I've wanted to read this book for ages - maybe since it first came out? Then, when I got the chance to buy it first time round, I was a bit put off by how like the title story was to a very short story that I once wrote. I hate it when I've written something that I think is really neat, only to find that someone else got there first.* And then I started reading The Gracekeepers, which was too close to The Night Circus for me to enjoy.**
But I came across the book in the charity bookshop where I work sometime last year and thought that for £2.99 I could take the chance. And I'm really glad I did. I enjoyed Logan's stories, and the way they wind themselves to their conclusions. The are all delightfully queer and often unexpected. Logan never uses her words or metaphors in the way we've come to expect a writer would.
The stories were all, with one exception, spot on. I won't say which story that exception was, as I don't want to ruin the experience for another reader by pointing out the things that I didn't enjoy, but the voice itself wasn't to my liking. The title story I obviously liked. I also enjoyed the story which closed the collection. 'Una and Coll are not friends' and 'Witch' were two more favourites. The biggest surprise was 'The Gracekeeper' which I actually really enjoyed. Enough to make a second attempt at the novel? Only time (and my ridiculously long 'to read' list) will tell.
*Doesn't stop me from shamelessly promoting myself though. Go read my story, it's really short!
**Not that I enjoyed The Night Circus that much, either, which was probably the main problem. Maybe I would have liked it more if I had read it first, or if every single review of it ever didn't draw that same comparison. Maybe.
This counts the UK for the European reading challenge. It also counts for the Mount TBR challenge.
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