Customer Reviews

Sum3: The 2006 Zircon Anthology of Speculative Romance

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

 

 

I tend to eschew anthologies, because I end up liking so few of the stories in them (I'm very picky) and because even the good ones lack depth, a function of the medium rather than a lack of skill by the author.

This collection was surprisingly excellent. You would expect it to be, comprising as it does the winners of a contest, but I've been disappointed before and went in with moderate expectations. But I can say I loved all of the stories. My least favorites (a historical, a subgenre I don't care for as a whole, and a very short slice of sci-fi crisis) are still skillfully written and held my attention all the way through. My favorite two were fast-paced adventures with well-developed characters and complex plots.

The world-building in all the stories is the biggest factor contributing to the five-star rating. Every author paints the world as existent and whole, without filling paragraphs of description and explanation that take the reader out of the story.

A stellar effort!

First off, for those of you like me who didn't know what 'speculative romance' was, it only means sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal. Over all it was worth the money. There are 9 stories, with most of them not overly sensual. There is little to no intimacy details in most of the stories (the last 2 were pretty erotic) and I enjoyed most of them. The stories range from medieval magic stories to distant planets to aliens to mythology characters. Several of the stories I hope are either the start to a new series or part of one. The last 2 weren't my cup of tea, especially Seduction in blue, which has a woman on vacation going off with a strange man to an isolated park (neither of those things causing her any great alarm) where she then allows him to do all sorts of intimate things to her. Then we learn, he's not really her love interest and we meet her 'fated one' in the last page. If I'm reading a romantic story-I'm not that interested in an erotic story dealing with the man she doesn't end up with. personally, I was a bit bothered by how unwise she was. I wanted her to be a bit more intelligent and wary, but...If you like romances mixed with 'what could be's' then you'll like this book. For most of them, there was enough time and/or history between the two to make their romance believable and if you like sci-fi, fantasy or paranormal, you'll find something in this anthology to like.