5/7/2023 0 Comments Unnatural creatures prismaticaStocktonĤ/5 - This smart, sad, funny, and delightful tale made me smile. The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Lily YuĢ/5 - I have no problem about the idea, since I thought it was very clever, but the whole execution was a bit of a let down. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. However, even though there were a few stories I disliked, there were a few that I absolutely adored.ĥ/5 - The author has combined smart writing, cartoons, and a scary atmosphere to create the first and greatest story in this collection. But to my disappointment, I have heard many of these creatures before on many occasions, and some of the stories where out-right bland. Such as banshees, or dullahans, or djinns, or a billion other untold creatures. I thought that this was going to be a collection of short stories about monsters and supernaturals we've rarely heard about. When I first learned about UNNATURAL CREATURES, I was very excited. The Smile on the Face (I liked the refrain of the poem throughout but it was trying to shoehorn in far too many ideas with the trees and the cherry pit and the dragons. Prismatica (Felt like I was cheated out of the ending the reader deserved. Moveable Beast (I loved the twist at the end but the story was so heavy-handed and aggressively not feel-good that it was tacky.) Gabriel-Ernest (pretty basic werewolf story) Or All the Seas with Oysters (Such a clever idea! Brilliant!)Ĭome Lady Death (The ending has a nice sting to it. The Manticore, the Mermaid, and Me (Didn't like it much initially but upon thinking about it I think the "moral" is very truthful.) The Compleat Werewolf (I have a huge soft spot for werewolves and I thought the Professor was very endearing.) The Flight of the Horse (fun and read a bit like Douglas Adams) I thought the story was sweet and surprising.) The Griffin and the Minor Canon (I love The Lady or the Tiger? so I was thrilled to find more stories by Stockton. The first one (seriously can't type the title I read it and I knew I had to buy the collection! It is a fantastic combination of illustration and text that catches you right away.) All of the stories would also be appropriate for young adults as well which is always nice. The page introducing each story was nice and the illustrations were quirky and fitting. This is one of them! I loved the stories in here and I loved how unexpected some of them were. It's rare to find an anthology where I like the vast majority of the works in it. In the later sections of the book there were a lot of other good stories, making Unnatural Creatures very enjoyable and definitely worth reading. "The Cockatoucan" was also excellent, very British and very entertaining. None of the beginning stories thrilled me, but I did really enjoy "Gabriel-Ernest" by Saki. Diana Wynne Jones's story has Chrestomanci in it. Nesbit, Larry Niven, Nnedi Okorafor, Saki, Frank R. Delaney, Maria Headley, Nalo Hopkinson, Diana Wynne Jones, Megan Kurashige, E. Beagle, Anthony Boucher, Avram Davidson, Samuel R. The other authors in the collection are Peter S. The one about the epicurean society, "Sunbird", is written by Neil Gaiman. There's a story about bees rebelling against wasps, a girl in an African village who can talk to snakes, an epicurean society looking for new subjects and more. Its title is very difficult to say (you'll see why if you read the book). I was pleasantly surprised to find a paperback edition even though the book had just come out.Īs with any short story collection, there are some great stories, some good ones, and some that just didn't work for me. One, "The Griffin and the Minor Canon", I'd even read before! But the stories are still really good. But the majority of them have been published before. I was under the impression that the stories would be all new ones written for this collection. Nesbit, and many more." I do thing the way the book is described is a bit misleading. Selected by master storyteller Neil Gaiman, the sixteen stories in this menagerie will introduce you to a host of strange, wondrous beings that have never existed anyplace but in the richness of the imagination.With stories from Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, E. Each one will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you. From the cockatoucan, whose laugh rearranges an entire kingdom, to the roving shapeless Beast that lurks in a forest, herein is a collection of rare and magnificent species. These are just some of the fantastical creatures you'll encounter within these pages.
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