My first official review of Wyrds of Wonder went live today on ReedsyDiscovery! My book was given FOUR STARS by Miriam Atkinson!
Here is the review left by Miriam Atkinson (link to the official review is at the bottom!)
Wyrds of Wonder is a collection of twenty short stories by J. B. Redel. All of the stories fall into the author’s favourite genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror (or a combination of the three). As a fan of both fantasy and sci-fi myself I was excited to see what Redel would conjure up in her stories.
From Wyrds of Wonder’s very first story I could immediately tell how much Redel enjoys the world building aspect of storytelling.
The collection’s opening story is Purgatory’s Blade, which sees two brothers contracted to travel through the veil separating life and death and return the soul of a recently deceased princess. Instead of only focusing on what is happening in the present Redel provides several pages of complex backstory for the brothers. These extra elements did not impact the overall plot however what they did instead was create a wonderfully detailed view of the world Purgatory’s Blade was set in.
Rather than the simple snapshot of life that a lot of short stories provide, Redel’s stories feel as though there could be entire worlds and realms beyond what is shown in her stories.
My favourite example of this was in Shatter. Now, the story’s abrupt ghostly ending wasn’t my favourite but I found the setting of Shatter utterly fascinating. Three travellers use special doorways to travel between worlds. Having moved so far from their original worlds, the trio are endless searching for a way back. I love this premise and I could have happily read an entire collection of stories about the travellers’ journey.
Although every story is different, many are connected by their exploration of the human condition. This can range from the psychological, emotional, morality, and how choices impact our lives.
A prime example of this exploration can be found in Man-Made Morals. The story asks the question: if humanity created synthetic lifeforms solely to do their bidding, would this be considered slavery? It made me, as a reader, think about which side of the argument I would be on. Meanwhile the story immediately prior to this, Verdant Touch, is an emotion-led story about a young woman whose touch can turn items into flora. It’s one of my favourite stories in Wyrds of Wonder. Amongst the strong fantasy elements, Verdant Touch deals with loneliness and isolation with glimmers of hope – all experienced by a believably-written female protagonist.
Overall Wyrds of Wonder is a strong collection of short stories. With the large number of stories included and the variety of genres, themes, and settings I am sure that every reader will find many stories that will both entertain and intrigue them.
To see the official review in it’s ReedsyDiscovery glory, here is the direct link: https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/wyrds-of-wonder-j-b-redel#review
Be First to Comment