Customer Reviews

Magic in the Mirrorstone: Tales of Fantasy

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This book features 15 fantasy short stories for teens and above. Some of the stories are of the traditional sword and sorcery flavor while others are contemporary or even historical fantasy. My favorite sword and sorcery story was "The Amulet of Winter" by Lawrence M. Schoen. Of the contemporary stories I enjoyed "Princess Bufo marinus, Also Known As Amy" by Eugie Foster the best. My favorite historical fantasy story was "Out of Her Element" by E. Sedia. This book is a must have for fans of the Hallowmere series by Tiffany Trent as her story "Blackwater Baby" featuring the origins of an important character appears in this collection. Lastly, Cthulhu crawls into one of the stories but you'll have to buy the book to find out which one!

Magic in the Mirrorstone is an anthology of YA short fiction. As with nearly any collection, there is some unevenness here. A few (a very few) of the pieces feel like knock-off stories, written to fulfill an obligation--short, predictable tales that are quickly forgettable. Unfortunately, the first story falls into this category but readers shouldn't be put off by the weak introduction. For the most part the other stories are much stronger and if none of theme are particularly striking, they more than make up for the few weak entries, resulting in an overall successful collection.

The combination of the short form and the target audience of YA means that there isn't a lot of descriptive detail, world building, complex plots, or lengthy character development. But several of the authors work quite well within these constraints, creating strong characters (the young girl in "Out of Her Element") or a sense of otherworldliness ("Pig, Crane, Fox: Three Hearts Unfolding") despite them.

Perhaps the most consistently strong aspect of the collection is its tone. Many of the narrative voices are distinctive and enjoyable to spend even this short amount of time with. And there is an unexpectedly darker tone to most of these stories than one might have expected, though one whose darkness is perfectly suited to the target audience, from a story dealing with a ring that shows people the wearer cares about but only when they're doing something painful to observe to a Lovecraftian story of high school vengeance to a highly moral but sad story involving a sick girl and a fire salamander.

In the end, if none of the stories in Mirror are homeruns, there are more than enough singles and doubles, and maybe a triple or two, to make up for the few swings and misses.