3.5 stars

I read this so quickly, I forgot to mark it as "reading." But it served its purpose. I wanted this to be a quick read, and it was. Although my desire to read more in the peculiar world did help.

I'm not sure what to rate this, to be honest. It was easy and fun to read, but some stories seemed rushed or pointless and others just too grotesque for me. I'm well aware that Ransom typically includes the grotesque in his stories, having read the entirety of the MP trilogy, but in my opinion it was taken too far in a handful of places.

So, because I can't think of anything else to say in general, here's a brief rundown of my thoughts on each story.

» The Splendid Cannibals - 3 stars. I wasn't a fan of this one. It was kind of appalling to me, as I've never liked anything related to cannibalism. And while it was a bit amusing, I found all but one character to be extremely vain.

» The Fork-Tongued Princess, 3 stars. This one was kind of predictable. Of course everyone would turn on the princess because she had secrets that didn't match her beauty. Stereotypical.

» The First Ymbryne, 4 stars. I've always found the concept and abilities of ymbrynes fascinating, so I enjoyed this one. My favorite part was the eventual dominance of the matriarchy. Yes, yes, yes.

» The Woman Who Befriended Ghosts, 3.5 stars. I didn't see the point of this story, but Hildy and João did grow on me.

» Cocobolo, 3 stars. This one was just weird. What sort of peculiarity is that?? Points for a positive father-son relationship, though, even if it's not what I expected it to be.

» The Pigeons of Saint Paul's, 5 stars. Probably my favorite of the 10. I thought it was really amusing and I liked the happy ending.

» The Girl Who Could Tame Nightmares, 4.5 stars. I thought this one was interesting, and I liked Lavinia. However, I didn't like that she had to go against her father's wishes because "girls couldn't be doctors," and Baxter creeped me out a little.

» The Locust, 3 stars. Bugs creep me out. This story was about bugs. This story was not for me. Enough said.

» The Boy Who Could Hold Back the Sea, 4 stars. An extra star specifically for the ending. Otherwise, not super interested. Interesting peculiarity, not the best story. Sorry not sorry.

» The Tale of Cuthbert, 5 stars. I really liked this one because I remembered the tale being mentioned in the trilogy. It was short and sweet, at least once Millard modified the ending. A very close second favorite.

Overall, I did like this. I especially liked that Millard wrote and annotated it. It made me like the book more, even if some stories didn't really have an effect on me.

Also, I'm very excited for the next set of books in this world. The sooner they come, the better. 😄