Tanith Lee (1947–2015)

This edition contains two novellas: the title one and 'The Winter Players' which sounds as if it should be about musicians or actors. Perhaps the latter meaning is intended, as the two main characters are in a sense acting out parts or will be if they can't break out of the circle in which it seems they might be trapped. The paradox created was a little brain boggling but I could eventually see how it might work though it does beg the question of what happens to the main female protagonist after she takes decisive action to change events. Wouldn't she then cease to exist rather than remain behind to hand over the artefact needed for the other character to locate her changed self in the new timeline - and wouldn't that artefact also cease to exist? Presumably she did at some point 'disappear' or there would have been two of her in the later timeline.I did like the female protagonist and also the fact that the relationship between her and the young male protagonist is developed emotionally and based on mutual respect, rather than falling into the sadist-masochist style that for me mars a lot of this author's fiction.

The first (title) novella is the story of a conscientious warrior, at the start a captain in the King's army, who agrees to take the savings of one of his men - a young, inexperienced one - back to his family if he does not survive the impending siege of a town. Later, the siege over, the warrior resigns, sick of the killing, but has to join forces with an ex-underling of his, a man he dislikes, when their money, including the young soldier's savings, is stolen by a thief. To save his life from the underling's violence the thief shows them the hidden treasure of the now deceased witch threesome who formerly ruled the town, but it eventually becomes clear that it brings with it a deadly curse. This is a tense and well written tale of pursuit and sleep deprivation with a likeable male protagonist and, again, a nascent relationship between him and a young woman he meets near the end of the story, which again is a meeting of equals.

The only thing that holds this back from a full five stars for me is the slight awkwardness in the second story's resolution. So for me this earns a well-deserved 4 star rating.… (mer)

I enjoyed this coming of age story about a young girl, daughter of a sorceress mother who mostly neglects and ignores her as she seems to have no magic. Instead Tanaquil spends her days wandering the desert around her mother's fortress and digging up fossils, or mending things that belong to her mother's servants and soldiers, though she has started to suspect that they feel sorry for her and are sometimes breaking things to give her something to do. One of the animals who live in the desert - called peeves - has been affected by the leaky magic from her mother's spells and has a rudimentary language. It starts bringing "presents" to Tanaquil and eventually brings a wonderous bone. When Tanaquil persuades it to show her where the peeve found it, this triggers a series of events which will lead them both to go out into the world on a journey of both outer and inner discovery.

Tanaquil is resourceful and plucky, with a dryly humorous point of view, and despite falling into danger at times doesn't always have to rely on others to get her out of it. In the course of the story, she matures as she learns more about her relationship with her mother and also with other family members she had never met before. Her skill with mechanisms is integral to the plot and she learns the true secret behind it. And the unicorn of the title is a dangerous, fearsome creature rather than the fluffy and twee portrayal often given to unicorns in other works. Light relief is provided by the peeve, who also becomes a loyal friend. The story has a satisfying ending, which leaves open the possibility of more adventures - and I've just seen on Goodreads that there is at least one sequel. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am awarding a 5 star rating.… (mer)

This collection is not so much a retelling of old fairy tales as a way of using them as inspiration since the connection is often pretty tenuous and in one case very unclear ('Black as Ink', a story of ennui among the better off classes which has the presence of a swan at one point so might be a swan princess story, but really doesn't come across as a fairy tale at all).

One theme becomes rather repetitive: the "woman as Satan worshipper" trope. I also found the notes on the contents page, which attempt to pin the stories to particular geographical locations and centuries, rather redundant since as most of them come across as being able to be set anywhere and very vaguely as to time.

However, I did like a couple of them more than others: 'Wolfland' was elevated above the rest of the collection in having actual characters as opposed to cardboard archetypes, and 'Beauty', a science fiction story taking Beauty and the Beast as a jumping off point. So on the whole I would rate this at 3 stars.… (mer)