A wonderful and engaging collection of Novik’s short stories, including the story that eventually became Spinning Silver and a Temeraire Pride and Prejudice fusion.

I really do adore Novik’s writing. She has such a gift for scene setting, intriguing characters, and making the tone fit every story. This definitely did its job, getting me invested in more, because I want to immediately dive into her other books.

So I put her first Scholomance book on hold at my local library, double checked I own an audio copy of Spinning Silver, and dug out the next Temeraire book I’ve been meaning to get too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this arc.

I have minimal experience with Novik. For context, I've read and loved Spinning Silver and DNF'd Uprooted. So, I thought a short story collection would be a great opportunity to dive a little deeper into her writing.

I rarely read synopses or reviews before opening a book, and I was unaware that several of the short stories are related to both the Scholomance and Tereraire series, neither of which I have read. I would have enjoyed these a lot more if I had the backstories of those worlds. I think people who are familiar with her work will have better luck with these stories. There is a Pride and prejudiced retelling that I enjoyed a lot. There is also the beginnings of what would become Spinning Silver, which was interesting to see.

Overall, this collection made me want to delve into the Tereraire series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an interesting set of stories. The plot lines were unique with unexpected twists. As a big scholomance fan, the snippet in this collection reminded me why I love those books.

If you love this author this is for you. She writes amazing worlds and characters and this is no different.

Naomi Novik is always a true joy. Buried Deep is no different. She shines at her brightest in the realm of fairy tale, itching a scratch that no other does. I will say that the dragon-focused stories weighed heavily in this collection— by number, they obviously the majority of her catalogue, however I found myself picking up the series before resuming the short story collection to keep up. All that said, this is a lovely read.

Like all short story collections, I preferred some of these over others. There were a few standouts but most of them were just good/ok. Not any I really didn't like but few great ones either.

Buried Deep is a collection of Naomi Novik’s previously collected stories. Overall, it is definitely worth the read. Some of the stories near the end of the collection did lose some momentum and were less engaging. However new fans to Naomi Novik’s work will appreciate getting to dive into her backlist of works.

Novik shows an accomplished skill in character work and building fantastic worlds. Even in the more humorous stories, there is still an impactful and insightful look into humanity and relationships. Three-dimensional characters populate these stories, and they show diversity in personality, experiences, ethics and moral viewpoints, but all the point of view characters are intriguing. Novik shows a keen interest in the motivations and interactions of her characters that draws in the reader, and even for the stories I was less interested in, I still wanted to find out what they would do next.

My thoughts on each story:

Araminta, Or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake: The beginning of collection, and one of the best stories to my mind. It’s a fun, adventurous story with a heroine who knows what she wants and what she doesn’t, and is willing to do what is necessary to achieve it. It’s a good mix of swashbuckling and Indiana Jones-type adventure with some Regency manners thrown into a fantasy that is thoroughly satisfying. Rating: 4.5 stars.

After Hours: This is a side story in the Scholomance series (I’ve read the first book and really enjoyed it) about Beata, a girl who comes from aboriginal magic, like an herb witch, in her native land (I think Russia) and is sent to the school. She hates it there and doesn’t feel like she fits in. She came woefully unprepared, not understanding that she had to bring everything she needs for the school term. As such, she has to scavenge for materials to make her magic mushrooms, a key part of her magic. She works with a few other students to go into the storage area at night, which is an exceedingly dangerous venture, as the monsters love a good student midnight snack. This series is so entertaining, I love a magic school setting, and this book features a school chock full of creatures that exist to kill its students. This story might be my favorite in the collection. Rating: 5 stars.

Vici: This could be considered a prequel to the His Majesty’s Dragon series, set during the Roman era. The main character is Marc Anthony, who obtains a dragon egg, which hatches and puts this rather lazy person in a series of situations where he has to work harder than he wants to, including becoming the first member of the future dragon corps. A funny story with a dragon who 100% won me over, even if I wasn’t completely sold by the ne’er do well main character. Rating: 4 stars.

Buried Deep: This is a retelling of the Greek myth of the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne, his older sister. I found this story to be very melancholy and surreal. It showed a different side to Novik’s writing I wasn’t previously introduced to. The ending hit me like a pang in my heart, and took me in a direction I didn’t expect. Rating: 3.75 stars.

Spinning Silver: The original version of the full-length book of the same title shows the promise of the novel. The ending is slightly different, and it reads like an alternate reality where a different choice was made. Novik captivates me deeply in the way she delves into the deep waters of folklore and fairy tales to explore women’s stories. Rating: 5 stars.

Commonplaces: I love Sherlock, the BBC show, and my favorite episode is the one featuring Irene Adler. So of course, a story from the viewpoint of Irene definitely had me intrigued. This takes place after the Reichenbach Falls demise of Sherlock Holmes, but Irene, now happily married and settled down into domesticity, very much disbelieves he is dead, and goes on a search to find him. It’s a tender, intimate story that feels so handmade for fans of Sherlock Holmes in all its forms. And if you are intrigued with Irene, then definitely read it. Rating: 4.5 stars.

Seven: Another story that is essentially about relationships between people, merely set in an intriguing fantasy world. Kath, the widow of a potter (called a clay-shaper in this world), continues to make pottery in his name, but she’s much, much better than he was. She’s an artist. Grovin, a curmudgeonly member of the guild goes to investigate, initially to shut her down, but he is enthralled by her artistry and wants her to work with the dangerous white clay, even knowing it could shorten her life. To me, the clay is Grovin, and Kath is shaping him back into someone who is in touch with his humanity. That was the central focus of this tale. Rating: 4 stars.

Blessings: A story centered around the “Sleeping Beauty” story in which the awaited princess is bestowed blessings by her fairy godmothers. Her blessing comes in a unique way. This was good, but it was pretty short and ended very abruptly. I was confused and had to reread the end. Rating: 3.5 stars.

Lord Dunsany’s Teapot: This story lacked an impact on me. While Novik normally excels with her characterization, I felt no connection to the characters, and it was too short. Rating: 2.75 stars.

Dragons and Decorums: While it was a fun idea doing a Dragoncore version of Pride and Prejudice, I wasn’t that invested in the story. Maybe I’m just a little burned out on this particular Jane Austen story in its various forms. It’s well-written, just not for me. Rating: 3 stars.

Castle Coeurlieu: I appreciated the imagery and dreamy feel of this story, but I was confused about what was happening. I did like the end. Rating: 3 stars.

Seven Years from Home: This story was written like a crewmember’s log as it documented a covert mission for a member of a colonizing federation.who is working with the members of a native tribe to fight off invaders (her goal is to recruit them to join the federation). It is not as easy as she thought to maintain a distance from the people she fights alongside. I really liked the world-building. The native tribe has a fascinating type of bioorganic technology that they use with devastating effect against the invaders (who are more like Earthlings and destroy in order to reshape to fit their own standards). It was interesting to see how her perceptions and feelings change over the course of the story. I didn’t expect to enjoy this story so much, but I did. Rating: 5 stars.

The Long Way Round: This story had a lot of depth and detail to it. It’s well-written, but I didn’t feel emotionally impacted by it. It’s a story about seafaring and exploration, and pursuing one’s dreams despite the obstacles one faces. It’s also about family and commitments. The magic remains understated and mysterious. I am one of those fantasy readers who enjoys my stories to have magic, so I wanted more of the small tidbits that were offered. I don;t feel like my questions were answered in a satisfying way with this story. It’s a good story, but just not a favorite of mine in the book.

Overall, this is a very good introduction to Naomi Novik, who is a very good writer. I am eager to read more of her. I feel like the arrangement of the stories wasn’t the best. In general (there are a few exceptions) stronger stories were towards the beginning and I would have done it the other way around. That said, I still recommend this collection for readers who are curious to explore the breadth of Naomi Novik’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun anthology of short fantasy stories. I really enjoyed the short story Buried Deep and wish it was a full length novel. I loved the Pride and Prejudice retelling because it was so fun. This was just a fun anthology and I really enjoyed it.

I have enjoyed Naomi Novak's work before, however, this one was not her best work in my opinion. I am still a fan of her work, but this was not it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Books of short stories are not my usual pick, but I was intrigued to pick this one up as I’ve loved Naomi Novik’s other full novels!

This book of short stories was definitely full of variety, from true fantasy to Jane Austen-like stories with dragons! Each short story comes with a bit of context and lore from the author herself, and I really enjoyed having that insight before diving in.

The namesake of the short novel, Buried Deep, was one that I enjoyed based on Greek Mythology, and I also enjoyed the last story, The Long Way Around, which was a completely new world with new characters and wholly left me wanting more. We also have stories from her already established worlds, that I’m sure will interest lovers and fans of those stories.

Overall, it was enjoyable, just not my particular cup of tea as I’ve come to realize I prefer a full novel/series to really sink my teeth into. But for those that love short stories, this will definitely be for you!

First off, I love Naomi Novik. And I was so excited to get extra little peeks into some of my favorites of her stories. That said, this book of short stories was slow going for me. Some of the stories felt a little long and I struggled through them, while I loved others and flew through them without a break. These stories do tend to err on the longer side for short stories, but they fall on a pretty wide spectrum of lengths.

For my star rating of the book, I went with what I thought the average of all the stories in the book might be (in a totally unscientific way—I know this could be figured out, but it has been so long since I read the earlier stories in the book that I wouldn’t be able to rate them in any respectable way).

Some of my standout favorites were:

✨ After Hours (Scholomance)
✨Dragons & Decorum (Pride & Prejudice in Temeraire)
✨Castle Couerlieu (spooky magic tower)
✨The Long Way Round (mysterious sea voyage)

Apparently, she is currently working on turning that last one into a full length novel, which I can’t wait to read!

My least favorite was probably Seven Years From Home, which honestly may be because it leans more sci-fi than fantasy and is, therefore, less to my taste, generally.

I've enjoyed everything I've read by Naomi Novik, which is most or perhaps all of her professionally published novel-length works, plus a few published short stories, plus a bit of what can be found online not professionally published. Buried Deep absolutely did not disappoint! As with any short story collection, I preferred some stories to others, but I found it to be an overall very strong collection.

A few of the particular stories that were standouts for me were: "Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake", "Buried Deep", "Seven", "Blessings", "Seven Years From Home", "Dragons & Decorum", and "The Long Way Round". I guess it's telling that I consider more than half the stories in the collection "standouts" -- it's not for nothing that I've rated this five stars!

One thing I noted in several of these stories, which I hadn't really noticed elsewhere in Novik's writing, was what seems to be a Jack Vance influence, especially toward the beginning of some of the stories. I recall feeling this to be particularly pronounced in the very setting-driven stories "Seven", "Seven Years From Home", and "The Long Way Round". I'll be clear that I don't regard this as a bad thing at all, I love Vance's writing, and in each case as the story progressed it went in what I would call a very Novikian direction!

All in all, this is a delightful collection. I'm glad to have read it, and I suspect I'll revisit several of these stories again and again!

4.8 / 5.0

This collection by Naomi Novik is excellent and a necessary addition to the library of the intent Novik fan.

A little bit of all her works are touched on in this book, and I especially loved her forward to the reader about how and when these stories came into existence. For me, Novik is like T. Kingfisher in that both are phenomenal storytellers and comfort reads whether is it the first of fiftieth time reading.

Thank you to the publishers, NetGalley, and to Novik for this book and giving me access to the eARC. This will absolutely be an edition I add to my physical library!

This collection of fantasy short stories was a really interesting read. Each story digs into different facets of an eerie, magical world, with recurring themes of buried secrets, forgotten histories, and the blurred lines between myth and reality. Some stories stand out more than others — a couple were super gripping and atmospheric, while a few felt a bit less fleshed out or ended too abruptly.

What I liked most was how the stories slowly built on each other, revealing its hidden layers. There’s a quiet, haunting tone throughout that really sticks with you, even when the pacing lags a bit here and there.

Overall, it’s a solid collection with some memorable moments. If you enjoy dark, slow-burn fantasy and don’t mind a little unevenness across stories, it’s worth checking out.

Dnf 22 percent This one was not for me…short stories are really hit or miss for me and although I haves loved some of Naomi Novaks books it’s been a few years since I have read them. These stories felt more like companion pieces or bonus stories to the series, I felt like I would have had to reread the series to really fully enjoy these stories. With that said I can’t wait to read any future books that she may come out with. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for and honest review.

I definitely prefer her full length novels compared to the Novella’s, but still can see the strong writing.

Naomi Novak is either hit or miss for me with no in-between. This one was more of a miss but with some hidden gems. I didn’t love Scholoamnce stories but some of others would be the ones I will reread come winter season

I love Naomi Novik. This collection of stories was no exception. I’m grateful that I was able to get the ARC of this book. I will still be purchasing it and adding it to my collection

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. Naomi Novik crafted these tales so wonderfully - I needed longer stories of each and every one. Seeing the start of Spinning Silver was magical.

Beautifully written stories. If you are a novik fan this is a must read. A nice, diverse selection of stories from her different a series.