3.5

I had mixed feelings about The ANNEthology. Some stories worked for me, and others didn’t quite hit the mark. My favorite was Anne of the Silver Trail by Shari Green—it’s a beautifully written story in verse that I really enjoyed.

That said, some of the other stories felt like they strayed too far from the essence of Anne, which made them harder to connect with. If you’re a purist who can’t handle any deviation from the classic Anne of Green Gables, this might not be for you. But if you’re open to new takes, you might find something to enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC. My review is honest and voluntary.

I absolutely love "Anne of Green Gables", and as soon as I heard about "The ANNEthology", I just knew I needed to read it!

Firstly, I unfortunately didn't finish this book by the archive date. However, I was able to check-out a copy from my library!

This anthology truly has so much in it with short stories that differ greatly from one another, and they span a broad emotional range. However, each story throughout this anthology captures the original spirit of Anne in such a unique and special way, and each author and story are so wonderfully thoughtful and original in how they interpret the original characters and story in new ways.

I think this book is such a beautiful tribute!

I recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Acorn Press for the e-ARC of this book! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I did not finish this book. I tried to read several stories and I did not find the writing quality very good for any of them, and thus I did not want to spend the time reading the rest of this book.

I think i was a little out of my league when I requested this. This was not exactly for me. There was some stories that were intriguing but overall it was just ok.

So, I absolutely love the character Anne of Green Gables. This was a fun idea for an anthology, and it's hilarious how people took the idea and ran with it. There was sweetness and sadness and heartbreak and -- was that zombies? I had a great time.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

If you are an "Anne of Green Gables" purist and refuse to watch "Anne with an E" on Netflix because you can't stand the idea of any deviation, "The ANNEthology" will NOT be for you. I liked approximately half of this anthology. Some of the short stories in this collection were interesting reimaginings of the classic story with sci-fi elements and modern takes that I enjoyed. There were others that felt sacrilegious, and I wonder if L.M. Montgomery would have felt honored by the new adventures of Anne Shirley.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital arc so that I could provide an honest and voluntary review.

Anne (with an e), one of my very favourite kindred spirits, has been reimagined by ten authors. Having known Anne Shirley Cuthbert for over three decades, she’s become part of my story and I was keen to see what she’s been up to in other people’s imaginations.

There are some stories where Anne is clearly the passionate, feisty girl who took up residence in my heart. At times, though, she’s not as easily recognisable. Anne is a boy. Anne is trafficked. Anne comes with a serial number.

My favourite stories were:

Anne and the Bloody Book by Susie Moloney

Anne discovers that appetite for reading can be life changing.

“What a mysterious book…”

In Search of Kindred Spirits by Hope Dalvay

Anne and Gilbert are assigned to work on an art project together.

“A kindred spirit is someone with similar interests to yours. No, it’s more than that. It’s someone you have a deep connection with. That’s why I read so many books. I’m looking for kindred spirits in the pages. Some of my best friends are book characters.”

4624463 by Natasha Deen

Anne lives in a world where you’re punished for having emotions and books are dangerous.

“Something bad is going to happen.”

Anne of the Silver Trail by Shari Green

Anne is absolutely certain she’s about to be un-adopted in this story in verse.

“If we’re lucky in life, we come across
someone who challenges
the lies we tell ourselves, someone who
who sits us down and tell us
a different story.”

While there wasn’t a bad story in the bunch, I found I enjoyed them more when they included at least one of my other favourite characters, like Diana, Matthew and Marilla.

What I found even more important than the cast of characters, though, was Anne herself. No matter what setting she was placed in, I wanted to be able to connect with her spirit. I needed to be able to identify parts of her personality that made me love her in the first place.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Acorn Press for the opportunity to read this anthology.

I adore Anne of Green Gables, so I was excited to revisit this lovely creature with new stories. I was so disappointed, because the stories in this book were not historical retellings and creative extensions of the Anne Shirley I was so familiar with, but rather supernatural and science fiction approaches to the character of icon in, for the most part, new settings and eras.

In defence of the story collection, the cover copy does say that the stories include “futuristic settings, cybernetic beings, ghosts, mysterious books and boxes, and racial and sexual diversity in its cast of characters.” The cover is a bright red with a black silhouette. If I’d paid a little more attention to this description and the cover design hints, I would not have been so disappointed. Despite this, I had hoped there was a little bit of the Anne I like so much within the stories, but the Anne Shirley characters in these stories seemed foreign to me. There were a few intriguing stories, including a ghost story I enjoyed, but in general, these are not my types of stories. It wasn't the Anne I love.

This was a mostly well written collection of stories. I cannot deny this. However, it made me realize that I don't really like Anne of Green Gables, in any of her iterations. Not as a cyborg, not in modern settings, not in poetry, not in a horror story. But if you like Anne of Green Gables, then you'll like this.

I loved and remember Anne of Green Gables growing up so it was great to see the different interpretations of her by these amazing authors.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite's from my childhood. I love to read retellings of books. The comfort of the familiar characters, setting, and plot mixed with the unique and new concepts was a brilliant idea. The Annethology, A Collection of Kindred Spirits includes 10 short stories from 10 different authors. I had a few that I enjoyed more than others, but I still appreciated every story for the creativity and clever spin each author placed on their interpretation of Anne. My favorites would be Anne of the Silver Trail by Shari Green and In Search of Kindred Spirits by Hope Dalvay. Overall, 5 star read. I highly enjoyed reading all of the stories and if you are a fan of the original, then you would love this book!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Acorn Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this Annethology, ten Canadian authors present short stories inspired by Anne of Green Gables, to mark the 150th birthday of L. M. Montgomery.

Anne is, in turn, a vampire, a 20th century girl, an obese boy, a Jamaican girl, a cyborg, among other incarnations. I was amazed how, despite this variety, all the stories carry some of the essence of the original Anne. My favourite versions were Hope Dalvey's modern take on Anne's encounter with Gilbert Blythe and Shari Green's poem in verse.

Thank you to Netgalley and Acorn Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was a fun read! This Young Adult anthology collects short stories by authors who wrote Anne from "Anne of Green Gables" in their own way: the characters, setting, and adventures from the original series are all there, but presented in new and imaginative ways. There’s creepy dark cannibal Anne, modern junior high teenager Anne, gender swapped Anne, dystopian Anne, haunted house Anne, and AI robot Anne, to name a few. One of my favourites was poetic Anne: a poem set in a northern mining community in the 1980s.

Some stories are sweet and some are shocking, some are serious and some are sad, but all are successful in that they contain the original spirit of the character with additional clever twists. Most authors wrote the voice exactly right, so when the twists arrived it was at times jarring or puzzling, but in such a fun way! I think the authors assume familiarity and it does help to know the original characters, setting, and stories so that the twists attain maximum impact, otherwise readers may be confused or feel like something is missing or disjointed. But I was a fan as a child, so loved both the nostalgic and interpretive elements.

As usual with short story collections, I liked some more than others, but generally thought the writing was excellent. The various writing styles all maintained the mood of the original source and added modern touches while remaining accessible for the target age group. Overall, I think this is an excellent Annethology and would recommend it for adventurous Anne fans of all ages!

Thank you to Netgalley and Acorn Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.