I was unexpectedly enthralled by this collection of short stories. However one chooses to define Link (science fiction? neo-gothic?), what she is doing is unreservedly fresh, bizarre, and compelling. A great read. ( )

Without recalling too much of the book, many of these stories blurred together for me. Perhaps I was disappointed with them because I was so looking forward to reading it? I found it unworthy of the hype. ( )

At first, I thought "I love this book! I'm going to recommend this book to all of those friends I have who want more fairytale fantasy but are tired of reading YA lit!" And then the stories just got creepier and creepier. Eventually turning to a new story required pushing through deepening levels of mental resistance. Apprehension. Queasiness. These stories are weird, all right, but also beautifully written and captivating, and not for the faint of heart. I didn't end up recommending the book to a lot of people, but I would definitely read more of her work. ( )

Not quite like anything I've ever read. There's a definite dream-like, nightmarish quality here, but Link also plays with the deceptive straightforwardness of fairytales, as well as mixing a streak of tongue-in-cheek genre humour in there. It's quite disturbing and eerie and leave tons of open ends and strange questions hanging. Me like. ( )

Download for free from Kelly Link's website. ( )