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A review by obsidian_blue
Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik
2.0
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I did end up finishing the whole thing. Sigh. This was a collection that never really sang.
I only really liked two of the short stories, and one was surrounding her longer novel, Spinning Silver, and the other was her take on Ariadne. I have found Novik to be hit or miss with me. Full RTC.
Full review:
You all know how I do collections at this point, I rate each story, and then you can see the overall rating above. I unfortunately did not like many of the stories. I just felt bored and wish that Novik had done more with the fantasy elements like she did in "Uprooted" and "Spinning Silver." But most of the stories were either off or seemed to have some point I was totally missing.
"Armanita, or The Wreck of the Amphidrake" (1 star)-I had such high hopes, but this story about a young nobleman sent off from her family because she keeps getting into trouble was so boring. It took me almost a month to get through this story.
"After Hours" (1 star)-This apparently features characters from her other work, "Scholomance trilogy" and because of that, I had no idea who anyone was and was bored throughout. And honestly that is my number one complaint, if I have to read your other books to get your short stories, hard pass. Do readers like it when characters though are familiar with pop up in other books, yes. Do you still need to make sure a cold reader gets there, also yes.
"Vici" (1 star)-Same issue here, this short story is based on the Temeraire universe. It takes place in Romance times. Yes, at this point was when this almost became a DNF for me.
"Buried Deep" (4 stars)-This short story follows Ariadne, for those who devour Greek mythology like I do, this was a great retelling I thought. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is that the story after a while stalled a bit I thought.
"Spinning Silver" (5 stars)-Honestly think of this as an alternate take on her longer novel, "Spinning Silver" I loved this story and thought her following a moneylender's daughter, who has to grow cold inside to take care of her mother and father was great.
"Commonplaces" (3.5 stars)-A retelling of the character of Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes series. I don't know, this was good, but it didn't really fit the whole fantasy theme that Novik had going for her.
"Seven" (2 stars)-A city called Seven and the people who live there. I honestly can't even recall this story and I just went back to refresh my memory and kind of shrugged about it. Once again though, there's fantasy elements here so it's odd we had "Commonplaces" before that.
"Blessings" (2 stars)-A bunch of fairies cause a whole mess due to them drinking during a baby's blessing. I don't know if Novik was going for comedy or something more serious. The ending was so abrupt I thought I was missing something.
"Lord Dunsany's Teapot" (1 star)-Bored throughout.
"Seven Years from Home" (1 star)-Honestly this was just not good. I don't even know what else to say really. Reading about the "adjustments" and everything else just made my eyes glaze over.
"Dragons and Decorum" (1 star)-Just think Pride and Prejudice with dragons. And look, at this point, I was just fed up with this collection and was determined to get through it, but once again, I wonder what the heck "Commonplaces" was doing in a fantasy collection and just tossed my hands up. Also, look, this story did nothing for me. I just sighed and went okay, thanks again for not setting much of anything up. I think that's my number one criticism. Novik did a good job with just two stories in this collection, but I think I only liked them because I was familiar with both so didn't need the set up. But other readers who don't know Greek mythology or have not read her other works are going to be completely lost. And yes, I read Pride and Prejudice (loved it) and felt 100 percent annoyed through this whole thing.
"Castle Coeurlieu"-No stars because I skipped this.
"The Long Way Round" (2 stars)-Honestly, this is just a set up (maybe) of something that Novik is working on. I did not like it. So there you go.
I did end up finishing the whole thing. Sigh. This was a collection that never really sang.
I only really liked two of the short stories, and one was surrounding her longer novel, Spinning Silver, and the other was her take on Ariadne. I have found Novik to be hit or miss with me. Full RTC.
Full review:
You all know how I do collections at this point, I rate each story, and then you can see the overall rating above. I unfortunately did not like many of the stories. I just felt bored and wish that Novik had done more with the fantasy elements like she did in "Uprooted" and "Spinning Silver." But most of the stories were either off or seemed to have some point I was totally missing.
"Armanita, or The Wreck of the Amphidrake" (1 star)-I had such high hopes, but this story about a young nobleman sent off from her family because she keeps getting into trouble was so boring. It took me almost a month to get through this story.
"After Hours" (1 star)-This apparently features characters from her other work, "Scholomance trilogy" and because of that, I had no idea who anyone was and was bored throughout. And honestly that is my number one complaint, if I have to read your other books to get your short stories, hard pass. Do readers like it when characters though are familiar with pop up in other books, yes. Do you still need to make sure a cold reader gets there, also yes.
"Vici" (1 star)-Same issue here, this short story is based on the Temeraire universe. It takes place in Romance times. Yes, at this point was when this almost became a DNF for me.
"Buried Deep" (4 stars)-This short story follows Ariadne, for those who devour Greek mythology like I do, this was a great retelling I thought. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is that the story after a while stalled a bit I thought.
"Spinning Silver" (5 stars)-Honestly think of this as an alternate take on her longer novel, "Spinning Silver" I loved this story and thought her following a moneylender's daughter, who has to grow cold inside to take care of her mother and father was great.
"Commonplaces" (3.5 stars)-A retelling of the character of Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes series. I don't know, this was good, but it didn't really fit the whole fantasy theme that Novik had going for her.
"Seven" (2 stars)-A city called Seven and the people who live there. I honestly can't even recall this story and I just went back to refresh my memory and kind of shrugged about it. Once again though, there's fantasy elements here so it's odd we had "Commonplaces" before that.
"Blessings" (2 stars)-A bunch of fairies cause a whole mess due to them drinking during a baby's blessing. I don't know if Novik was going for comedy or something more serious. The ending was so abrupt I thought I was missing something.
"Lord Dunsany's Teapot" (1 star)-Bored throughout.
"Seven Years from Home" (1 star)-Honestly this was just not good. I don't even know what else to say really. Reading about the "adjustments" and everything else just made my eyes glaze over.
"Dragons and Decorum" (1 star)-Just think Pride and Prejudice with dragons. And look, at this point, I was just fed up with this collection and was determined to get through it, but once again, I wonder what the heck "Commonplaces" was doing in a fantasy collection and just tossed my hands up. Also, look, this story did nothing for me. I just sighed and went okay, thanks again for not setting much of anything up. I think that's my number one criticism. Novik did a good job with just two stories in this collection, but I think I only liked them because I was familiar with both so didn't need the set up. But other readers who don't know Greek mythology or have not read her other works are going to be completely lost. And yes, I read Pride and Prejudice (loved it) and felt 100 percent annoyed through this whole thing.
"Castle Coeurlieu"-No stars because I skipped this.
"The Long Way Round" (2 stars)-Honestly, this is just a set up (maybe) of something that Novik is working on. I did not like it. So there you go.