{"id":1499,"date":"2009-11-21T11:40:39","date_gmt":"2009-11-21T16:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2021-12-16T09:14:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:14:23","slug":"never-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1499","title":{"rendered":"Never After"},"content":{"rendered":"

Never After<\/a><\/em> (2009) Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn<\/a>, Marjorie M. Liu<\/a>, Sharon Shinn<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The only reason I have this book a second glance after seeing Laurell K. Hamilton’s name was because I’ve read books by Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, and Sharon Shinn and loved what I read. So I grabbed the book, despite my misgivings.<\/p>\n

I freely admit that I didn’t bother to read Laurell K. Hamilton’s story. I’ve read other stories by her in other anthologies, and wasn’t impressed, and since I was looking for something enjoyable, I skipped straight to Yasmine Galenorn’s story “The Shadow of Mist.” Siobhan is a selkie who has moved to American to escape a forced marriage. When her former betrothed hunts her down after a century, she turns to her friends for help, but also has to learn to depend upon herself.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the fact that she chose to write about a selkie character. Strangely enough, I just read another story about a selkie, but I’m still glad to see supernatural fantasy stories branching out from vampires and werewolves and elves.<\/p>\n

Although the story was about love and forced marriage, it was in greater part about Siobhan learning to trust herself and take care of herself, which I quite liked.<\/p>\n

The second story was “The Tangleroot Palace” by Marjorie M. Liu. Sally is told by her father that she is to marry the Warlord of the South, to create a peace between their peoples. As the Warlord of the South has a terrible reputation for violence and destruction, Sally wants nothing to do with him. When her oldest friend, the gardener, suggests that she will find a solution in the haunted Tangleroot , Sally runs there in the hopes of finding a way out without leading to the destruction of the kingdom. <\/p>\n

I really liked this story. Even though I guessed a major plot point right away, it didn’t particularly matter to the story. Sally was a wonderful heroine, and the supporting characters were also very good, and well developed despite the short length of the story.<\/p>\n

The final story, “The Wrong Bridegroom” by Sharon Shinn was the longest–and also possibly the strongest–story in the anthology. Olivia is a princess who’s father wants to marry her off. His first choice, Harwin, she most definitely didn’t want to marry, and so convinced her father to hold a contest for her hand in marriage. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go as Olivia expects.<\/p>\n

This was an absolutely fabulous story. Olivia is not particularly likable at the start of the story–she’s very much a spoiled brat and you know she’s being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn and you kinda want to smack her. But you have to keep reading, to see what happens, and then pretty soon things have changed.<\/p>\n

The story is full of surprises, the characters are extremely well done, and overall, this is one of the best stories I’ve read in a long time.<\/p>\n

So although I can’t tell you about the first story, I can highly recommend the remaining three stories. Check out this anthology, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Never After (2009) Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, Sharon Shinn The only reason I have this book a second glance after seeing Laurell K. Hamilton’s name was because I’ve read books by Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, and Sharon Shinn and loved what I read. So I grabbed the book, despite my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,18,2,291,26],"tags":[90,339,313,525],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-anthology","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-romance","tag-marjorie-liu","tag-sharon-shinn","tag-vampires","tag-werewolves"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-ob","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2146,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2146","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":0},"title":"Firebirds Rising","author":"Michelle","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Firebirds Rising (2006) edited by Sharyn November Huntress by Tamora Pierce Unwrapping by Nina Kiriki Hoffman The Real Thing by Alison Goodman Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint I'll Give you My Word by Diana Wynn Jones In the House of the Seven Librarians by Ellen Klages Wintermoon Wish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Firebirds-Rising.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2252,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2252","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":1},"title":"General Winston’s Daughter","author":"Michelle","date":"February 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"General Winston's Daughter (2007) Sharon Shinn Averie is headed to Chiarrin, where her father and betrothed are with the army, which is currently seeking to make the area part of its empire. On the trip over Averie makes friends with Lieutenant Du'Kai, a Xan'tai member of the Aerberelle Army. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/General-Winstons-Daughter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/222","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":2},"title":"Mystic and Rider","author":"Michelle","date":"April 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Mystic and Rider (2005) Sharon Shinn I really liked this book. It's a good, solid, and lovely fantasy. Senneth is a mystic, leading a group through the country of Gillengarin upon the orders of King Baryn. In her group are two King's Riders, sent along, but unsure of Senneth and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Mystic-and-Rider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3364,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3364","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":3},"title":"X-23","author":"Michelle","date":"December 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So, yeah. I went to put away my new X-23 comics, and instead ended up rereading all the X-23 and NYX books. Oops! The stories written by Craig Kyle were still--far and away--my favorites. X-23: Innocence Lost (2006) Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Billy Tan, Jon Sibal X-23: Target X (2007)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":434,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/434","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":4},"title":"The Shape-Changer’s Wife","author":"Michelle","date":"September 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Shape-Changer's Wife (1995) Sharon Shinn Everything I've ready by Sharon Shinn I have really liked, so when I saw The Shape-Changer's Wife in a used bookstore, I picked it up. Then I left it on the bookshelf in one of those weird fits I go through, of worrying that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Shape-Changers-Wife-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":376,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/376","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":5},"title":"Summers at Castle Autumn","author":"Michelle","date":"May 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Summers at Castle Auburn (2001) Sharon Shinn I picked up Summers at Castle Auburn because I'd read another Sharon Shinn book and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I came across Summers at Castle Auburn used I snatched it up, since I hadn't seen it before. Corie is the bastard daughter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Summers-at-Castle-Auburn.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}