a book quite different from what I expected

pros:
- Taylor's writing is beautifully evocative and sensual, much like Lana Popovic's. There are beautiful descriptions and turns of phrase, and some ghastly ones.
- the second two stories were both rich with interesting characters and plots
- the use of folklore and mythology made the whole book drip with ancient mystery
- it was dark and it wasn't afraid to go there; much more adult than DOSAB
- the drawings are gorgeous
- Taylor does nail the dialogue between people and teenagers well

cons:
- I didn't much like the first story, where I didn't think much of Kizzy
- it is a dark book, which I liked and didn't. The bits about childbirth squicked me
- the emphasis on love and romance as key to human experience felt.. a little off. not everyone feels that. It was also all very straight
- a petty thing, but I wished the drawings had been at the end of the stories

overall, interesting and beautiful, but not as I expected and grim in places