Do you dare read this collection of terrifyingly gruesome tales? In this gripping volume, author Jen Campbell offers young readers an edgy, contemporary, and inclusive take on classic fairy tales, taking them back to their gory beginnings while updating them for a modern audience with queer and disabled characters and positive representation of disfigurement.

Featuring fourteen short stories from China, India, Ireland, and across the globe, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is an international collection of the creepiest folk tales. Illustrated with Adam de Souza’s brooding art, this book’s style is a totally original blend of nineteenth-century Gothic engravings meets moody film noir graphic novels. Headlined by the Korean tale of a carnivorous child, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is a truly thrilling gift for brave young readers.

I’ve heard good things about Jen Campbell’s work before, but never had a chance to pick it up. When I heard about this collection I knew I had to pick it up. The idea of folklore/stories from around the world getting tweaks or re-imaginings, and then to hear that they were gruesome tales, I was sold. I loved the dark tones of the stories, some I had read or heard of previously, so I enjoyed the slight variations on them. The stories are definitely dark and each area of the world has different themes, so it was nice to see them in a collection together.

Happy reading!

A horror tale about the Witch Bride, second wife of a King, and the discord between her and her young stepson.

Having read Khaw’s novella and enjoyed their writing immensely, I was excited to see this short story available and I really enjoyed it. It’s a pretty short story, but a lot is packed into it. I really enjoyed the internal commentary the main character was having as she went about her task, and the little snippets of backstory she gave. This is one of those short stories that I felt didn’t need further expanding on the world or story, it was great the length it is.

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As an orphaned sixteen-year-old, Lynette was haunted by the ghost of Mirror Boy, the drowned child who replaced her reflection. Ten years later, she’s built herself a new life, but all that is threatened when Mirror Boy returns, warning of danger. A hunter has come for both of them, and unless Lynette can figure out what’s going on, they will both perish.

I enjoyed a previous short story I read by this author, so I definitely wanted to check out this one. Though it was short I really enjoyed the snippet of this setting and world that was revealed. I would definitely enjoy reading more stories in this world as I felt the author really crafted the small look at it really well. It was an interesting mix of different elements and I really liked it. The plot itself is a simple storyline, but it was all the elements that went into it – from the description of the main character’s past to the different locations described.

Happy reading!

Sir Magnus Holmes, cousin to the more famous Sherlock, is asked to investigate the appearance of an otherworldly knight carrying a legendary sword in the cellar of a Victorian London pub.

This was my first real exposure to Garth Nix’s writing, even though I have a couple of his books on my TBR and I did enjoy this spin on the Holmes family as well as his writing style. The story does start off rather jarringly as you are dropped smack dab in the middle, getting a vignette really. Perhaps an introduction would have helped, but it was still enjoyable and a fun mini-adventure.

An alternate history short story looking at decisions and consequences, and what it takes to pull the trigger.

This story was very impactful, even though it was short. The concept that an innocent child must be slaughtered at the president’s hands in order for them to get access to missile codes, essentially forcing the president to take the life of one of their own citizens before taking the lives of another nation’s citizens. It’s a moral dilemma that is enough to give someone pause and make them really think on their decision. In this story we follow Nyma, who is the one that has the codes inside of her and who the president has to kill should he want to use the missiles against those they are at war with. Seeing this experience through her eyes, all of her interactions with the president as the war is ongoing, seeing his struggle through his eyes and also her conflict, fear and anger over the situation. It’s a hard story to read especially in times that are so politicized and divisive, but the moral components of it made it a compelling read.

Happy reading!

“The trouble with wanting to do the right thing is that frequently the right thing today is the wrong thing for tomorrow, or the wrong thing for the people who are standing between you and your perfect, platonic future. The wild was the wrong place for our elephant, just like the recycler was the wrong place for Billie, and the cities were the wrong place for me.”

A tale of bioengineering, a carnival, and the cost of finding one’s right place.

I really enjoyed the way McGuire built this world, which was a futuristic look at Earth when bioengineering and changes due to things such as climate change border on the extreme. Beyond that there was also the theme of this carnival and the carnival life within the family that ran it. It was the perfect length for the story it was trying to tell and I could see it as part of a bigger story, but it did move at a pretty slow pace for me. At times it felt like the language just didn’t flow as well as McGuire’s writing typically does, so that did bring down my enjoyment a bit.

Happy reading!

Xin is an ansible, using her song magic to connect the originworld of the Imperial Authority and its far-flung colonies— a role that is forced upon magically-gifted women “of a certain closeness”. When a dead body comes through her portal at a time of growing rebellion, Xin is drawn deep into a station-wide conspiracy along with Ouyang Suqing, one of the station’s mysterious, high-ranking starmages.

I really enjoyed the glimpse of the world that Waiting on a Bright Moon introduced us to, but I did find myself wishing there was backstory and more depth to some of the characters. As a snippet into another world this was a good taste and introduced integral characters to the main plot point. The writing style was really lyrical and immersive, which was beautiful to read. I just wanted more from this one and could see a whole novel built on some of these characters or their back stories.

Happy reading!

Scale the mountain. Ring the bell. Buy your freedom. Or trade the prize to change the world.

Mia’s life is defined by the Surge. The race comes every five years, and she’s determined to win it. She’ll make it to the top first, ring the bell and set her family free.

But victory comes at a price. The faster she runs, the more people she’ll condemn to death in the valley below.
In Unterstrom, only the strongest survive.

I went into this short story pretty blind, but really enjoyed the world that Jaffrey crafted in its whort length. It follows Mia as from when she is a small child, living through something in her community called The Surge. What that actually is is revealed slowly throughout the story. If you’re a fan of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, this certainly has some similar tones and themes to it, but in a different way. Jaffrey’s writing, even in this short length, is engaging and I look forward to reading more of her stories.

Happy reading!

Two anxious young lovers lost in the woods. A beckoning mansion in a dark clearing. A short modern-day retelling of Hansel and Gretel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin.

It’s bad enough that Hazel and Gray have defied the demands of Hazel’s foul stepfather. The Monster has forbidden their romance. Now they’ve awakened in the forest, phones dead, hours past curfew. But not far away is a grand estate in the middle of nowhere. The door is open. In this short story about choosing your own path, the fury of the Monster that awaits them back home may be nothing compared to what lies ahead.

This one was definitely not what I was expecting when I thought of a Hansel and Gretel retelling. While I did like the twists in the story and the darker elements, I found it to be very predictable and had guessed who the ‘bad guy’ was going to be, and the connections between characters. I was not expecting what the house they found would be and didn’t realize just how far it would go with that, so I’m not sure how I feel about that. That being said the story did fly by and I found Nic Stone’s writing style compelling and easy to read.

Happy reading!