There is so much sadness and so much beauty in this collection of short stories, each featuring a protagonist experiencing loss and, ultimately, healing. It was a difficult read, due to the subject matter, but a very rewarding one. Going in, I was familiar with the majority of the authors–some well-known names from the independent fantasy scene–but some were new to me.

There is a lot of variety among the stories here. My personal favorites included Intisar Khanani’s Twice Domesticated Dragons, about a young refugee girl forced to grow up too soon, as she takes care of her siblings and her grieving father, and seeks out dragons to protect her home from destructive garden gnomes. (The ending was so perfect and so lovely!) Levi Jacobs’ A Recurrence of Jasmine deals with a world-weary, dying god and a compassionate young mother who brings him hope.

The settings of these stories are varied, from fantasy worlds to cyberspace. In M.L. Wang’s Death in the Uncanny Valley, an online role-playing game serves as the means for a family to come back together after loss divides them. As one who enjoys the support and companionship of several online communities, this story hit particularly close to home.

I could go on – there were some real gems in this collection. I’d recommend reading through this one story at a time. More than that, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the strong emotions.

The pain and anger that the characters feel is no less real for having taken place in a fantasy setting: the worlds inhabited by these people are fictional but their feelings of bereavement, estrangement from loved ones, alienation, and grief are universal.

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a review copy of this anthology.