Oldies But Goodies
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Songs of
Love and Death Anthology
Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
by Karen S. Wiesner
Beware spoilers! Songs of Love and Death, published in 2010, is another cross-genre anthology George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois edited and assembled together. As before, this collection with 17 short stories features authors with big names who are award-winning and undeniably gifted. While most of the stories were standalones, some were tied to larger literary worlds. I will comment that a good number of these same authors have appeared in other Martin/Dozois anthologies. I seem to recall that when I included my friends in my collaborative works, I got no end of flak for my nepotism. Apparently, it depends on how popular those doing the "hiring" are--enough, and they get pass for exhibiting favoritism. I actually don't mind too much; just commenting. In any case, the overall gist of this one is star-crossed love, whether in the realm of fantasy, history, the supernatural, or the wider galaxy.
Similar to other Martin/Dozois anthologies, each installment was preceded by a short author biography and a bare bones introductory blurb to the story, which I found very unsatisfying. Below you'll find the installments I'm covering in this review listed in the order they appear in the original publication in one volume.
1) "Love Hurts" by Jim Butcher (the first story to appear in the collection): Part of The Dresden Files series with the gritty wizard PI Harry Dresden, in this tale, the author spared little or no backward glances or explanations for all that came before--maybe a blessing or a curse. I've never read anything in the series (and possibly by this author? I can't quite remember). This story has the detective and other associates investigating a trio of disturbing love crimes. The mundane chore of following the clues and trail were more than adequately covered, especially in the beginning, but in the process storytelling became seriously boring. The out-of-nowhere, twist end just barely saved it. There were moments of fun and funny, but I wasn't really pulled into the much wider body of works by either the main character or the supernatural world it's set in. I would think the point of contributing a series story to an anthology would be to get readers intrigued about that series as a whole. I don't think this did that. But if I was already a fan of the series, I'm sure I would have enjoyed this one immensely, as I would have recognized the characters and situations and so the experience would have been richer.
2)
"Blue
Boots" by Robin Hobb (the seventh story featured in the collection):
Actually, the whole reason I purchased this anthology was because I wanted to
read this last story from The Realm of the Elderlings series that I hadn't yet.
"Blue Boots" is a short tale connected to the series but stands on
its own. Here, 17-year-old Timbal has recently lost her father to bandits who
killed him and robbed everything they owned. All she has left of him are her
memories and the pair of blue boots he gave her. She goes to work as a kitchen
girl at a lesser keep in Buck Duchy, Timberrock Keep. Here, she falls in love
in love at first sight with Azen, a minstrel who begins to sing songs of her
blue boots and, in short order, woos, seduces, and, abruptly he seemingly
abandons her.
This is one
of these stories that I liked despite all reason. Timbal is young and stupid.
Even when she's told by other maids the way of minstrels (love 'em and leave
'em) along with specifics like the fact that Azen grew up with Lady Lucent, was
most certainly her lover, and may be trying to make her pregnant since the Lord
of the keep is incapable of impregnating his wife, Timbal gives not a single
thought to the consequences of going along with anything Azen suggests.
Suddenly, she's alone, ridiculed for her foolishness by the servants around
her, and she realizes what could happen to her if she ends up pregnant, forsaken,
and scorned. She loses the will to live after hearing the gossip that Lady
Lucent has gone off with Azen.
Over and over, it's said in the story that Timbal was 17--and that was the reason and justification for all that befalls her. But there's no way for her to claim ignorance or the recklessness of youth to excuse her behavior. How many stories and songs tell of such things, how often does anyone have to be told the ramifications of what will no doubt happen as a result of falling for someone above her station? Much like Jane Eyre (one of my all-time favorite stories), imprudence isn't ultimately rewarded with harsh reality in "Blue Boots". I cared about Timbal despite her hopeless, romantic folly, and I didn't want to see her come to a bad end. The conclusion of this story was unforgivably rushed, almost as if it didn't matter, though of course it was the whole point of even writing/reading the story! Outside of that, I enjoyed it, though a part of me does wish the author had found a less conventional resolution to this all-too-familiar, vaguely ho-hum tale.
3)
"Kaskia" by Peter S. Beagle (the fifteenth included
in the collection): In this story of a kind of cosmic, literally-across-space-and-time
dating service, a friend of Martin's brings him together with a being of
unfathomable origin through a computer program when he provides a laptop just
for him. Martin is in a loveless marriage, and Kaskia seems like everything he's
ever wanted in a mate. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that I liked or
even enjoyed this oddball tale, it did keep me interested all the way through
the few pages, more to find out what could possibly happen with these
"star-crossed lovers". The answer is a little disturbing--sort of like
finding out that the person you've been chatting with online is a little kid.
Um, eww that this was included in an
anthology with supposed love stories.
4)
"Man
in the Mirror" by Yasmine
Galenorn (the sixteenth entry): Laurel has the horrifying misfortune of having
been almost murdered on her wedding night by her husband Jason (think Prince Humperdinck
planning his intended Buttercup's murder for their wedding night, only not so
funny). Jason plans his revenge from beyond the grave by using his cousin Galen.
Galen is a ghost trapped in a world where he can see the living and, once a
year on Halloween, can exchange places permanently with someone if he's able to
pull that person inside the mirror so he can take their place outside. Galen
has been listening to the evil mutterings of his cousin about Lauren, only he
finds he's been led to believe things that aren't true about her. This very
short tale held me bewitched as the mildly terrifying ghost is forced to make a
pivotal choice. The twist ending was a pleasant surprise.
5) "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" by Diana Gabaldon (the seventeenth in the collection): There's another story associated with this one written by the author called An Echo in the Bone for those who follow Gabaldon's work, and both of these are associated with her très populaire Outlander series. In this anthology entry, a very memorable pilot is determined to return home to his beloved wife and child whatever it costs to do so. I found the storytelling here off-beat and compelling, and what came about was anything but predictable. Those are the best parts, but, in all honesty, I probably would have struggled to finish this story if it was any longer.
For those of you following my anthology reviews, if I'd edited and assembled this collection, I probably would have started with the Hobb story and ended with Galenorn (those were the two strongest, IMHO), then placed the Gabaldon in the middle as the ninth story, the Dresdon at five and the Beagle at thirteen with the rest of the stories around them.
Songs of Love and Death inadvertently highlighted why I became disillusioned with the romance genre as a whole several years ago. More often than not, my idea of a good romantic story tends not to match what others enjoy. Too many of these stories were just disturbed. Others didn't have the space to expand the way they needed to in order to warrant feelings between the characters that, as a result, came off as superficial. Still others just didn't resonate with me the way I would have liked--probably no fault of the authors, as all the stories were certainly well-written. Maybe if I'd read them at another time, I would have had a different reaction. I guess I should have realized what I might be getting myself into in Martin's "Stories from the Spinner Rack" essay (from another of his collections with Dozois) in which he said he'd tried to read romances and never got into them. Yeah, that explains a lot here.
Those who are fans of unconventional, even twisted tales of romance will probably enjoy this anthology much more than I did. That said, at least one or two of the inclusions should satisfy most readers.
Karen Wiesner is an award-winning,
multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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