Kathleen Jennings

This collection of short stories read as fairy tales, often as a play on well known works and with a truth at its heart. Jennings uses different writing styles, allowing each story to be a surprise, both in content and in structure. The stories are full of remarkable characters and places, but speak to the universal truths: love, freedom, companionship, identity. And lots of birds! I didn’t love every story, but I did love most. Unfortunately, the most difficult story is the first; you may show more want to visit that one last. show less

Once there was a village where a couple sought approval for their marriage from a stag with antlers adorned with golden rings. In this tiny village, the approval of the stag must be won; a ring perhaps wrested from his antlers.

No one knew where the rings had come from, but theories abounded. Perhaps they fell from a tree deep in the forest. Or the gentlefolk beyond the forest threw them at the stag’s antlers. Sadly, some speculated that those wishing to divorce made payment with a golden show more ring hung on the stag’s antler while others surmised they’d been dug up from graves.

Perhaps they simply grew from the antlers; perhaps the stag was made of living gold.

George-the-Wolf desired the hand of Red Elsie, but she continually refused him. So George-the-Wolf headed off into the forest but was unable to catch the stag. It was then that he hatched his terrible plot.

What will George-the-Wolf do? Will it win him the hand of the woman he wishes to marry?

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With a grim and gruesome portion, this fairy tale is part Aesop, part brothers Grimm. Creepy, dark, and disturbing, this Tor short story is both magical and unsettling. While the characters behave in predictable fashion, the unfolding story manages a surprise or two for the reader.

Recommended. show less

What a whimsical and enchanting book this is! I expected a fantasy novel filled with folklore but this is so much more. Don't get me wrong; this book is filled with fantasy and folklore but there are elements of horror as well. The tale is told in the style of a story teller sitting by a campfire where the words weave into a wondrous world where all is not what it seems.
A young woman living in a small town in Western Queensland, Australia receives a cryptic note from one of her brothers. show more Brothers who mysteriously disappeared around the time that her father left. The note compels Bettina on a search for the truth. A heartrending quest where Bettina faces ethereal animals, disappearing schools, and strange monsters to learn the unsettling truth.
The writing reminds me of Shirley Jackson's works and is beautifully poetic. This is one novel I do plan to read again because there is so much to absorb and I think it is one of those novels where you learn something new each time you read it again. show less

Kathleen Jennings's strengths as an author lie primarily in coming up with sharp, unsettling fantasy concepts and drawing them out in vivid detail. The short story is perhaps the ideal length for this - Jennings's novella Flyaway was atmospheric and had striking moments, but the meandering plot left something to be desired.

The stories in this collection often revolve around women who are determined to get what they want at all costs. Many of them draw on fairy tales and folklore, but show more Jennings manages to find unusual twists that keep the stories fresh. "A Hedge of Yellow Roses" is a take on Sleeping Beauty that features an eternally-young noblewoman gone half-feral in her hundred or more years without human contact, and "Undine Love" mines the Princess and the Frog for a surprising amount of horror and tragedy (though it is also frequently funny). Despite their well-worn origins, none of these stories feel tired or predictable, which is impressive. Other standouts include "Skull and Hyssop", an adventure/mystery with some memorable bits of sailing-related fantasy worldbuilding, and "Not to Be Taken", a portrait of a morally ambiguous woman who gets in over her head with a dangerous man and must come up with a scheme to escape his clutches.

As is usually true of short story collections, not all of the stories are winners, and it's unfortunate that in this case that includes both the opening story (the dense and perhaps overly ornate "Heart of Owl Abbas") and the title story (the eminently forgettable "Kindling"). But on balance, there's more good than bad here, and I would recommend the collection to fans of dark fantasy that leans towards the literary. show less