Micro-Review - The Robber Bride

[mardelwanda]

I ke
ep anthologies in places where I might need to read for short periods of time. Then I slowly read a short story. I haven't been mentioning them in the blogs though. But I do finish a story here and there. Most of the time I'm not really impressed with the stories, or most of the writers in the anthology. But I just finished a story the other night written by Marjorie M Liu which is in the Anthology titled Huntress. The short was titled The Robber Bride.

I enjoyed The Robber Bride. It's set in a post-disaster world. There was a disease that wiped out most of the population world wide and people are barely subsisting, farming, trading, going without most of the things we take for granted now. Even things like a simple flower pot are pretty much unknowns for the current population. There are not cars, mass transit,etc although there are bicycles, horses and wagons. It's an interesting setting and Marjorie M Liu does an excellant job slowly revealing pieces of this world while we are reading the story. The main character (Maggie) tries to keep to herself (it's safer) on her little piece of land that she used to share with her grandfather. They traded in items. Maggie fixes things. But strangers come to town and take off with people and Maggie feels compelled to go after them. She discovers things on her journey that she really doesn't want to know.

The story was written so well, I was left wanting more at the end. I hope that eventually Ms Liu might return to this setting and write more about Maggie and her friends. The plot was engaging, the wording reminded me of a dark, dark fairytale, and the conversation was spare, but every piece of dialogue told a lot. I really enjoyed The Robber Bride.

There are three other stories in this anthology:

1. Devil's Bargain by Christine Warren - I started to read this, but lost interest
2. The Robber Bride - Marjorie M Liu - excellent story, great writing
3. Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go - Caitlin Kittredge (just started reading)
4. Sin Slayer - Jenna Maclaine - started this one, but also lost interest in it after the first few pages. I might go back to it, but I doubt it, it just didn't hold my interest.

From now on, when I finish reading a short story, I'll review it and list at least some of the other books in the anthology (if there's only a few stories - some anthologies have 20 stories in them)