The Fierce Reads Anthology

The Fierce Reads Anthology #1

by Anna Banks, Leigh Bardugo, Jennifer Bosworth

The Fierce Reads Anthology is stories by five 2013 debut young adult authors: Anna Banks (Of Poseidon); Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone); Jennifer Bosworth (Struck); Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14); and Marissa Meyer (Cinder).

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Anthologies, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks

148 pages, ebook

First published June 12, 2012

About the author

New York Times Bestselling author of The Syrena Legacy series.

Grew up in a town called Niceville. No, seriously. And yes, everyone from Niceville is generally nice.

Let's see, things about me....My writer's cat is a mini wiener dog named Puckdoo. I can't walk in high heels, but I'm amazing at standing still in them. I'm the only person in Florida without a tan. I stole a car when I was 12 years old and drove across three state lines with it. Yeah. That's about it.

My books:
Of Poseidon
Of Triton
Of Neptune

Joyride

How To Lose A Bachelor

Degrees of Wrong (Pen name Anna Scarlett)

Nemesis (Coming soon!)

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this book for "Glitches", but also really enjoyed the short stories from other authors. Gave me more books to add to my list of books to read. Favorite story in the collection was "The Witch of Duva".

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks-
I liked this one well enough, though it was too fleeting to form an attachment to it. It involves Grom and Nalia from the world of Of Poseidon

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo-
This one was so thrilling. There was blood and dancing and witches and gingerbread people, and it was so dark! So deliciously macabre and horrifically dark! It's set in the world of Shadow and Bone, though it does not involve any of the main characters and features a girl named Nadya.
At first I thought that it was pretty much like Hansel and Gretel, but with Gretel only instead of them both- but the book QUICKLY DEBUNKS it and we discover a more sinister plot which proves that truly, we are too quick to judge others. *shudders*

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth-
Oh I laughed for all the wrong reasons.
First, I laughed at how a THIRTEEN YEAR OLD BOY thinks that HIS VERY FIRST KISS could have developed into sex (someone's hormones have been escalating quickly) which he believes, would've gotten the girl pregnant. Now I'm sure this is all very realistic and that the girl COULD'VE gotten pregnant if they actually got around to having some hot nookie (where are your contraceptives boyo), but slippery slope much? His behaviour was too incredible to believe.
Second, the prophet, his father, actually said THE END IS NIGH.*crickets chirping* There was much sputtering from my part. In normal conversations it would be "The end is nigh m'boy! There are no more cookies!" or "Frodo, the end is nigh! Go to Mount Doom!" but this one was again, too incredible to believe. If my priest said that... well I wouldn't laugh OUTRIGHT but oh you know, record it for Derek Landy.

At least the girl in the excerpt from Struck had the right feelings. (which I may read just because of her reaction)
"The end of the world is at hand.
Those who surrender their souls to Prophet will be saved.
Those who don’t will suffer and die and suffer some more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We heard you the first time."

Footnote: If the short story meant to portray the crazy in the Prophets, well then I APPLAUD YOUR SKILL, DEAR AUTHOR.

Dress Your Marines in White by Emma Laybourne-
This wasn't really my type so I dropped it after a while.

Glitches by Marissa Meyer-
This I had already read before and it was just as amazing as usual. It was really great to see Cinder as a child and how she started out and coped with Adri.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

[La La]

I'm not going to rate this, but the only stories I liked were from Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer. The others were meh, at best.

I am surprised I liked the Cinder story as much as I did, and if I ever have any extra reading time I might try and read the series.

Of course I loved the little Grishaverse folktale. I adore Bardugo's writing.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice offer from Tor. The anthology features five short stories and some preview excerpts from novels by Tor authors. I was impressed by the strength of the stories included, and it certainly accomplished its goal with me - I am interested in checking out the related books now!

My major interest initially was in Meyer's Glitches, as I had already read Cinder and really enjoyed it. The story provided a nice back story for Cinder and explained how she found herself with her family, and how her bond with Peony developed.

Similar prequel lead-ins were included. Bosworth's Prophet seems to be a prequel to her Struck, based on the preview chapters. While I have not yet read more than the excerpt included, I get the impression that, as with Meyer's Glitches, Prophet likely rounds out Rance's character and provides the back story to describe how he came to be the person he is in the novel. Banks's Legacy Lost was a bittersweet tale of merpeople, which did a good job introducing the history and society of their universe, and appears to provide good background on a character featured in the preview.

The other short stories were not directly related to the preview excerpts, but were both intense tales that provided a good read. Laybourne's Dress Your Marines in White had quite a bit of suspense and had a bit of a train-wreck-can't-look-away feel to it, as the tension gradually builds. Bardugo's The Witch of Duva was a dark tale, tinged with spookiness and magic, and features a strong twist to the ending that wrapped it up quite well.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer stories. The rest weren't all bad, but those two are the ones that really stood out to me. The Emmy Laybourne story was pretty great too!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are always a mixed bag, so I tend to rate them 3 stars. I still read them occasionally as a way to find new authors, and I would say this one was successful because I liked 2 out of the 5 stories, and could recommend a third. However, I did not like the format of this particular anthology.

Usually an anthology is just a collection of short stories, perhaps with an author's note describing the inspiration or other relevant commentary. In this one, however, each short story is from a series the author has written, and each story is immediately followed by an excerpt from a book in that series. Because they are just excerpts, you still have to go and buy the whole book if you want to read it. And so it felt like the authors were telling us, "We have given you a sample of our work, but we also want to advertise our books, so here is another sample." It feels like a cheat, particularly when you realize you can't tell how long each story is by the index because the chapter marks start at each short story; meanwhile the book sample is included in the page count whether you read it or not.

Special commendation goes to Marissa Meyer, who did not actually include a book sample; her short story Glitches was a great way to end the anthology!

I've done a separate review on each of the 5 stories (I am ignoring the book excerpts here, on principle), so here I will just give you a five-word review, with a link to my review of the story on Goodreads, plus the link at Tor.com (who published the anthology) where you can read each story (for free!):

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks - 3 stars
Tag: "Funny, romantic, ocean politics. I didn't like the ending."
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read it for free: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/05/le...

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo - 5 stars
Tag: "Beautiful, dark, heart-breaking fairy tale"
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read it for free: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/06/th...

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth - 2 stars
Tag: "Good writing, unenjoyable story"
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read it for free: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/04/pr...

Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne - 3 stars
Tag: "Tense, hypnotic, horrific. Not for the squeamish."
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read it for free: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/05/dr...

Glitches by Marissa Meyer - 4 stars
Tag: "Melancholy tale of trying to find one's place."
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read it for free: http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/12/gl...

[Metaphorosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems to be the thing these days to give away short stories packed with a teaser for a novel. Sometimes (as in Peter F. Hamilton's If at First . . .), the teaser is longer than the story.

I think this is a great idea. The reader gets free stories, and information about where to get more from that author. It works particularly well with anthologies like this one.

What I don't like is that many publishers aren't particularly upfront about what they're doing. I like to know what I'm getting. If (as with Hamilton) it's primarily a marketing tactic, fine. But when I open an anthology, I expect it to be mostly stories.

To be fair, in this anthology, Tor does include a note about the authors' debut novels, but the table of contents shows only the stories. I was expecting more story, less novel. Caveat emptor, but if the publisher had been more clear about what they offered, I still would have downloaded and read the book, just with lower expectations.

Here, the novel excerpts are largely related to the stories. In fact, I assume that most of the stories were written specifically for this particular marketing device. That's not bad, but some of them feel more like prefaces than true stories.

My opinion seems to largely track that of other commenters. Leigh Bardugo's "The Witch of Duva" is the best piece here, and the only one that tempted me to follow up on the author. While it was nice to see a faux-Slavic setting, it wasn't entirely convincing. Marissa Meyer's "Glitches" was also a nice piece, though in contrast to others, it seemed to work best as a short story. I'm not sure I'd be interested in the novel. Anna Banks' "Legacy Lost" had some positive points, but it leaned far more toward romance than fantasy, and the novel excerpt only confirmed this.

All in all, a decent free way to check out the writing style of some new authors.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hands down, without a doubt the best story in the collection is "The Witch of Duva" by Leigh Bardigo. It is a completely wonderful retelling of Hansel and Gretel set in a Russia like fantasy world. Technically the collection is marketed as Young Adult, but this story transends ages. You should note that "Duva" and theCinder short story both appear as well in the second Fierce Reads Collection. There are also previews of novels (using the first two chapters) after most of the short stories.

As for the other stories, I enjoyed "Dress Your Marines in White" which is very dark. The rest were not bad, but didn't really suit my tastes. "Prophet" was a good story, but it also was almost too short. It showed, however, an ability to capture character. I didn't really like "Legacy Lost" (basically the style was not to my personal taste); however, bonus points for a very good ending.

But "Duva" is awesome!

[fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars!

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks - 2 stars
The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo - 4 stars
Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth - 2 stars
Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne - 2 stars
Glitches by Marissa Meyer - 4 stars

I didn't love this anthology but it was a quick read! I loved Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer's short stories, and I really liked that this was a little preview for some debut fantasy authors. I would love to see more fantasy short story anthologies, I think they're so much fun to read and I just love the different stories that authors manage to come up with. They're always so creative and so inspiring, and I honestly think there aren't nearly enough short stories going around.

[Franci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average rating of the 5 stories is 3,2 stars.

Legacy Lost - Anna Banks⭐⭐⭐⭐ (tied as 2nd favourite)
The Witch of Duva - Leigh Bardugo ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (tied as 2nd favourite)
Prophet - Jennifer Bosworth ⭐
Dress your Marines in White - Emmy Laybourne ⭐⭐⭐
Glitches - Marissa Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (my favourite)

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tor is very clever. They hooked me with the short stories and now I have to read more from the featured authors.

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks - I loved this world! I immediately reserved my copy of Of Poseidon upon reading the prequel short story as well as the sample chapters. Loved the characters and love story. Fascinating world!

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo - The best story in the anthology. Super creepy and sinister. Just perfect. *shudders* LOVED. 5 STARS for this story. Plus, I hadn't realized I already put the book, Smoke and Bone on hold. Can't wait.

The other stories were fine, but by far the stand outs were the first two.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are short stories/first chapters from some Tor authors who have stuff coming out - it was free on the Kindle (pretty good idea!) I really liked the Marissa Meyer story, but Cinder is already on my to-read list anyway. I also liked the Leigh Bardugo story and will look for more stuff by her. The others were readable but nothing that inspired me to go search for more.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Legacy Lost' reminded me an awful lot of The Swan Princess - here are a young man and woman who have been destined to marry their entire lives, and now that they're older, the boy catches sight of the girl and it's insta!love because she's beautiful. I mean, eventually he finds that she's independent and strong, brave and intelligent, but that isn't what ends the animosity. Is it The Pull? Maybe. But as Grom himself said, shouldn't he have sensed Nalia years earlier, when he first became old enough to mate? And besides, at the beginning of the story, he senses her in the Chamber of Ceremonies, but he feels nothing but loathing for her. It's only after he realizes that she's turned into a total babe since the last time he saw her that he's like, "Oh, okay, so maybe it won't be so bad." And then he gets super angry when she doesn't want him back and plots to embarrass her by making her love him and then reject her. I mean, how petty can you get? I'm super pissed that she dies in the end, because she was the only remotely interesting character in this story, even if she did end up falling in love with an idiot.



    'The Witch of Duva' has one of the best first lines I've ever read:

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls.

    And it was so, so good. It has all the elements of a perfect story: cannibalism, a witch who isn't a monster and a loving father who is, murky and frightening woods, an eyeless crow, and a pet bear cub. I love dark stories, and I especially love stories that make me squirm before I'm certain of what is happening because of the bad feeling I get in my gut. Is that bizarre? Probably. Do I care? Not really. I will definitely keep my eye on Leigh Bardugo. Her prose is wonderful and haunting, and marvelously crafts the atmosphere for this story, making you shiver as Nadya walks through the woods of Duva and smell and taste the scrumptious stew Magda cooks for her.



    'Prophet' was interesting - the religious compound, presumably isolated from everything else, how even kissing is an affront to the Almighty, the leader or 'Prophet' who predicts that floods will come and still knowingly sentences a thirteen year old girl to three days in a cellar where she will most likely die drowned, and who then takes his son - MC Rance - to the hospital when he's struck by lightning, which I'm assuming is a no-no. I mean, most people who live in religious compounds like that don't believe in hospitals, right? And then Rance kills his father because he let Olivia - the aforementioned thirteen year old and the girl he was in love with - die. I mean, all that was great. It's just. It's just. I... wanted... more? Maybe that's a good thing, I'm not sure. I wanted to see what happened next, if he'd gone crazy or if he'd really been chosen by some supernatural power, which would have been really creepy but also great.



    'Dress Your Marines in White' was chilling. I liked the small touch that those with type B blood would feel no effect - of course someone has to be immune to your weapon. The idea for the story was interesting, and the different effects that MORS had on people was, as well. Dr. Massey was a complete sociopath, and her characterization was nicely done. I especially loved the scene when she's described as watching the bloodbath with her hands on the glass, as if she were looking at a Christmas window at a store. I also liked how isolated James is from his family by his experience - because they weren't there, and they can't possibly relate. Still, there was something about how this story was written, especially some of the dialogue, that irked me. Sometimes it felt forced, or just not right. I would've liked to have seen the scene where General Montez shoots himself be a little longer, so we could have appreciated the effect MORS had on him. Instead, it was very quick, and all of the sudden he's on the floor dead along with Privates Sands and Gruin and the two guards who'd also been in the room and it's all over.



    'Glitches' was fantastic. I've been wanting to read Cinder for a while and the voice and the setting of this short story, a prequel to that novel, didn't disappoint me. This, along with 'The Witch of Duva,' were probably my favorites from the anthology. 'Glitches' tells the story of how Cinder left Europe and arrived to New Beijing, and how she came to find that she had a very useful talent for mechanics. I really liked the following line, spoken by Iko, the family's android:

    "I have a glitch, too. Sometimes I forget that I'm not human. I don't think that happens to most androids."

    I'm looking forward to seeing Iko more often when I finally make it to Cinder.




     As a whole, this anthology was pretty great. It struck a good balance between sci-fi and fantasy, and stories that are set in the future, in the past, or in time indeterminate. My favorites, as I said, were 'Glitches' and 'The Witch of Duva.' My least favorite was probably 'Legacy Lost,' mostly because I really didn't like Grom.


   If you would like to read this, you can get a free Kindle copy here.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this anthology was pretty weak, but there was one stand-out story that I really enjoyed and have continued to think about.

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks - I found parts of this story fascinating - like the general premise of the Syrena - but was thrown off by the ending and some of the writing. The teaser for her novel - set in the same world - was interesting but not intriguing enough for me to have sought it out.

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo- Hands down the best story in this anthology and the only story I'd heartily recommend to anyone. I'm always a sucker for a re-told fairy tale and you figure out pretty quick that this is a twisted Hansel and Gretel. But not in the way you think. This was by far the best written and most interesting story and the only one I'd bother re-reading.

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth- This one was ghastly and not in a good way. I got the concept quickly but found the writing mediocre to the point of being distracting.

Dress Your Marines in White by Emma Laybourne - DITTO

Glitches by Marissa Meyer- Fans of Cinder may enjoy this origin story. While I read Cinder a few years ago, I didn't have strong feelings about the novel and I didn't love this story either.

[nizza · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I don't think I can write a review about this anthology without being in favor of Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer... LOL. I've always loved Bardugo and Meyer and reading their stories the second time around was just as fun as before!

As for the other stories, I enjoyed Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne. The other two, I couldn't finish reading as I felt disconnected with them...

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall: 3 Stars
I read this anthology because I was interested in Bardugo's and Meyer's novels...and this anthology pretty much cemented that they're the most interesting and well-written of the bunch. Still, I liked this offer from Tor - a quality product (the cover art for each individual story is AM-AH-ZING)and a chance for readers to sample authors for FREE !!! If you have an ereader, I highly recommend you check it out, especially for Bardugo's story. It's excellent. Oddly enough, the individual stories themselves aren't free. Oh and did I say it's FREE ??????

Favorite: The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo

Worst: Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth

Standouts : Glitches by Marissa Meyer

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks
2.5 Stars

A mermaid prince must wed a mermaid princess to ensure the survival of their race. One problem: Grom hates her. However, fate has other plans.

If I was a bigger fan of mermaids, this story may have worked more for me. It was interesting, but not completely original. The world-building was clunkily inserted yet still left gaps in the readers' understanding. The prose vacilitated between needlessly wordy and beautiful imagery.

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo
5 Stars

In a Russian-based fantasy world, young girls are going missing in the Nadya's village. She suspects the beautiful widow who is viying for her father.

I really enjoy fairytale retellings, especially those that turn fairytales on their heads. I was held rapt while Nadya discovered the secret behind the disapearances and discovers her place in the world. I loved how Bardugo created a world and creatures different from traditional Russian folklore, yet one that fits right into the traditional mythology at the same time. I'm really excited to read her full-length novel set in this world, Shadow and Bone.

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth
2 Stars

A teenage son of a cult leader comes of age and accepts his destiny.

This is a very short story (6-13 pages on my Nook) and has hardly any time to develop the characters or for the reader to develop any sort of bond or emotional response. It's a very traditional villain origin story, but doesn't add anything new or do anything interesting. It's competently written, but rushed. Considering I've read many similar stories with similar plot devices this fell flat.

Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne
3 Stars

A scientist relives an experiment that goes horribly wrong.

While this story was gripping and interesting, the more I thought about it, the more problems I had. How could blood type possibly cause aggression or hallucinations - things that are caused by the nervous system rather than the circulatory system? There were also plot points that made no logical sense (especially in a high-security military research facility). I didn't understand or connect with the POV character or his eventual decision and the rest of the characters were flat and stereotypical. Despite my (many) misgivings, the story kept me glued to the page. The narrative jumped back and forth between the report, flashbacks, and the current setting. A lesser writer could have muddled that terribly, but Laybourne does have storytelling skills. It’s just too bad it’s wrapped up in bad pseudo-science and weak characters.

Also, the adult male protagonist says "a-hole" instead of "asshole" 3 times, making him sound like a 10-year-old girl who is still uncomfortable with swearing. He’s an ADULT. Get over it. Teenagers will not die if they read the word "asshole."

Glitches by Marissa Meyer
4 Stars

In this sci-fi retelling of Cinderella, Cinder, a cyborg, is adopted into the family of a well-meaning if flighty inventor. Cinder tries to form relationships and find her place, while trying to adjust to life as a cyborg.

I was drawn to this story because of the Asian-inspired sci-fi setting and the unique world-building. The small domestic glimpse of Cinder’s world is fascinating and makes me curious about the greater world of her story. Meyer has a very easy voice that draws you in. However, I had assumed Cinder was Asian, but it is revealed that she is European. I was a bit put off that the author didn’t have an Asian heroine. Cinder’s plight is heart-breaking and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of The Lunar Chronicles.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great anthology! I was really impressed by some of these authors, and I know I will be looking up most of the novels this anthology previews. Here's a mini review of each story/preview:

Legacy Lost (prequel) and preview of Of Poseidon by Anna Banks: I wasn't surprised I liked this story. Growing up, 'The Little Mermaid' was my favorite Disney movie; I watched it all the time. So when I realized this story was about mermaids (merpeople?), I was hooked. It helped that the plot was good and I related to the character of Grom. This was an excellent preview, and I'll definitely read the novel Of Poseidon.

The Witch of Duva and preview of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: Wow! As soon as I read witch in the title of Bardugo's short story, I rolled my eyes. I'm not a supernatural person. Every vampire/werewolf/witch/ghost story that comes along is ignored by me. I just don't have an interest! So when I saw the title of the story I was less than unenthusiastic about it. But I read it anyway, and I'm glad I did! It was a very good short story; I liked the surprise at the end and the characters were very real to me. So, what about the Shadow and Bone preview? I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed that as well. I've seen Shadow and Bone everywhere lately, and always thought it wasn't my thing. But reading the first two chapters changed my mind. I'm very interested in reading the rest of the book.

The Prophet (prequel) and preview of Struck by Jennifer Bosworth: These were very interesting. I like how the prequel, The Prophet led up to Struck. It was cool to see how the Prophet came to be before seeing him in Struck. However, I don't think I will read Struck or look anything more up by this author. I just wasn't interested enough in the characters to keep reading.

Dress Your Marines in White and preview of Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne: The short story, Dress Your Marines in White was intense! I really enjoyed reading that short. The preview of Monument 14, however? Not as interesting. It was still very intense and exciting, but I don't know if I'll actually read the whole book. But it is going on my to-read list, for now anyway.

Glitches (prequel to Cinder) by Marissa Meyer: The only reason I downloaded this book was for this story. I loved Cinder when I read it and I was ecstatic to read the prequel. It was worth it! There is a little bit more character development for the stepmom and dad, and I liked seeing how little Cinder adjusted to living with the family.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since this is a book made out of five short stories, each by a different author, I’m going to present my review accompanied by a seperate ranking for each:

1. Anna Banks’ Legacy Lost [*….]
Silly. That’s the one word I have for this story. The male lead is arrogant, bossy and too full of himself. The female lead started of good: strong, adventurous, but she ruined it by falling for the spoiled prince (the guy has nothing going on that could possibly atract any girl with more than two working neurons in her head, in fact he needs “the pull” to do that, this stupid thing that seems to wash her brains and replace every thought with looooove *gross*). So, bad love story, which means bad story since it’s all about this sickening romance.

2. Leigh Bardugo’s The Witch of Duva [*****]
The second story in the book provides a dramatic change from the first one. There’s no love story on this one. Considering it’s a short story, it has all the elements of a great one, good, strong and consistent characters, a mistery, an ambiguous witch that makes us doubt every theory that comes to our heads and a breathtaking twist.

3. Jennifer Bosworth’s Prophet [**…]
Cold, way to descriptive and with no soul. I might as well have grabbed a paper from pubmed. But it was better than Legacy Lost so it gets two stars.

4. Emmy Laybourne’s Dress Your Marines In White [**…]
Another one that gets two stars because it was better than Legacy Lost. But when am I’m going to have a sci-fi young adult novel writing for those of us out there studing to become scientists? The story wasn’t bad, I just didn’t believe it.

5. Marissa Meyer’s Glitches [****.]
I downloaded this ebook for this story, I loved Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles so I was bound to love this one. It puts Cinder’s early life into perspective, the only reason it didn’t get five starts is because I’m not sure I would give it this high a ranking if I hadn’t read the books. As a stand alone story, it didn’t take my breath away like The Witch of Duva did.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very pleasantly surprised when I started reading this. Not only do we have short stories but the added bonus of an excerpt of the book the short is based on. The stories vary in length as well as genre but all are from fairly new authors with a twist. While I enjoyed all the stories, I have to say that two were my favorites, though I will now be purchasing all the books the shorts were based on. Oh my straining budget!

I would love to lay out each story for you but that would be silly since you could simply purchase and read them for yourself. So instead I will give a brief synopsis of my two favorites.

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks is a story about merpeople who reside under a thick ice cover. They have two kingdoms which in order to stay united pledge a child to marriage. In this case Grom, a prince of the Triton's has been told he must marry Nalia, a princess of the Poseidon's. Since he knew he as a child and did not like her he is less than thrilled and she is not any happier since she does not like him either. This is a love story that holds the fate of an entire race in its hands.

In "Dress Your Marines in White" by Emmy Laybourne you have the equivalent of a mad scientist who is so intent on human testing of her killer substance that she sees nothing else. Her assistant is a family man who is so horrified by the results of their human testing (he is going to a hypnotist to forget) is asked to write a report. his report will be used to decide if they move forward or stop the research all together. This is like the beginning of any apocalyptic story, you have a vial of something deadly and the question is, will it get out.

In the past I have shied away from young adult fare but find that some of it is worth reading even for someone like me who is well past that particular phase.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to seek out the next great good book to read. This this is an anthology of five very fantastical stories. First, I thoroughly enjoyed "Legacy Lost" by Anna Banks and subsequent first chapter of Of Poseidon which I downloaded and read entirely before continuing to the next author's contribution. Second in line, "The Witch of Duva" by Leigh Bardugo, I didn't care for at all. Too Grim for me. The third author, Jennifer Bosworth, is clearly a gifted writer. Her contribution, "Prophet" continued in the sample of her novel "Struck". The story just got too dark for my taste. Fourth, the adrenalin infused spectacle, "Dress Your Marines in White" by Emmy Laybourne was exactly that. However, her 1st chapter sample of Monument 14 is what I most appreciate from this author's contribution. I have that on my want-to-read list. Finally, Marissa Meyer's "Glitch" is simply so unique and engrossing that makes the full length novel Cinder a must-read.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is free to download. I guess it was supposed to make me want to read more by these authors, but, uh, that didn't really work.

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks
1/5 stars

This was was just shallow and annoying. I liked the premise (arranged mating between people who hate each other!), but the guy saw the girl and she was pretty, so then he wanted to be together. Anyway, then bad things happened and I didn't care.

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo
4/5

I liked this one! Sad and creepy and powerful.

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth
2/5 stars

Too short, really, and I didn't understand enough of what was going on.

Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne
3/5 stars

So both this one and the previous one are prequels, I guess, but when I look at the description for the books they lead into, they just don't seem to fit very well. Anyway, this was another one where there wasn't really enough explained.

Glitches by Marissa Meyer
4/5 stars

Ah, and this is why I wanted to check out the anthology. Well, this didn't really add anything to my understanding of Cinder, but it was nice.

[J K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd already read two of these stories in the sequel anthology. The first two stories here are the strongest. This is probably as much of Young Adult narrative as I can generally take at a time - if you'll allow me to generalise horribly, too much YA seems to involve awkward clumsy girls and impossibly handsome boys (or the other way around) self-consciously second-guessing one another whilst a vampire/were-fish/humanoid alien either eats their friend or turns out to the be handsome teenage boy.

That said, this collection forms a really nice sampler of what's out there from Tor.com, and I particularly recommend 'Dress your marines in White' by Emmy Laybourne. This is a particularly sharp story reporting on a military experiment that goes horribly, horribly wrong (don't they all)! The Witch of Duva was atmospheric (and in the 2nd volume) and I was warming up to the mer-man - even though the books it feeds into seems to be more of the clumsy girl/hot supernatural guy angle.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legacy Lost: I liked the characters in this one, but the whole mermaid thing was a bit too strange for me and it was very short. C+

The Witch of Duva: One of my favorite short stories of all time, the Witch of Duva retells the story of Hansel and Gretel with a twist. With great characters and beautiful prose, this story is a must-read for any fan of ya or fairytales. A

Prophet: This story was very short, but still managed to have a strong plot line and intriguing characters. I really enjoyed the creepy cult vibe and the ambiguous ending. B+

Dress Your Marines in White: Interesting concept, but the structure (so many flashbacks) didn't work for me and it felt too long. B-

Glitches: This prequel to Cinder was poignant and well-written, but too short. I wish there had been more time to get to know the characters, especially Peony and Garan. B

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 out of 5 stories made me want to read more by this author RIGHT NOW!

Legacy Lost by Anna Banks

It was okay, but didn't really draw me in all that much

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo

Amazing story, well written, and with a twist I did NOT expect at all. Definitely need to read more of her books

Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth

Again, couldn't quite get into it

Dress Your Marines in White by Emma Laybourne

Interesting writing style, made me intrigued to read more of what happens in this world, so Monument 14 jumped on my wishlist immediately

Glitches by Marissa Meyer-

I have to admit I was sceptical of the Lunar Chronicles, because often hyped books disappointed me... after this story I immediately grabbed my copy of Cinder and have already halfway finished it. Too bad I'm broke and can't order the rest in the series right away

[WTF Are You Reading? · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is just the thing to wet the appetite for the fabulous offerings of Tor.
Whether you already a fan of the authors and their stories, familiar with a few, or new to them all. You are sure to find a treasure that
you just can't pass up.
Leaving no literary stone unturned; the editors and editors have even included snippets from the original full-length works referenced in each novella.
This is a quick but very satisfying 190 pages.
Showcasing the story crafting brilliance of such authors as:
Anna Banks
Leigh Bardugo
Jennifer Bosworth
Emmy Laybourne
Marissa Meyer

Whether your tastes lean toward the futuristic, the dystopic, or the fanciful; there is something here for you.

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like anthologies because you get to try out different author's writing styles before you buy a book. It's like a fun teaser to the books/series/authors that you want to try out but don't know if you want to pay for a full book.

In this anthology my favorite short story was Glitches by Marissa Meyer, which kind of defeats my theory of being introduced to new authors. I'm a big fan of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and this little prequel to Cinder's tale was just perfect. Bittersweet. Don't get me wrong, I liked Legacy Lost by Anna Banks, enough to try her series but that turned out to be a big mistake.

All in all these were pretty good but my favorite turned out to be the author I already liked.

[Dafni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stuck the reviews of the individual stories on their respective pages. This is a great little anthology of short stories from 5 different authors, mostly tangentially related to full length novels, whose first chapters are included after each short story. Great introduction to books I hadn't known about, had seen but originally wasn't interested in, and re-introduction to one I'd read. Love Tor.com for doing this, hope to find similar in the future.

My personal to-reads from this discovery in order:
1. Shadow and Bone
2. Monument 14
3. Struck
4. Cinder (if I hadn't read it already)
5. Of Poseidon

[Vania · Rating 4 out of 5]

**** 1/2 Legacy Lost by Anna Banks (prequel to Of Poseidon)
It has such a dramatic ending that just makes me want to read the series.

***** The Witch of Duva: A Ravkan Folk Tale by Leigh Bardugo (this story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone)
I loved it! Full of mystery and magic.

*** Prophet by Jennifer Bosworth.
Glimpse into the past of the villain of Jennifer Bosworth’s debut novel, Struck.

**** 1/2 Dress Your Marines in White by Emmy Laybourne.
Makes me think about reading Monument 14.

**** Glitches by Marissa Meyer (prequel to Cinder)

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I already read 3/5 of the short stories and their respective series. Loved The Witch of Duva (The Grisha) and Glitches (The Lunar Chronicles) and was hoping the anthology would introduce me to 2 new series that I might like. I read Legacy Lost and most of its series a couple of years ago and found those books to be decent, but not great. I felt kind of indifferent to the 2 other short stories, especially as I feel less inclined to start new dystopian novels, considering how many I already have on the backburner. Witch of Duva and Glitches were the two standouts in this anthology.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is composed of short stories and accompanying first chapters, and while a lot of the short stories were great standalones, I admit I got the most out of the Cinder (Marissa Meyer) short story, as I had already read the book. I'm not sure if this would be the case with all of them; I suspect not, as it seemed from the additional chapters that some of the short stories took place long before the book.

All in all, it was quite enjoyable. I'm enjoying the '0.5' trend with YA books, and have been sufficiently enticed to read more of the books presented in the anthology.