horrorbutch's profile picture

horrorbutch 's review for:

Pick Your Potion by Ephiny Gale
3.0

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

A short story collection featuring mostly SFF stories, including horror, magical realism, epic fantasy, speculative fiction and weird fiction, the stories here vary not just in genre, but also in lenght (the shortest one is 200 words I think).
I really enjoyed the introduction which is presented as a little menu that introduces each short story. Even if it lead to a lot of flipping around in my ebook copy I wanted to always reread the little menu entries before reading the short stories. It made them more interesting to me. (If you dislike spoilers skip the introduction in this case, the author has included a warning though). I also enjoyed that the author included trigger warnings at the end of the book.
My favorite stories in here where All the Times I'm Ten, a short story about a chosen one that keeps being reborn and has to save the world over and over again, La Vie En Mer, a story told in the summaries of a sci fi show about a universe jumping cruise ship, Rewind, a story told from the end forward and reveals a really messed up world in the process and Smol Animaux, a short story set during covid about finding companionship in little nanobot created animals.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy all the stories and many of them felt like unfinished ideas for longer stories, ending often just when the story became interesting. I also found some of the twists came a bit unexpected and I think if the stories had been extended a bit in the beginning, they could have worked better for me.
All in all however, I am still glad I picked up this short story collection, particularly since the author's writing style is interesting and the ideas are also quite intruiging and if you enjoy SFF short stories I would advise you to check it out, if only because I really enjoyed the four stories that I found to be my favorites.
Below you can find a short listing of all short stories, a short description, my thoughts and opinions, as well as content warnings specific to each story:

CurioQueens: A cardgame which can have deadly consequences, follows a girl, then woman, throughout her life after she plays it the first time with her parents, very interesting and fun, tw: death, amputation
Restoration: A very short story (apparently 200 words according to the intro) about a couple trying to survive in a futuristic world, tw: illness
The Magic in Our Hands: A story where some people have magic and some can even pick which magic they want by changing the skin on their hands through specially grown skin gloves, interesting and really not as gorey as I imagined it, but fun tw: body horror, suicidal references
*FAV* All the Times I'm Ten: A story following a chosen one, who keeps being reborn. Heartbreaking, but very interesting. tw: child soldier
Nowhere, Australia: A little short story about a group of people lost in Australia, unable to remember most things and losing memories again as time passes, very nice creeping dread tw: sexual assault, bullying
The Candle Queen: A young woman raised and trained to hold up a crown of candles, which are never supposed to go out or the world ends and the girl that wants to free her, interesting and sweet, tw: (technically consensual, but there is a lot of outside pressure) imprisonment
Solace: A mishap with a needle leaves a seamstress stuck in the home of the woman she was sewing clothes for, but maybe it's not that bad, interesting sci fi concept, but I would have loved some more exploration of it, tw: genetic warfare, infectious disease, vomiting
Last Text: A woman who receives people's last texts and the woman who falls for her, heartbreaking, but very short. tw: allergy death, suicidal references (the character takes actions to quicken their death when they would have died anyway, but a trigger warning still feels right)
*FAV* La Vie En Mer: A story told in summaries of a sci fi tv series about a luxury cruise ship that manages to travel through various universes, interesting and I liked the characters, it felt very star trek but on the ocean, which was a bonus tw: amputation, cancer, domestic violence
*FAV* Rewind: A story that starts at the end, where a ghost hunter meets a ghost and then rewinds in time to show what happened before revealing a really messed up death-obsessed world, quite interesting, tw: forced marriage, murder, suicide
Overnight, a Forest Grew: As the title suggests a forest grows overnight and the main character, who works as assistant to a guy who makes perfume that makes you smell like famous people, has to deal with the fallout. Interesting, but I would have liked some more exploration of the characters (like why is our main character turned more and more masculine by the perfume guy? Forcemasc swag?) tw: death
Watchhouse: A world were a very rich family locks up their daughter in a house for being queer and then brings two other queer girls (from less rich family's but not poor) and if they could be seen from the other house an AI shoots them to kill the queer? I don't quite understand that short story, it is too short to really pull off that level of convoluted world building, tw: homophobia, murder, imprisonment, kidnapping, suicide implication
Light and Sleek and Strong: After a person's top surgery (not sure if trans or just wanted the H cups removed, it's not really discussed) suddenly apocalypses start, they start to suspect is has to do with them. Okay, but a bit confusing. tw: apocalyptic events, mass death, unsanitary, suicidal references
Faewild: A pokemon/dnd crossover where creatures from the Faewild can pass over to the human world and tend to end up captured by humans and after some schooling also faught with, interesting and one of the longer stories, but one I think could have been more interesting if it was even longer, still fun, tw: bullying, animal abuse/injury to animal, amputation
The White Factory: A short competition for Nicoles where they need to find keys. Fine, but it wasn't that interesting and I had hoped for something interested in the end, instead of a Bachelorette ending.
Neuro: A world in which people can record themselves and their experiences/dreams and then other people can experience the recordings as if they were there themselves. For the most part pretty standard "new tech and what it does", but I enjoyed the part where doctors can use it to understand their patient's pain if they are unable to perform it "right" or express it in a way the doctor understands (if they f.e. have chronic pain or autism, both if which can skew how you express your experience of pain).
When the Ice Comes In: During a prolonged cold snap in Australia, the protagonist finds some matches and a tiny woman appear when she lights one. Okay, but I didn't really feel the desperation got across enough to explain the ending. tw: suicide, fire
*FAV* Smol Animaux: An expecting mother finds a way to deal with the isolation during covid lockdowns thanks to a neighbor giving her small animal companions made lifelike through nanobots. Horrifying ending, interesting, messy. tw: child death
The Most Powerful Witch in Witchville: A small town of witches isolated from the outside competing for who's the most powerful witch, it's okay? Interesting concept, but I feel like the tension was a bit sucked out of it for being such a short story. I feel this one might have worked better as a full novel.
This Is (Not) My Beautiful Cat: A sweet story about a time-travelling cat returning to the same person, it's cute
Lovely Lilas: A woman has her personality copied for companion-androids. Interesting, but very short.
The Orchard: A competition to inherit a magic orchard. I liked the romance aspect, but I wish it had explored the child characters in more depth. tw: loss of body part
Inheritance: A very short story about inheriting the memories of your ancestors, interesting concept
Marina, Hel and Cady Save the Universe: After a birthday party portals to different worlds start popping up and three kids explore them, it is interesting and I liked the twist of why they weren't affected at the end, but the way they solved it was again rather bland? tw: amputation, suicide
As Long as We Both Shall Live and After, Too: A short story about a dead wife being reincarnated as a clone baby, while the other wife keeps her body intact through becoming an android, interesting, albeit a bit creepy as well, but I wish it had continued on instead of stopping just when the story got interesting, as that could have explored the weirdness of the situation better
Traces of Us, Hot Enough for Dinner: On the one year anniversary of her fiancee's death, a woman is invited to another wedding. It is an unpleasant affairs as can be expected in such cases until the Demons Attack. Interesting time loop story. tw: death, amputation