Mallory’s Reviews > Firebirds Soaring: An Anthology of Original Speculative Fiction > Status Update

Awwww, Something Worth Doing was *so good.* What a great story to end it all on.

So The Myth of Fenix and especially Little Red were both good. Not so much for a well-told plot, but for evoking a feeling.

Fear and Loathing In Lalanna was just... straight-up confusing. I don’t really know what happened. Why were they sent? Why were they drugged up all the time? Why did they have to drug the innkeeper? What was up with the Beowulf references in an otherwise seemingly secondary world? Etc.

Court Ship was very good! I kind of wish it would have been a full novel, though. It could have been a much longer, more fleshed out, story.

Magic and Power was good, but India was annoying as anything. She’s mean to young children for no reason, and this perfect guy is in love with her (though she’s a b**** to him too) just... because?

Three Twilight Tales was... weird? I was more interested in the man made of moonlight than anything that happened in the other two stories. The whole thing left me going “so what?” What was the point of reading that non-story?
The Dignity He’s Due, on the other hand, was quite good. There was actually an ending, unusual for this anthology.

The Ghosts of Strangers was good, but I don’t think there was much reason for it to be about four times longer than the other stories in this collection. It could have easily been tightened up to ~20 pages, instead of 80.

I liked Dolly the Dog-Soldier and especially Ferryman much more than I liked the last few stories. I was left wondering what the point of all the dog word substitutes were in DDS, and I could have done with more emotion in Ferryman, but overall they were pretty solid stories.

I don’t know what the point of Flatland was. The ending sounded very triumphant, but I’m not really sure what Appie actually accomplished with what she did. It seemed like an awfully long story for little to no payoff.

Also, I hated Julio instantly and don’t understand how Appie could have been taken in at all by him (I know he’s hot, but honestly).

Egg Magic was kind of boring, not gonna lie. Mostly because Tory was insufferable.

All Under Heaven annoyed me so much. The author set up an emotional AND physical conflict but doesn’t follow through with either of them.
And I’m just not sure what the point of Singing On A Star was. It wasn’t so much a story as just a thing that happened.
Maybe this anthology isn’t for me...