Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories
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Lilibet Bombshell's review
bookshelves: 2024-ng-arcs, 5-star-reviews, advanced-reader-copies, anthologies-and-collections, dark-fantasy, fairy-tale-and-folklore-novels, fantasy, ghost-story, horror, lgbtqia-friendly-reads, mythological-fiction, paranormal-fiction, speculative-fiction-novels, supernatural-fiction
Jan 29, 2024
bookshelves: 2024-ng-arcs, 5-star-reviews, advanced-reader-copies, anthologies-and-collections, dark-fantasy, fairy-tale-and-folklore-novels, fantasy, ghost-story, horror, lgbtqia-friendly-reads, mythological-fiction, paranormal-fiction, speculative-fiction-novels, supernatural-fiction
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart is a stellar collection of 13 stories (and one incredible bestiary–more on that later) from the spectacularly creative and brilliant mind of GennaRose Nethercott, who wrote the equally spectacular novel Thistlefoot.
I don’t think I’ve read a collection by a single author where I loved so many stories to the extent I loved the stories in this one. With one exception (Fox Jaw), I ate every story in this book up with a really sharp grapefruit spoon and then licked the bowl clean.
A quick summary of my thoughts on the remaining stories:
Sundown at the Eternal Staircase - Spectacularly eerie, fascinating, and great symbolism on how some people are just heading in different directions in life.
A Diviner’s Abecedarian - Tween girls can be mean as hell when not in possession of the sight. Give them the sight and that’s just horrifying.
The Thread Boy - Poignant, emotional, and magical story about a life well-lived even though there was pain.
The War of Fog - I read in a book coming out soon that war is a place, not a time. This story reminds me of that. War is endless and eternal and you’re stuck there.
Drowning Lessons - Cynical, sad, but neat story about what it’s like to be responsible for a sibling’s well-being.
The Autumn Kill - This one is angry, visceral, and vengeful. I loved the ending.
A Lily is a Lily - This one is hard to sum up in little words. Let’s just say it’s a haunting story about what can happen when we build people up in our minds so much they take up our entire existence.
Dear Henrietta - Provocative, creepy, and downright wicked. Dude, this one is good.
Possessions - Don’t mess around with sketchy witchcraft books you find at thrift stores. This one is hard to describe but it’s beautifully written.
Homebody - Awful to read, awful to describe, awful to think about. It’s sad and tense and made me want to punch something.
A Haunted Calendar - Funny, horrific, and imaginative.
The Plums at the End of the World - This was incredible. It’s heartbreaking, evocative, and all about how people fear anything different.
My last note is on the titular “story”, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart. It isn’t a story so much as a bestiary and it’s the crown jewel of this collection. Complete with eerie, creep-tastic sketches, each beast is named and described with short, incredible paragraphs. They’re utterly fantastic in every way. I couldn’t get enough of them. The bestiary is practically worth the price of admission.
This collection isn’t to be missed.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Anthology/Dark Fantasy/Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Ghost Fiction/Horror/LGBTQ Friendly/Mythology/Paranormal Fiction/Supernatural Fiction
I don’t think I’ve read a collection by a single author where I loved so many stories to the extent I loved the stories in this one. With one exception (Fox Jaw), I ate every story in this book up with a really sharp grapefruit spoon and then licked the bowl clean.
A quick summary of my thoughts on the remaining stories:
Sundown at the Eternal Staircase - Spectacularly eerie, fascinating, and great symbolism on how some people are just heading in different directions in life.
A Diviner’s Abecedarian - Tween girls can be mean as hell when not in possession of the sight. Give them the sight and that’s just horrifying.
The Thread Boy - Poignant, emotional, and magical story about a life well-lived even though there was pain.
The War of Fog - I read in a book coming out soon that war is a place, not a time. This story reminds me of that. War is endless and eternal and you’re stuck there.
Drowning Lessons - Cynical, sad, but neat story about what it’s like to be responsible for a sibling’s well-being.
The Autumn Kill - This one is angry, visceral, and vengeful. I loved the ending.
A Lily is a Lily - This one is hard to sum up in little words. Let’s just say it’s a haunting story about what can happen when we build people up in our minds so much they take up our entire existence.
Dear Henrietta - Provocative, creepy, and downright wicked. Dude, this one is good.
Possessions - Don’t mess around with sketchy witchcraft books you find at thrift stores. This one is hard to describe but it’s beautifully written.
Homebody - Awful to read, awful to describe, awful to think about. It’s sad and tense and made me want to punch something.
A Haunted Calendar - Funny, horrific, and imaginative.
The Plums at the End of the World - This was incredible. It’s heartbreaking, evocative, and all about how people fear anything different.
My last note is on the titular “story”, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart. It isn’t a story so much as a bestiary and it’s the crown jewel of this collection. Complete with eerie, creep-tastic sketches, each beast is named and described with short, incredible paragraphs. They’re utterly fantastic in every way. I couldn’t get enough of them. The bestiary is practically worth the price of admission.
This collection isn’t to be missed.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Anthology/Dark Fantasy/Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Ghost Fiction/Horror/LGBTQ Friendly/Mythology/Paranormal Fiction/Supernatural Fiction
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Reading Progress
September 6, 2023
– Shelved
September 6, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 29, 2024
–
Started Reading
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
5-star-reviews
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
2024-ng-arcs
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
advanced-reader-copies
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
anthologies-and-collections
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
dark-fantasy
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
fairy-tale-and-folklore-novels
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
fantasy
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
ghost-story
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
horror
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
lgbtqia-friendly-reads
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
mythological-fiction
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
paranormal-fiction
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
speculative-fiction-novels
January 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
supernatural-fiction
January 29, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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rated it 3 stars
Jun 29, 2024 08:56AM
So glad to see that you loved this one, Lilibet! I agree, it was super creative, and I loved how much it changed from story to story. Wonderful review!
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