Watt A Nerd Magazine Vol. 2 Iss. 2 || February 2015

Book Review: Monstrous Affections

Shall we talk about affection? Or shall we talk about monsters? Or, better yet, shall we talk about both?

Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales is a collection of stories from a variety of writers. It's all put together by Kelly Link, an editor of several anthologies and a short story author herself. Anthologies are not my usual reading fare, and I would have passed this one by if it hadn't reminded me of one I picked up a couple years ago (that was Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories; steampunk is very much my preferred reading fare). I am so glad I didn't do that. 

Monstrous Affections is a brilliant collection. There is something in this anthology for everyone. Do you want romance? Got it. Strong female characters? Got it. Or completely romance-less plotlines and strong male characters? Got that too. The beauty of it all, at least for me, was that it acted a little like a springboard. I got a taste of several different authors, what they wrote about, how they wrote it. I could read a story, decide I didn't like that author and would never go near them again, and it would be totally fine because the boredom wouldn't last that long. Or I'd read somebody brilliant, the small taste would leave me hungry for more, and I'd immediately go off and hunt down some of the rest of their writing. 

Here are some of those stories. 

Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (The Successful Kind) - Holly Black

This was the first story in the anthology that really captivated me. I haven't read Holly Black in ages, not since little innocent middle-school me read her YA books years before being mature enough for them, but this story made me realize I actually love her writing. The story is about a young girl who stows away on a smuggler's spaceship and hangs around with a giant terrifying spider alien that kills everyone. This is the kind of story that you can't get enough of. This is the kind of heroine you want an entire book series about, who you want to see in movies, who you want to pictured in see loads and loads of adorable fanart. 

Son of Abyss - Nik Houser

Definitely one of the more intriguing stories, at least for me. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but then I had an "aha!" moment and the world, despite making sense, became a million times more mysterious. This is the kind of story that I want to read again and again and notice new things every time. 

Old Souls - Cassandra Clare

I had to include a negative one. I've tried to read Cassandra Clare before, and her writing has simply never interested me: very boy-focused, a bit too melodramatic. However, her contribution to this anthology is a vampire nursing home nurse, which is a pretty darn interesting idea. I'm just not a fan of the "teenage girl meets an extremely old creature and totally understands him" thing. But for those of you who are--this non-romance story is probably a great piece of writing and a refreshing break from, say, Twilight. 

Wings in the Morning - Sarah Rees Brennan

This. Story. Okay?

I saved the best for last because I just have so much to say about this story. It's one of the longer ones in the book, with a plot that begins with a character learning that he's half-harpy and continuing several months as he goes on war missions, helps secure peace between warring fantasy nations, and undergoes one of the best-written love triangles I've read in a while. The romance in this story was absolutely adorable. The characters are all so much fun--the way-too-serious warrior main character, his constantly snarky and rude love interest, and a misandristic she-elf. And, guys, the worldbuilding. Usually there isn't much time for that in a short story, and I don't know how Brennan managed it, but this was one of the most interesting believable fantasy worlds I've read in a long, long time. 

This story, more than any of the others, left me wanting more. More about this world, with so many warring factions and such realistically problematic ways of dealing with them. More about these characters, whose stories have seeminly just begun. As soon as I finished Monstrous Affections, I began to seek out more writing by Sarah Rees Brennan. And I found it: a wonderful prequel to that short story published online (I'll put it in the External Link) and a whole list of books to read next. 

 All in all, this is definitely one anthology you should check out. 

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This book review was written by @EstrangeloEdessa.