I read and reviewed the two books collected here separately, so basically this is just for my own records. Both those books earned three stars from me - they're likeable fantasies with a focus on crafts and how those crafts intersect with magic, which is a fascinating idea. Skills like weaving and metalwork, for instance, are genuinely interesting, and I liked how the child protagonists were expected to learn them as a way of exploring their other talents. I do think that, in both cases, the stories were perhaps a little too crammed, as everything moved very quickly and with not a lot of depth, but they were still enjoyable reads.

This collection includes a bonus short story, "Elder Brother," which I would have rated four stars if it had a Goodreads record of its own. It's the story of a friendship between a woman and a tree who was turned, by accident and against its will, into a human. Like most of Pierce's work that I've read thus far, it prioritises kindness and friendship and I appreciate that.