The latest book I’m taking on in this series is A Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng.  this book is broken up into five different sections, each one containing its own personality and character which stand to set it apart from the others. There is the smallest amount of overlap, but it almost reads more as five separate collections.

The Love Song of Allegra – I’m so happy that this portion of the book was selected to kick things off. we get a series of 17 poems that all work back to back to tell an epic story in the tradition of, well, an epic poem. Think The Odyssey.

It lays out the story of Allegra, a warrior who takes the lead in this fantasy.  as I mentioned before, all of the poems work together to tell a complete story, but just like a novel might have a chapter that sticks in your memory, I absolutely adored the vivid imagery and brutality present in The King Who Became a Sycophant.

Fairy Tales – I treasured my time spent with this section. I thought it was the strongest in the book. It’s mostly made up of fairytales that we know well, and Sng gives them a twist, usually in a morbid or modern sense. Some are contained within a single poem, other span two or three to tell different aspects of a well-known story.

Sng does include some more obscure tales to mix it up as well, such as Girl on Fire. My favorites were the modern day take on Rapunzel from Rapunzel and The Girl From the Tower as well as the new spin on Hansel and Gretel.

All the Monsters in the World – As you might suspect, The section tells separate tales of monsters, both real and human. The monstrous ones are good and chill-inducing, but the human element is where the author truly shines.

Violation is probably one of the best examples in this book at taking a snapshot of raw emotion. And there’s so much implied, but left unsaid.

The Capacity of Violence – The poems here tend to be very visceral. One of my favorites, Mortal Life, contains this stanza, and I’m a little ashamed to admit it made me smile.

“You’ve always told me that I warm your heart. I throw it in the fire, now that’s a start.”

One of the coolest parts about this section is the way the two poems, The Joy of Sewing and A Capacity for Violence, book end the experience.

Myths and Dreamscapes – Another favorite section. I am a sucker for authors who work around and incorporate established mythologies into their work. Greek is the most prominent, but it’s seamlessly interwoven with our worldly tales and Sng’s own creativity.

The origins of Easter Island told in The Giants of Easter Island is intriguing. This section also contains my favorite poem in the entire book, When the Earth was Young. It’s short, simple, and gorgeous. Not a wasted word to paint the picture and I’ve been back to visit a few times since I first read it.

I feel very confident saying that this collection has something for everyone. I enjoyed every section on its own merits, and if I asked to pull 10 favorite poems from the finished product, I have no doubt that each section would be represented at least once. I highly recommend this book and I’ll be moving Sng’s other collection, A Collection of Nightmares, a bit up my list. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.