Book #22 of 2021: Were- | DNF: Six Gun Tarot, The Stars Like Ice

[thistlechaser]

Were- An anthology of all sorts of were- creatures, everything except wolves. There were some really out-there were-s, like were-grape vine and were-zombie. Unusual for an anthology, I enjoyed most of the stories in this one, and some of them I outright loved.

Some of my favorite ones were the were-crow story (the characters, even in human form, were so perfectly crow-like). "Best in Show" had a fun twist at the end.

Some, while they featured were-creatures, were more about other themes, like the story about "Shiftr" (Tinder/Grindr for were-creatures) was about how some people get screwed (figuratively) in the tech world.

Two of the stories were clearly set in the authors' other book series, and those felt like cheating because if you didn't read the series, you were left out in the cold.

All in all though, I really enjoyed this book.

DNF

Six Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher. The world and story seemed like they could have been interesting, but the author kept introducing character after character, spending all the time on backstory and flashbacks. I got bored, so checked the reviews, and all of them said that was a problem through the whole book. If the author had focused on one or two of them, I would have stuck with the book. DNF 14%

The Stars Like Ice by Jean Kilczer. Book eight of a series I never read. How did this get on my Kindle? Why? I did try reading it, but the writing style was meh and of course I had no idea who the characters were. DNF 4%

Partial book credits:
Point reached in DNF books: 14% + 4% = 18%
Previous abandoned book total: 609%
New total: 627% (six books)

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

A were-grapevine? really? was the person sentient as a plant? Were there other stories that had people shifting into plants, or unlikely animals like reptile, insect, fish? curious.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

For fish (sort of) there was a whale and a shark, one insect (paper wasp), I don't think any reptiles, but lots of animals you wouldn't think about a were- of, like a were-opossum. There were a number of birds (crow as I mentioned, some kind of hawk, and something else I'm forgetting).

The most common animals were a were dog, horse, and rat. (Edit: Common like commonplace, not "most stories contained these". Every story had a unique animal.)

The were-grapevine one was interesting. The main character was "newly infected", and unlike were-animals that shift by the moon, apparently were-plants shift by the season (so they spend 6 months as a plant, 6 as a person). Since the MC was in her first year, we didn't get to see what's normal for were-plants, but for her she slowly over weeks and months started behaving more like a plant than a person. It was surprisingly well done and believable, I wouldn't have thought the story would work.

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

Wow, that actually sounds pretty interesting. Certainly a unique perspective. I haven't read a lot of were- stories (they never quite work for me so far, same with vampires, ghost stories- most I just don't care for) but this one definitely sounds worth a try.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Usually I avoid anthologies (I usually end up only liking one or two stories in them), but this one I would recommend!