A young adult fiction anthology of 15 stories featuring contemporary, historical, and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, sexuality, religion, geography, and era.
This is a collection of short stories that I read for the Spookathon in October. Like with my previous reviews of short story anthologies, I will be giving separate reviews for each story.
1. Starsong by Tehlor Kay Mejia - 3/5
I found this a solid story to start the book. I loved the amount of representation in this story and the use of social media.
2. Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer - 3/5
This one was set in 17th century England where a trial takes place due to the aftermath of a difficult birth and the midwife is thought to be a witch because of her advanced medical knowledge for that era. The addition of the mysterious book added another layer of intrigue into the already intriguing story.
3. The Heart in her Hands by Tess Sharpe - 4/5
I loved the writing style in this one. I found it rather enchanting so this is definitely an author I would read more of. The story itself had good representation and just overall a wonderful feel to it. It dealt with breaking from parents expectations and fighting to be with your soulmate.
4. Death in the Sawtooths by Lindsay Smith - 3/5
This was an interesting story about prejudices people place on a girl. I would have liked it more if it had been a little longer with more room for development.
5. The Truth about Queenie by Brandy Colbert - 5/5
This was my favourite story in the whole anthology. There is always one story in every anthology I read where I wish the story was a fully fledged novel and in this anthology it was this one.
6. The Moonapple Menagene by Shveta Thakrar - 2/5
This story felt rather rushed. There were too many characters and too much happening for such a short story. Maybe because I read this one as a follow up to my favourite one, but I didn't care for this one.
7. The Legend of Stone Mary by Robin Talley - 4/5
I really enjoyed this one. It was the only genuine horror story in the whole anthology. Whilst the others were mainly contemporary with a witch element, this one fully committed to the horror element and I loved it.
8. The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma - 4/5
This was one of my most anticipated in the anthology as the author is one I have read and loved in the past and she didn't disappoint. This story also would make a quality fully fledged novel.
9. Divine are the Stars by Zoraida Cordova - 3/5
This one dealt with family issues and not much else. I loved the writing style though and the magical realism aspect made it stand out among some of the other stories.
10. Daughters of Baba Yaga by Brenna Yovanoff - 2/5
This one had a lot of cultural issues and not much witchcraft in the story. I think it tried to deal with too much in too little pages.
11. The Well Witch by Kate Hart - 3/5
I loved that this was a period story being set in 1875. I felt really invested in this story but the ending let it down. This is another story that could have been better an a novel so that the ending could have been properly done.
12. Beware of Girls with Crooked Mouths by Jessica Spotswood - 4/5
This one was the exact kind of story I expected from an anthology about women and witchcraft. I loved the elements about witch sisters and prophecies.
13. Love Spells by Anna-Marie McLemore - 3/5
This one had an unique plot in that the witches help people get over heartache but I didn't like that the main focus was on the protagonist's romance rather than this.
14. The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord - 4/5
I loved the sisters element in this story. Every story I loved in this anthology seems to have this in common. The sisters bond in this one was stronger though because of the help two of them lend to the third to help her through some issues.
15. Why they Watch us Burn by Elizabeth May - 4/5
This one felt like a dystopian novel and I found it captivating.
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