Simply amazing. Is now on my list of best short story collections ever. ( )

An engrossing collection of shorts, and while many might be considered horror or dark fantasy, they are all an exploration of humanity through a veneer of Filipino culture, folklore, and mythical monsters. These stories embrace the weird and the dark, but also have a glimmer of hope and celebrate human resilience. I've read many of these stories already, but it was a pleasure revisiting them again, and finding new ones. Highly recommended. ( )

On the book as a whole: it is well crafted, and those who are fans of horror and dark fantasy should enjoy it a LOT more than I did. I don't know why I was expecting more "fantasy" from this collection and less "horror"... but please know going in that with very few exceptions these are dark stories, and closer to the horror genre than anything else. If you like that kind of story, this book might be right up your alley... it just wasn't my preferred genre. This is definitely a case of "it's not you it's me."

A few thoughts on the individual stories, written as I read the book:

"Good Girls" ~ Odd. Creepy. Body horror. If this is a good example of what I will find in this collection (as I personally expect and want from the first story in a collection) then I will have trouble with the book as a whole.

"A Cup of Salt Tears" ~ This one is also odd. It feels very horror-adjacent, and I'm not entirely sure how to react to the conclusion. I don't know much about kappas in Japanese folklore, but based on this story they don't feel like they're supposed to be good guys. ~ CW: drowning, suicide, illness

"Milagroso" ~ Neat take on how we might react to "real" food once everything is lab-grown and designed.

“A Spell for Foolish Hearts” ~ This is hands down my favorite so far. It is sweet and queer, and the characters feel real. I loved this story, but compared to the ones that came before it, this felt out of place for being so sweet. This was the first story in the volume that had no horror elements or tone to it.

"Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?" ~ At the center of this is a classic ghost story like the ones my friends used to tell at sleepovers. The fun kind of creepy—this is the kind of horror-adjacent story I actually enjoy.

"Syringe" ~ This feels like the bones of an interesting science fiction story, but it's really short. Too short, I feel.

"Asphalt, River, Mother, Child" ~ For all that this is definitely a fantasy story about the afterlife, it feels the most REAL of the stories so far. Granted, it's the sad and depressing kind of real, but it feels real. It's too depressing for me to say that I "like" it, but it's certainly well crafted. ~ CW: gun violence

"Hurricane Heels (We Go Down Dancing)" ~ A story about superheroes/magical anime girls as they get older and want to live normal lives! I love this concept. My only issue is that just as I started to really get into it, the story ended.

"Only Unclench Your Hand" ~ This is another body horror-adjacent story that is just not to my taste. Fans of horror and dark folklore will probably enjoy it more than I did. ~ CW: vomit, bugs

"How to Swallow the Moon" ~ Interesting story that feels like a folktale with a little bit of Rapunzel thrown in. It has a sapphic twist that I expected based on the start of the story, though I still didn't quite manage to predict the ending.

"All the Best of Dark and Bright" ~ Neat to see a glimpse at folklore I'm unfamiliar with, but—probably BECAUSE I'm unfamiliar—the story didn't seem to have an end.

"Misty" ~ Horror again. And a young girl telling a story that might hint at child abuse? Not for me.

"A Canticle for Lost Girls" ~ This feels like one of those teen girl paranormal horror/dark fantasy movies, something like "The Craft." While I like the theme of friendship and forgiveness underneath the plot, the plot itself was a little too dark for my tastes. ~ CW: teacher/student sexual abuse ( )

This collection is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The stories were conceptualized & executed pretty well, but my emotional responses were definitely misplaced so I bounced off it. It's mostly a mixture of fantasy & horror stories, but there was one that I would consider a light paranormal romance which really jogged me out of my groove. For the rest, I was more disturbed and unsettled by the fact that most of the girls in these stories were socially required to be a part of a girl group than I was by any of the horror elements, even though the girl groups were generally represented as positive things. It just didn't resonate with me, so I don't think I will seek out other work by this author. ( )

These stories are just the kind of fantasy I like: where magic, monsters, and supernatural elements add a wrinkle to relatable lives, but never overwhelm the narrative. This collection has wholesome gay love stories, superhero malaise, neurodivergence, Filipino culture, and demonic creatures that flicker in for just the briefest of moments. Again and again they return to the angst and pleasure of human relationships. As in any collection, some stories are stronger than others, and occasionally I found myself not completely satisfied by an ending, but overall this is an enjoyable read that I savored and would recommend to others. ( )