"Whispers from Before," by Rosie Grymm, Hannah Carter, Abigail McKenna, Mariella Taylor, and Savanna Roberts

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy/Fiction

Overall Content Rating: Clean

Content Warnings

Note: Because this is an anthology, I will break down the CWs by story rather than by category. Please note that ALL the stories are classified as clean, so all the CWs are things such as violence and the like. If you do not like spoilers, then suffice it to say that the common themes are magic, death, and blood, but that they are all handled well in each story.

The Gumiho of Dragon River by Rosie Grymm

Blood

Death/Murder

Spirit Possession of a Person

Of Underwoods and Underworlds by Hannah Carter

Blood

Death

Hades/The Underworld

Magic (wand magic, mostly)

The Breakriver Banshee by Abigail McKenna

Death

Vials of Magic

Namakaokahai's Treasure by Mariella Taylor

Death

Grief

Violence in the form of hunters

When the Night Left by Savanna Roberts

None

Overall Review

It's never easy to review an anthology of short stories. Each story strikes you differently, and every part of it deserves its own recognition. The best that I can do is give a summary of each and what I felt that I liked about it.

Overall, I think my favorite story was the last one--"When the Night Left"--but they were all enjoyable. "Namakaokahai's Treasure" was hard for me to get through, but I believe that was a lot because of the difficulty I had pronouncing the names. At first, I was tempted to skip over it because I didn't recognize the names--didn't hold any attachment to them--but after adventuring into it, I don't regret trying.

I will admit to having been gifted this anthology years ago and having not read it until now, I find myself wishing that I'd read it sooner--and yet also being glad that I'm reading it now. The fantastical elements of each story were so fun to delve into, with each story having its own dynamics and ways of keeping everything in line. But let's delve into the individual stories!

"The Gumiho of Dragon River" by Rosie Grymm

The very first story of this anthology starts off great. With the first glimpse of it being the inhabitation of someone (we don't know who) by a spirit, it intends to start with some curiosity on behalf of the reader, drawing them into the real life of the characters later on. This is definitely the longest short story of the anthology, spanning about one-quarter of the book (about 40 pages out of roughly 160 total), and it's easy to see why. The complexity of the plot and the character arc of the main character make it nearly impossible to imagine it any shorter. Every piece of the story seems essential and any less would render the story too simplistic to do it justice.

"Of Underwoods and Underworlds" by Hannah Carter

This one was more of a comedic story than anything, in my eyes. It starts off with a bit of a surprise and the whole story continues from there. I loved the twists the magic took and the character development along the way. The ending itself tied the whole thing together and it was just enjoyable overall. For anyone who likes things regarding Hades and all the things that live down there... this one is definitely for you.

"The Breakriver Banshee" by Abigail McKenna

I think in terms of stories, this was the one I was the least prepared for. And at least half of that was the fact that I forgot the title promptly after reading it and was thus unprepared when the banshee appeared. Go figure. It was really wholesome, but you can't really tell that from the beginning. It took me until the end to realize that it was really going to come full circle and have a really sweet ending. I really liked this one! The romance aspect of it all really complimented the rest of the story and made it really easy for me to become more attached to the characters. Would definitely recommend this one!

"Namakaokahai's Treasure" by Mariella Taylor

I'll confess to skipping over this one before coming back, but when I did come back, I was blown away by the scope of the story. At first, I was overwhelmed by the long names and complex cultural structure, but I was soon able to immerse myself in the story. Oh, there were still parts where I was confused, but it was the kind of two-sided, purposeful confusion, where I knew the reader was supposed to pause for a moment and realize the importance of what they read. This short story was and is incredible and I would definitely highly recommend it. It holds love and loss, anger and grief, among many other things and it addresses them with such wisdom from the main character. I loved this piece and I am so glad I did end up giving it a chance.

"When the Night Left" by Savanna Roberts

Saving the best for last is how I want you to think of this story. By far my favorite of the five stories in this anthology, I loved how sweet it was. There's a lot of emotional pull in this one, and that's what the plot is primarily centered around. Rather than being really aggressive, it's just rather sweet and focused on two main characters who are competing for the same sky. If no other story in the anthology interests you, I'd still say that this one in itself made the whole thing worth it.