In The Palace Of Repose

by Holly Phillips

“The essential Holly Phillips story begins like this: In a world that felt too little, there lived a girl who saw too much.”—Sean Stewart

In the Palace of Repose is a collection of nine such stories, ranging from the delightfully fantastic "In the Palace of Repose," to the delicately horrific "One of the Hungry Ones," to the hauntingly literary "The Other Grace." Here indeed are young women, and young men, who have seen too much, and who have been abandoned to wrestle alone with the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying. Some triumph, some tragically fail. Most struggle on beyond the boundaries of their stories, carrying their wonders and horrors into their lives, into their worlds-worlds, and lives, startlingly like our own.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Magical Realism, Horror, Collections

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Denny]

Could not read it.

[Juushika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nine stories of the magic that hovers at the edges of the known word, In the Palace of Repose ranges from a girl found in a fairy's palace to a homeless woman invited to magical masked balls, united by quiet storytelling and unique magic. Many of the stories are unremarkable, but the best—"One of the Hungry Ones" was my favorite—are beautiful, striking a balance between magic and meaning and redeeming the collection. Moderately recommended.

I fell in love with Phillips's The Burning Girl, and came to In the Palace of Repose in search of more of her work. What I found did not quite live up to my expectations, but nonetheless offers some beautiful moments. The stories are united by their quiet, concise narrative voice which creates slow, reflective pacing in some stories and distances the reader from the characters in others. It takes a a bit to adjust to this style, so it's just as well the first few stories have attention-grabbing premises but are largely unremarkable: they're enough to make the reader stick around, but not so nuanced that he'll miss anything while he adjusts.

The reader slows and the story quality improves, and the second half of the collection (with a turning point midway through "Pen & Ink") is much better. Detailed descriptions and dreamlike sequences augment the slow pacing, and the magical aspects are subtle and haunting. Some of the stories still falter under the weight of foreshortened plots, but there are moments in the second half which are simply beautiful: unexpected hauntings, fetês like fairy-rounds, unusual magic and realistic emotions all come together to create stories which balance magic against meaning and wrap both in subtle, quiet storytelling. The slow start and a few duds in the lineup make this collection a bit of a disappointment, but the few good stories redeem it—though none of them are must-reads. In the Palace of Repose is good on the whole, but deserves only a mild recommendation: pick it up if you're curious, but don't go out of your way to read it.

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of beautifully written, oblique yet highly readable stories that skirt the uncertain boundaries of fantasy. Some fall clearly within the bounds of the genre; others do only if you squint at them in a certain light. Each has a little thread of mystery to pull the reader along, as you piece things together, and then stops at just the right time to pull off understated wonder, unraveling the mystery enough to satisfy but not quite all the way. I think my favorite story is "A Woman's Bones," but I liked them all, particularly the way that she talks about art in "Summer Ice" and "Pen & Ink." Magic in these stories is not so much an intrusion into the real as a further aspect of it: much like art.

[Klay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised this book isn't more highly reviewed, though at the same time these were difficult stories and I can see how they could be too oblique or frustrating for some.

I was surprised to find I didn't feel that way myself, despite the confusion and lack of resolved elements...I've grown to like short stories and the lack of embellishment inherent in the form. Leaving doors open allows my mind to roam free, guided by the writer to a place that is more connected or shared in its creation than most novels can create.

I loved the strangeness, the unique feeling of the writing. Her words made me drift off into the story, a level of engagement I rarely achieve. It took me quite a long time to read, relative to most books, because I found it challenging and it took quite a lot of contemplation when each story ended. I also found I wasn't rushing and had to slow down to give each part it's due level of attention.

If you like feeling unsettled and disturbed in a good way, this collection of stories is for you ~

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[Dara Potvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories. I liked some but others I couldn’t get into. Nice writer though, good imagination but probably not something I would read again.

[Kira Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved! Took a sec to get into and understand her writing style, but it was a scintillating read with lots of beautiful, stylistic imagery.

[Sara]

A gd collection with smart writer.but i like a womans bones.when thee deg to find the briz holly bones.its past who thee dep to win its more than story to tell.there more to learn here.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

A subtle twisting of reality is the background of the stories in this book. I liked how Phillips emphasized the human and physical aspects (i.e. how things look, sound and feel) of a slightly different world than ours while not falling for the cliches that haunt fantasy fiction. I.e. The epigraph of this collection should be "Here Be No Dragons"

Another quality I liked in the writing was that scenes/times changed from paragraph to paragraph without warning but I was never confused. This takes some skill in a writer. The benefit is that it compresses the story and keeps the momentum going.

The other unifying "theme" of these stories is that there is usually a young female protagonist. Again, this is done skillfully and I wasn't feeling like I was reading a book from the "Teen Paranormal Vampire, Dystopias And Other Suchlike Shenanigans That End Up As Romance Novels" shelves at Barnes and Noble.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly Phillips is a brilliant prose stylist, and it shows in her first collection of short stories, In the Palace of Repose. These stories, all but two of them original to this volume, range from the joyful to the mysterious to the ominous. They are uniformly excellent. Phillips uses words the way a musician uses notes, playing a resonant, fey tune. It is easy to journey with her into the foreign and fantastic worlds she builds, just as one might follow a gentler Pied Piper.

My favorite story involves just such a journey. In “Variations on a Theme,” Berenice is an English woman who plays the piano with great virtuosity. World War I gives her a chance to study in earnest: the men are off fighting, and the music academy must admit women in order to stay open. But Berenice’s professor refuses to believe in her talent, and forbids her to play ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars. It's hard to judge short stories, because most of them only last for a moment and need to convey worlds in so few words. And in some cases in this collection, they work and in others they end too abruptly to actually feel like fully contained stories.

The writing is very beautiful and lyrical in most of the stories but I feel like only about 3 of them ended at just the right point to be both eerie or fantastical or depressing. Others, however, needed perhaps a bit more to feel like they had reached their end (this is especially true of "A Woman's Bones", which was one of my favorites up until the abrupt finish; I didn't feel like an ending was earned yet and wanted to have had more development on it.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best fantasy short story collection I read in a long time! The themes range from faerie changeling tale to a girl who has amnesia and I enjoyed reading them a lot and still remember some of them, which is a sure sign that they're remarkable (at least in my eyes). I surely would recommend this book to everybody who likes strange fantasy stories that don't follow the classical fantasy stereotypes.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good, not great, but solidly written short stories in this collection. No real complaints, but Phillips' writing didn't wow me enough to make me seek out more of her work. The eponymous and first story was the most interesting and the best, in my opinion. So a slight downward trend within the book may influence my rating. I'd certainly read more of her stuff if it happened to cross my path. My husband enjoyed the stories significantly more than I did.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was recommended to me a couple of years ago, and I can't help but wonder if Me From a Couple of Years Ago would have liked it more. There were some stories I liked a lot, and some that didn't hold my interest at all. All very well written, with beautiful language, but left me a little blah anyway.

The title story was really good, though.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good collection of stories. I had never read or heard of this author and picked up this book at a library booksale. It was one of my better choices.

The stories are diverse and interesting. Some I wish continued on as they seemed to be cut off for inefficient drama.

The writing is very good and it was nice to read sentences created with some thought.

[tish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim while visiting Dreamhaven, and I am so happy about the find! The stories in this collection hover at the edge of the fantastical, invoking myths as often as they relate the struggle of the day to day. This debut collection has me really excited to read more.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful stories, set in the Real World with just a little bit of magic thrown in. Sometimes it's sort of uncomfortable. I mean, wouldn't it make you uncomfortable if suddenly magic existed in unexpected ways? Yes it would.

A Woman's Bones is my favourite story. What's yours?

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked all these stories, but especially the first story from which the book got its title. The second story's ending confused me a bit.

[Kevin Gallan]

13/222

[Marion Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting stories.

[E.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsettling stories, beautiful prose. Holly Phillips just moved into my top ten list.