Review: Couple of excellent ones and a couple of duds
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2013
As with most short story collections, they vary from excellent to lousy. Most here were worthy, and here's my two cents on each of the stories:Unicorn One: Great premise, good story. Makes one think about their own realities.Late Testing: Very good story, chilling, and surreal. One of the best of the book.Napoleon's Child: Not too bad.At the Edge of the World: This one stunk, IMO. If there was supposed to be a moral or message I missed it.The Magenta Tapestry: Liked this one, similar to a Twilight Zone short.The Airman: I absolutely loved this one. Brought a tear (or two) to my eyes. One of the best short stories I've ever read.The Pond: Another good one, with more depth to the characters than most short stories. Somber, sad, yet hits home for anyone who has loved and lost.The Orange Pig: Despite the concept of animal personification, I enjoyed this one. Analogies are there for the taking.Storm Damage: Long buildup to a quick and disappointing ending. Could have been so much more, as all the ingredients were there, ready to be utilized.Sometimes the World Comes Down: IMO, the worst one of the book. Why the author ended the book with this weak effort, I'll never know.By my reckoning, there are two excellent stories, three more above average ones, three that are decent, and a couple of duds. Overall, this is a decent little collection (between 3 and 4 stars) and certainly worth the money.