True Value

With any anthology, there will be some stories that appeal to some and not others. This book has the majority in the good category (according to me ;-)), but it's a true value regardless, as you get a large number of stories for a low price...
AND the proceeds go to a good cause, so why wouldn't you? ( )

The dedication speaks to a lot of us:
For those with cancer and those who stand by them
Who battle together and show no quarter

I'm finished, it took 3 months. I read the book on my phone kindle so it was slow going.

These were my favorites of the 23 stories:
-- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett 5* fantasy/horror
-- The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan 4.5* fantasy/quest - fun
-- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton 4* fantasy/reincarnation - so unique
-- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham 4* fantasy/wouldn't it be great if it were true
-- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth 4* fantasy/origin story
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~Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks (The author says in foreword that it is the earliest version of what becomes a trilogy. Like a draft.) 2* MG fantasy

-How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss 2* fantasy Not really a story. Idk what to call it so here is an example "In the beginning, there was the wood. It was strong wood, and old. ... The was warm sun, which was good. There were climbing vines, which were bad. There was wind, which was neither. ... There was also the lady. She was neither." The whole "story" is like that which is bad. :P "This contains "How Old Holly Came to Be", my first published short story, set in Temerant."

- The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams 3* fantasy

- Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn DNF UF

- The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey DNF (author intro says, in the 90s she had a dream that haunted her & she incorporated it into this short story. It sketched out the rough beginning of a complex theology and map of the world that she went on to explore in detail in Kushiel's Legacy.) I couldn't finish because I felt dropped into an unfamiliar world. The characters knew each other and what their traditions were but I had a hard time following along. Look forward to reading the true series some day.

- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett 5* fantasy/horror. I hear good and bad things about the series. Especially with the female characters. Not sure if I will check them out but I did really enjoy this short story.

- The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian DNF If you love, love, music. Like you are serious about your love then maybe this short story would work for you. From the intro "It's no accident that the central song of power in my music magic system is known as The Song of Suffering. And I'll tell you that music in this story sometimes soothes, sometimes moves inanimate things. It has to do with numbers (more of that in Book Two of my series). And it has to do with the notion of absolute sound." For me, not a good fit but I am interested in this author and still hope to find something of his to enjoy besides only this - Peter Orullian performs "Authorial Rhapsody" - Worldbuilders 2015 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmtDJTlmDVU

- The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore About baseball. shall see. yeah I quit after a page. realistic fiction about baseball I believe. not my interest.

- Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood 2* fantasy. A bit to ambiguous for me.

- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton wow!!! unique. enjoying. Went to check out his profile and found a free short story. score. Ended up being 4* I really liked how the reincarnated people presented themselves but the story needs to be polished (IMO) and there is some ambiguity that I didn't enjoy. (deciphering ambiguity is not a strength of mine) It made me remember this book (not reminded me of, like they are not similar) which I consider fiction but the premise is nice to ponder: Return From Heaven: Beloved Relatives Reincarnated Within Your Family

- Dogs by Daniel Abraham - 3* I'm scared there is going to be animal cruelty. *reading with one eye closed*. Finished. No animal cruelty. I guess the story was an analogy to trying to cope/return to normal post-rape or could be any serious life altering incident that has the potential to repeat. Actually author in intro says "It was sparked by a couple conversations I was following online and a particularly grim study about sexual violence on college campuses."

- The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne DNF too witty-i'm-awesome-masculine for me. Not in the mood.

- Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (book 1.5 The Broken Empire series) 3* I haven't read anything else in this world but he did enough for me to be able to follow along. I'm fond of this author but have yet to read a full length novel. I plan to start with Red Sister on audiobook before too much longer. ETA: started but was struggling without being able to go back and re-read things. Santa gave me the book for Christmas :)

- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham 4* Sweet short story from a father to a daughter. Aaah to have a dad as an author A cat, now in ghost form sees his human mourning and it's too much. He wants to help her stop crying. [The author/dad see his daughter mourning the loss of another cat and he wants to help her stop crying]

- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth 4* an origin story for characters in her Struck series. The characters are in HS. Very readable and a good short story but I won't be seeking out the series. This is an origin story of characters from her series.

- Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick DNF I liked his author notes and looked forward to the story but I couldn't get into it. I found it confusing at start and it's rather long so decided to quit.

- Unbowed by Eldon Thompson Not going to even try. Author note says: "My personal hope is that it will shed a measure of light on Kylac's attitudes and actions, and maybe even tide readers over while I strive to finish answering that persistent question "But what happened to Kylac? "

- In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (short story in the Temeraire series. I have book 1 on my want to read/inbox shelf & I now removed it) DNF It just didn't grab me. And unknown intellect wakes up trapped in a glass covered coffin. Starts freaking out but then I think remembers what's up but doesn't share that with us. Lands somewhere and starts giving someone shit right away.... I don't want to figure out what is going on until the end of the story.

- River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson Skipped. the intro says "This is a deleted sequence from the fourteenth and final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light. As such, it contains some minor interior spoilers for that book-and it might not make a ton of sense to you if you haven't read the Wheel of Time." Haven't read it and at this point it looks daunting.

- The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan 4.5* It's free on audible, 99 cents at other places or he will send you a free copy if you'd like. It was great. We get to watch the characters do a quest and it's a bit like choose your own adventure. This can be a standalone, you do not need to be familiar with his world or characters. Author's comment: "I essentially wrote this short as if it were the end of longer work. The climax, if you will, of a longer story. In it, I reference prior events for context which allowed me to take what COULD have been a novel and made it into a short story."

- The Duel by Lev Grossman 2* Getting weary, I've been reading this anthology for 3 months. I don't plan on reading The Magicians and I'm not so good with humor in my stories. I looked through reviews and could not find anything to make me skip it :P so I will try. One person even said "any Strong Belwas tribute is a must read in my mind.". So there we go, I'll read it.
Done. *sigh, yuck* The most clever, witty, magical King stopped an invasion. All told from his POV.

- Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks I can't wait to get to this one! Got to it finally. 3* super short. A interaction that was cut from the books. If I hadn't seen the TV show I'm not sure I would have liked this. As it is, I have a serious crush on Allanon or more so, the actor that played him. He did such a good job. He is in this interaction so I could just picture him the whole time and I can appreciate the story.

- The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman - DNF - Vampires, Vatican, special person... just not in the mood.

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This has been high up on my want to read shelf for a while. The physical book is out of my price range and not available through my libraries. I am so happy I got over avoiding reading books on my phone and came to realize the book was only $3.00. That I can do.

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This book was published to help raise money for Shawn Speakman's cancer treatment, and there were only 5000 printed." ( )

One of the better Fantasy anthologies I have read in awhile, that included many of my personal favorite authors. I had lucked out and was able to get a special Phoenix ComiCon edition of this book that had like 5 of the stories by themselves, three authors of which had signed it. Overall, I enjoyed most of the stories within, though, like in all collections, there seem to be one or two that just don't agree with me. It is great when authors are able and willing to help put a collection together, as this one - which was to help raise funds for medical bills for Speakman. ( )

There are a lot of famous names in this short story collection, with stories from some famous fantasy series. From a name standpoint alone, this is a great, top of the list short story collection. I thought the quality overall was good, with a couple of issues. With two 'Did not finish' (DNF) stories which should have been 'did not read', the quality is actually fairly decent.

In order, here are my thoughts on the stories.
"Imaginary Friends" by Terry Brooks - a very nice story that is the inspiration for the Knight of the Word series, with different characters. Good.
"How Old Holly Came to Be" by Patrick Rothfuss - a story from the perspective of a holly tree. Ok, strange.
"The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams - not the editor's fault, but I've read this story 2 or 3 times before, it is available in ebook edition as a standalone, is offered free as a Kindle book, etc. I think I enjoyed it the first time.
"Game of Chance" by Carrie Vaughn - ok
"The Martyr of the Roses" by Jacqueline Carey - well written, unique style, good.
"Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett - nice to see a story about Briar, but this really seemed like a repeat origin story. Ok.
"The Sound of Broken Absolutes" by Peter Orullian. The music references went way over my head, but this was still fascinating. Good.
"The Coach With the Big Teeth" by R. A. Salvatore. Weird, but one for everyone who didn't excel at Little League. Ok.
"Keeper of Memory" by Todd Lockwood - good, esp. if you've read any of the novels.
"Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton - I get the premise, just really strange. Ok.
"Dogs" by Daniel Abraham - you may be offended if you are a dog lover.
"The Chapel Perilous" by Kevin Hearne. Atticus does Atticus things way back in the past. Kind of short and lacking.
"Select Mode" by Mark Lawrence - from his Prince of Thorns books. 12 year old killer kid, not my favorite.
"All the Girls Love Michael Stein" by David Anthony Durham - a cat story, so much better than "Dogs". Good.
"Strange Rain" by Jennifer Bosworth - DNF, quit reading after 2 pages.
"Nocturne" by Robert V.S. Redick - another music theme, I kind of wish I hadn't read to the end.
"Unbowed" by Eldon Thompson - a dark origin story from his novels. Good, now I want to read his novels.
"In Favour with Their Stars" by Naomi Novik - Temeraire in space! Good.
"River of Souls" by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - yes, actual Wheel of Time content! This was cut from A Memory of Light and I can see why. Short and kind of lacking, but a Wheel of Time story is good.
"The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan - Hadrian and Royce go dungeon delving. Good.
"The Duel" by Lev Grossman - short and to the point. Good.
"Walker and the Shade of Allanon" by Terry Brooks. Walker and Allanon, how can you go wrong? But... this read like a scene from one of the Shannara books I'd already read and learned absolutely nothing new.
"The Unfettered Knight" by Shawn Speakman - DNF, wish I hadn't started it, actually offensive. I was excited because it is about vampire hunters and I love those, then it got offensive and I had to stop. ( )

As with most anthologies, this one was a hit and miss, with more misses. Some were unreadable and others were just too inserted in the authors' worlds for me to enjoy. That said, some stories really made me want to know more about the world where they come from. ( )