Review: an Odd Collection
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2014
I think my main problem with this book is that there is no rhyme or reason to the short stories… it’s just 3 random short stories that Ping wrote… and it makes me wonder who the target audience is… because they’re each aimed in different directions… it’s like you may like one but hate the next… and that makes it difficult to recommend to anyone…Sands and Castles 2 STARSIt’s told in a fairy tale style that is fitting to the short story set in a medieval time… but the problem is that though it felt like it was building up to some deep meaning it basically tapped it and bounced off quickly into some strange twist that didn’t even make sense with the rest of the story and ultimately ruined whatever he was aiming for… and with the fairy tale style you do expect something perhaps magical, meaningful, or humorous… and you get none of that… which felt wasteful to such a promising beginning…The Mother’s Day Gift  4 STARSThis was a really sweet and touching story… it had me tearing up by the end… it was a little odd that it was told in an almost children’s book sort of simplicity… but still an endearing story that I think anyone could feel for…Once in a Blue Moon  3 STARSThis was perhaps my favorite story and yet the worst written… it started out in a children’s book style even worse than the previous… but by the end it became exceedingly well written tale that if the whole book would’ve been written in such a fashion would’ve improved it by leaps and bounds… it deals with the Greek gods and the creation of the blue moon… which was interesting… but then Zeus calls on the Almighty God in Heaven… and at the end it again references the Christian God... which is crossing religions in a rather disconcerting matter… there are many stories that have the One God running out the old gods… but this was almost trying to turn a myth story into a Christian story… which was just odd…