Review: Even better than Volume I
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 19, 2013
Cannibal Nights, the second volume of Kiana Davenport’s Pacific Stories, is yet another stunning collection of short stories set in different Pacific locations - from Hawai’i to Tonga, all the way to Australia via the Easter Islands and more. I didn’t think it was possible for Volume II to be better than Volume I - “House of Skin”, but I think I enjoyed this second instalment even more. The short-story is a format which I usually find unsatisfying, but not when in the hand of this author. Every story is perfectly self-contained and every character is meticulously drawn and well-rounded: yes, all the stories are told from the point of view of female protagonists, but their appeal is universal, and I defy the reader not to be sucked in immediately from ‘Assassin Orders Peking Duck’, centred around the Bali bombing, or not to be intrigued and simultaneously repulsed by the fictionalised life of Paul Gauguin in “Cannibal Nights, Colonial Afternoons”. I will not spoilt it for you - see for yourself.But I warn you: after finishing this volume, I immediately purchased and read the third one, “Opium Dreams”: this is what Kiana Davenport’s writing does to you - it’s beautifully addictive.