Jewel Box

by E. Lily Yu

A luminous collection of short fiction by award-winning writer E. Lily Yu, Jewel Box showcases incandescent stories from a master of language that reflect and refract the sharp intimacies of our world, burning brilliant against the dark.

Angels, monsters, and bees. Birdwatchers, emperors, and prison wardens. These and more populate the twenty-two new and old stories from award-winning author E. Lily Yu, collected for the first time here in her debut short story collection. From her early innovative work that won her the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, such as “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees,” to recent short fiction such as “Small Monsters,” E. Lily Yu’s writing has continued to garner award nominations and recognition from the literary community for its faceted beauty, cutting edge, and uplifting heart.

Collecting award-winning stories from across her career alongside brand-new pieces, Jewel Box rings with stories of delight and tales of tremendous weight. At turns bittersweet and boundary-breaking, poignant and profound, this collection of stories sing, as the oldest stories do, of what it means to be alive in this strange, terrible, beautiful world.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Magical Realism, Anthologies, Speculative Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2023

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An imaginative and well written collection of short stories. The style varies from offbeat fairytales or myths, to more fantasy type stories while others are science fiction, some post apocalypse/natural disaster types or dystopias. The quality is mostly high, though for me the best stories were in the first half of the book. My favourites were: ‘Music for the Underworld’; ‘Green Glass : A Love Story’; ‘The Urashima Effect’; ‘Local Stop on the Floating Train’ (these four are all sci-fi) and ‘Ilse, who saw Clearly’ (fairytale/fable). This is a really enjoyable read.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this. I also suspect that this is a story collection that will divide readers. It's titled Jewel Box, which is lovely and fitting, but I kept thinking as I worked my way through, sampling and savoring stories, of a box of chocolates. Of the 22 stories collected here, I had only previously read one (and it's one that I believe readers of SFF are most likely to be familiar with, having been a nominee or finalist for a whole passel of awards that year), The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees. Reactions to that story--because it contains metaphor but isn't just metaphor, because it has the feel of a fable or fairy tale but doesn't hew closely to the rules of either, because there's a *lot* going on in it (colonialism, human impacts on the environment, tyranny, doomed political movements that nonetheless leave reason to hope), because the seeds of the story came from actual entomological observations about anarchism in bees(!! how neat)--were all over the (ahem) map, ranging from awe to frustration. I'll go through the stories in Jewel Box and make a note or two about each, but of the collection as a whole, I'll say that if you found that story too obtuse or obscure in its aims, you might not love this book as much as I did. There is metaphor, allegory fairly abounds, and there are folk- and fairy tales that are not just saying one thing; there are openly political stories and bits of satire with sharp teeth, and the majority of it could probably be described as some degree of esoteric. The stories aren't pretentious, but they are most of them evocative and complex. The bunch taken as a whole feel more like a collection of fairy tales than anything else, but that isn't *quite* right... but I think it's true enough to say that the events in these stories, even when they do not occur within fairy tales themselves, still occur with an awareness of the forms and rules of fairy tales.

The Pilgrim and the Angel - the first two pieces in this collection struck me as appetizers; they whetted the appetite but didn't satisfy, and both this and the next story felt like *lovely* morsels of ideas but felt unfinished.
The Lamp at the Turning - a street lamp in love with a man; see above
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees
The Lion God and the Two Gates - this is a twist on a "Judgment of Solomon"/wise judge type folktale
Music for the Underworld - Really, really neat Orpheus retelling.
Green Glass: A Love Story - Strange and unsettling (effectively so!), but heavy-handed. "Let them eat cake" but with lunar dust and ice cream. This was, for me, the weakest story in the bunch.
Ilse, Who Saw Clearly - I *loved* this one and remembered the details even after a month-long hiatus from reading. This is the most straightforwardly fairy tale-ish one of the bunch: story of a traveling peddler visiting a village whose wares are not exactly as advertised and the girl who sets out to find the peddler and finds herself in the process.
The Doing and Undoing of Jacob E. Mwangi - Near-future story of video games and Doers and Don'ts
The Wretched and the Beautiful - Chilling and excellent story of first contact
The Urashima Effect - Partners separated by space and relativistic effects who've made recordings to keep each other company in the deep dark. This one got me solidly in the feels.
Braid of Days and Wake of Nights - Wrecked me. Best unicorn story I've read since Peter S. Beagle's. Loved this so much; gorgeous, powerful use of language and heartrending.
Local Stop on the Floating Train - Dark. Very good. Difficult to read, as intended.
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight - fairy tale, of sorts. Excellent.
The Eve of the Planet Ys - Apocalyptic. I love this story.
Courtship Displays of the American Birder - Clean, crisp birder love story; big detour in tone! I liked it very much.
The No-One Girl and the Flower of the Farther Shore - This was a sneaky one. I very much enjoyed it but I could not confidently say what sort of a thing it is.
The Time Invariance of Snow - There was a lot in this collection that put me in mind of Cat Valente, but this one takes the cake on that front. Gender and self-worth and fairy tales and physics and sort-of theology... this definitely went over my head and I loved it.
Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire - The Emperor's New Clothes turned upside-down and toothy. Loved it and it made me laugh out loud.
The Cat's Tale - a take on the White Cat that I really liked
The Valley of Wounded Deer - Love this! Solid 4.5/5, easy
The View from the Top of the Stair - Beautiful and STRANGE and a little melancholy. Wonderfully evocative.
Small Monsters - A story of nature, red in tooth and claw, but also cycles of abuse and art criticism. Naturally.

"The world is stranger than I thought. It always is."

[Nicolai Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this collection of short stories for Christmas, but I didn’t tell anyone that I wanted this one specifically. What I do is that I tell my friends and family to take a look at my “to-read”-list at Goodreads and choose, randomly or by choice, any book on the list. So I’m always very excited when I receive a new book either for Christmas or my birthday, because I have no idea which book they’ll choose! The randomness of it all is so thrilling!

I also have a personal policy to have a maximum of 500 books on that list. This means that if I want to add a new one, I also need to remove one. This has helped me to be more discernible with my choices. Sometimes I remove books I added in “the heat of the moment” and books that, after reading reviews more carefully, I probably wouldn’t like anyway.

Unfortunately, the collection “Jewel Box” is too random for its own good, and one I probably would have removed if I needed to go through my list again. I’ve come to realize that I want to read collections with a specific kind of theme, style or genre, and this one contains too many differently styled stories ranging in genre from magical realism to fantasy, romance, fables and fairy tales and science fiction. The variety didn’t make for a very satisfying read because I got so disappointed when I read something that’s really not for me. On the plus side, the good stories I liked were really good, but the ones I didn’t like were really bad. Like DNF kind of bad.

E. Lily Yu excels, in my opinion, with dystopian science fiction. Her world-building is incredibly creative and compelling, and the stories themselves were often bold, bleak, beautiful and memorable. The fables and fairy tales often had unusual protagonists, which I liked, but fables and fairy tales often explore simple ideas and superficial moral dilemmas with archetypal characters. It’s just too black and white and general for me. To my surprise, though, the author somehow managed to make them overly intricate and metaphorical as well, which is quite a feat.

In any case, if you like the aforementioned genres, I think you can do worse, and you’ll probably enjoy it! I wholeheartedly agree with this part of the blurb:

“At turns bittersweet and boundary-breaking, poignant and profound, this collection of stories sing, as the oldest stories do, of what it means to be alive in this strange, terrible, beautiful world.”

Here’s a list of my final ratings for each story with a short comment or a noteworthy sample quote if I found one.


The Pilgrim and the Angel - ★★

The Lamp at the Turning - ★★★★★

Opening line:

“For ten years the streetlamp on the corner of Cooyong and Boolee kept vigil with other lamps along the road.” (15)

Beautiful and sad!

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees - ★★★★

An ambassador from the beehive arrived with an ultimatum and was promptly executed; her wings were made into stained-glass windows for the council chamber, and her stinger was returned to the hive in a paper envelope.” (22)

The Lion God and the Two Gates - ★★

Music for the Underworld - ★★★★

Green Glass: A Love Story - ★★★★★

Dystopian. Fantastic world-building.

“Then she saw him, truly saw him, and the art lost its allure.” (61)

Ilse, Who Saw Clearly - ★★★

“Ice for sale, eyes for sale,
If your complexion be dark or pale
If your old eyes be sharp or frail,
Come buy, come buy, bright ice for sale!”

The Doing and Undoing of Jacob E. Mwangi - ★★

The Wretched and the Beautiful - ★★★★

“Within half an hour, they resembled us perfectly. Or rather, they resembled what we dreamed of being, the better versions of ourselves who turned heads, drove fast cars, and recognized the six most expensive whiskies by smell alone; whose names topped the donor rolls of operas, orchestras, and houses of worship; who were admired, respected, adored.” (111)

The Urashima Effect - ★★★★★

A heartbreaking story about a man all alone in space travelling to a new planet to do research and make preparations for later arrivals.

The Braid of Days and Wake of Nights - ★★★

Local Stop on the Floating Train - ★★

The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight - ★★★

The Eyes of the Planet of Ys - ★★★★★

Dying earth setting. Simply wonderful.

Courtship Displays of the American Birder - ★★★

The No-One Girl and the Flower of the Farther Shore - ★★

The Time Invariance of Snow - ★★

Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire - ★★

The Cat’s Tale - ★★

The Valley of Wounded Deer - ★★★

The View from the Top of the Stair - ★★★★

“The reader of fairy tales will understand when I say that I did not hesitate or question the strange requirement, as one would ordinarily do, for at times there is a certain silver inevitability about our choices that no amount of reasoning can explain. It is an impulse to truth or rightness, felt in the marrow: feed the animals before eating, offer water to the crone.” (288)

Small Monsters - ★★


New words:

The Fermi paradox = the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence

Plebeian = belong or pertaining to the common people

Etude = a musical composition, usually instrumental, intended mainly for the practice of some point of technique.

Peripatetic = walking or traveling about

[Lata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first became aware of the amazing writing of author E. Lily Yu when I read “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” in an anthology years ago. I resolved to read more by this author, and this exquisite collection is a perfect, beautiful encapsulation of this writer's prodigious talent at conjuring credible worlds and deep emotions in a short tale.

These stories range from adventure, to romance, to dissections of folk and fairy tales, to horror; all the stories contained here are good, but these were my favourites:

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees: Imperialism and erosion of culture, in the form of a conflict between conquering wasps and bees.

Ilse, Who Saw Clearly: A man comes to town, promising great things, but leaves the town blind, except for Ilse, who heads out to find a way to return what her village lost. It's a quest, but also a widening of Ilse's understanding of the world.

The Urashima Effect: Racism, space exploration, loneliness and folklore all come together in a story about a solitary astronaut heading to a planet to set up a mission in advance of the next group’s arrival (including his wife). The author weaves a folktale in to parallel, to good effect, the sad fates of the married pair.

The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight: A tale of adventure, sexism, power, and dragons. I loved the way the young woman became a witch, then how her growing power affected others.

Courtship Displays of the American Birder: An amusing little romance between two people who love birdwatching.

The Cat’s Tale: This felt like it was inspired by “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “The Pied Piper” with the narrator helping to right a wrong, and find her fortune.

The Valley of Wounded Deer: Power, inheritance and murder figure in the life of a prince whose stepmother would rather the prince not be crowned. The prince’s respect for others proves to be what saves her.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Kensington Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read halfway through this and decided I was not really enjoying myself, so I didn't want to read the rest. The stories were not really bad, but I felt sort of disappointed after finishing them. The one that left the biggest impact was the one with the lamppost. I think the writing style might not be for me just in general, as I had a hard time staying focused while reading. There were lots of interesting ideas here, but the execution didn't really work for me

[Kristin Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

JEWEL BOX by E. Lily Yu is a fantastic short story collection that has both the whimsical, age-old quality of the fabular and the trenchant perceptiveness of a book very much written for our times. In these twenty-two stories, Yu uses allegory and folk tale to reveal aspects of our own society that we’ve been habituated to accept, but which, when presented with Yu’s imagination, jolt us awake with new recognition and empathy.

Reminiscent of the wonderment that Ted Chiang creates in his stories, each of the narratives in JEWEL BOX unfolds an origami orb of a creative world that both delights and convicts its readers. There’s a profound morality to these tales, the kind that compels us to consider our responsibility towards our fellow humans. Yu’s prose is sparkling and nimble, as comfortable inhabiting Cairo, Nairobi, and NYC as it is exploring fairy-tale Germany, outer space, or the birding fields of Louisiana.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the stories, but loved these with all my heart:

⋆ “The Lion God and the Two Gates,” in which a judge who prides himself on his supposed neutrality is confronted by a difficult choice in the afterlife

⋆ “Music for the Underworld,” a dystopian look into an authoritarian state, the prison-industrial complex, and artificial intelligence

⋆ “The Wretched and the Beautiful,” which imagines how the world would handle alien refugees from outer space

⋆ “The Time Invariance of Snow,” which plays with fairy tale tropes and physics to explore good and evil

⋆ “Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire,” a retelling of The Emperor’s New Clothes with a fantastic ending

⋆ “Small Monsters,” a moving tale of old wounds, friendship, and the creative impulse

JEWEL BOX speaks to both the head and the heart with the vividness that short stories need to make a lasting impact, and it’s in the running for my favorite collection of the year. This is also a plug for Yu’s ON FRAGILE WAVES, a top 10 read of 2022 for me. Thank you Erewhon Books for the gifted copy and to NetGalley for the e-book.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started the audiobook a while ago but for whatever reason I didn't like it and dnf'd it, I decided to pick it up again and I really enjoyed this time. My favorite story in the collection is the one with the lamp outside, I don't remember what those are called. those lamps on a huge pole. Anyway I really liked the last one as well. Both broke my heart a bit and haunts me after I finished the collection.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If E. Lily Yu wrote with a quill, it wouldn't be some fluffy white feather like an ostrich, or a gaudy showy one like a peacock. No, it would be something darker, like a raven's feather. Sleek, glossy, black but iridescent when turned so that it flashes different colors: azure, carnelian, gold.

And she would sharpen the quill to a fine point, so that when she puts it to paper it punctures your privilege, your complacency.

And your heart.

Yu has different types of stories in this collection. Some are variants of fairy tales like the Emperor's New Clothes, or Puss'n'Boots, but with a post-modern and metafictional twist. Or they are stories that are original but read like fairy tales, telling tales of sorrow, loss, injustice and redemption. These are old forms for new times.

Then there are others, straightforwardly told but unflinching in its look at racial privilege and injustice, like “Local Stop on the Floating Train”. Some stories like this have a point that's quite clear. Others have multiple possible points, like a multi-barbed fish hook. Some, you have to decide for yourself if there's a point, or whether it's meant just to make you think differently.

She's clever at arranging the order of these stories. She starts with a pleasant and amusing one, in 'The Pilgrim and the Angel', and halfway through she has another, 'Courtship Displays of the American Birder'. These show that she can write a heartwarming and straightforward narrative with the best of them.

But her best stories are more complex and often require some fortitude to read. The last story is 'Small Monsters' and has a fair amount of body horror on its way to what I think is a creation story. The careful reader will observe how the language and form of each story matches the content and purpose.

It's sometimes hard to decide what the stories 'mean'. But it's always good to remember that Lily Yu is wielding that oh-so-sharp quill, digging into the paper, and aiming straight for your heart.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories that captivate you right from the start. Each story in the collection draws you in, and speaks to you as you travel through the different journeys. This book has a way of opening up your world as you enjoy reading about bees, angels and people in different stages of their life. A highly recommended read and worthy of five stars.

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing here is beautiful, but I found the overwhelming cynicism hard to take all in one swallow. Still, there were a few that stood out to me, including "The Pilgrim and the Angel," "The Lamp at the Turning," and "The View from the Top of the Stair."

[Mer Mendoza (Merlyn’s Book Hoard)]

Jewel Box: Stories from Kensington Books

Two years ago I had my heart broken by Yu’s On Fragile Waves. The beautiful prose was a sharp contrast to the tragedy held in its pages, a portrait of our world where refugees might flee war for broken sort of safety

My first experience reading E Lily Yu’s work was actually with the story “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” probably around ten years ago in an anthology edited by Neil Gaiman (Unnatural Creatures). I loved it. Loved it enough to remember fondly a decade later even, which is a great feat for a short story. It’s featured in this collection as well. I was tempted to pick up this collection because of my more recent experience with On Fragile Waves. I hadn’t made the connection yet, that this was the same author who wrote the short story I was so fond of years ago. I was so excited to recognize it when I came across it again here.

[Bryna Adamo · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I read through three of the story and felt no connection as to the direction of the collection. The stories were lifeless and unrelatable which made it difficult to enjoy them.

[Bernadett · Rating 5 out of 5]

ive got a copy from netgalley
Absolutely enchanting writing style and a book that will be treasured by more than one generation to come. This is the sort of collection of short stories that can be a really well placed staple to everyone's library and it will be added to mine as soon as I get a chance to snag a copy for myself. I'm gonna be honest I've only read the first 3 stories but its a 5 star prediction and it is top tier and gives shadow of the wind vibes, for me.

[Simonfletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible, intriguing, wonderful read. The collection is aptly named, and readers are in for a treat. Some stories are fairy tales or fables, some reimaginings of classic settings, some with with unique worlds or twists, some are longer, but most are very short and I finished each story in one sitting. There is darkness and horror here, but mostly sadness, beauty, and fascinating worlds dripping with tears and grief.

It's clear in almost every one of these stories that Yu is interested in the invisible systems that hide behind our lives, our societies. Yet she is not cynical. As well as unveiling devastating truths about the world we live in, Yu also instills hope in (almost) all of these tales. A quote from Yu in Lightspeed magazine, which seems to sum up much of the thematics in her stories in this collection:

"The mesh-like, self-perpetuating networks of power that infiltrate our lives, whether formal or cultural, are both the strongest determinants of our behavior and the most invisible, least understood part of our lives...

The more we can see the strands in these networks, how they interact, and how they influence what we think, do, and say, the more we can think, act, and speak freely and wisely, if we choose. A clear understanding of power not only frees the individual but also protects communities...

If you are unfamiliar with what I’m describing, ask yourself, in a specific situation: to whom do I give the benefit of the doubt? And why? What evidence, particularly patterns of past behavior, supports or does not support that choice?" — Lightspeed magazine


The characters and plots are all just so interesting - a musician who writes his masterpiece to try to save his loved one in a dystopian future, a lamp post in love with a man, a selfrightous judge from Ninevah who meets the Lion God, a ultra-privileged do-gooder in a world destroyed by climate change, a monster trying to survive in a monster-eat-monster world, an exploration of the political systems of bees and wasps, a witch who dicovers the nature of man, a unicorn in Central Park, a cat out for revenge on an evil ogre, and more and more. There is just SO much here. I felt like I was truly picking up a jewel box every time I read a story.

And the prose is rich, beautiful, careful. Some examples that I enjoyed:


“Those who chose evil over good while alive, despite being able to discern between them, find themselves choosing the same in death,” the lion god said.

-

The shattering of the mirror shivered outward through fields of light cones, near and far, until the shattering itself became eternal, immutable fact. The fragments of the mirror drifted down through pasts, presents, and futures, clinging and cutting, like stardust and razors.

-

Old they were, in appearance far older than time: their eyes seams of stars, their fingers the knurls of ancient oaks. They rocked in their maple rocking chairs, knitting blankets with a pattern of silver fish from a silvery wool. The fish gathered in soft clouds around their feet.

-

But neither will I be King.” “And why not?” the cook demanded. “Because you would be a better King than I,” the prince said. “Because I have no heart to rule over anyone, not even a beetle. And because the ways of God are better than the ways of men, better than the ways of wolves or ravens—indeed, they are the best of all.”

-

"The eloquence of bones. We are given, when very young, a very old set of narrative constructions. They’re designed to teach us all sorts of values—what to honor, what to fear, how to treat our elders—and they do so deeply and effectively. Never mind craft or clever literary devices. Fairy tales operate on a values-driven logic, though sometimes those values are situationally necessary rather than true, and in the long run, that logic produces a richer and higher life than the common, self-serving rationalizations of ordinary life. As I see it, that is the basic test of new fairy tales; it is easy to tell when that moral logic is missing or flawed."

-

Lily Yu has created worlds in this collections. If you are a fan of Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, Ken Liu, you will certainly find much to love here, much to twirl within your mind, stories that will bring wonder and shock and beauty and new perspectives. Characters that will stick with you for weeks, months, probably years.

Highly recommended!

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read via NetGalley.

I have a bad habit: I forget the names of short story writers much more easily, and much faster, than I forget the names of novelists. I don't think it's because I value one more than the other, but perhaps reading things in anthologies I pay slightly less attention to the author's name.

Whatever the reason, I always forget that E. Lily Yu is a spectacular author whose work I love very, very much. Fortunately, this collection has reminded me of that fact with all the subtlety of a shovel to the face. Pretty much every story in this collection is wonderful and thought-provoking and I am beyond happy that I got to read it and see all of this wonderful work in one place.

A few highlights:
"The View from the Top of the Stair" - a woman (I think) whose great passion in life is staircases, who gets an inheritance that allows her to indulge her passion, and what life can be like when you get to be at least somewhat fulfilled. The passion is never mocked, it's not a tragic story of 'never what you wish for', and it's also not at all what you expect.
"The Time Invariance of Snow" - one of the stories I remembered that I had already read, as I was reading. A truly remarkable spin on the Snow Queen: it opens with the heading "The Devil and The Physicist", which gives a small indication of how Yu is approaching the ideas.
"Courtship Displays of the American Birder" - heartbreaking and beautiful and lyrical.
"The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight" - witches and knights and dragons, but not at all as you think you know them.
"Braid of Days and Wake of Nights" - after reading this one, I had to go stare at a wall for a while. Friendship and cancer and unicorns, going on when everything is awful and finding magic in the mundane.
"Ilse, who saw clearly" - is not the story I was expecting from the opening; stolen eyes and a girl who doesn't fit in, learning a craft and then still not fitting in... another one that left me unable to just blithely go on to the next story.
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" - almost certainly my introduction to Yu's work. Wasps who are conquerors and map-makers, bees who get conquered and some of them become anarchists... it doesn't tell you everything about Yu's work but I suspect if this one doesn't work for you, then I suspect her work in general won't.

This collection is magnificent.

[Sarah Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a strange world that I didn’t want to leave 🤩
 
The book contains a total of 21 stories, and I thoroughly enjoyed each one of them. It’s incredible how they all appear completely distinct from each other, almost as if they were written by different authors.
 
Typically, I only like 2 to 3 stories in short story books, but with this one, it feels unjust to favor one over the others because they were all so good. However, for the sake of brevity, I’ll narrow it down to the absolute best:

 
🟨 “The Lamp at the turning”:
 
I can’t believe how a story about a streetlamp falling in love with a human, just because he passes by it every day after work got me so sentimental. Such a creative narrative that makes you feel whole.
 
 
🟨 “The Lion God and the two gates”:
 
A seemingly good judge is put through the test to evaluate how just he is and with a pretty surprising ending.  
 

🟨 “The cartographer wasps and the anarchist bees”:
 
A tale of wasps taking over a bee colony and the bees eventually becoming anarchists, so engaging that I forgot it was about bees and not humans.

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

E. Lily Yu presents to us this jewel box: a close-to-perfect collection of twenty-two (such riches!) stories. Yu’s writing is magical, and the execution of all of these wildly varying ideas is perfect. From a flying prayer mat, to the musician who retrieves his beloved from a hellish place (but perhaps hell is everywhere), on the Apocalypse through the lives of the New York rich, a magician and maker of eyes, aliens (the refugee kind), unicorns, a space traveller, a knight and a witch, and so much more, the worlds Yu builds are enchanted and enchanting.

Some among my favourite stories: The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, about conceited, coloniser, and yes, cartographer wasps, vs humble bees. (Did you know that bees dance directions?) The Lion God and the Two Gates, about a judge who maybe isn’t is fair as he likes to think, and the perfect justice he meets. The Wretched and the Beautiful, about those refugee/aliens. The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight, an on-the-nose and feminist fable. The Courtship Displays of the American Birder, which I found delightful as a budding birder myself. The Time Invariance of Snow, for its structure and truth. The Cat’s Tale, because it’s also a feminist fable. The View From the Top of the Stair, which is so melancholy and moving and quirky and sad, and because I know humans who collect things, and this made me think about why. And Small Monsters, a complete triumph, the perfect, perfect story, and the perfect way to end the book.

I cannot recommend this collection enough. E. Lily Yu’s stories are the kind you want to cite and to re-read over and over again. They recapture the magic of fairytales for humans who have theoretically outgrown them. Like the best fables, they capture and teach eternal truths in simple, accessible, and memorable ways. But most of all, these stories are huge fun, and I loved them! I suspect you might, too.

Thank you very much to Erewhon and to NetGalley for access.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories. There's fantasy, fairy tales and different fantastic genre. They're thought provoking and reminded me of the morale fables of the past centuries even if they're quite cinic.
Well done, highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

One would think a title like this for a collection of short stories to be pretty audacious. But one would be wrong-each story is a gem.

[Keeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to an early copy of this book*
Why I Read It: I read a story by E. Lily Yu in another anthology (New Suns, which I highly recommend) and while their story wasn't one I particularly liked, I was at least curious enough to see what more they had to offer. I've also been in the mood for short story collections, maybe it's because they are bite sized narratives and tend to be more thematic in nature (which I generally like).

Overall Thoughts: There is a decent range of genres in this collection but several of the stories share similar aspects such as a fable/ fairytale nature to them accompanied by a darker tone (in fact multiple stories are quite sad). Unfortunately I did not like many of the endings, either they were very abrupt or they did not connect with the rest of the narrative. As such there were only a few standouts, and while there weren't many the ones that did stand out were very good.

Stories: Some have been omitted because I don't have complete enough thoughts to comment on them (Except for the Three Variations on the Theme of Imperial Attire, which I reviewed in another collection).
The Pilgrim and the Angel: A contemporary story about an angel that finally grants a man's wish to see his son. I personally don't like contemporary stories I find that I bit bland and this was no exception. It was a fine story but it felt a little too light.
The Lamp at the Turning: Told from the perspective of a lamp that falls in love with a man who stops by regularly but eventually he stops coming. Strange in a way that is almost reminiscent of a children's story, this has gradually grown on me but I still wouldn't call it a favorite.
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees: Wasps take over a bee colony and eventually bees become anarchist. Its weird in a way that I liked it, at first. How both species operate and the oppression of one and the eventual shift to anarchy was a good metaphor (even if the anarchy was a bit random and didn't go anywhere). Then, the story shifted again and goes back to the original human perspective in the end, which was so jarring and I couldn't deduce what the point of it was. This unfortunately was the start of the trend of bad endings in Yu's stories.
The Lion God and the Two Gates: A government official believes himself to be a just and good man, but the story gradually reveals his impartiality is actually indecisiveness and this may cause injustice. When he dies he is brought before a lion god and must choose between two doors. After reading this I knew it was going to be one of my favorites and it still stands out to me. I loved the fable like quality of the narrative. I loved how the story slowly unravels and brings the readers to a conclusion that worked perfectly for the story. This is what I wanted more of in this collection.
Music for the Underworld: A cyberpunk spin on Orpheus and Eurydice, the protagonist's girlfriend is taken to an underground prison after she accuses an executive of racism and sexual harassment. In order to gain entry and win her freedom he performs a show at the prison, and in the background of all of this he uploads a virtual program that can pretend to be the real girlfriend. These are the kinds of retellings I like; that clearly show homage to the original source but have their own distinct spin on it that doesn't only consist of window dressing. I admit I wasn't super into the music parts, but the overall story, and the relationship between the characters, and the subtle world building that makes it clear this is a dystopia, was done well enough so that I could tolerate the music. This is also another one where the ending, despite being bleak, worked with the narrative.
Ilse, Who Saw Clearly: After the eyes given to a town by magician melt a girl goes on a quest, and her treatment as she is completing her quest and after completing her quest are quite different. Sort of a reverse Snow Queen, I found the before and after narrative to be mildly interesting. While I didn't hate the ending of this one as I do with some of the stories in this collection, it was a bit abrupt and I couldn't tie it in with the rest of the narrative so it left me feeling unfulfilled.
The Wretched and the Beautiful: Refugee aliens arrive on Earth who are clearly not in the best of shape. Humans almost immediately begin vilifying and mistreating them, but when another race of aliens arrive they begin singing a different tune. A powerful but devastating story with a clear metaphor for the refugee crisis and possibly Nazi's. Definitely worth reading but understandably a hard one to get through.
The Urashima Effect: A man on a space mission watches videos his family prerecorded for him and his wife tells the story of Urashima the fisherman. Eventually her videos reveal to him a secret that changes the nature of his mission. Another sad one but good one. I liked how the fairytale stood well enough on its own, but when that narrative and space narrative merge it resulted in something truly sad with the thinnest thread of hope. I would have been okay with an open ended ending, like in The Lion God and the Two Gates, but I am happy with the ending I got because it's clear to me why the protagonist made the choice he did.
Braid of Days and Wake of Night: There are unicorns in Central Park and a friend is dying of cancer. Yeah, I didn't care for this one because it was too contemporary and too much of a focus on ordinary melodrama. I also didn't connect to the characters at all but I will say I did not hate this ending.
Local Stop on the Floating Train: Another clear racism metaphor but it didn't really hit me until the end, when the narrator is harassed and ejected from the titular train. Honestly, I remember only the end of this and I found it to be too abrupt. Pales in comparison to the other racism story in this collection.
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight: A young witch aids a knight in his quest. Sort of a play on witches, knights, and dragons with a lot of symbolism that went over my head. An unsatisfying resolution though it left me wondering if was a Wicked Witch of the West origin story (flying off with her red shoes).
The Eve of the Planet of Ys: On the eve of an apocalypse, while the privileged are prepared most others are left to fend for themselves when a sun goes nova. As their world comes down around them a woman takes a chance and saves two girls. The last of the ones that I liked, probably because its a straight forward story that leans on the more optimistic side, despite its grim setting.
Courtship Displays of the American Birder: It's a very quick story about birding. This was rushed when it shouldn't have been and not sure if this is supposed to be a romance but if it is it doesn't work. Also
The No-One Girl and the Flower Farther Shore. This is about a girl, a flower, and a gravestone. Again very short, barely counts as speculative fiction, and I'm not quite sure what was the point of it because the ending shifted the focus.
The Valley of Wounded Deer: A prince in hiding is guided to the Valley of Wounded Deer and develops a different perspective about ruling. There is a revolution that occurs in the background but its mostly about the princes religious epiphany. Rather chill but didn't leave an impact on me.
Small Monsters: Spending most of its life being devoured by bigger monsters, the small monster encounters a strange crab that might give it a new chance at life. Arguably the most surreal and weird story in this collection, its definitely grisly and a bit hard to swallow (no pun intended). While its weirdness intrigued me and there was a hopeful tone to it, I couldn't fully grasp it and it was quite a harsh narrative which prevented me from really liking this final story.

[Yolanda | yolandaannmarie.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Jewel Box: Stories releases October 24, 2023

This is probably the most unique collection of short stories I’ve read — some featuring body horror, magical elements, or set in a dystopian world.
I found myself in a rare occurrence where I came out enjoying all 22 short stories, which is unheard of for me. I definitely recommend picking this up and experiencing it for yourself!

Some standouts:
the lamp at the turning:
a short story from the perspective of a sentient streetlamp who grew fond of one particular man that regularly passed by.
the cartographer wasps and the anarchist bees:
a mesmerizing world where the inside of wasp nests contain articulate maps of the provinces.
music for the underworld:
holograms, faraday cages, and an unsettling ending.
green glass: a love story:
a woman who so desperately wants vanilla ice cream served at her wedding, but they live in a dystopian world where there’s no longer local access to things like cow milk, eggs, or pure vanilla unless you want to risk radioactive chemicals or cancer.
Ilse, who saw clearly:
by way of alliteration, no one can distinguish whether this travelling man is trying to sell ice or eyes.
the urashima effect:
features time dilation and left me feeling melancholic.
braid of days and wake of nights:
undergoing chemo and finding a unicorn.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average rating: 3.25

I enjoyed most of the stories in the first 2/3 of this, and was having a pretty good time. But then there was a string of 5 stories in a row near the end that I disliked or hated, and I contemplated giving up on the collection. Thankfully the last story was pretty good, so I didn't end the book on a completely sour note. I didn't love any of the stories, but a lot of them were very creative and enjoyable to read. Like most short story collections, a mixed bag.

[Myan]

Favourites:
- The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees
- Music for the Underworld
- Green Glass: A Love Story
- The Wretched and the Beautiful
- Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire
- The Cat’s Tale
- Small Monsters

[Ann Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

From Myths to Fairytales, another book of short stories. This book is so well done that I often wondered if the stories were connected somehow.

The endings, never boring. All had a hint of the surreal
High recommendation!

[Aquila · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange and delightful read! Jewel Box started a little slow for me. I had to get used to the author's writing style, but the stories eventually hit a chord with me more often than they missed, and I really enjoyed the wonderfully absurd worlds she created and shared.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing. Read a library copy, then immediately bought a copy for myself and a few as gifts for family. So creative and unique. Some of the stories will stick with me for a long time.

[Tracey Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend E. Lily Yu’s novel, On Fragile Waves, to everyone. Yu is such an exciting writer, and Jewel Box, her first short story collection, further displays just how versatile she is.

Here are my highlights:

The opening story, The Pilgrim and the Angel, is very sweet. A man is visited by an angel. The angel offers to take him to Mecca, but he would rather go to Florida to visit his son instead.

The Lamp at the Turning is the most devastating story I’ve ever read about a streetlight, who pays very close attention to those who pass by.

Green Glass: A Love Story features wedding planning in a dying world, in which our protagonist expels a ridiculous amount of money and effort for vanilla ice cream.

Ilse, Who Saw Clearly is a very special, magical story. When a man comes to a village selling his wares, the inhabitants are tricked by a rogue homophone, and pay a hefty price.

The Wretched and The Beautiful hits pretty hard. Aliens come to earth, but are quickly shunned, as refugees and asylum seekers often are. Similarly with Local Stop on the Floating Train, where a young woman experiences a racist attack that is all too familiar.

As an amateur ornithologist, I absolutely loved Courtship Displays of the American Birder, where a man feels intimidated by his crush’s life list.

The collection closes out with Little Monsters, which first appeared on Tor.com, and I loved revisiting this world. A monster gets eaten by those meant to protect him, because he's tasty. Luckily, he meets a friend who provides him armor.

Jewel Box is a wonderful mix of fables, sci-fi, horror, and love stories. I urge fans of Kelly Link to check out Yu’s work; she really is something special.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Jewel Box Stories" is so aptly named! All the 22 tales in this collection by E. Lily Yu are powerful gemstones and each one deserves complete attention for a day or two before selecting the next sparkling creation to examine.

The first, "The Pilgrim and The Angel" is one of my many favorites. Poignant and sad and bittersweet it tells the saga of a coffee shop caretaker who is visited by an angel who takes him on a journey to Miami (by way of Mecca) to rendezvous with the son he has not seen in THREE years. As a parent this one hit me in my heart.

There are stories featuring a sentient street lamp that falls in love with a human, wasps and bees fighting for survival and their legacy, an incorruptible Assyrian judge who is not as moral and righteous as he believes, power and wealth inequality. and a self-absorbed couple who has an over the top expensive wedding while the sea is rising nearby.

At this point, the reader may marvel at the author's imaginative scope, crafting original scenarios that engage instantly. Inspiration clearly comes from fairy tales and fables and folk- tales and religion, but Yu spins monsters and magic and hope and love and pain and sorrow with consummate skill. The story "Braid of Days and Wake of Nights" opens masterfully, "The seat beneath her was glossy plastic and not interested in prolonging their acquaintance." All the stories contain relevance and meaning applicable to our lives today, but none more than the final jewel, "Small Monsters" and its narrative of endurance and survival and resilience even in the face of betrayal and pain.

Everyone who appreciates and enjoys exceptional and uncommon stories should add this volume to their TBR stack. I highly urge you to place it at the top of the pile!!

[Mala Ganesan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection of stories seemed to have varied topics and was quite confusing at times. Some were interesting like the lamp in love and the magic carpet. The Lamp at the Turning was a delightful read.

I am also looking forward to what the cover is going to be like:)

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Erewhon publishing for my free and unbiased review. My thanks to them for the opportunity.

What a delightful, beautiful collection of short fiction! Yu’s writing evokes that of ancient fairy tales, each narrative drawing the reader in as though one is listening by the fireside. From a heartbreaking love story between a street lamp and a young man that takes a posthumanist twist, to a story about overlord hornets and revolutionary bees, Yu surprises, critiques, and satirizes at each turn. This collection is one of the best short story collections I have had the pleasure to read in recent years.

“The Doing and the Undoing of Jacob Mwangi” recalled Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” while “Green Glass: A Love Story” wraps commentary on climate change and late stage capitalism in a cloak of white wealthy privilege at a wedding where ice cream is the goal. Following these, Yu imagines an alien encounter in which humans and their governments are no more welcoming and empathetic to visitors from another world than they currently are to refugees and immigrants. Really, from story to story, Yu’s work is a stunning, refreshing treat, Jewel Box, indeed.