fascinating and insightful, as Walton discusses the writing process, the necessity of an ending and why it is important that all writers are different.

Alongside short stories, poems and a play, the collection comprises fragments of other writings, including the opening chapters of novels. Walton is an adventurous writer, playing with ideas and experimenting with her style, riffing on familiar themes to produce unique fictional creations. She is a formidable writer of sci-fi and fantasy, author of an array of novels, essays and poems. Welsh-born and living in Canada, it is clear throughout the collection that a sense of place and identity is important to Walton. Numerous concepts and themes are portrayed, the futuristic settings addressing contemporary issues such as climate change, loneliness and the advancement of technology, proving that Walton is a highly skilled writer. She does not shy away from difficult topics; rather she addresses them using her fearless style, projecting them onto a time and place that is both strange and distant, and eerily familiar.

The collection opens with ‘Starlings’, the eponymous poem. In this short, imaginative piece, starlings are depicted as ethereal creatures birthed from stars, their black as pitch wings speckled with diamonds, like the night sky. Walton’s sci-fi roots are clear from this strong opener; her marriage of scientific and lyrical language is unique and engaging.

‘The Twilight Tales’ is a set of fairy tales with a twist. Entirely aware of their own creation, these three tales are linked. The magical elements set them apart from reality, but their self-aware critique of familiar tales makes them sharp and clever. Within these stories, Walton examines the idea that fiction and storytelling does not exist in a vacuum. Fairy tales are ancient, embedded within our culture and history, and twisted with each retelling; and it is this manipulation for our own gains that is addressed within the tales themselves. I was both swept away by the fantastical events and intrigued by the intelligence of the tales.

‘Unreliable Witness’ is a poignant story examining the loneliness and confusion caused by the decline of the mind. An elderly lady is convinced that she is visited by an alien and that the staff at the care home she lives in are stealing her belongings. This emotive story depicts a frightened woman whose mind is turning against her; the reader watches, powerless, as she mourns the familiar and the loss of her enjoyment in everyday actions. A powerful reflection on the ageing process and how society treats the elderly and vulnerable.

One of my favourite stories in the collection was ‘Relentlessly Mundane’. A twist on the Narnia concept of young children adventuring in magical worlds, this story follows three adults as they come to terms with an experience they shared but cannot return to. Although they have tried to build lives for themselves outside of the fantasy realm of Porphylia, they struggle to reconcile their reality with their incredible past. In Porphylia they had powers and magic, strength and courage; outside of it, as adults, they are mundane, lost and lacking in purpose. They must find a new mission to unite them; they must change the world they live in now as a tribute to their past.

Starlings is an experimental collection containing several fictional gems. Walton is a talented author who is not afraid to branch out into uncharted territory with her writing. Some of the stories did feel a little off balance, as though the germ of an idea had been tested out but had not quite developed, but Walton was clear in the introduction that the collection is by no means a set of polished offerings. Walton’s honesty and bold confidence gives this collection its edge; her voice and passion is clear throughout and many of the themes and ideas she weaves into her stories are thought-provoking and resonant. A strong collection from a giant of fiction.

Starlings is published by Tachyon Publications on 13th February 2018. Thank you to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Starlings is a short story collection by Jo Walton, author of such books as the Hugo and Nebula award winning Among Others as well as the Small Change trilogy, beginning with Farthing, and the Thessaly trilogy, beginning with The Just City. Starlings is Walton’s first collection of short fiction—as she mentions in the introduction, Walton is better known for novels. But it’s not just short fiction—the book is sandwiched by poetry too: a poem at the beginning to introduce us and then a whole host to round us off at the end.

Walton tells us in the introduction to the collection that spent a while writing short stories without actually knowing how to write short stories. When this is pointed out, I think you can tell. Walton’s stories are weirdly shaped—they don’t necessarily travel or end where you’d expect them to. This doesn’t make them bad, mind you. Walton’s writing is as good as ever. But what really shines through this collection is the calibre of Walton’s ideas.

The collection takes on myths, fables, stories and histories and in almost every story I was captured by Walton’s inventiveness. From ‘Remember the Allosaur’, in which Cedric, a talking allosaurus, desperately wants to give his Hamlet, to ‘What Would Sam Spade Do?’ in which the future holds a race of clones of Jesus.

Walton fully embraces the silliness of some of her subjects. What may be my favourite of the collection, ‘Three Shouts on a Hill’ is a playscript about three children of an Irish lord and their pastiched mythic adventures. I can’t even begin to describe the madness and hilarity and also sadness and defiance of this story—it reminds me of Monty Python and Tom Stoppard at once. This ridiculousness runs through the collection like a delightful vein. See also: the Godzilla Sonnets(!).

Speaking of the poetry, sometimes it feels as if in a mixed collection poetry can take second fiddle to the prose. I don’t feel this happened here. Jo Walton’s poetry—which she admits she is a better hand at than short fiction—is deft and deep. I enjoyed every single poem. There are more myths and legends here, and Walton turns them upside-down and inside-out and looks at them from odd angles.

The title of this collection, ‘Starlings’, has a dual meaning that the opening poem unfolds. We know the little oil-coloured bird that flies in dazzling murmurations in their flocks. But a starling could also be a young star, as yet incomplete but beginning to shine. That’s what I get from these stories: the light from these artifacts of Walton’s past only just reaching me now, unformed and odd and very often beautiful.

Not a bad at all, if your into the genre. It is a mixture of Short Fiction stories, and Poems. The stories flowed nicely, and I enjoyed the poetry mixture. It was an inspirational read for me. Although at times it did seem to really slow down. I loved it, and would recommend it to any who enjoys short stories or poetry!! The mixture of it brings two communities into one whole. Lovely and artful, a definite must read for 2018.

I have never read anything by Jo Walton and don't usually read short stories but something about this book caught my eye. I really liked the way that Walton gives the background to each story (or poem or play), explaining that only one, in her opinion, is a 'real' short story. This made me feel like I was seeing how the author works which is fascinating. Some of the stories were described as being the first chapters of longer works - although they were all complete in themselves - which has certainly meant that I will happily pick up any future books by this author that I spot.

What I liked: The mix of genres and formats made for different reading experience that I really enjoyed. There was a story that really tugged at my heart as a parent and daughter. I can't go into detail but if you are a parent it will get you too.  The poems where a pleasure to read; Godzilla poems how can you not love that. It was an intelligent and fun read. Walton's writing style was a delight to read.


What I didn't like: There wasn't anything that I didn't like about the book. It ticked all boxes for me.


Star Rating: 5


My thoughts: I have lots of thoughts about Starlings the genre mix between sci-if and fantasy was brilliant and well executed. The play didn't really work for me written out as a play per see but the story behind the play was really good so I can't fault Walton on that. I've only see that done in one other book that I have read lately. The cover art is beautiful and I enjoyed the prologue by Walton. Just an aside the picture does not do this gorgeous cover justice.

Look at this cover! Moon, stars, birds? Yes, yes yes. Disappointingly, I didn't like what was inside the book quite as much as the cover. Starlings is a collection of short stories and poems that usually sit in the realm of sci-fi or fantasy. As with most short story collections, the pieces in here are a mixed bag of good, OK, and not so good. Ultimately, I didn't enjoy the collection as much as I wanted to.

As I mentioned, most pieces are sci-fi or fantasy. Me being me, I enjoyed the stories that were more in the fantasy genre. A couple of my favorites were one story about a man made of moonshine and two rhymes and another about a magic mirror that felt like a prequel to Snow White. The narration was often distant which does feel fairy tale-esque, but sometimes makes it hard to connect with the characters. The ideas and themes in this collection were often great, but most stories left me feeling pretty hollow. The sci-fi stories were sometimes a bit weird for my taste, but often offered good commentary on society/humanity. The poems were good and often painted beautiful images, but I am not much of a poetry fan or critic.

This was one of those "just OK" reads. Some parts stood out, but most of it was forgettable. My feelings about the collection aren't strong either way though. I gave it a very middle of the road three out of five stars.

Starlings is a collection of short fiction – short stories, poetry, and everything in between. They are mostly scifi with a sprinkling of fantasy and a side of religion and mythology. There are literary allusions, historical snippets, some alternate history. Some of it's confusing and some of it's disturbing and some of it's funny and some of it's inspired, and I suspect every reader will find different ones tickles their fancy.

Personally, my favourites were Jane Austen to Cassandra, Turnover, Tradition, and A Burden Shared. It shows great talent that these four are such different stories; I never felt like this collection got dull or repetitive. If you’re looking for some entertaining light reading, pick up Starlings.

I received a copy of this story from the author through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This short story collection wasn't what I expected it to be. It was a mix of short stories, poems and even plays. It felt like a collection of the authors thoughts and ideas, instead of a "proper" short story collection. (I hope you know what I mean.)

As with every short story collection I enjoyed some of the stories (poems, plays) while some I didn't care that much about. Though I need to mention that even the stories that I enjoyed didn't blow me away, they were simply okay. I was quiet bored with most of the stories as well, I just didn't care about what was going on - it was a struggle to get through some of them. The stories were about anything and everything, there wasn't one underlying theme or genre. The same goes with the plays and poems. While that is an interesting concept it just felt all over the place. Though it was kind of interesting to see what the next story is going to be about and where it's going to be set.

Personally I didn't enjoy this short story collection much and I wouldn't recommend it.

I have wanted to read Jo Walton's novels for a while now and I can definitely say that after this collection of short stories that I am more excited than ever. As is sadly often the case with short story collections there were a few stories that did not work for me and a few poems that didn't either, however, the stories I liked, I adored.

Jo Walton has a way of choosing pitch perfect voices for her stories and they all sounded completely different depending on the genre she chose. She tells stories in a vast array of genres: re-tellings, science fiction, straight up fantasy. Some stories are more of a cheeky joke (she admits so freely) while others are highly political (I happen to like that in my genre fiction). I absolutely adored the fairy tale that starts this collection ("Three Twilight Tales"): it feels like a fairy tale while being completely original and I never saw the ending coming. I found "The Panda Coin" to be the strongest of the collection: here we follow one coin through different hands. Jo Walton manages to create a believable science fiction setting in just these glimpses. "Escape to Other Worlds With Science Fiction" would have been a brilliant start to a novel and I wanted more from this than I got.

The stories that seemed to be more for her own amusement were the ones that did not quite work for me: Especially "Remember the Allosaur" and "Joyful and Triumphant: St. Zenobius and the Aliens" just felt like extended inside jokes to me.

I am glad to have read this because I am now more eager than ever to get to Jo Walton's novels (where hopefully she won't need to tell me after each chapter how she thought it up).