Customer Reviews

The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People

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At least as far as genre fiction goes, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling may just be the best editors/anthologists currently working. Together or individually, their anthologies usually manage to feature a wide variety of authors and story-telling styles under whatever theme they are gathering stories for.

The Beastly Bride is the fourth volume in what they call their "mythic fiction" series, "each volume dedicated to a different aspect of world mythology." (The previous volumes were The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest; The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm; and The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales.) This time out, the focus is clearly on shape-shifters of all sorts: gods masquerading as human to woo humans, animal spirits taking human form, humans who can transform into animals for any number of reasons, and in one case animals that don't really bother to even pretend they're human in order to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting community.

Clocking in at 500 pages, there is bound to be something to appeal to everyone in the book but of course not every story will work for every reader. That's the blessing, and the curse, of short story collections. My favorite stories were Steve Berman's "Thimbleriggery & Fledglings," Lucius Shepard's "The Flock," Ellen Kushner's "The Children of Cadmus," Tanith Lee's "The Puma's Daughter," E. Catherine Tobler's "Island Lake," and Gregory Frost's "The Comeuppance of Creegus Maxin."

Werewolves, vampires, and mermaids all have one thing in common: they are shape-changers. This book is a compilation of their stories.

From Finland to India, the tales cover everything from an unruly bride to new world explorers. Some are humorous, while others are tragic. These Immortals' stories have come together to confound, delight, and, most of all, entertain.

THE BEASTLY BRIDE is an excellent anthology of some of the best stories from around the world. Some tales will seem familiar, while others will not. The enjoyment of them, however, will not change. The layout is done quite well, the forward is well-written, and the bibliography well-laid out and easy to reference.

Readers who like fantasy, shapeshifters, and anthologies will all enjoy this book.

Reviewed by: Kira M