To Weave a Web of Magic [Anthology 4-in-1]

I adored the short story by Sharon Shinn. Her Samaria series has such an intriguing world and this story takes place a few years after Archangel which is my favorite time in the series. I enjoyed Eden's voice and surprisingly didn't mind her devotion to a way of life that obviously didn't fulfill her. She had just the right balance of keen observation and appreciation for her life. I wish this could have been a full novel, but I'm just glad to read this story.

A rather odd little collection of four entirely different, disparate and unconnected short stories. I bought it for the McKillip, and her story is my favourite – a tale of life among a kind of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and a tribute to the women whose faces we all know but whose own stories no-one cares about – the Lizzie Siddals and the Jane Morrises, and their even-more-forgotten sisters. The others? Lynn Kurland's is a bog-standard fantasy redeemed by some flashes of humour; Sharon Shinn's is a short story set in her Samaria universe; and Claire Delacroix's is a retelling of the Melusine legend so clunky that I couldn't be bothered to finish it (if she had used the word 'wrought' one more time I would have had to have hunted show more her down and slapped her). So … one out of four ain't bad? Four stars for the McKillip alone; the rest, nul points, I'm afraid. show less

Four separate stories in the “fantasy/romance” genre – two from successful fantasy authors and two from successful romance authors.

The Gorgon in the Cupboard – Patricia McKillip
The moral of the story is that men put women on pedestals, and the women don’t always appreciate it.
In this tale of a group of artists and their models, the “pedestals” are almost literal. The spirit of the gorgon Medusa speaks to one artist through one of his paintings, helping him to see a woman for who she is as a person, rather than one of the idealized mythological figures he paints women as.
It’s a bit heavy-handed, and the fantasy element is really not even particularly necessary to the story.

The Tale of the Two Swords – Lynn Kurland
You show more know how sometimes you watch a bad fantasy movie, and the actors look completely embarrassed to be wearing medieval-style costumes, and you can tell they’re barely holding back snickers as they say their “thee”s and “thous”s? Well, this story is kind of like those movies. A completely generic medieval-style setting, generic, unbelievable characters, anachronistic dialogue…. If it were just a bit more tongue-in-cheek, it might succeed as humor, but as it is, I found it to just fall flat. Framed as a story read to a child (which also didn’t work for me), our heroine runs from an arranged marriage, encounters magic, and finds love with a handsome prince. Blah.

Fallen Angel – Sharon Shinn
This one, I really liked. Shinn’s Samaria, setting of several of her novels (which are still sitting on my TBR shelf!), is a Middle Eastern-type land where human tribes and winged angels co-exist, and serves as a well-realized backdrop to her story of a young woman of a wealthy human family who is expected to marry for money and political advantage – but instead falls for a young angel of dubious reputation. A age-old tale – but done here with some original twists, and fascinating characters.

An Elegy for Melusine – Claire Delacroix
The cursed fairy Melusine tells her story to two human women who chance to enter the ruined castle where once she lived with her human lover. Although the character makes a fairly big deal about telling the story from her point of view rather than from the ‘mortal’ point of view that has come down to listeners through the years, the story, as written, is a fairly straight recounting of the basic French legend, right down to the details, without any major changes. Nice, but not exceptional. show less

"Four stories of fantasy and exquisite romance..." says the cover of this book. Notice the modifier for romance and the lack thereof for fantasy? The McKinley story, which I expected to like the most, is the one I like next to least. It was missing all the charm and magic of most of her other works. It was rather drab and straight forward. The Shinn story I liked the least. There was nothing "exquisite" about the romance in this one. It actually seemed juvenile and not in a good way. I can't decide which of the two remaining stories I liked more, although the only one I would tag with "exquisite" is the Delacroix story. It was very much a romantic fairy tale with a not happily ever after ending.

Quick Word: Only enjoyed two of the stories, but the first was especially original. I also took pleasure from the story by Sharon Shinn, which, as always, has beautiful characterization and imagery.

Good collection of four romantic fantasy novellas.

The Gorgon in the Cupboard by Patricia McKillip – A painter is inspired by a talking painting and a new muse. This was entertaining, and there were a few quirky things I liked, but overall nothing special. **

The Tale of Two Swords by Lynn Kurland – A young boy’s parents read him a story of love and adventure which tells the lives of a renegade horse breeder’s daughter and an ousted prince. Interestingly framed narrative. ***

Fallen Angel by Sharon Shinn – A spoiled young girl falls for a rebellious angel. This is part of her Samaria series, which I love, and it didn’t disappoint. ****

An Elegy for Melusine by Claire Delacroix – A reworking of the myth of Melusine, the serpent show more fairy. I thoroughly enjoyed this one as well, though I can’t quite place why – nice mood to it I guess. **** show less

I am not fond of anthologies. There are rarely a complete set of comparable stories in them so in the end I end up paying top dollar for one or two authors short stories. Same here.

Overall, the book wasn't firm enough in the Fantasy genre to attract readers who favor strict fantasy and it wasnt' enough in the romance genre assuring HEA's and strong emotional relationships. And I didn't think it married the two genres well enough to satisfy either.

Lynn Kurland's 'Tale of Two Sword's though, is worth the price of admission for me. WHile a departure from her usual fare she doesn't let up on the wry dialogue and self-deprecating humor. I would very much like to see her do more in the realm.

An Elegy for Melusine was pointless. A cursed fey show more woman deceives a mortal into marriage, to break the curse, but it never is broken, gives birth to 10 children, most of them physical monsters, is betrayed and denounced by her husband, then remains on earth long after her children and husband die, transformed into a horrible monster and never regreting her actions! Ugh

The Fallen Angel (Sharon Shinn) held some promise for me in the beginning but I quickly had no enjoyment in reading about a heroine who really did come off as a spoiled rich girl toying with idea of liking a rebel. There really was no conflict for her and the hero, it was just all reactions to things around her.

The Gorgon in the Cupboard (McPhillip) - I didn't finish - I found it dull show less