Review: Tales of the Peculiar, Ransom Riggs

Ransom Riggs’s Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories presented as folklore from the peculiar world and gathered and edited by Millard Nullings, the invisible boy in his Miss Peregrine series. Each of the stories is a window into the history and beliefs of the peculiar world, including an origin story for the ymbrynes who protect peculiar children in their loops. One major theme that emerges from the stories is to accept yourself just as you are, to accept others as they are, and to avoid letting others take advantage of you or make you ashamed of being yourself.

The collection includes ten stories. Of the ten, my favorites were “The First Ymbryne,” a tale explaining how ymbrynes came to be and began creating loops; “The Woman Who Befriended Ghosts,” which was a story about a peculiar girl whose dead sister was a cherished childhood companion and who used her gift for speaking to ghosts to help people plagued by hauntings; “The Girl Who Could Tame Nightmares,” which was the story of a girl who removed people’s nightmares but discovered perhaps nightmares serve a purpose; and “The Locust,” an interesting tale of a boy whose peculiar talent is that he shapeshifts into the form of creatures who show him the most love. All of the stories were entertaining peeks back into the peculiar world. They are excellent on their own, but they are also great for fans of the Miss Peregrine series. You do not have to have read the series to enjoy the books, and they might be a great introduction to people who want to read the series and want a small taste first. Some of the stories are downright creepy, and the collection as a whole (as is true of the entire Miss Peregrine series) is perfect for the R. I. P. Challenge if you’re looking for one last book to squeeze in.

Rating: ★★★★☆

R. I. P. XII

 

Review: Trigger Warning, Neil Gaiman

I listened to Neil Gaiman’s latest short story collection, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, on Audible, mainly because I know that Gaiman is quite a fantastic reader (not all writers are). Unfortunately, that also meant that I didn’t have a real sense of the way in which the collection might hang together as a whole because I listened to it mostly in bursts as I cleaned house or made soap. As such, I can only really recall my favorite stories with any clarity, and I don’t have a print book to examine in order to refresh my memory, so I skimmed what pieces I could find in Amazon’s preview and Google Books. Finally, I found this review, which discusses each piece with a rating out five stars. I won’t discuss each story. Just the ones I liked or remembered better than the others.

“The Lunar Labyrinth” is the first story in the collection (following the poem “Making a Chair”). This story made me think of American Gods, and given that I knew the collection had an American Gods story in it, I assumed it would be this one. It wasn’t. Still, the story does nod toward the American Gods concept that those silly roadside attractions are more than they seem.

I liked the story “The Thing About Cassandra” quite a bit. How would you feel if you made up an imaginary girlfriend, and years later your friends and mother are insisting they ran into her?

“The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains” reminded me of straight up fantasy. It’s a little bit Tolkienesque, but doesn’t quite make it.

“Orange” story told completely as answers to questions the reader doesn’t hear. Humorous and a little scary at the same time.

“The Case of Death and Honey” is a Sherlock Holmes story about Holmes’s quest to solve the ancient question of how to live forever. I quite enjoyed this one as both a story and a contribution to the Sherlock Holmes repository.

“The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury” is a poignant comment on loss of memory as well as a love letter to one of Gaiman’s favorite authors.

“Nothing O’Clock” is a Doctor Who story. As I listened to this one, I kept wishing it had been filmed. It would have made an excellent episode. It’s set during the time of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond. The Doctor and Amy land on Earth in the TARDIS to discover that no one exists, and a voice insists they’re trespassing.

“Black Dog,” as it turns out, is the American Gods story, and I didn’t like it. As with American Gods, I could see that Neil Gaiman was doing something interesting with the idea of ancient gods in modern times, but in the end, I just wasn’t into it.

The other stories and poems didn’t leave enough of an impression on me to merit discussion here.

I thought the collection as a whole was a bit uneven, despite moments that I absolutely enjoyed. The individual stories I mentioned in this review are worth seeking out (with the exception, in my opinion, of the last. As much as I did enjoy Gaiman’s reading, I don’t think I’ll listen to another short story collection on Audible. I can’t recall enough of the individual stories, and there is not an easy way for me to glance back at the book again. I was tempted to give this only three stars, but the truth is, when the stories are good, they are really good.

Rating: ★★★½☆
Audio Rating: ★★★★★

Tales of the Jazz Age

Tales of the Jazz AgeAmerican literature lovers (and teachers)! Tales of the Jazz Age: 11 Classic Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald is available on Amazon for $4.99. I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but it sounded like a great value to me, so I’m passing it on. The collection includes “The Jelly Bean,” “The Camel’s Back,” “May Day,” “Porcelain and Pink,” “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Tarquin of Cheapside,” “O Russet Witch,” “The Lees of Happiness,” “Mr. Icky,” and “Jemina.” I’m not sure how long this price is effective, but I decided it would make a nice addition to my library, and I thought I’d pass it on to anyone else who might be interested.