Robots vs. Fairies | Edited by Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe

Summary:

An anthology of stories alternating between robots and fairies as the main characters. The stories run the gamut from comedy to slice-of-life to thriller. The settings vary between past, present and future.

Review:

This collection was delightful, engaging, and I wish it were longer. The stories were so wonderfully different from each other in terms of tone and use of the themes. Some of the authors I'd read before, others are new to me and I'm actively looking for more of their books to read.

My favorite stories, hands down, were the ones that mixed elements of both robots and fairies, clearly an attempt to appease whichever group ends up as our overlords. "The Blue Fairy's Manifesto" was an encouragement of the robot uprising, but it used a familiar fairy tale for it. "Build Me a Wonderland" was an excellent choice for the first story as it shows Fair Folk creating robots that work lie magic.

There were a couple stories that weren't for me. "Bread and Milk and Salt" was a bit too dark for me (as the Fair Folk can get) and "To a Cloven Pine" was too abstract for me (but I can't logic like a  Robot can). Two stories out of a collection 18, though, definitely keeps this a good book. And if you like the darker or more abstract stories, you may like the entire collection more than me.

Some of the stories are fun adventures. Some are moving pieces about how magic and robots can't always give us what we really need. One story is just plain silly, and had me struggling to hold in the laughter while I was on the bus. Each of the stories are quality writing in and of themselves. The juxtaposition of the stories is well thought out and you never find yourself in the same world twice. The closest these get to overlapping is two stories involving both Fae and music, but they still ended up being incredibly different stories. Plus, one had a murder ballad, you gotta love it.

I really do recommend this collection for Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans. The back and forth and intermingling of the genres makes for an interesting, enjoyable read. I'm very glad to have this book in my collection and I will be looking for more books by the authors. 4 hoots!

               Hoot!Hoot!

               Hoot!Hoot!

*Unrelated note: This is my 300th blog post on Purple Owl Reviews!

Moonshine | Jasmine Gower

*Image and book provided via NetGalley for an honest review.

Summary:

Daisy Dell has just scored her first real job after college. She's a typist/secretary for Andre Swarz at Pinstripe's. Modest pay, but it helps her work towards her goal of being a Modern Girl. When she finds she works for a magician who hired her in part because of her own magic (inherited in the form of trinkets from her grandmother) she gets introduced to the world of bootleg mana and speakeasies. When an attempt is made on her life by mage-hunters, she has to seek help from her boss and coworkers to survive.

Review:

This book was not what I was expecting, and that's a good thing. I genuinely thought this was an alternate, historical fantasy that would take place in 1930's USA. What I got was a fantasy world with as much magic as any other high fantasy world, but with prohibition era aesthetics. It was really cool! 

The world is incredibly interesting and I want to know more about it. I greatly appreciated the difference in approach between Mr. Swarz and Daisy. His academic, political views of the world versus her aesthetic, social perspective really helped to flesh out the world. She's more likely to note the combined uses of magic and ogre technology where he is more likely to note the local politics and economic climate. The fact that this city of Ashland actually exists near a dying volcano that frequently covers the city in ash provided an interesting mental picture. Combine that with a culture that has incorporated (however begrudgingly) ogres and fauns, and you've got my attention. I really do want to read more about this world.

Then there are the characters. We only get to read the book from three character's perspectives: Daisy, Mr. Swarz and Ming Wei. These three are kinda all we need, though. As different as they each are, they are also surprisingly similar. All three have had to work from nothing to something, but Daisy and Mr. Swarz had plenty of family support while Wei needs to support her family. Daisy and Wei have good health while Mr. Swarz is physically disabled. Wei and Mr. Swarz are in charge of their groups while Daisy has never had any kind of influence or power. I really liked how Daisy and Wei almost bonded over their shared understanding of "a girl's gotta eat."

This book was a very enjoyable introduction to a very new world that I would really like to read more of. I'm eager to read more of Gower's works and encourage you to pick up a copy of Moonshine. 4 hoots!

               Hoot!Hoot!

               Hoot!Hoot!