Customer Reviews

Red Spikes

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Writing short stories is not easy. As much as I like, let's say, Kelley Armstrong, her anthologies Men of the Otherworld and Tales of the Otherworld are not really collections of short stories. They are collections of scenes in the lives of her characters and nothing more.

Lanagan, on the other hand, is a great short story writer. Her stories remind me a lot of the works of one of my favorite writers (and IMO the greatest writer of short stories) - Guy de Maupassant, not thematically, but in the quality. Both excel at creating very short (not more than 10-15 pages) and pointed stories, all with rich backgrounds, deep characterization and climaxes that leave you pondering on the complexities of human nature.

Red Spikes consists of 10 stories of life, death, love, violence, and courage, each is laced with supernatural but ultimately illuminating humanity. My favorite stories in the collection are "Monkey's Paternoster," in which female monkeys in a harem-like group endure the rivalries of alpha males, and "Under Hell, Over Heaven" where characters in purgatory witness a soul's descent into hell.

Just like Lanagan's Printz Honor winning novel Tender Morsels, Red Spikes will not appeal to all readers. The stories have an air of weirdness about them, the language is complex and a lot of patience is required to acclimate to each story's fresh setup. However existing fans of the writer and those who, like me, have a taste for strange and bizarre are sure to enjoy this book. I will definitely check out Margo Lanagan's other short story collections - Black Juice and White Time.

I'm not a huge fan of short story collections, so I apologize if my review comes across as being less than positive. Red Spikes deserves a positive review.

The variety of stories in this book is nice (not a very good descriptive word, eh?). I read Red Spikes cover to cover like a normal book, but I have a feeling it would have been better if I had read one story at a time, taking the time to digest each story properly before moving on to the next story. The topics in the stories are such that it's hard to move easily from one story to the next. I frequently had to re-read the stories' openings to adjust my mindset and make sure I was properly in the current story.

Going back to the variety of the stories, a fantasy story about toys come to life (or perhaps dreams come to life) is followed by a very realistic story of love lost. This is followed by a story one would tell to children to scare them (and it is a fine story for that!). There is a story told from a monkey's POV; a story about faeries; a story about limbo, heaven, and hell; a story about a witch. There's a little bit of something for everyone in this collection, and every story is written very well.

Overall, for my dislike of short story collections, I was surprised at how much I liked this book. Certain stories stick out more than others, and I think a number of them lend themselves to becoming full-length novels if the author wanted. (I think part of the reason I don't like short stories is that they are, as their name implies, so short... there's so much more than needs to be said to leave a reader satisfied. But having written short stories, I realize it works much better to have that little tingle of, "What happens next?")

This would be a good book to have on your shelf. It's got a beautiful, intriguing cover, and it would be lovely for guests who come over and want something to pass the few spare minutes they have. Rather than getting stuck in the middle of novel they might never get to finish, this would be a great alternative that leaves them with having read a good story in just a few minutes (much like a magazine article, but much more entertaining, and certainly bound much better).

The tales in this book are a good bit darker than what I usually read, but that doesn't take away the enjoyment to be found in them.
The author's style reminded me of some of the darker bits of Tannith Lee's and Neil Gaiman's work. Many of the stories have a resonance to them that makes one think of fairy tales, particularly the darker, more original versions.
As with any collection, some stories are better than others. I wouldn't go so far as to say that any of them is bad or poorly written, just that the subject matter could be off-putting depending on who is going to read the book.
I checked my copy out at the library; I'll definitely be getting my own soon.

I picked this book up from the library, and it's just.. not good. There are only 1 to 3 good stories in it, the rest are horribly confusing. I was lost in most of them. It says it's a reading level for grade 5.... NOT. I just graduated college with a MASTERS degree in English, and I can't even understand it!

According to the sticker on the front, Red Spikes is winner of some Children's Book award or other. While this is fine for that, for a book that is supposed to be supernatural fantasy/horror you are going to automatically get s3x, violence, style and other artificial limitations on the content. For me, never going to be as good from that point of view. Contrast to 'A Fine Magic', perhaps.

So, I think a lot of people would be disappointed from that point of view.


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3.5 out of 5


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3.5 out of 5


Girl ruin.

3 out of 5


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3.5 out of 5


Birdbrain deficiencies.

3 out of 5


Bullyboy cakewalk comedown.

4 out of 5


Purgatory point scoring.

3.5 out of 5


Rodney kill easy.

2.5 out of 5


Dolls, gods, boys, it just makes me cry.

2.5 out of 5


Zithering.

3 out of 5