REVIEW: Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton

Posted: 26 July 2010 by Tyson Mauermann in Labels: , , , ,
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Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton
Publishing Information: Paperback; 126 pages
Publisher: Fantastic Books; 27 February 2010
ISBN 10: 1604599324
ISBN 13: 978-1604599329
Standalone
Copy provided by author


Back of the Book "In this elegant volume, award-winning author Sarah Totton takes her readers on speculative journeys of the heart and mind that will both challenge and engage you. Within these tales, readers will learn the meaning of darkness and pain and fear. Yet they will also learn about love and happiness and laughter. Sarah Totton explores the full kaleidoscope of the human heart and peels it back, one layer at a time. She offers her readers a full palette of emotions and stories to sift through, never settling, never holding back, and never flinching. Whether she is writing about the loss of innocence through dark revelations, the point to which a human mind can be stretched before succumbing to the magic of faerie, or something as preposterous as cloud-fishing in a world with pink yaks, the stories in Animythical Tales are always told with an eye toward revealing something important about the human condition. If you have ever yearned to fall into fabulous adventures in unforgettable worlds, Animythical Tales is the collection for you."

Sarah Totton's Animythical Tales is a collection of 10 short stories from various speculative fiction magazines and collections. Many of which are award winning stories or at the very least runners-up. Every story in the collection is terrific and nearly every one of them has a twist.

I like the cover to the collection. The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark by Jan Brueghel is not the usual fare and in a strange way seems to work with the stories contained within.

My two favorite short stories in the collection are A Sip From the Cup of Enlightenment and Flatrock Sunners. In A Sip From Cup of Enlightenment, Totton tackles the subject of organised religion and the myth of the Holy Grail. I loved the intrigue and the characters in the book as we are slowly edging towards the truth and the unexpected twist at the end was great.

The story Flatrock Sunners, was just odd and completely different from what I had expected. The background story was interesting and the creatures that are featured in the story where just different from what I had encountered before. The premise of the story was also very enjoyable. Again, the story had a satisfying ending.

While this is not a collection that I would have picked out by myself, I can say that I really enjoyed the short stories contained within Animythical Tales. It is a break way from the norm and I am happy that I decided to read it.

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