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432 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2019
When I finally went to bed, the nightmares found me, as they almost always do, and for a while, at least, I wasn’t alone.
— Bradbury Weather
Last year I stumbled upon Agents of Dreamland while scrolling through my book shop's website and really just downloaded it on a whim. I loved this novella, it was trippy and weird and I knew I had to read more by Caitlín R. Kiernan. When I saw that this collection of twenty previously published stories was available on NetGalley, I immediately requested it and crossed my fingers - and here we are!
Because I never know how to rate short story collections, I decided to immaculately track my reading experience this time around and here are the individual ratings:
• Andromeda Among the Stones - 2/5
• La Peau Verte - 3/5
• Houses Under the Sea - 5/5
• Bradbury Weather - 3/5
• A Child's Guide to Hollow Hills - 2/5
• The Ammonite Violin (Murder Ballad No. 4) - 5/5
• A Season of Broken Dolls - 1.5/5
• In View of Nothing - 2.75/5
• The Ape's Wife - 1/5
• The Steam Dancer (1896) - 4.5/5
• Galápagos - 4.25/5
• Fish Bride (1970) - 3.5/5
• The Mermaid of the Concrete Ocean - 3.25/5
• Hydraguros - 2/5
• The Maltese Unicorn - 3.25/5
• Tidal Forces - 4/5
• The Prayer of Ninety Cats - 1/5
• One Tree Hill (The World as Cataclysm) - 2.75/5
• Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8) - 3/5
• Fairy Tale of Wood Street - 2.25/5
It's really hard to summarize what these stories entail, but I would the overall genre consider to be Speculative Fiction. There are character and relationship studies, stories with mythical, fantastical, paranormal or supernatural elements and Caitlín R. Kiernan's writing is incredible throughout; she creates these dark, errie and dense atmospheres, that have a sensory texture to it. Even when I didn't really have a clue, what was going on, I was deeply immersed because of the writing.
It took me almost two months to get through The Very Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan (and another month to finally write this review) but it was definitely worth it! It's an interesting collection but I'm not sure I would recommend it to first time readers, simply because twenty such different stories could be a bit overwhelming. But if you are interested in Caitlín R. Kiernan's work, you may do a little research to find out, which stories you could start with, based on your reading taste.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. The quote is taken from an eARC and may be edited before publication.