Inkspot Fancy

This collection of 24 short stories of urban danger and magic might be one of my favorite collections to date. I don't read many, but the stories were varied, all well-written, and engaging.

I don't want to take the time to go over each of them, because the ones I didn't like as much are still good stories, they usually just hit a trope or character type I just didn't like as much.

I really enjoyed "Grand Central Park" which is a new take on the old jealous, cruel faerie world trope. The characters were fun and I was disappointed when it was over.

"The Arcane Art of Misdirection" takes a normal plot seen in urban fantasy - a normal person who's pulled into a supernatural situation and tries to make sense of it - is put into a setting I've never seen it before - a casino. Someone's winning inordinate amounts, and the reason is nothing the dealer could ever have guessed. The interplay between the two main characters here was a delight, and I really enjoyed the reveal of who was behind the whole thing.

The final story in the book, "Pearlywhite," might be my favorite in the whole collection. It follows one of a group of street kids with some unusual help. But something's stalking the streets, targeting them, and there's not much time to figure it out before they're all in trouble. The mystery here was great, and the central relationship was sweet.

Just before that was "Kabu Kabu," which is also the name of a full short story collection I have in my TBR pile by the same author. I am not sure if this story is part of that collection, but either way, if those tales are half as colorful and wonderfully unique as this one, I'm going to love it.

In shorter words, "Stray Magic" was incredibly sweet, Words was brief and creepy, "Snake Charmer" is very typical Urban Fantasy to me but incredibly well written and I really, REALLY want "The Slaughtered Lamb" to be a full story. I'll have to check out more by the author.

All in all, a really great collection. I loved it.