Once Upon A Star: 14 SF-Inspired Faerie Tales (Once Upon Anthologies Book 4) – Review

Title: Once Upon A Star: 14 SF-Inspired Faerie Tales

Series: Once Upon Anthologies Book #4

Author(s): Sarra Cannon, Anthea Sharp, Alethea Kontis, Phaedra Weldon, Christine Pope, Nikki Jefford, Kasey MacKenzie, Shawntelle Madison, Alexia Purdy, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Jamie Ferguson, Evelyn Snow, Julia Crane and Kay McSpadden

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This book was given to me by Sarra Cannon, one of its featured authors (and one you will see pop up on my site quite a lot), in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Science Fiction stories are fairly new to me. I’m a gamer at heart and a reader by life so if the science fiction story has a game twist to it, I’m all in (Ready Player One I’m looking at you). I have been known to like other science fiction stories (Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is a good example to use here) but the majority of them just do not appeal to me.

I’m going to talk about the stories I really loved in this collection. This does not mean that the other stories were bad, just that the subject/topic/theme did not appeal to me. Each of the stories also appear to be based on a fairy tale, some blatantly obvious and others a little lesser known.

Let’s start with the one I was provided the book in return for the review:

Loxley by Sarra Cannon
I grew up in the UK. I have relatives in Nottingham and spent many a trip out to visit “The Home of Robin Hood”. I have recently also fallen in love with a certain super popular science fiction book where people live within a virtual realm (I’m pretty sure I don’t need to name drop). Gone are my days of teenage romance between vampires, give me the gaming heroes and heroines. I spend (way too much) time inside a wonderful gaming world you all might know as Minecraft and while not a fully immersive realm, it’s still pretty enchanting. Those are the reasons I went straight for Sarra’s story first. (I’m sure the others are fantastic too and I’ll review them over the next week).
Robin of Loxley does what Robin Hood was once rumoured to have done (recently news articles have been appearing saying that Robin Hood was stuff of legend – I’m not buying that). In a world so full of climate and political issues, it’s nice to read about someone doing what we all want to do – make a difference.
Sarra, please finish the rest of this story, I need more Ghost in my life.

The Cyrano Solution: A Gaian Consortium Story by Christine Pope
On a far away planet, the daughter of a wealthy business magnate always knew this day would come. The day when she was to marry.
I liked the way this story was written. I felt like I wanted to know more about the main character from the minute I started reading. I was incredibly intrigued to see what she thought of her husband. The suspense was killing me.
This story is a re-imagining of The Princess and The Frog.

Deadly Dance by Kasey Mackenzie
Miriana refused to marry an evil prince who took great delight in killing her each time she refused. Down to the final battle between good and evil, with eleven undead sisters and a forbidden lover, will Miriana win in the end?
So, here we have the Twelve Dancing Sisters and undead sisters. How much better can a futuristic story get? Honestly, I didn’t even think someone will be able to top this in short story form for me.
Love the undead? Check
Love princesses? Check
Love a good old good vs evil battle? Check
Then this is the story for you.

Candy House by Kay McSpadden
Hans and Greta have been surviving by living off the grid following the rise of the AI. That is until they read a very pleasant and friendly house.
If the names haven’t already given it away, this story is a re-imagining of Hansel & Gretel. I’m sure, secretly, almost all of us would love the idea of a candy house. One that could actually be eaten. In this story, Kay takes the idea one step further to fit in with the theme of the Rise of the AI (dun dun dun) and creates a house and candy that you wouldn’t want to leave.

5 stars

The Fifth Doll Review – Charlie N. Holmberg

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Please excuse me while I gush for a while. I have not read a book that I was super impressed with straight away for quite a while.

I need to start by saying, this is the FOURTH book that I have read by Charlie N. Holmberg since the beginning of this year. I have my old favourites (Stephen King) and some newer favourites (Sarra Cannon, Karen Rose etc) but it seems that Holmberg is slowly working her way into my ranks.

I started off with the massively popular and well known, The Paper Magician series. Then, partly due to a 3 month cheap subscription to Kindle Unlimited, I read Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet – a stand alone story. The Fifth Doll is my latest Holmberg read (I really wish it was my fifth Holmberg book because that would have been apt but such is life).

Matrona lives in an isolated village, where her life is centred on pleasing her parents. She’s diligent in her chores and has agreed to marry a man of their choosing. But a visit to Slava, the local tradesman, threatens to upend her entire life.

Entering his empty house, Matrona discovers a strange collection of painted nesting dolls—one for every villager. Fascinated, she can’t resist the urge to open the doll with her father’s face. But when her father begins acting strangely, she realises Slava’s dolls are much more than they seem.

When he learns what she’s done, Slava seizes the opportunity to give Matrona stewardship over the dolls—whether she wants it or not. Forced to open one of her own dolls every three days, she falls deeper into the grim power of Slava’s creations. But nothing can prepare her for the profound secret hiding inside the fifth doll. (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Holmberg manages to bring you into the world right from the get go in this story. The characters are both relatable and likeable. The main character, Matrona, is easily believed to be defiant from the beginning of the story and what I thought was going to happen to her definitely did not. When you start reading, you will probably think the same as me but what actually happens is completely off the hook. If I tell you what I thought, it was take so much away from the story but if you are interested feel free to drop me a message on my contact page, facebook or on twitter.

So much of the story is surrounded by mystery that I found myself guessing the various outcomes (It’s a terrible habit but I just can’t help myself. I’m the one that usually figures out the twist in a film before it happens). I am happy to say that I didn’t guess the outcome of this one.

5/5 easily for this book.

5 stars

Joyland Review – Stephen King

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Stephen King wrote Joyland as part of the Hard Case Crime Series. You can check out their books here. The creators of the series ask well-known authors to write a stand alone read for them to release. The reason I chose to read this was because Stephen King is one of my all-time favourite authors and it was one of a few that I hadn’t managed to read yet.

It is a fantastic read, not necessarily what you would’ve expected from King but still a good book. It had an intriguing story, with enough mystery to keep you interested. After checking out the Hard Case Crime website, King is releasing another book into their line-up: The Colorado Kid. I’ve already read this book and loved it. One of my favourite TV shows is based off this book.

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

5/5

5 stars

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire Review – J K Rowling

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Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is the 4th book in the series. Released in the UK in the year 2000 by Bloomsbury publishers. This is the last paperback book that I bought from the Harry Potter series, I was behind with reading them however, I managed to catch up before book five (my absolute favourite) was released. All future books from this series were pre-ordered from Waterstones in Hard Back and also with the adult cover versions.

Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts for another year of mischief and mayhem. All fans of the Harry Potter series know that no school year ever goes smoothly for the trio of best friends so I doubt this year would be any different.

Re-reading Harry Potter as a 30 something year old definitely gives an interesting perspective on the stories. When I first read them, I was a fresh-faced youngster in my late teens, now I’m a mother of two. I find myself sympathising with the grown-ups in the story so much more than I used to. Before it was all about the excitement and the trouble that the kids were getting themselves into and now I’m reading them and wondering how the adults are going to deal with what happens next.

Having read them before, reading them again also makes me feel so much more comfortable. I already know the world that’s been created, I am extremely familiar with the characters and although it’s still good to read – I already know what happens next. It will never be the same as a first time read, even reading them with my children, but I can spend time now looking further into the writing. Approaching a very familiar story from a completely different viewpoint. Those are the main reasons these stories will ALWAYS be important to me.

As always, a 5 book rating from me for Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

5 stars

The Paper Magician Series Review – Charlie N Holmberg

The Master Magician (The Paper Magician #3)

The Plastic Magician (The Paper Magician #4)

The Paper Magician Series by Charlie N Holmberg

Book 1 – Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.
Book 2 – Three months after returning Magician Emery Thane’s heart to his body, Ceony Twill is well on her way to becoming a Folder. Unfortunately, not all of Ceony’s thoughts have been focused on paper magic. Though she was promised romance by a fortuity box, Ceony still hasn’t broken the teacher-student barrier with Emery, despite their growing closeness.
Book 3 – Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she’s kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She’s discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own—an ability long thought impossible.
Book 4 – Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking—the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery.

Taken from Amazon.co.uk

The above descriptions are only the beginning of what these books hold within but I felt that the descriptions on Amazon gave away far too much detail.
For the purposes of this review, I have decided to review THE PLASTIC MAGICIAN individually, I will explain why when I get to it.

Books 1, 2 and 3 – The Paper, Glass and Master Magician

We meet Ceony, a young and recently graduated magician’s apprentice for the first time in The Paper Magician and follow her adventures to the end of The Master Magician.
Set approximately between the Victorian era and the 1920’s a lot of the surroundings mentioned, although familiar place names (due to it being set in England), are definitely not what I am used to. You can tell from the level of detail put into the writing that Charlie N Holmberg had definitely researched the era she wished to write about. Reading these stories made me feel like I was actually there living in that era.
The characters are fantastic. As with the era/backdrop, the amount of detail put into the characters was amazing. I could visualise Ceony and the adorable Magician Thane (Yes, I have a new crush). I couldn’t wait to dive back in and find out what was going to happen next with the lovely young apprentice.
Each book seemed to pick up effortlessly from the one before and the way they were written meant that there didn’t feel like there had been any passing of time (as a reader, I love it when someone manages to sew their series together without need for explanation).

I’ve given all three of these books 5/5 on the rating scale.

5 stars

Book 4 – The Plastic Magician

Onto book four in the series now – the reason for the separate review is that this book does not contain the same main characters as the initial three books.

In book four we meet Alvie. Much like Ceony, her journey starts just as she’s assigned to her elective Magic material and tutor. She’s to become a polymaker (plastic magician) and for that, she has to travel all the way from America to England.

I really enjoyed this book, almost as much as I loved the first three but before starting I really was hopeful that it was still about Ceony. Granted if I’d have read the blurb before hand I would’ve probably known, but I loved the first three so didn’t think about it.
I liked finding out more about some characters that were only touched upon in the initial trilogy and I did like the new main character.

I have given this book a 4/5 on the rating scale.