A really solid set of short stories from Naomi Novik.

I enjoyed going back to the world of the Scholomance, and reading her other stories that I hadn't read yet.

Some were better than others, the pirate one being my fav as a genderfluid person.

It's hard to give a summary for a short story collection, but this includes stories set in her own existing worlds, an introduction to a new book, and also takes on Greek mythology, fairytales and Sherlock Holmes.

Short stories can sometimes be quite hit and miss for me, with less time to get engaged in the tale, but I loved this.

I was varying degrees of familiar with the world's that were being riffed off in these stories but they still all worked. I of course loved the Scholomance follow up having been a big fan of that series, but I equally enjoyed the Pride and Prejudice AU with dragons.

Most of the stories has been published in other anthologies, so.you may have come across some before but they were all new to me.

4.25 stars

Rating: 4.5 stars

I love Naomi Novik. And the second I heard there would be a Scholomance short story in this collection I knew it needed to be mine.

I absolutely loved about half of the stories in here - though a few definitely carried more of my enjoyment then others. But I loved the foreword for each story and fell absolutely in love with Novik’s Ariadne short story.
I would also like to request a full lenght novel of the Scholomance short. It was everything I didnt know I needed and everything I could possibly want at the same time.

You will probably be picking up this book because you are already a fan of this author's work. Although you might be considering reading it to get a taste of her style without committing to a series.
In this collection are original stories inspired by myths and fairy tales as well as others that are precursors of, or based on, her other books. Even in the original stories she quickly manages to conjure up a world and atmosphere.
My favourite amongst the stories is Dragons and Decorum where Temeraire and Pride & Prejudice have a most fortunate encounter.
I think this is a good representative of her work and I enjoyed reading all the stories.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone | Del Rey for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review*

These are just a few short stories. I would like to read more of them, especially Lord Dunsany's teapot and seven years from home. Overall it was a great collection of short stories, that made me want to read the rest of her books since I hadn't read any other book by Novik.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a collection of short stories where I loved every single one and would happily have spent far more time in each one. Because I was savouring each story it took me a while to finish because I was enjoying dipping into each story so much.

This is a masterclass in short fantasy fiction and I can’t recommend it enough. For fans of Naomi Novik’s worlds there are stories from Scholarmance, Temperaire and Spinning Silver, plus a tease of a new world she’s building - which I am sooo excited about!

I found this a bit of a mix - some stories were very gripping and some dragged a little. My favourite was the story about a talking dragon - would love to see this adapted into a novel or series!

As with every short story collection, this has stories I loved and some I didn't as much. I liked the overall mix of stories and how varied they were but I think the retellings were easily my favourites. I've included a breakdown of each story review below:

Araminta or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake - I liked the strong pirate adventure theme, interlaced with the story of Araminta and her struggles with female oppression and an overarching desire to be free. 4 stars.

After Hours - I haven't read the Scholomance series so this story was a little lost on me. I liked the dark magical school vibes, and air of menace between two rivals but it lost me a little in the middle. 3 stars.

Vici - I loved this one, and I've never read the Temeraire series (which needs to change). It's about the first person a tame a dragon, set in Rome during the time of Ceaser, by a layabout with a lot of luck. It was fun and adventurous and pretty much a perfect short story. 5 stars.

Buried Deep - Greek mythology, and Ariadne in particular, is my jam. And I loved the exploration of sibling love in this, and the idea that the monster might not be the one that looks the most hideous. It looses it's way a little bit towards the end, but overall very good. 4 stars.

Spinning Silver - The short story version of the full novel. It was interesting to see where the two stories diverge, and I still really like the interpretation of turning silver into gold. 4 stars.

Commonplaces - A very short story about Irene Adler. This is more of an added flavour of Adler, a hint of the woman described by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was OK, but not mind blowing. 3 stars.

Seven - Wasn't really a fan of this one. The city itself was well described, and feels like a character all on its own, however the plot left a lot to be desired. 2 stars.

Blessings - Think Sleeping Beauty but with more drunken fairy Godmothers. I loved this one, but thought the ending too abrupt. 4 stars.

Lord Dunsany's Teapot - War and guardians of teapots. I, for some reason, got Five Children and It vibes but without the kids and more trench warfare. It was OK, but didn't leave a lasting impression. 2.5 stars.

Seven Years from Home - Not a fan of this one, mainly because I don't like Sci fi or war and this was both. I liked some of the planet scenes, with an anthropological spin. I would have liked a bit more of that and less of the warfare espionage. 2 stars.

Dragons & Decorum - Pride & Prejudice with dragons. I really liked this love letter to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, set in the world of Temeraire. I actually thought the inclusion of the dragons didn't take away from the love story, but I'm quite obviously biased as I love both dragons and Pride & Prejudice. I did find the timeline jumped around a bit too much, to the point where at one point 3 years had gone passed and I hadn't realised. 4 stars.

Castle Courlieu - Probably my favourite story. It was incredibly atmospheric and full of tension, with the added joy of a card amongst queens of fate that decided the outcome of the Black Death. The ending was very abrupt, and left a few questions, but overall this was great. 5 stars.

The Long Way Round - The final book, and this one is written in the world that Naomi Novik is currently working on. And.... I found it fine. It's quite similar in vibes to the first story, with high seas and trading spices. I liked the sibling relationship (and wizard/brother relations) but I found the pacing to be very off. There's a lot of talk about lands and charters we know nothing about and too much backstory without action. I'm unsure if I'd be interested enough to read a full novel set in this world. 3 stars.

While I am aware of Naomi Novik I've not read her published work so I went into this collection entirely blind, and I must say I'm impressed enough to start picking up her books.

While I get the distinct impression with some of them that I'm missing a lot by not knowing the books from which they stem, or that stem from these original short stories, I still greatly enjoyed them. Novik is a strong storyteller, sets a scene well and with clear characterisation to get you rooting for, or at least intrigued by, characters quickly. That is harder than it sounds with short stories and can often be a falling down point.

I'd say 12 of 13 here worked for me, which is a pretty strong percentage. I really liked the dragon stories, so I think I need go investigate the Temeraire series. The only one I struggled with unfortunately fell at the end which is the only reason this wasn't a 5 star for me, I found the sailing dragged with no strong action, and it ended so abruptly I genuinely checked twice to be sure I didn't have a page missing. Amending the story order would solve that particular issue.

All in all I think this is a really solid collection and a great intro to Novik's work, or addition to a collection if you're already a fan.

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

An interesting mix of short stories from Naomi Novik - including previously published work from other collections, stories that ended up becoming full length novels, additional tales from her published works, and a story that she’s used to help establish an upcoming novel.

Like with most short story collections, some were hits and some were misses. I absolutely adored ‘Seven’, a story about a land with competitive potters, impressive statues, and a poisonous clay, and I throughly enjoyed ‘Spinning Silver’ (I hope to get to the full book she wrote based off of this story soon) but I struggled with ‘Buried Deep’, ‘Castle Coeurlieu’, and I ended up skipping over ‘Dragons and Decorum’, a Pride and Prejudice retelling (but with talking dragons), as it was simply just a bit too silly for my tastes.

I can’t deny her world building though, and this collection is a very interesting blend of fantasy, myths, legends, and history. Sadly, I did find myself glazing over while reading quite a few of them, and I’m unsure why I couldn’t connect with them. I’m a lover of short stories, so the length doesn’t bother me, but some just felt like a struggle to get through.

However, ‘The Long Way Around’, the story that teases at her upcoming release, was highly enjoyable, and has whet my appetite for that next tale.

Overall, a mixed bag for me, but still quite entertaining nonetheless.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review.

Wonderful collection of short stories. I particularly enjoyed Buried Deep, as I’m a fan of Greek mythology, and Spinning Silver which is set in the Spinning Silver novel universe but they were all engaging short tales.

Naomi is a master a spinning worlds and drawing you into them. I love the worlds created by Naomi Novik and she’s an excellent writer so I was really looking forward to reading this book, which didn’t disappoint.

I do agree, however, with another reviewer, who described finding some stories, where they were spin offs of other novels, a bit more difficult to get into. I’m working my way through Naomi’s back catalogue but there’s some I’ve not read any of so I feel I was missing some context around the story.

It was easy to just sit and read the odd story when I had less time to read without having to remember what I’d read previously. Thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray for this advance reading copy. This is my honest review.

Naomi Novik has written some stunning fantasy novels, so I was keen to see what happened when she turned her hand to shorter fiction, and can confirm that the result is a great little collection of thirteen stories, all very different.

My personal favourites were ‘After Hours’ – a Scholomance story set after the great ‘Calling’ but before the finale, with an engaging new witchy main character; ‘Buried Deep’ – an emotional retelling of the Minotaur and Ariadne mythology; ‘Seven’ – about a master potter and the bone clay she is expected to work with at great personal cost; and ‘Dragons and Decorum’ – a Temeraire-style retelling of Pride and Prejudice with Lizzie as a dragon-flying captain, which deftly fixes some of the issues I had with Bingley and Darcy’s attitude problems in the original.

Then there are pirates, dragons, Irene Adler, drunk fairies, war teapots, creepy castles and exploring the unknown because, “Why not?”. Every story is well-written and entertaining, with a mixture of styles and content to allow something for every fantasy fan.

This collection functions as a great sampler of the author’s characters, voice, worldbuilding and story-spinning for newcomers, and a selection box of goodies for established fans.

Naomi Novik is a must read author, her work is so renowned and thrilling. This collection of short stories is a truly enjoyable read.

Naomi Novik's writing is next level in so many ways and in this new short story collection, it has never more apparent. Spellbinding, enchanting and captivating, whether you have read her other works or not, this is the one for you.

I absolutely adored this collection. I loved revisiting the worlds Naomi Novik has crafted. My favourite stories included the one from the Scholomance, and the Pride & Prejudice retelling. I need Novik to write more in the Temeraire universe.

This was really great and I loved learning about all these worlds.
The writing it amazing and I was able to feel easily immersed in the stories and characters.
A let down for me was that I hadn't read the Novik's other work before reading this! Completely my own fault!
However, I will definitely be reading more 😊

I just love a anthology of short stories with great snippets of characters, world building, magic and fantasy!! This book was all of those things and more. A great anthology and I would recommend you read this book. Thank you for my advanced kindle copy.

Naomi Novik is one of my favourite authors and this collection of 13 short stories is excellent. I enjoyed every story, which is not something I can usually say of a short story collection - if you are new to the author then this is a springboard to her other works, including Temeraire and Scholomance series.
There were several standouts for me with my favourite being Dragons & Decorum - a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the Temeraire universe. We have Elizabeth Bennet as a captain in the airborne dragon division paired with an opinionated Longwing dragon who is ready to put Mr. Darcy in his place!
Commonplaces - follows Irene Adler and how she intersects with Sherlock Holmes after the Reichenbach Falls - a perfect short story for me.
The Long Way Round - following adventures of brother and sister who are intrepid sailors. They are engaged by one of the ruling class mages to look for a new passage to a prominent trading post that avoids tolls. In their travels they encounter mysterious empty constructs and at the end I really wanted to know what happened next.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC and all views are my own.

This is a collection of short stories from Naomi Novik, from the worlds of the Scholomance, Spinning Silver and Uprooted, as well as a sneak peak of where her upcoming novel will be set.

The Scholomance Trilogy is one of my all-time favourite book series, and I am a huge fan of Naomi Novik as a result, so I was excited to see that some of these stories would be sent in the world of the Scholomance. Overall, Buried Deep and Other Stories is probably one of the best short-story collections I’ve read. Each and every story is engrossing and complete (I often find that short stories feel unfinished or underdeveloped – that it not the case here), and cover a whole range of genres, from fantasy to mythology, to folklore, to mystery, to historical, to sci-fi.

My favourites were Araminta – a fun adventure with excellent characters; After Hours – a story relating to the Scholomance with a special appearance from Orion Lake; Seven – a fable-style story of skill and perseverance; and Dragons & Decorum – a fantasy re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, in which Elizabeth Bennet is a dragon rider captain.

I have loved Naomi Novik’s writing since her Temeraire novels and nothing she has written has ever disappointed., so I was excited to read this book of short stories.

Including tales from the worlds of her novels, this was just an absolute delight. A peek at The Scholomance now that it is being used as a school again, an early version of Spinning Silver and the tale of the first dragon bonding in Roman times were highlights, but ever story had something special about it. The discovery of a new continent filled with strange abandoned objects was an exciting introduction to the world of Novik’s upcoming new series.

I had a great time reading all of the stories and I highly recommend if you are a fan of any of Novik’s work.