I’ve been dipping into this collection for a while now. I was attracted to it by Tamsyn Muir’s (author of ‘Gideon The Ninth‘) astonishingly good short story, ‘Undercover‘ and later read Alix E. Harrow’s (author of ‘The Ten Thousand Doors Of January‘) original and engaging ‘The Six Deaths Of The Saint‘.

This week, I decided to try two more, one by Lev Grossman and one by Veronica G. Henry. I already have Veronica G Henry’s ‘Bacchanal‘ and ‘The Quarter Storm’ on my TBR pile and I’m intrigued by Lev Grossman’s upcoming story about Camelot after the death of Arthur, ‘The Bright Sword‘

‘Persephone’ by Lev Grossman, narrated by  Kimberly Woods

I liked how this story drew me into Persephone’s life and got me engaged with her melancholic outlook so that, when the weird stuff started to happen, I felt her confusion, understood her initial compliance and was cheering for her when the big finish was delivered.

This is a story that can be read as a straight thriller about a young woman whom the government attempts to contain as soon as she exhibits dangerous abilities. It can also be read as a fable about anger slowly building in the excluded, the ignored and the repressed until it can no longer be contained. Then, when it finally explodes upon the world, the forces of the government / the patriarchy incarnate intervene to try and neutralise the threat of the disaffected becoming powerful. Either way, it works.

One of the reasons that it works is because Persephone is so well drawn, She’s not a kick-ass heroine. She’s somebody who most people ignore and a few abuse. She’s locked in grief and depression after the death of her father. She has few hopes or aspirations and even the ones she has are quickly quashed.

And yet, deep inside her, some fire refuses to be extinguished.

I loved the pacing of the story and the denouement.

Kimberley Woods’ narration was perfect. She delivered just the right mix of resignation, grief and anger.

I finished the story wishing that it was just the first chapter of a novel where I would find out what Persephone did next, which I think is exactly how a story like this should make you feel.

---

‘The Candles Are Burning’ by Veronica G. Henry, narrated by Kristyl Dawn Tift

What I liked most about this story was Maggie Royal’s journey from pragmatic, competent, grounded wife and mother to a widow plagued by dreams, visions and a growing sense of dread who has to find the courage to embrace things she’d rather not believe in to protect herself and her daughter. It felt both inevitable and credible.

The setting for the story, in Savannah in the 1950s, was well enough described to give the story texture and to create the context for Maggie Royal’s choices.

Maggie’s visions were filled with menace which was added to by the strange behaviour of the town’s funeral director.

I struggled to believe in or be afraid of the Big Bad that Maggie had to face, so the story lost some of its impact. I did believe in Maggie and how she thought and behaved.