Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jarshi 's review for:
Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices
by Jenn Northington, Swapna Krishna
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is a swirl of really, really good stories and ones that I wouldn't feel bad about forgetting. Below I will include a few notes that I made about my favorite stories from this collection:
- The Once and Future Qadi by Ausma Zehanat Khan: What an ingenious idea to have an outsider observe and comment on the disintegration of Arthur and Guinevere's relationship.
- Passing Fair and Young by Roshani Chokshi: Beautifully written with an ending that honestly made me a bit teary.
- MayDay: The use of found objects to piece together an overall narrative is honestly one of my favorite forms of story-telling in writing.
- Black Diamond by Alex Seguro: If you can make me care about any sport in any capacity, I count that as a win. I think this was the first story in this collection that legitimately had me screaming, and by the end of it, I was cheering for Arturo. Good work.
- Flat White by Jessica Plummer: Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot should've been the endgame for this one, I'm not kidding. Lancelot being a messy bisexual and a shitty boyfriend isn't something that I knew I needed, but I greatly appreciate being fed. GOOD FOR ELAINE! She deserves all the happiness!
- Once (Then) and Future (Us) by Preeti Chhibber: The very fact that you had me sobbing over an Arthur/Merlin romance in FUCKING 2022 is a fucking crime! CHHIBBER YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYERS! AAAAAAAH I AM IN SO MUCH PAIN! THIS WAS TOO SHORT FUCK YOU! 10000/10 STARS!
I would also like to add that a Ki no Tsurayuki poem is dropped in one of these stories like it was NOTHING! I was so fucking shocked. I will always vote high for any reference to the Kokinshu!