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The Tangleroot Palace
New York Times bestseller and Hugo, British Fantasy, Romantic Times, and Eisner award-winning author of the graphic novel, Monstress, Marjorie Liu leads you deep into the heart of the tangled woods. In her long-awaited debut story collection, dark, lush, and spellbinding short fiction you will find unexpected detours, dangerous magic, and even more dangerous women.
Briar, bodyguard for a body-stealing sorceress, discovers her love for Rose, whose true soul emerges only once a week. An apprentice witch seeks her freedom through betrayal, the bones of the innocent, and a meticulously-plotted spell. In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex. A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods.
Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Marjorie Liu’s first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.
Sympathy for the bones --
The briar and the rose --
The light and the fury --
The last dignity of man --
Where the heart lives --
After the blood --
Tangleroot palace
Briar, bodyguard for a body-stealing sorceress, discovers her love for Rose, whose true soul emerges only once a week. An apprentice witch seeks her freedom through betrayal, the bones of the innocent, and a meticulously-plotted spell. In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex. A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods.
Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Marjorie Liu’s first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.
Sympathy for the bones --
The briar and the rose --
The light and the fury --
The last dignity of man --
Where the heart lives --
After the blood --
Tangleroot palace
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2021
About the author
Marjorie M. Liu
254 books4,174 followersNew York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and she leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop.
Ms. Liu is a highly celebrated comic book writer. Her extensive work with Marvel includes the bestselling Dark Wolverine series, NYX: No Way Home, X-23, and Black Widow: The Name of the Rose. She received national media attention for Astonishing X-Men, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Ms. Liu also wrote the story for the animated film, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, which was produced by Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and Madhouse Inc.
Her newest work is MONSTRESS, an original, creator-owned comic book series with Japanese artist (and X-23 collaborator) Sana Takeda. Published by Image in Fall 2015, MONSTRESS is set in an alternate, matriarchal 1920’s Asia and follows a girl’s struggle to survive the trauma of war. With a cast of girls and monsters and set against a richly imagined aesthetic of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS #1 debuted to critical praise. The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the longer than typical first issue was “world-building on a scale rare in mainstream comics.”
Ms. Liu is also the author of more than 19 novels, most notably the urban fantasy series, Hunter Kiss, and the paranormal romance series, Dirk & Steele. Her novels have also been bestsellers on USA Today, which described Liu “as imaginative as she is prolific.” Her critically praised fiction has twice received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, for THE MORTAL BONE (Hunter Kiss #6), and TIGER EYE (Dirk & Steele #1). TIGER EYE was the basis for a bestselling paranormal romance video game called Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box.
Liu has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, MTV, and been profiled in the Wall Street Journal.com, Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. She is a frequent lecturer and guest speaker, appearing on panels at San Diego Comic Con, the Tokyo Literary Festival, the New York Times Public Lecture series, Geeks Out; and the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her work has been published internationally, including Germany, France, Japan, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
Ms. Liu was born in Philadelphia, and has lived in numerous cities in the Midwest and Beijing. Prior to writing full-time, she was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.
Ms. Liu is a highly celebrated comic book writer. Her extensive work with Marvel includes the bestselling Dark Wolverine series, NYX: No Way Home, X-23, and Black Widow: The Name of the Rose. She received national media attention for Astonishing X-Men, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Ms. Liu also wrote the story for the animated film, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, which was produced by Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and Madhouse Inc.
Her newest work is MONSTRESS, an original, creator-owned comic book series with Japanese artist (and X-23 collaborator) Sana Takeda. Published by Image in Fall 2015, MONSTRESS is set in an alternate, matriarchal 1920’s Asia and follows a girl’s struggle to survive the trauma of war. With a cast of girls and monsters and set against a richly imagined aesthetic of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS #1 debuted to critical praise. The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the longer than typical first issue was “world-building on a scale rare in mainstream comics.”
Ms. Liu is also the author of more than 19 novels, most notably the urban fantasy series, Hunter Kiss, and the paranormal romance series, Dirk & Steele. Her novels have also been bestsellers on USA Today, which described Liu “as imaginative as she is prolific.” Her critically praised fiction has twice received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, for THE MORTAL BONE (Hunter Kiss #6), and TIGER EYE (Dirk & Steele #1). TIGER EYE was the basis for a bestselling paranormal romance video game called Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box.
Liu has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, MTV, and been profiled in the Wall Street Journal.com, Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. She is a frequent lecturer and guest speaker, appearing on panels at San Diego Comic Con, the Tokyo Literary Festival, the New York Times Public Lecture series, Geeks Out; and the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her work has been published internationally, including Germany, France, Japan, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
Ms. Liu was born in Philadelphia, and has lived in numerous cities in the Midwest and Beijing. Prior to writing full-time, she was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 438 reviews
September 12, 2022
wow, the power of finishing a five star read (and probably my new all time favorite short story collection) on namjoon's birthday.
also... just... give me all the sapphic sleeping beauty retellings, apparently. i am very much the target market.
“Love is powerful, replied the storytellers. Love is divine. That is the answer to every tale we tell. What sleeps can always be awakened with love.”
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter | Blog | Spotify | Twitch
also... just... give me all the sapphic sleeping beauty retellings, apparently. i am very much the target market.
“Love is powerful, replied the storytellers. Love is divine. That is the answer to every tale we tell. What sleeps can always be awakened with love.”
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter | Blog | Spotify | Twitch
June 15, 2021
Inventive and transportive, magical and haunting, The Tangleroot Palace is a collection of seven unique short stories written with Liu’s beautifully flowing prose. Each story is the perfect length to let you revel in the intriguing worlds she creates, yet leaves you wanting more as well. From hoodoo dolls to supervillains to vampires, every story is unique and captivating, many reading like fairy tales or twisting regular tropes into new shapes. Honestly, I think this is one of the strongest anthologies I’ve read yet, with me enjoying all but one of the stories.
Overall content warnings (some stories have specific ones that I will mention later): murder, death, violence, gore, depictions of blood.
—★—
I absolutely loved this one, so perfectly creepy and dark as it is. It’s written well, mystery sown in its words—not revealing too much yet affecting all the same. The story slowly unraveled around me as I took in the circumstances of the protagonist’s stolen life and the work she did. In essence, this is about freedom and taking your life into your own hands when it was destined for something else, and both the literal and metaphorical depictions of this through the use of hoodoo dolls was brilliant.
CW: dismemberment
A twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty, this was darker than I expected it to be, but I loved it. I adored the (sapphic) romance that formed, where the sheer power of hope and love they had for each other was so wonderful to see. The villain of the story, a body-stealing witch hungering for power, was absolutely terrifying but well-crafted. As the author wrote, this is a “tale about women, and the power of women, and how women save each other and themselves through sisterhood and love.”
Rep: lesbian MC
CW: rape, suicidal ideation, miscarriage
First of all, I want a full novel set in this world immediately, because the alternate China-Britain politics of it are so fascinating and I so badly want to see them explored more. Second, this story was just so cool. It stars a soldier who was accidentally born superhuman and raised as a weapon her whole life, following her life after war brings her trauma and changes the way she views herself and morality. I don’t want to say much, but the way this explored betrayal really appealed to me and had me losing my mind a bit.
Rep: biracial (Chinese, Scottish) wlw MC
CW: war
This story is kind of hilarious because this man is literally trying to be Lex Luthor while bioengineering giant worms. And honestly… that’s kind of why it didn’t fully work for me, because it’s absolutely wild and not all the parts clicked together. I really love the idea, someone who attempts to emulate a villain in hopes that a countering hero exists—and loves him—but it wasn’t executed as well as I wanted, especially with the giant waste-eating worms. But I think what is most compelling about this story is the feeling of loneliness that permeates it; it feels so real and tangible.
Rep: gay MC
CW: mention of suicide
I loved so much of what was going on in this story—particularly the setting (an immortal woman in the form of a forest who takes people) and the themes (finding love and family when you have never been familiar with what those are). This truly reads like a fairy tale, with that whimsical whirlwind adventure feel to it. However, something about it was a bit eh for me and the story didn’t hit me as hard as the others did.
I don’t have much to say about this one, because I didn’t really care about anything that happened. This story is about humans who became vampires after a virus took out 80% of the world’s population. I honestly was confused throughout the story, and the only part that interested me was what happened at the end.
CW: animal death
The titular novella of this collection, and my favorite, this takes the typical tale of a princess running away from home and an unwanted arranged marriage, and transforms it into a fascinating, magical story about illusions and agency. This was a story that slowly grew on me more and more as I kept reading, not fully invested at first but completely in love by the end. In the beginning, I was a little off-put by the romance and how insta-lovey it was, but then the end came and I became absolutely enamored by it, particularly with how I thought it subverted a typical trope. The setting, a magical forest ruled by an imprisoned woman, also grew in its intrigue over the course of the story. This novella just has such a fascinating exploration of illusions and truth and how the lines can be blurred to work for or against someone, as well as a feminist twist to the usual choiceless princess who cannot save herself, and it was the perfect choice to end the anthology.
CW: mentions of parental death
—★—
If it wasn’t already clear, it was truly a joy to read this collection of short stories. Liu’s lush settings allows her to play with so many interesting themes and tropes, and I think that is why I loved almost every single story. If you want fresh, fairytale-like takes on fantasy with powerful magic and women, told through gorgeous writing and set in enthralling worlds, you will find everything you’re looking for within these pages.
Overall content warnings (some stories have specific ones that I will mention later): murder, death, violence, gore, depictions of blood.
—★—
Sympathy for the Bones - ★★★★
I absolutely loved this one, so perfectly creepy and dark as it is. It’s written well, mystery sown in its words—not revealing too much yet affecting all the same. The story slowly unraveled around me as I took in the circumstances of the protagonist’s stolen life and the work she did. In essence, this is about freedom and taking your life into your own hands when it was destined for something else, and both the literal and metaphorical depictions of this through the use of hoodoo dolls was brilliant.
CW: dismemberment
The Briar and the Rose - ★★★★
A twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty, this was darker than I expected it to be, but I loved it. I adored the (sapphic) romance that formed, where the sheer power of hope and love they had for each other was so wonderful to see. The villain of the story, a body-stealing witch hungering for power, was absolutely terrifying but well-crafted. As the author wrote, this is a “tale about women, and the power of women, and how women save each other and themselves through sisterhood and love.”
Rep: lesbian MC
CW: rape, suicidal ideation, miscarriage
Call Her Savage - ★★★★
First of all, I want a full novel set in this world immediately, because the alternate China-Britain politics of it are so fascinating and I so badly want to see them explored more. Second, this story was just so cool. It stars a soldier who was accidentally born superhuman and raised as a weapon her whole life, following her life after war brings her trauma and changes the way she views herself and morality. I don’t want to say much, but the way this explored betrayal really appealed to me and had me losing my mind a bit.
Rep: biracial (Chinese, Scottish) wlw MC
CW: war
The Last Dignity of Man - ★★★½
This story is kind of hilarious because this man is literally trying to be Lex Luthor while bioengineering giant worms. And honestly… that’s kind of why it didn’t fully work for me, because it’s absolutely wild and not all the parts clicked together. I really love the idea, someone who attempts to emulate a villain in hopes that a countering hero exists—and loves him—but it wasn’t executed as well as I wanted, especially with the giant waste-eating worms. But I think what is most compelling about this story is the feeling of loneliness that permeates it; it feels so real and tangible.
Rep: gay MC
CW: mention of suicide
Where the Heart Lives - ★★★½
I loved so much of what was going on in this story—particularly the setting (an immortal woman in the form of a forest who takes people) and the themes (finding love and family when you have never been familiar with what those are). This truly reads like a fairy tale, with that whimsical whirlwind adventure feel to it. However, something about it was a bit eh for me and the story didn’t hit me as hard as the others did.
After the Blood - ★★
I don’t have much to say about this one, because I didn’t really care about anything that happened. This story is about humans who became vampires after a virus took out 80% of the world’s population. I honestly was confused throughout the story, and the only part that interested me was what happened at the end.
CW: animal death
The Tangleroot Palace - ★★★★½
The titular novella of this collection, and my favorite, this takes the typical tale of a princess running away from home and an unwanted arranged marriage, and transforms it into a fascinating, magical story about illusions and agency. This was a story that slowly grew on me more and more as I kept reading, not fully invested at first but completely in love by the end. In the beginning, I was a little off-put by the romance and how insta-lovey it was, but then the end came and I became absolutely enamored by it, particularly with how I thought it subverted a typical trope. The setting, a magical forest ruled by an imprisoned woman, also grew in its intrigue over the course of the story. This novella just has such a fascinating exploration of illusions and truth and how the lines can be blurred to work for or against someone, as well as a feminist twist to the usual choiceless princess who cannot save herself, and it was the perfect choice to end the anthology.
CW: mentions of parental death
—★—
If it wasn’t already clear, it was truly a joy to read this collection of short stories. Liu’s lush settings allows her to play with so many interesting themes and tropes, and I think that is why I loved almost every single story. If you want fresh, fairytale-like takes on fantasy with powerful magic and women, told through gorgeous writing and set in enthralling worlds, you will find everything you’re looking for within these pages.
Thank you to Tachyon Publications for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinions in any way.
April 26, 2021
For those that still are confused: NOT A COMIC BOOK.
Anthology of short stories and novelletes , ranging from fantasy to horror and post-apocalypsis.
Apparently a good portion of readers know Marjorie M. Liu from the graphic novel Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening, but I have been a fan of her ever since I read The Iron Hunt from her incredible urban fantasy series Hunter Kiss.
Here she presents us with some of her short stories, of which I knew a couple; At the end of these Liu gives some comments from when they were written, some of which she considers to be part of the universe of her ideas (like Dirk & Steel), that is to say full of magic.
1)“Sympathy for the Bones” (4.3 stars)-for me a re-read- is a tale full of dark magic , hoodoo dolls, witches, and desperation in the mountains.
2)“Briar and Rose” (5 stars) is a retelling of Sleepy Beauty. A very interesting, and again dark story, of saphic love, dark witches, and a woman warrior looking to free her love. Skip all the stereotypes.
3)“Call Her Savage” (3.5 stars) steampunk and alternate history, where China is at war with England, and have colonies in America (Scot-Irish and Chinese people). A Marshall is call back to help. War , betrayal, and pain.
Took me a while to get me into this story, a bit confused by the setting. So much elements here. First frustration to hope for a full novel here.
4) “The Last Dignity of Man” (3 stars) a... genious mad scientist? a wannabe villain that dream about a hero? something like that. However, strangely this man with his loneliness pull at my feels.
5)“Where the Heart Lives”(3.5 stars) it's more in the fairytale side, with mysteries in the woods, strange dreams, a lost love, and a young woman finding acceptance and a place for herself.
6)“After the Blood” (3.5 stars) post-apocalypytic story, where the Amish are seek for farming skills, there are monsters in the woods, and a woman hide secrets but the powers calls. Oh, and a . Cats are your best friends ;)
Again , leaves us wishing for a novel here.
7)“Tangleroot Palace”(3.6 stars) A princess who must marry a warlord, escapes to the forest looking for a possible solution, But she found old magic . With a bit of humor , a bit predictable but quite charming. I like the idea of strong woman saving herself.
And yes, a theme with the Woods, old magic, and souls trapped. Don't forget the broken people.
+My thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the digital ARC.+
---------------------------------
Contain:
Anthology of short stories and novelletes , ranging from fantasy to horror and post-apocalypsis.
Apparently a good portion of readers know Marjorie M. Liu from the graphic novel Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening, but I have been a fan of her ever since I read The Iron Hunt from her incredible urban fantasy series Hunter Kiss.
Here she presents us with some of her short stories, of which I knew a couple; At the end of these Liu gives some comments from when they were written, some of which she considers to be part of the universe of her ideas (like Dirk & Steel), that is to say full of magic.
1)“Sympathy for the Bones” (4.3 stars)-for me a re-read- is a tale full of dark magic , hoodoo dolls, witches, and desperation in the mountains.
2)“Briar and Rose” (5 stars) is a retelling of Sleepy Beauty. A very interesting, and again dark story, of saphic love, dark witches, and a woman warrior looking to free her love. Skip all the stereotypes.
3)“Call Her Savage” (3.5 stars) steampunk and alternate history, where China is at war with England, and have colonies in America (Scot-Irish and Chinese people). A Marshall is call back to help. War , betrayal, and pain.
Took me a while to get me into this story, a bit confused by the setting. So much elements here. First frustration to hope for a full novel here.
4) “The Last Dignity of Man” (3 stars) a... genious mad scientist? a wannabe villain that dream about a hero? something like that. However, strangely this man with his loneliness pull at my feels.
5)“Where the Heart Lives”(3.5 stars) it's more in the fairytale side, with mysteries in the woods, strange dreams, a lost love, and a young woman finding acceptance and a place for herself.
6)“After the Blood” (3.5 stars) post-apocalypytic story, where the Amish are seek for farming skills, there are monsters in the woods, and a woman hide secrets but the powers calls. Oh, and a . Cats are your best friends ;)
Again , leaves us wishing for a novel here.
7)“Tangleroot Palace”(3.6 stars) A princess who must marry a warlord, escapes to the forest looking for a possible solution, But she found old magic . With a bit of humor , a bit predictable but quite charming. I like the idea of strong woman saving herself.
And yes, a theme with the Woods, old magic, and souls trapped. Don't forget the broken people.
+My thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the digital ARC.+
---------------------------------
Contain:
May 17, 2021
3.25 stars
**Many thanks to Majorie M. Liu, Tachyon Publications, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date: 15 June 2021**
This short story anthology is one of the most interesting books I have read. I do not know if I have ever read one that made me experience such a range of emotions. There were a few that I absolutely loved and some that didn't really capture my interest as much. That being said, a few of these are an absolute must read!
Sympathy for the Bones: 3.5 stars
This was the perfect story with which to start this anthology. Liu's whimsical writing sets the tone and the morbid twists are wonderful glimpses of what is to come. In fact, the moment I read the imagery found on page one, I thought I would absolutely love this because I absolutely love pretty but purposeful language. Although I did enjoy this (a lot) it wasn't my favorite mostly because of the confusing ending. Despite this, I have to give points for the voodoo themed story. I do not think I have ever read one. The parallelism that is utilised to move along morals was subtle but showed the influence of environment on our lives! I also love myself a good revenge story :)
The Briar and the Rose: 4 stars
A fairytale exactly like I like it (I wish the titular story was more like this one). One of my favorite genres(?) is retellings: I eat them up. Luckily for me, this was a Sleeping Beauty sapphic retelling. Liu creates a magical atmosphere where The Duelist and Carmela and Rose live. It works as a short story because it utilises time jumps, repetition, a character focus, and an ethereal fantasy element to move the story along. Once again I was a bit confused by the ending, but this time I didn't mind it as much because I already understood the ethereal nature of the story and it didn't pull me out of the text. Also the sprinkle of commentary was great.
Call Her Savage: 2.75 stars
This is a steampunk alternate history story about a woman named Xing. I thought this story was just below "good". The reason for this is because, unlike The Briar and the Rose, I do not think it worked well as a short story. This should have been a full length novel. There is much more that was needed to be elaborated on and wasn't. The ending also required an emotional connection and deeper understanding that just wasn't there because of the lack of context and word count. If the author ever makes this into a feature length novel, I'll gladly read it though!
The Last Dignity of Man: 4.75 stars
This is my FAVORITE short story I have ever read. I love superheroes. Though I do consider myself more of a Marvel fan than DC, I absolutely loved the relation between escapism and mental health and self-projecting onto heroes and villains. It is a masterful story. Fits perfectly into the constraints because we get context from setting clues and the way that Alexander Lutheran thinks. It has a bittersweet ending that will stay with me for a long time. Cannot recommend this enough. (Be sure to push through the first page or so, the beginning is a bit weird).
Where the Heart Lives: 3 stars
This is apparently a prequel to a series called Dirk & Steele, maybe I'll check it out now because this story definitely made me intrigued. Unfortunately, I kind of wished that this would have been a bit longer just like Call Her Savage because there was some fleshing out of characters that should have happened and the Fae aspect was a bit rushed. Personally, I don't think this would have been enough for a novel, per se, but rather a novella. Majorie Liu really shows her mastery of creating a haunting tone in this short story, even though I already praised this. The haunting forest shone here and Lucy was a heart-warming protagonist.
After the Blood: 2 stars
The weakest short story in this collection. Amish vampires in a post-plague world where people live in small enclaves does sound very interesting, but I felt like it was a bit too long. Seriously, we could have given these pages to some of the other stories! The themes about morality were being point-blank fed to you and I just didn't really care. Maybe I would if I read Dirk & Steele, but alas I haven't. It was fine, I didn't exactly dislike it. ... and it had cats.
Tangleroot Palace: 2.5 stars
The titular short story of this anthology did disappoint me a little bit, I can't lie. It was written as a fairytale, but in the way that I do not like. Liu plays with the runaway princess trope where the main character Sally refuses to marry the malignant Warlord. To escape her fate, she tries to enter the Tangleroot Forest, but things do not go exactly as planned. First off, the magic was interpolated with the story in a peculiar way: >the author didn't seem to be able to make up her mind if she wants to go all in with the fantasy aspects or if she wants to focus more on the plot. In my opinion it should have been either focus on the realism, but make it magical, or go all in with the fantasy. The twist is obvious from the moment Sally encounters so I wasn't exaclty shocked by the ending. Again, I'm not saying this is a bad short story, it is fine, but I kind of hoped it would be something more. Maybe I just didn't understand this.
The Tangleroot Palace: Stories has been a ride with enormous highs and decent lows. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this collection overall. If anything, you truly must read The Last Dignity of Man!
**Many thanks to Majorie M. Liu, Tachyon Publications, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date: 15 June 2021**
This short story anthology is one of the most interesting books I have read. I do not know if I have ever read one that made me experience such a range of emotions. There were a few that I absolutely loved and some that didn't really capture my interest as much. That being said, a few of these are an absolute must read!
Sympathy for the Bones: 3.5 stars
This was the perfect story with which to start this anthology. Liu's whimsical writing sets the tone and the morbid twists are wonderful glimpses of what is to come. In fact, the moment I read the imagery found on page one, I thought I would absolutely love this because I absolutely love pretty but purposeful language. Although I did enjoy this (a lot) it wasn't my favorite mostly because of the confusing ending. Despite this, I have to give points for the voodoo themed story. I do not think I have ever read one. The parallelism that is utilised to move along morals was subtle but showed the influence of environment on our lives! I also love myself a good revenge story :)
The Briar and the Rose: 4 stars
A fairytale exactly like I like it (I wish the titular story was more like this one). One of my favorite genres(?) is retellings: I eat them up. Luckily for me, this was a Sleeping Beauty sapphic retelling. Liu creates a magical atmosphere where The Duelist and Carmela and Rose live. It works as a short story because it utilises time jumps, repetition, a character focus, and an ethereal fantasy element to move the story along. Once again I was a bit confused by the ending, but this time I didn't mind it as much because I already understood the ethereal nature of the story and it didn't pull me out of the text. Also the sprinkle of commentary was great.
Call Her Savage: 2.75 stars
This is a steampunk alternate history story about a woman named Xing. I thought this story was just below "good". The reason for this is because, unlike The Briar and the Rose, I do not think it worked well as a short story. This should have been a full length novel. There is much more that was needed to be elaborated on and wasn't. The ending also required an emotional connection and deeper understanding that just wasn't there because of the lack of context and word count. If the author ever makes this into a feature length novel, I'll gladly read it though!
The Last Dignity of Man: 4.75 stars
This is my FAVORITE short story I have ever read. I love superheroes. Though I do consider myself more of a Marvel fan than DC, I absolutely loved the relation between escapism and mental health and self-projecting onto heroes and villains. It is a masterful story. Fits perfectly into the constraints because we get context from setting clues and the way that Alexander Lutheran thinks. It has a bittersweet ending that will stay with me for a long time. Cannot recommend this enough. (Be sure to push through the first page or so, the beginning is a bit weird).
Where the Heart Lives: 3 stars
This is apparently a prequel to a series called Dirk & Steele, maybe I'll check it out now because this story definitely made me intrigued. Unfortunately, I kind of wished that this would have been a bit longer just like Call Her Savage because there was some fleshing out of characters that should have happened and the Fae aspect was a bit rushed. Personally, I don't think this would have been enough for a novel, per se, but rather a novella. Majorie Liu really shows her mastery of creating a haunting tone in this short story, even though I already praised this. The haunting forest shone here and Lucy was a heart-warming protagonist.
After the Blood: 2 stars
The weakest short story in this collection. Amish vampires in a post-plague world where people live in small enclaves does sound very interesting, but I felt like it was a bit too long. Seriously, we could have given these pages to some of the other stories! The themes about morality were being point-blank fed to you and I just didn't really care. Maybe I would if I read Dirk & Steele, but alas I haven't. It was fine, I didn't exactly dislike it. ... and it had cats.
Tangleroot Palace: 2.5 stars
The titular short story of this anthology did disappoint me a little bit, I can't lie. It was written as a fairytale, but in the way that I do not like. Liu plays with the runaway princess trope where the main character Sally refuses to marry the malignant Warlord. To escape her fate, she tries to enter the Tangleroot Forest, but things do not go exactly as planned. First off, the magic was interpolated with the story in a peculiar way: >the author didn't seem to be able to make up her mind if she wants to go all in with the fantasy aspects or if she wants to focus more on the plot. In my opinion it should have been either focus on the realism, but make it magical, or go all in with the fantasy. The twist is obvious from the moment Sally encounters so I wasn't exaclty shocked by the ending. Again, I'm not saying this is a bad short story, it is fine, but I kind of hoped it would be something more. Maybe I just didn't understand this.
The Tangleroot Palace: Stories has been a ride with enormous highs and decent lows. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this collection overall. If anything, you truly must read The Last Dignity of Man!
Shelved as 'zzzz'
November 24, 2020i fell in love with liu's monstress series, so i knew i had to read her debut story collection about dangerous women.
Sympathy For The Bones ➸ ★★★★☆
This gave me literal chills. A haunting, evocative story about the price we'd pay for freedom.
➸ Trigger warnings for .
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram
Sympathy For The Bones ➸ ★★★★☆
This gave me literal chills. A haunting, evocative story about the price we'd pay for freedom.
➸ Trigger warnings for .
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram
May 19, 2021
4.5 stars rounded up
The Tangleroot Palace was just as good as I hoped it would be. It is a lush, darkly magical collection of short fiction from the creator of Monstress, including the titular Tangleroot Palace as a full-length novella. I loved all of them and was completely swept away. It was also cool because Liu includes brief notes at the end of each tale discussing what it was originally written for and when, which I found to be fascinating.
Sympathy for the Bones features a young woman forced to learn dark magic from the woman who took her in decides she has had enough and will use that dark magic to her own advantage.
In The Briar and the Rose we get a sapphic reimagining of Sleeping Beauty that draws on the fact that the original story involved sexual assault while the young woman was sleeping. In this version, it becomes a story of possession where a witch has taken over the body of a beautiful young woman and the only person who notices is a female bodyguard.
Call Her Savage is like steampunk meets monstrous bioengineering in East Asia.
The Last Dignity of Man is about a wealthy, young, gay biotech genius who fantasizes about being Lex Luthor while carrying out disturbing projects on behalf of the government. It's an interesting reimagining that carries a surprising amount of emotional weight.
Where the Heart Lives is the first of three stories about dark secrets living deep in the woods. This one is about a young woman forced to leave home and live with a woman everyone thinks is a witch in the middle of a haunted forest.
After the Blood is a post-apocalyptic survival story with vampires and zombies where Amish people now hold power because they know how to survive without modernity.
Lastly, The Tangleroot Palace is about a down to earth princess resisting an arranged marriage by running away to the dark and dangerous woods in search of help.
I very much enjoyed all of the stories and would recommend checking out the collection if it sounds up your alley. They often feature queer characters, or characters of color, or women who are not satisfied with the lives they are supposed to live. They are stories about love, death, grief, violence, and identity. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Tangleroot Palace was just as good as I hoped it would be. It is a lush, darkly magical collection of short fiction from the creator of Monstress, including the titular Tangleroot Palace as a full-length novella. I loved all of them and was completely swept away. It was also cool because Liu includes brief notes at the end of each tale discussing what it was originally written for and when, which I found to be fascinating.
Sympathy for the Bones features a young woman forced to learn dark magic from the woman who took her in decides she has had enough and will use that dark magic to her own advantage.
In The Briar and the Rose we get a sapphic reimagining of Sleeping Beauty that draws on the fact that the original story involved sexual assault while the young woman was sleeping. In this version, it becomes a story of possession where a witch has taken over the body of a beautiful young woman and the only person who notices is a female bodyguard.
Call Her Savage is like steampunk meets monstrous bioengineering in East Asia.
The Last Dignity of Man is about a wealthy, young, gay biotech genius who fantasizes about being Lex Luthor while carrying out disturbing projects on behalf of the government. It's an interesting reimagining that carries a surprising amount of emotional weight.
Where the Heart Lives is the first of three stories about dark secrets living deep in the woods. This one is about a young woman forced to leave home and live with a woman everyone thinks is a witch in the middle of a haunted forest.
After the Blood is a post-apocalyptic survival story with vampires and zombies where Amish people now hold power because they know how to survive without modernity.
Lastly, The Tangleroot Palace is about a down to earth princess resisting an arranged marriage by running away to the dark and dangerous woods in search of help.
I very much enjoyed all of the stories and would recommend checking out the collection if it sounds up your alley. They often feature queer characters, or characters of color, or women who are not satisfied with the lives they are supposed to live. They are stories about love, death, grief, violence, and identity. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Want to read
November 10, 2020
February 25, 2021
Do you want to read a short story collection exploring voodoo magic, Amish vampires, a wannabe superhero villain, a princess that does not like others to decide her future and more? Then I can recommend The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu.
Let me first start by saying that I haven’t read any other work by Liu, so I did not know what to expect. However, after reading this short story collection, I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised.
The best thing about this collection is that each story feels unique and different. The plot, the location and characters vary from each other, which made this book enjoyable to read. Liu repeatedly demonstrates how bad-ass women are and how women can achieve great things. My favourite short stories are “Sympathy for the Bones”, “The Briar and the Rose” and “Tangleroot Palace”. After each story, there is a short explanation about why and when the story was written, which I loved reading.
Although I enjoyed this collection, I didn’t find the stories “Call her savage” and “After the blood” interesting. My most significant criticism is Liu’s characters. Unfortunately, there were only a few memorable characters in this collection. Liu demonstrates that she can write compelling and unique characters in this collection. Richard from “The Last Dignity of Man” and Sally from “Tangleroot Palace” were fantastic characters. After seeing that Liu can write memorable characters, it frustrated me that most of the characters in the other short stories didn’t have much depth.
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu is a unique short story collection that takes the reader on a wild journey. I can recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something different in the fantasy genre and enjoys short-story collections.
4 / 5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Let me first start by saying that I haven’t read any other work by Liu, so I did not know what to expect. However, after reading this short story collection, I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised.
The best thing about this collection is that each story feels unique and different. The plot, the location and characters vary from each other, which made this book enjoyable to read. Liu repeatedly demonstrates how bad-ass women are and how women can achieve great things. My favourite short stories are “Sympathy for the Bones”, “The Briar and the Rose” and “Tangleroot Palace”. After each story, there is a short explanation about why and when the story was written, which I loved reading.
Although I enjoyed this collection, I didn’t find the stories “Call her savage” and “After the blood” interesting. My most significant criticism is Liu’s characters. Unfortunately, there were only a few memorable characters in this collection. Liu demonstrates that she can write compelling and unique characters in this collection. Richard from “The Last Dignity of Man” and Sally from “Tangleroot Palace” were fantastic characters. After seeing that Liu can write memorable characters, it frustrated me that most of the characters in the other short stories didn’t have much depth.
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu is a unique short story collection that takes the reader on a wild journey. I can recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something different in the fantasy genre and enjoys short-story collections.
4 / 5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2021
The Tangleroot Palace contains six short stories (“Sympathy for the Bones,” “The Briar and the Rose,” “Call Her Savage,” “The Last Dignity of Man,” “Where the Heart Lives,” “After the Blood”) and one novella (“Tangleroot Palace”), all of which are fantasy with hints of horror and gorgeously written. At the end of each story, there is also brief commentary by Liu, providing some background and thematic connections between the stories.
I adore the writing, which flowed beautifully, and I love how effortlessly detailed each sentence is. Fantasy short stories are extremely difficult to pull off, given the need to provide enough world building and plot within the limited word count, and Liu delivered not one but six satisfying stories.
The first story, “Sympathy for the Bones,” opens with a funeral and is about hoodoos, setting the tone of the whole book to be both magical and macabre. In “The Briar and the Rose,” we have a sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty as suggested by the title, a love story between swordswoman Briar (WOC) and Rose, whose body is possessed by a sorceress. I really enjoyed this one but the climax was glossed over and I felt it could’ve been so much more amazing than it already is.
“Call Her Savage” is set in the Tang Dynasty around the Opium War and Empress Xiao Shen Cheng (Manchu: ᡥᡳᠶᠣᠣᡧᡠᠩᡤᠠ ᠣᠯᡥᠣᠪᠠ ᡧᠠᠩᡤᠠᠨ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠩᡥᡝᠣ) was also present in one scene. The main imagery of this story revolves around stars, in military star, stars in the sky, the name of the main character Xīng (which is 星, stars, in Chinese yet never explicitly mentioned in the text). This one was a little confusing for me—perhaps I tried too hard to tell history from fiction—with some information being laid out too thickly, but I loved the historical aspect nonetheless. With Xīng (Chinese-Scottish, sapphic) being a superhero, this leads us to the next supervillain story, “The Last Dignity of Man.” Alexander Lutheran (achillean) is a powerful but lonely man who loves the idea of being Lex Luthor. This is definitely the most disturbing story for me due to the gore.
“Where the Heart Lives” stars a non-speaking love interest and follows Lucy’s journey into the forest in an attempt to save a woman taken twenty years prior. Cursed forest and magic are important themes that thread through the rest of the book. “After the Blood” is a story about a pandemic with three characters who are not fully human, one of which is vampirish. In the novella “Tangleroot Palace,” Princess Sally, whose name is Salinda, faces the haunted Tangleroot Forest in search of an escape from the marriage proposal from the Warlord. I liked the atmosphere of the story and how Sally prefers to live a relatively common life, leading her to some adventures that she didn’t anticipate.
With Liu’s beautiful writing as smooth as breathing, The Tangleroot Palace is an engrossing story collection debut (she has several published graphic novels), and I absolutely cannot wait for more of her works.
I received an e-ARC from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings (in the order of the seven stories):
1. death, murder, dismembering, bones, past child abuse, pedophilia, blood
2. rape, possessing, hints of slavery, racism, mention of war, blood, death, pregnancy, miscarriage, dismembering
3. war, blood, drowning, death, poison, bullets, mention of rape
4. gore, blood, bone, hospitalization, mention of death, mention of drunk driving
5. kidnapping, mention of death
6. blood, cutting, gun, pandemic
7. blood, death, arranged marriage
I adore the writing, which flowed beautifully, and I love how effortlessly detailed each sentence is. Fantasy short stories are extremely difficult to pull off, given the need to provide enough world building and plot within the limited word count, and Liu delivered not one but six satisfying stories.
The first story, “Sympathy for the Bones,” opens with a funeral and is about hoodoos, setting the tone of the whole book to be both magical and macabre. In “The Briar and the Rose,” we have a sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty as suggested by the title, a love story between swordswoman Briar (WOC) and Rose, whose body is possessed by a sorceress. I really enjoyed this one but the climax was glossed over and I felt it could’ve been so much more amazing than it already is.
“Call Her Savage” is set in the Tang Dynasty around the Opium War and Empress Xiao Shen Cheng (Manchu: ᡥᡳᠶᠣᠣᡧᡠᠩᡤᠠ ᠣᠯᡥᠣᠪᠠ ᡧᠠᠩᡤᠠᠨ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠩᡥᡝᠣ) was also present in one scene. The main imagery of this story revolves around stars, in military star, stars in the sky, the name of the main character Xīng (which is 星, stars, in Chinese yet never explicitly mentioned in the text). This one was a little confusing for me—perhaps I tried too hard to tell history from fiction—with some information being laid out too thickly, but I loved the historical aspect nonetheless. With Xīng (Chinese-Scottish, sapphic) being a superhero, this leads us to the next supervillain story, “The Last Dignity of Man.” Alexander Lutheran (achillean) is a powerful but lonely man who loves the idea of being Lex Luthor. This is definitely the most disturbing story for me due to the gore.
“Where the Heart Lives” stars a non-speaking love interest and follows Lucy’s journey into the forest in an attempt to save a woman taken twenty years prior. Cursed forest and magic are important themes that thread through the rest of the book. “After the Blood” is a story about a pandemic with three characters who are not fully human, one of which is vampirish. In the novella “Tangleroot Palace,” Princess Sally, whose name is Salinda, faces the haunted Tangleroot Forest in search of an escape from the marriage proposal from the Warlord. I liked the atmosphere of the story and how Sally prefers to live a relatively common life, leading her to some adventures that she didn’t anticipate.
With Liu’s beautiful writing as smooth as breathing, The Tangleroot Palace is an engrossing story collection debut (she has several published graphic novels), and I absolutely cannot wait for more of her works.
I received an e-ARC from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings (in the order of the seven stories):
1. death, murder, dismembering, bones, past child abuse, pedophilia, blood
2. rape, possessing, hints of slavery, racism, mention of war, blood, death, pregnancy, miscarriage, dismembering
3. war, blood, drowning, death, poison, bullets, mention of rape
4. gore, blood, bone, hospitalization, mention of death, mention of drunk driving
5. kidnapping, mention of death
6. blood, cutting, gun, pandemic
7. blood, death, arranged marriage
July 4, 2021
Sympathy for the Bones: 4/5 so, so dark - dark in the way of rot, of things left under rocks a little too long, of the deep dark well of things that should be buried and stay buried. There's not so much a twist as a build-up to the inievitable, and the ending is left with just a hint of ambiguity - enough to still unsettle once the final page is turned. Just missed the tiniest... bite to it all.
The Briar and the Rose: 5/5
I'm maybe being ever-so-slightly overgenerous with the 5/5, as there were technically a few moments that dragged a little for such a relatively short amount of time, but OH I think this might be the very best retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a twist to the story that's so utterly claustrophobic and horrifying it makes the all the better.
The Light and the Fury: 2/5
This was my least favourite of the collection, not so much because it's bad (it isn't), but possibly because it felt too much like a hasty chapter from a much, much larger story, rushed into being a sort-of-standalone that never quite learned to walk on its own. Too much need for explaination in too little time, and as I read this after others that also were small pieces of other, larger worlds that felt fully fleshed on their own, I think I was expecting... more?
The Last Dignity of Man: 3.5/5
Solemn and bitter-sweet, and a timely reminder of the folly of playing gods.
Where the Heart Lives: 4/5
Just so... beautiful. The author mentions a clear preoccupation with what lies in the forest, the spirits of trees, and this is the first time in the collection that comes through so strongly. It also makes me want to read the novel series this apparently a sort of (very) early prequel to.
After the Blood: 4/5
I would definitely watch a tv show set in this possible future. There are moments through the story that gleam with sunlight, and are described so beautiful you feel fully present - others lack clarity, a little, though it's hard to tell if this is intentional. I feel like I want to actually see it all, to understand. Or maybe just another read through will be the thing.
Tangleroot Palace: 5/5
Just the loveliest thing. Liu gives us a story so familiar it feels like following a path home, or a thread in a well-worn blanket, but she brings it to life and gives it such wonderful little twists and turns along the way.
The Briar and the Rose: 5/5
I'm maybe being ever-so-slightly overgenerous with the 5/5, as there were technically a few moments that dragged a little for such a relatively short amount of time, but OH I think this might be the very best retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a twist to the story that's so utterly claustrophobic and horrifying it makes the all the better.
The Light and the Fury: 2/5
This was my least favourite of the collection, not so much because it's bad (it isn't), but possibly because it felt too much like a hasty chapter from a much, much larger story, rushed into being a sort-of-standalone that never quite learned to walk on its own. Too much need for explaination in too little time, and as I read this after others that also were small pieces of other, larger worlds that felt fully fleshed on their own, I think I was expecting... more?
The Last Dignity of Man: 3.5/5
Solemn and bitter-sweet, and a timely reminder of the folly of playing gods.
Where the Heart Lives: 4/5
Just so... beautiful. The author mentions a clear preoccupation with what lies in the forest, the spirits of trees, and this is the first time in the collection that comes through so strongly. It also makes me want to read the novel series this apparently a sort of (very) early prequel to.
After the Blood: 4/5
I would definitely watch a tv show set in this possible future. There are moments through the story that gleam with sunlight, and are described so beautiful you feel fully present - others lack clarity, a little, though it's hard to tell if this is intentional. I feel like I want to actually see it all, to understand. Or maybe just another read through will be the thing.
Tangleroot Palace: 5/5
Just the loveliest thing. Liu gives us a story so familiar it feels like following a path home, or a thread in a well-worn blanket, but she brings it to life and gives it such wonderful little twists and turns along the way.
April 16, 2021
On my blog.
Rep: lesbian mcs, gay mc, Chinese mc
CWs: gore, violence, implied rape, miscarriage
Galley provided by publisher
The Tangleroot Palace is probably one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. I loved Marjorie Liu’s Monstress series, but I had never tried any of her short stories before now. Each and every one of the stories here is one you want to see more of. They are, at once, perfectly paced and yet not nearly long enough.
I won’t go through each story individually because I wouldn’t really have much new to say about each one after a point, but there wasn’t a single story in this collection I didn’t love. There’s a fair bit of variety in genre — all are speculative fiction, but in amongst that you have fantasy, science fiction, alternative history and a bit of a dystopia too.
The best part of this collection, I think, is that it doesn’t matter what genre or plot Marjorie Liu chooses to write about, you’re always fully absorbed in it by the end of the first paragraph. She has this knack of worldbuilding so seamlessly along the way too, which is great because there’s not exactly time in short stories for info-dumps. But at the same time, it’s that skill that makes me desperate to see what she’d do with a full length book.
And then, obviously, there are the characters. I think probably the best way to illustrate just how good Liu is with characters is this: in a story about a man with a Lex Luthor kink (yeah), creating giant waste-eating worms, I found myself nearly crying.
Really then, this is one you do not want to miss out on.
Rep: lesbian mcs, gay mc, Chinese mc
CWs: gore, violence, implied rape, miscarriage
Galley provided by publisher
The Tangleroot Palace is probably one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. I loved Marjorie Liu’s Monstress series, but I had never tried any of her short stories before now. Each and every one of the stories here is one you want to see more of. They are, at once, perfectly paced and yet not nearly long enough.
I won’t go through each story individually because I wouldn’t really have much new to say about each one after a point, but there wasn’t a single story in this collection I didn’t love. There’s a fair bit of variety in genre — all are speculative fiction, but in amongst that you have fantasy, science fiction, alternative history and a bit of a dystopia too.
The best part of this collection, I think, is that it doesn’t matter what genre or plot Marjorie Liu chooses to write about, you’re always fully absorbed in it by the end of the first paragraph. She has this knack of worldbuilding so seamlessly along the way too, which is great because there’s not exactly time in short stories for info-dumps. But at the same time, it’s that skill that makes me desperate to see what she’d do with a full length book.
And then, obviously, there are the characters. I think probably the best way to illustrate just how good Liu is with characters is this: in a story about a man with a Lex Luthor kink (yeah), creating giant waste-eating worms, I found myself nearly crying.
Really then, this is one you do not want to miss out on.
June 9, 2021
I love this cover so much, I would buy it just to stare at it. As for what's inside, I only liked half of these stories unfortunately. I really do enjoy Lui's writing but I do think there's too many extra details that we don't need in most of the stories. I haven't read her graphic novels but I definitely want to soon. She has unique ideas that I enjoyed reading about. Some of the stories did bore me though.
Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
January 15, 2024
O antologie de povestiri dark fantasy cu puternice accente horror absolut delicioasă! Mi-a plăcut foarte mult cum scrie Marjorie Lu și am fost prinsă în mrejele fiecărei povești în parte de la început până la sfârșit. Vreo două povestiri, unde e vorba de o pădure personificată, răzbunătoare și crudă, mi-au adus aminte de Naomi Novik și stilul ei de a scrie. Ce mai, m-am distrat pe cinste cu cartea asta, o să mai caut și altele scrise de autoare!
June 27, 2021
I’ve not read any of the author’s novels before but I have enjoyed her Monstress graphic novel series for it’s beautiful art and a host of powerful and brilliant female characters. So it was no surprise to know that this collection of stories too is mostly about women - women who are strong of will and determined to survive. There is a bit of a common theme about magical woods through most of these stories and the descriptions truly gave me chills, as did some of the events which took place. The author doesn’t shy away from showing us the darkness and all of these stories revel in toeing the line between light and dark, letting us to believe what we choose. A very interesting collection, which is even more enhanced by the author’s commentary about why she wrote each story and what she feels about them now.
Sympathy for the bones
Dark and twisty tale about what one woman would do for the sake of freedom, for being relieved from being shackled to someone cruel, and what would she do differently than what was done to her. A bit gruesome, but nevertheless quite interesting.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Briar and the Rose
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, this story was a wonderful tale of female agency, finding the courage to survive in desperate circumstances when there doesn’t seem to be any hope, and two women helping each other through the power of their love. Very beautiful writing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Call Her Savage
Set in an alternate colonial world, this is the story of a powerful woman who was once famous for her strength and exploits in war, but who can only remember the grief and ravages of the time; how she has tried to stop fighting because she couldn’t handle it anymore, but ultimately it’s not always her choice, and circumstances decide what her path forward should be. Interesting combination of colonialism, magical crystals, advanced technology and plain old war.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Dignity of Man
Parts of this story were horrific to read, but the emotions it invokes are even more intense. I don’t wanna give away much but amidst a combo of a tech billionaire who wants to be a comic book supervillain and meet his nemesis, and lots of morally ambiguous scientific experimentation - all I could feel was the desperate loneliness throughout.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Where the Heart Lives
Set in a mystical forest which is described stunningly, this is a bittersweet story of what loneliness does to a person, as well as how experiencing love and family for the first time can make a person strong and resilient.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After the Blood
Set in the bleak aftermath of a pandemic, this was hard to read because of our own reality but it was also interesting to see Amish vampires, and many other supernatural creatures fighting for survival in a very changed world.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Tangleroot Palace
This eponymous story was more like a novelette than a short story and again had a mystical scary forest, a trapped queen, and a young woman bound to marriage who just wants her freedom but discovers her capacity for more along the way.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Sympathy for the bones
Dark and twisty tale about what one woman would do for the sake of freedom, for being relieved from being shackled to someone cruel, and what would she do differently than what was done to her. A bit gruesome, but nevertheless quite interesting.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Briar and the Rose
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, this story was a wonderful tale of female agency, finding the courage to survive in desperate circumstances when there doesn’t seem to be any hope, and two women helping each other through the power of their love. Very beautiful writing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Call Her Savage
Set in an alternate colonial world, this is the story of a powerful woman who was once famous for her strength and exploits in war, but who can only remember the grief and ravages of the time; how she has tried to stop fighting because she couldn’t handle it anymore, but ultimately it’s not always her choice, and circumstances decide what her path forward should be. Interesting combination of colonialism, magical crystals, advanced technology and plain old war.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Dignity of Man
Parts of this story were horrific to read, but the emotions it invokes are even more intense. I don’t wanna give away much but amidst a combo of a tech billionaire who wants to be a comic book supervillain and meet his nemesis, and lots of morally ambiguous scientific experimentation - all I could feel was the desperate loneliness throughout.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Where the Heart Lives
Set in a mystical forest which is described stunningly, this is a bittersweet story of what loneliness does to a person, as well as how experiencing love and family for the first time can make a person strong and resilient.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After the Blood
Set in the bleak aftermath of a pandemic, this was hard to read because of our own reality but it was also interesting to see Amish vampires, and many other supernatural creatures fighting for survival in a very changed world.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Tangleroot Palace
This eponymous story was more like a novelette than a short story and again had a mystical scary forest, a trapped queen, and a young woman bound to marriage who just wants her freedom but discovers her capacity for more along the way.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
April 11, 2022
While I’d already well and truly fallen in love with Monstress, I hadn’t read anything else by this author. After being wowed by this collection, I will now be working to rectify this egregious mistake.
Sympathy for the Bones
Clora works with bone needles and thread. She doesn’t make mistakes.
In this retelling of Sleeping Beauty, we meet the Duelist who, on Sundays, is called Briar. While six days a week are devoted to violence, the seventh contains love.
Superheroes, war and crystal skulls.
His mother named him Alexander Lutheran. Wasn’t it inevitable that he would aspire to become Lex Luthor?
This story takes place in the Dirk & Steele universe, well before the events of the first book in the series. Although I tend to stay as far away from romance novels as possible, I’m intrigued enough to want to dive into the first book.
Amish vampires! A sequel to the novella, The Robber Bride, which I now need to read.
When Sally’s father arranges for her to be married to the Black Knight of the Poisoned Cookies (not his real name), she decides to turn to the Tangleroot forest for help. It’s not like she’s got anything to lose.
Bonus points to the raven in the tree next door that believes in book-life symmetry, waiting to caw until the exact moment the raven in the story did.
The Light and the Fury was the only story I wasn’t immediately captivated by. The rest, I adored, but none more so than The Last Dignity of Man.
Content warnings include mention of .
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to fall in love with this collection.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
Sympathy for the Bones
Clora works with bone needles and thread. She doesn’t make mistakes.
Fear of a hoodoo woman was natural. Fear was how it had to be.The Briar and the Rose
In this retelling of Sleeping Beauty, we meet the Duelist who, on Sundays, is called Briar. While six days a week are devoted to violence, the seventh contains love.
The Duelist had learned, long ago, that oppression could be defeated only through study; like a sword, the mind must always be tended to if it was to aim true.The Light and the Fury
Superheroes, war and crystal skulls.
“Can you be what they need?”The Last Dignity of Man
“No,” she said quietly. “But I can try.”
His mother named him Alexander Lutheran. Wasn’t it inevitable that he would aspire to become Lex Luthor?
And he has lived up to that name, in more ways than one.Where the Heart Lives
This story takes place in the Dirk & Steele universe, well before the events of the first book in the series. Although I tend to stay as far away from romance novels as possible, I’m intrigued enough to want to dive into the first book.
“We all have our homes,” she said quietly. “The ability to choose yours is not a gift to take for granted.”After the Blood
Amish vampires! A sequel to the novella, The Robber Bride, which I now need to read.
Only so long a man could keep secrets while living under his family’s roof.Tangleroot Palace
When Sally’s father arranges for her to be married to the Black Knight of the Poisoned Cookies (not his real name), she decides to turn to the Tangleroot forest for help. It’s not like she’s got anything to lose.
Bonus points to the raven in the tree next door that believes in book-life symmetry, waiting to caw until the exact moment the raven in the story did.
“Most people, when they have questions, ask other people. They do not go running headfirst into a place of night terrors and magic.”It is rare for me to love a short story collection more than I love the idea of it but this one exceeded my expectations.
The Light and the Fury was the only story I wasn’t immediately captivated by. The rest, I adored, but none more so than The Last Dignity of Man.
Content warnings include mention of .
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to fall in love with this collection.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
October 13, 2021
The Tangleroot Palace is a dark yet heartfelt collection of short stories with a sprinkle of magic, horror, and mystery. Creepy, tender, and enthralling in equal measure. I can't wait to read more of Marjorie Liu's work!
The first story, Sympathy for the Bones, pulled me in from the very first line with its eerie atmosphere and trance-like prose. Delightfully macabre with palpable tension. 5/5
The second story, The Briar and The Rose, was my absolute favourite. A forbidden sapphic romance blooming despite a curse and its corruption- wistful and dreamy while maintaining the underlying uneasy tension of the first tale in the collection. 1 million/5 (I can do that, right?)
The following story, The Light and The Fury, was fascinating but not quite as engaging as the ones proceeding it. The atmosphere and characters left me a bit wanting. 3/5
Now, another favourite: The Last Dignity of Man. Revolting and horrific, this story made me hold my breath while the nausea passed and yet had a surprisingly poignant ending. 5/5
The Heart Lives follows with a young woman beginning work in a small home on the edge of a mysterious wood. Those who occupy the home are keeping something from her, she knows, and the strange voices from the underbrush lure her closer to the chilling secrets they hide. 4/5
The penultimate tale, After The Blood, is a spooky vampire cum zombie story of survival and family. A killer opening followed by heartbreaking realization after heartbreaking realization. 4/5
And last but not least, Tangleroot Palace. A princess story where the girl in question has the agency to make her own choices. I felt this would have perhaps worked better as a novella rather than a short story, but loved the mystical aspects (especially the villain). 3.5/5
I would highly recommend this collection!
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, death, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, violence, body horror, animal death, gore, miscarriage
VIDEO REVIEW: (coming soon)
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter| TikTok
Thank you to Tachyon Publications for providing an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
The first story, Sympathy for the Bones, pulled me in from the very first line with its eerie atmosphere and trance-like prose. Delightfully macabre with palpable tension. 5/5
The second story, The Briar and The Rose, was my absolute favourite. A forbidden sapphic romance blooming despite a curse and its corruption- wistful and dreamy while maintaining the underlying uneasy tension of the first tale in the collection. 1 million/5 (I can do that, right?)
The following story, The Light and The Fury, was fascinating but not quite as engaging as the ones proceeding it. The atmosphere and characters left me a bit wanting. 3/5
Now, another favourite: The Last Dignity of Man. Revolting and horrific, this story made me hold my breath while the nausea passed and yet had a surprisingly poignant ending. 5/5
The Heart Lives follows with a young woman beginning work in a small home on the edge of a mysterious wood. Those who occupy the home are keeping something from her, she knows, and the strange voices from the underbrush lure her closer to the chilling secrets they hide. 4/5
The penultimate tale, After The Blood, is a spooky vampire cum zombie story of survival and family. A killer opening followed by heartbreaking realization after heartbreaking realization. 4/5
And last but not least, Tangleroot Palace. A princess story where the girl in question has the agency to make her own choices. I felt this would have perhaps worked better as a novella rather than a short story, but loved the mystical aspects (especially the villain). 3.5/5
I would highly recommend this collection!
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, death, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, violence, body horror, animal death, gore, miscarriage
VIDEO REVIEW: (coming soon)
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter| TikTok
Thank you to Tachyon Publications for providing an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
May 18, 2022
A collection of several short stories and a novella, many of them high fantasy/set in alternate universes and with female lead characters. There are some good story ideas here, and I appreciated that Marjorie Liu has middle-aged women as protagonists about as often as she does those in their late teens/early twenties. This was the case with Liu's queer retelling of "The Briar and the Rose", which was the strongest story of the collection for me. Others were less successful (the one featuring a gay tech billionaire called Alexander Lutheran who was bioengineering monstrous giant worms and was consciously modelling himself after the fictional character of Lex Luthor while also trying to find a Superman to save/fuck him was actually insufficiently campy and weird to work), and I wasn't as impressed with Liu's prose style as other people seem to be.
June 14, 2021
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu is a collection of 7 stories, one of which is a novella. Many of you probably know Liu from the dark fantasy comic series Monstress, but she has written novels, too. My previous experience of Liu is only from the Monstress comics, but I love especially the worldbuilding in those, so I was excited to check out her short stories. The gorgeous cover art is by her Monstress collaborator, Sana Takeda.
These dark fantasy stories once again show Liu's strength in worldbuilding. Some of them are even a bit too packed for such short stories, but in most of them the world feels real and unique and well-thought-through. Each story has a short author's note following it, and I really like when that is included in short story collections. I also prefer the notes after rather than before the stories so that I have some context for them.
Something that Liu remarked upon in one of her author's comments, and something that I also noticed myself, was that a few of the stories share in common magical forests with terrible secrets or powers. Apart from the recurring dark forest, I could also find recurring themes of making your own family and finding your own place.
I'll go through the stories individually, since seven seems like a manageable amount to talk about in one review.
Sympathy for the Bones– 3 stars
An apprentice witch seeks her freedom.
This was one of those stories that I didn't have any strong feelings about. It had elements and themes that I find interesting, like revenge, family, and freedom; a main character with maybe questionable morals; doll magic... but the story just didn't hook me. It might've been the setting that wasn't my cup of tea, or then I wanted the story to be more spooky or dark.
The Briar and the Rose – 4 stars
An original take on Sleeping Beauty, and my second favourite from the collection. We follow a main character, called the Duelist, who is the bodyguard to a sorceress who can't stay up too late every Saturday because of a dark secret that we learn during the story. It's also a love story between two women, one of which isn't the sorceress.
To probably no one's surprise, this was one of my favourites from the collection. You know I enjoy my fairytale retellings, and this was a very different take on Sleeping Beauty, with a different storyline and setting, but still some elements in common. I liked the main character and the love story. This was first published in The Starlit Wood fairytale anthology, which I really want to get my hands on. I've now read two stories from the anthology and liked them both.
Call Her Savage (The Light and the Fury) – 2 stars
In my ARC copy the story has the first title, but judging from the Amazon preview it seems the title was changed. I'll update the title when the book is out and this is confirmed.
"In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex." That short description from the back of the book sounds really exciting, doesn't it? But to me it was one of the weakest stories in the collection. It had way too much worldbuilding for such a short story. The crystal skulls powering everything, as well as the people getting sort-of-superpowers from them, were very interesting concepts, but it was a lot, and I don't think it worked as a short story. So many elements and ideas. The fraught relationship between the MC and the ex was my favourite part, but it was a very short part of the story.
The Last Dignity of Man – 4.5 stars
My absolute favourite, the standout of the collection. A rich, young businessman, who owns a large company specialising in biotech, models his life after Lex Luthor.
This one was a story that I wasn't sure about in the beginning (because I didn't know how the Superman link would be handled), but which quite quickly turned into my favourite. The main character was the strength of the story. He wants there to be good in the world, wants to be loved, but isn't sure either possibility really exists. He is so lonely and conflicted, and it really radiates throughout the whole story with this sad atmosphere. Such a good story.
Where the Heart Lives – 4 stars
This was a cosy story about finding your family, and it was my third favourite from the collection. Lucy is not wanted at home by her father and brothers, and is sent to be a serving girl to a mysterious woman living a few towns over. There, in a house surrounded by a mysterious & haunting forest, among strange magic, she finds somewhere she belongs.
Some parts in the end were perhaps a bit rushed, but I really enjoyed the feel of this. I liked how magical everything in the world felt and how cosy and peaceful the life in the house felt even though the people had their own tragedies and there was dark, scary magic around. A found-family type of story. This was apparently a prequel to a series of hers.
After the Blood – 2.5 stars
This is a post apocalyptic story where, after some sort of a pandemic, people now live among overgrown forests and strange monsters and magic. This takes place at a farming community led by the Amish. The main character isn't Amish, she lives on the outskirts, but there are Amish characters in the story.
This one had a vampire in it, so one would think I'd like this, but sadly, no. This was another one that was a bit of a miss for me. It had a lot of other stuff in it as well apart from the vampires. The post-apocalypse, the Amish farming community, past trauma, strange new magic, ghouls, something going on with the forest. It was hard to get a grasp on, because not all the elements felt quite 'done' yet. The main character in this one was the one I got the least from in the whole collection, the others felt like complete characters. Maybe it was also slightly too long.
Tangleroot Palace – 3 stars
The title story of the collection was also the longest story, a novella. The official description goes like this: “A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods." And that's a pretty good description.
I liked the fairytale setting, the characters were good, but I wanted more from the plot. I enjoyed it, but it was a middle-of-the-road story for me. I felt like the other stories had more of a Marjorie Liu twist in them. This is also the earliest written story in the collection, so that might have something to do with it.
These stories were published between 2009 and 2016. The ones that were my least favourites were from 2010, so they were earlier works of Liu's.
I give the collection as a whole 3 stars. It's hard for a short story collection to get more from me, since there are always stories I love more and stories that don't work for me. But I am very happy I got to read The Last Dignity of Man and The Briar and the Rose, especially.
These dark fantasy stories once again show Liu's strength in worldbuilding. Some of them are even a bit too packed for such short stories, but in most of them the world feels real and unique and well-thought-through. Each story has a short author's note following it, and I really like when that is included in short story collections. I also prefer the notes after rather than before the stories so that I have some context for them.
Something that Liu remarked upon in one of her author's comments, and something that I also noticed myself, was that a few of the stories share in common magical forests with terrible secrets or powers. Apart from the recurring dark forest, I could also find recurring themes of making your own family and finding your own place.
I'll go through the stories individually, since seven seems like a manageable amount to talk about in one review.
Sympathy for the Bones– 3 stars
An apprentice witch seeks her freedom.
This was one of those stories that I didn't have any strong feelings about. It had elements and themes that I find interesting, like revenge, family, and freedom; a main character with maybe questionable morals; doll magic... but the story just didn't hook me. It might've been the setting that wasn't my cup of tea, or then I wanted the story to be more spooky or dark.
The Briar and the Rose – 4 stars
An original take on Sleeping Beauty, and my second favourite from the collection. We follow a main character, called the Duelist, who is the bodyguard to a sorceress who can't stay up too late every Saturday because of a dark secret that we learn during the story. It's also a love story between two women, one of which isn't the sorceress.
To probably no one's surprise, this was one of my favourites from the collection. You know I enjoy my fairytale retellings, and this was a very different take on Sleeping Beauty, with a different storyline and setting, but still some elements in common. I liked the main character and the love story. This was first published in The Starlit Wood fairytale anthology, which I really want to get my hands on. I've now read two stories from the anthology and liked them both.
Call Her Savage (The Light and the Fury) – 2 stars
In my ARC copy the story has the first title, but judging from the Amazon preview it seems the title was changed. I'll update the title when the book is out and this is confirmed.
"In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex." That short description from the back of the book sounds really exciting, doesn't it? But to me it was one of the weakest stories in the collection. It had way too much worldbuilding for such a short story. The crystal skulls powering everything, as well as the people getting sort-of-superpowers from them, were very interesting concepts, but it was a lot, and I don't think it worked as a short story. So many elements and ideas. The fraught relationship between the MC and the ex was my favourite part, but it was a very short part of the story.
The Last Dignity of Man – 4.5 stars
My absolute favourite, the standout of the collection. A rich, young businessman, who owns a large company specialising in biotech, models his life after Lex Luthor.
This one was a story that I wasn't sure about in the beginning (because I didn't know how the Superman link would be handled), but which quite quickly turned into my favourite. The main character was the strength of the story. He wants there to be good in the world, wants to be loved, but isn't sure either possibility really exists. He is so lonely and conflicted, and it really radiates throughout the whole story with this sad atmosphere. Such a good story.
Where the Heart Lives – 4 stars
This was a cosy story about finding your family, and it was my third favourite from the collection. Lucy is not wanted at home by her father and brothers, and is sent to be a serving girl to a mysterious woman living a few towns over. There, in a house surrounded by a mysterious & haunting forest, among strange magic, she finds somewhere she belongs.
Some parts in the end were perhaps a bit rushed, but I really enjoyed the feel of this. I liked how magical everything in the world felt and how cosy and peaceful the life in the house felt even though the people had their own tragedies and there was dark, scary magic around. A found-family type of story. This was apparently a prequel to a series of hers.
After the Blood – 2.5 stars
This is a post apocalyptic story where, after some sort of a pandemic, people now live among overgrown forests and strange monsters and magic. This takes place at a farming community led by the Amish. The main character isn't Amish, she lives on the outskirts, but there are Amish characters in the story.
This one had a vampire in it, so one would think I'd like this, but sadly, no. This was another one that was a bit of a miss for me. It had a lot of other stuff in it as well apart from the vampires. The post-apocalypse, the Amish farming community, past trauma, strange new magic, ghouls, something going on with the forest. It was hard to get a grasp on, because not all the elements felt quite 'done' yet. The main character in this one was the one I got the least from in the whole collection, the others felt like complete characters. Maybe it was also slightly too long.
Tangleroot Palace – 3 stars
The title story of the collection was also the longest story, a novella. The official description goes like this: “A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods." And that's a pretty good description.
I liked the fairytale setting, the characters were good, but I wanted more from the plot. I enjoyed it, but it was a middle-of-the-road story for me. I felt like the other stories had more of a Marjorie Liu twist in them. This is also the earliest written story in the collection, so that might have something to do with it.
These stories were published between 2009 and 2016. The ones that were my least favourites were from 2010, so they were earlier works of Liu's.
I give the collection as a whole 3 stars. It's hard for a short story collection to get more from me, since there are always stories I love more and stories that don't work for me. But I am very happy I got to read The Last Dignity of Man and The Briar and the Rose, especially.
April 5, 2022
I came across this book on NetGalley and the title – “The Tangleroot Palace” was the first thing to intrigue me. I’m so glad I requested it and was lucky enough to get approved for it. From the first page, the author’s words caught my attention and held it, refusing to let go.
The Tangleroot Palace is a collection of 7 short stories and usually, for this type of novel, I’d review the book as a whole. But there was such depth and individuality to each story that it’s only fair to review each one.
1 – Sympathy For The Bones
This was such a creepy little story and bloody fantastic in its creepiness about fairness and justice and the difference between helping someone out of the kindness of your heart and helping only to keep someone beholden to you. A lesson the young girl forced into apprenticeship to a Blair-type witch learned in time to save as much of her soul as she could. Is there forgiveness and redemption for acts committed when you had no other choice to try to save your soul? I want to think so, at least for this young girl who should have had people to love and care for her.
2 – The Briar and The Rose
Stuck in your own body, helpless to do anything but watch and scream inside. And the desperation of one who would do anything to release that imprisoned soul. It was heartbreaking to see the struggle and the pain. I wanted more details on the conclusion but it was an apt ending so it didn’t disappoint.
3 – The Light and The Fury
There’s nothing pretty about war – no dignity, no honor. One woman alone, longing for peace but burdened with saving her people. Another intriguing plot-line, centering around crystal skulls, which can be fascinating but personally, I find kind of creepy at the same time.
4 – The Last Dignity of Man
I found this one to be a heartbreaking story despite the creepy element – the hopeless, never-ending search for a cherished wish and the desperate struggle to find a way to get past the heartbreak of knowing that wish would never come true. The ending hit me totally out of the blue, I did not see that coming but it stayed with me for a long time.
5 – Where The Heart Lives
Oh, this is definitely one of my favorites in this collection. I have a soft spot for paranormal romance and I loved the main characters. You couldn’t help but love Lucy and Barnabus. And the romance between them was intense yet sweet at the same time.
6 – After The Blood
Ah, this collection wouldn’t be complete without at least one vampire story with an apocalyptic bend to it, and tragedy and heartbreak. I loved Amanda and you can’t help but empathize with her and Henry, our tortured vampire.
7 – The Tangleroot Palace
One last story to round off the collection and leave you with smiles. I loved Salinda and Mickel and the plot-line was predictable but not without its charm.
For a collection of short stories, the 7 stories did not feel like short stories. They left a hell of an impact on me and with a wish for more. The author’s writing was a pleasure to read and I am definitely getting The Tangleroot Palace in hardback for my collection.
A big thanks to NetGalley & Titan Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Stay tuned.
∼Lyn
Posted on Blog
June 19, 2021
4/10 stars
My full review can be found on my blog.
I’ve known Marjorie Liu as the author of Monstress, a dark fantasy graphic novel series with the wonderful art by Sana Takeda. I liked Monstress well enough to request Liu’s short stories collection from NG the moment I saw it there – just look at this cover! In hindsight, I might’ve been better served by gathering more intel on Liu’s work of fiction first. That’s not to say that the collection is irredeemably bad; most stories are inherently readable and subtly creepy in Liu’s trademark Monstress way, and there are a couple that are actually all right. As for the rest, however, ah – best see for yourself, below.
As usual, I offer here a short summary of each story, each scored separately, with an overall rating at the end.
Sympathy for the Bones 7/10
A nicely creepy voodoo (here called hoodoo) story, with dolls and gris-gris and the possession of one’s soul. The sewing aspect was what’s really drawn me to the story, and the spin on the usual witch-and-her-victim trope was interesting. In Liu’s stories men have no agency – and while in this one it made perfect sense, the issue of male agency clearly delineated in the conclusion in a wonderfully perverse way, the whole idea quickly turned into a tired, overused schtick in other stories.
The Briar and the Rose 4/10
A retelling of The Sleeping Beauty, with a completely unnecessary heaping of cringy. Here, men are actively stupid and spineless, the fabled prince is a masculine lesbian, and the princess’s body is inhabited and continuously sexually exploited and abused by an old powerful witch with some sort of sexual addiction. The Sleeping Beauty is creepy enough on its own, without such weird spins. The relationship here is quite sweet, actually, and I would enjoy it but for the plot. I know that those idealistic wishes of mine will never realize, but I just wish authors would have enough responsibility and presence of mind to read not only fairy tales but also their analyses – some really smart people already covered that ground, and better, and didn’t leave in their wake the lingering feeling of distaste.
[...]
Summary
All in all, this collection boasts of strong feminist vibes, strong and well done LGBT+ representation, fairytale inspirations, and acres of haunted forests. All of it is very tame and mainstream, however, bordering on mushy, with just a tad of uncanny here and there to spice up the comfortable popcorn read. If you feel like this is something for you, you may quite enjoy it. For me, it was unfortunately a largely forgettable experience, the stories laying bare the deficiencies of Liu’s storytelling I was willing to overlook earlier in the Monstress comic books because of Takeda’s art.
I have received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.
My full review can be found on my blog.
I’ve known Marjorie Liu as the author of Monstress, a dark fantasy graphic novel series with the wonderful art by Sana Takeda. I liked Monstress well enough to request Liu’s short stories collection from NG the moment I saw it there – just look at this cover! In hindsight, I might’ve been better served by gathering more intel on Liu’s work of fiction first. That’s not to say that the collection is irredeemably bad; most stories are inherently readable and subtly creepy in Liu’s trademark Monstress way, and there are a couple that are actually all right. As for the rest, however, ah – best see for yourself, below.
As usual, I offer here a short summary of each story, each scored separately, with an overall rating at the end.
Sympathy for the Bones 7/10
A nicely creepy voodoo (here called hoodoo) story, with dolls and gris-gris and the possession of one’s soul. The sewing aspect was what’s really drawn me to the story, and the spin on the usual witch-and-her-victim trope was interesting. In Liu’s stories men have no agency – and while in this one it made perfect sense, the issue of male agency clearly delineated in the conclusion in a wonderfully perverse way, the whole idea quickly turned into a tired, overused schtick in other stories.
The Briar and the Rose 4/10
A retelling of The Sleeping Beauty, with a completely unnecessary heaping of cringy. Here, men are actively stupid and spineless, the fabled prince is a masculine lesbian, and the princess’s body is inhabited and continuously sexually exploited and abused by an old powerful witch with some sort of sexual addiction. The Sleeping Beauty is creepy enough on its own, without such weird spins. The relationship here is quite sweet, actually, and I would enjoy it but for the plot. I know that those idealistic wishes of mine will never realize, but I just wish authors would have enough responsibility and presence of mind to read not only fairy tales but also their analyses – some really smart people already covered that ground, and better, and didn’t leave in their wake the lingering feeling of distaste.
[...]
Summary
All in all, this collection boasts of strong feminist vibes, strong and well done LGBT+ representation, fairytale inspirations, and acres of haunted forests. All of it is very tame and mainstream, however, bordering on mushy, with just a tad of uncanny here and there to spice up the comfortable popcorn read. If you feel like this is something for you, you may quite enjoy it. For me, it was unfortunately a largely forgettable experience, the stories laying bare the deficiencies of Liu’s storytelling I was willing to overlook earlier in the Monstress comic books because of Takeda’s art.
I have received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.
June 15, 2021
This is my first foray into Liu’s work (Monstress sits, frowningly, on my shelf unread) and while I can’t say I liked all the stories in this collection, the ideas presented and the worlds created were so incredibly unique and bizzare that I’m now very interested in her other works. I usually review anthologies as a whole because individually reviewing 10+ stories, some merely a couple pages, is difficult. The Tangleroot Palace only has seven stories, all of which nicely fleshed out and ‘full’, so I’ll review these independently.
Sympathy for the Bones – 4/5
A creepy, Appalachian(?) inspired story about a young girl trained by her grandmother to kill people through voodoo dolls. I enjoyed the overall vibe and MC’s determination to free herself from this vicious cycle of grandmother indoctrinating granddaughter
The Briar and the Rose – 5/5
A sapphic sleeping beauty retelling, told from the perspective of the beefy sapphic duelist. Big sword lesbian/book lesbian vibes and overall very cute
Call Her Savage – 2.5/5
A ragged old superhero called to duty one last time, set in an alt-history backdrop where China has colonized the West Coast of America and losing a war to the Brits. There’s a lot of moving parts here and I can see what Liu is trying to do, but this is one of those, would work better as a novella or full length novel stories
The Last Dignity of Man – 5/5
SadGay™ wannabe Lex Luthor slowly learns to let got of his childhood comic book ideals and learn that he doesn’t need a Clark Kent to be happy. My favorite of the entire collection. CW for graphic descriptions of worms
Where the Heart Lives – 3/5
A Forest with a Secret story. The concept was interesting but I wasn’t really engaged with any of the characters
After the Blood – 2.5/5
There were a lot of moving parts and I didn’t understand what Liu was trying to do. Post-apocalyptic, people with superpowers hiding from those without, the Amish are involved in some form? Apparently this is a prequel to one of Liu’s other stories, which is probably why I didn’t understand it.
The Tangleroot Palace – 2/5
I think this is a very loose interpretation of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, where a young princess, forced to marry a feared Warlord runs away to a forest to do….stuff? Just didn’t like this story in general.
Overall, I rate this collection a 3.5/5. A lot of interesting concepts and I adored The Briar and the Rose and Where the Heart Lives but the rest of the collection was a miss for me.
Sympathy for the Bones – 4/5
A creepy, Appalachian(?) inspired story about a young girl trained by her grandmother to kill people through voodoo dolls. I enjoyed the overall vibe and MC’s determination to free herself from this vicious cycle of grandmother indoctrinating granddaughter
The Briar and the Rose – 5/5
A sapphic sleeping beauty retelling, told from the perspective of the beefy sapphic duelist. Big sword lesbian/book lesbian vibes and overall very cute
Call Her Savage – 2.5/5
A ragged old superhero called to duty one last time, set in an alt-history backdrop where China has colonized the West Coast of America and losing a war to the Brits. There’s a lot of moving parts here and I can see what Liu is trying to do, but this is one of those, would work better as a novella or full length novel stories
The Last Dignity of Man – 5/5
SadGay™ wannabe Lex Luthor slowly learns to let got of his childhood comic book ideals and learn that he doesn’t need a Clark Kent to be happy. My favorite of the entire collection. CW for graphic descriptions of worms
Where the Heart Lives – 3/5
A Forest with a Secret story. The concept was interesting but I wasn’t really engaged with any of the characters
After the Blood – 2.5/5
There were a lot of moving parts and I didn’t understand what Liu was trying to do. Post-apocalyptic, people with superpowers hiding from those without, the Amish are involved in some form? Apparently this is a prequel to one of Liu’s other stories, which is probably why I didn’t understand it.
The Tangleroot Palace – 2/5
I think this is a very loose interpretation of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, where a young princess, forced to marry a feared Warlord runs away to a forest to do….stuff? Just didn’t like this story in general.
Overall, I rate this collection a 3.5/5. A lot of interesting concepts and I adored The Briar and the Rose and Where the Heart Lives but the rest of the collection was a miss for me.
December 27, 2022
⭐️4.5 Stars⭐️
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie M. Liu
I loved this lush and charming collection of short stories featuring magic, witches kingdoms, hoodoo dolls, vampires, superheroes and enchanted forests.
These captivating short stories were a good length, all unique and beautifully written. The final of the seven stories is a novella.
This book left me wanting more, I loved the pace, the characters and various troupes. The stories were mostly dark fantasy with a strong theme of trees in the woods.
There’s a sci-fi story about giant earthworms that was so darn creepy (The Last Dignity Of Man). It is so difficult to pick a favourite but I absolutely loved, The Briar & The Rose (retelling of Sleeping Beauty), Call Her Savage (Superhuman female Soldier) Where The Heart Lives and The Tangleroot Palace.
I’m interested in reading more from this author. Liu is most certainly an impressive story teller!
Publication Date July 2022
Publisher Titan Publishing Group
Thanks so much to Newsouth Books Australia for a copy of the book.
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie M. Liu
I loved this lush and charming collection of short stories featuring magic, witches kingdoms, hoodoo dolls, vampires, superheroes and enchanted forests.
These captivating short stories were a good length, all unique and beautifully written. The final of the seven stories is a novella.
This book left me wanting more, I loved the pace, the characters and various troupes. The stories were mostly dark fantasy with a strong theme of trees in the woods.
There’s a sci-fi story about giant earthworms that was so darn creepy (The Last Dignity Of Man). It is so difficult to pick a favourite but I absolutely loved, The Briar & The Rose (retelling of Sleeping Beauty), Call Her Savage (Superhuman female Soldier) Where The Heart Lives and The Tangleroot Palace.
I’m interested in reading more from this author. Liu is most certainly an impressive story teller!
Publication Date July 2022
Publisher Titan Publishing Group
Thanks so much to Newsouth Books Australia for a copy of the book.
February 16, 2022
Some people saw the author, the cover, and immediately thought it was another graphic novel like Monstress. While the cover was done by the same artist, this is actually a collection of short stories by Marjorie Liu, written by her at different times of her career.
As with all collections like this, some stories are going to be better than others. There are 7 total and I personally enjoyed 4 of them, all of which turned out to have similar dark fairytale vibes. Those were Sympathy for the Bones, The Briar and the Rose, Where the Heart Lives, Tangleroot Palace. These stories are creepy, atmospheric, feature reimagined old tales, hoodoo dolls, magical woods, and dangerous witches.
The other 3 stories didn't work for me for different reasons.
Call Her Savage didn't leave any impression on me and I immediately forgot about it the next day. Nothing interesting happened, and I didn't care or was interested in the characters or the world.
The Last Dignity of Man was absolutely atrocious and disgusting. The protagonist was the most unbelievable character I've ever seen. Basically he was obsessed with comics and tried to look like Lex Luthor because that made him believe that because of that a Superman should also exist and would come one day and love him. WHAT? Also the plot was so vomit inducing and full of worms, human feces, and blood. Don't eat or even drink while reading it. I would actually just advise to skip this story.
After the Blood was kind of a post-apocalyptic tale about the forest soaking up some virus and turning people into vampires, zombies and something else. I think? Honestly I'm not sure what happens here because it was painfully vague the whole time.
Overall I would recommend checking out this collection just for the 4 aforementioned fairytale stories.
ARC provided by Tachyon via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As with all collections like this, some stories are going to be better than others. There are 7 total and I personally enjoyed 4 of them, all of which turned out to have similar dark fairytale vibes. Those were Sympathy for the Bones, The Briar and the Rose, Where the Heart Lives, Tangleroot Palace. These stories are creepy, atmospheric, feature reimagined old tales, hoodoo dolls, magical woods, and dangerous witches.
The other 3 stories didn't work for me for different reasons.
Call Her Savage didn't leave any impression on me and I immediately forgot about it the next day. Nothing interesting happened, and I didn't care or was interested in the characters or the world.
The Last Dignity of Man was absolutely atrocious and disgusting. The protagonist was the most unbelievable character I've ever seen. Basically he was obsessed with comics and tried to look like Lex Luthor because that made him believe that because of that a Superman should also exist and would come one day and love him. WHAT? Also the plot was so vomit inducing and full of worms, human feces, and blood. Don't eat or even drink while reading it. I would actually just advise to skip this story.
After the Blood was kind of a post-apocalyptic tale about the forest soaking up some virus and turning people into vampires, zombies and something else. I think? Honestly I'm not sure what happens here because it was painfully vague the whole time.
Overall I would recommend checking out this collection just for the 4 aforementioned fairytale stories.
ARC provided by Tachyon via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 3, 2021
It is quite good for a collection. I only know the author from her Monstress works (which are awesome!). Most of the stories are dark fantasy so if you're a fan of that genre you might enjoy this. As with other collections, some stories worked for me, some did not. Nothing wrong, just a matter of taste.
My fave ones are Sympathy for the Bones, The Briar and the Rose, Where the Heart Lives. I appreciate the author's efforts for her trope-defying plots, yet I would probably give this a four star rating if it's not because the ending of the last story, which still a liiiiittle bit tropey for me.
My fave ones are Sympathy for the Bones, The Briar and the Rose, Where the Heart Lives. I appreciate the author's efforts for her trope-defying plots, yet I would probably give this a four star rating if it's not because the ending of the last story, which still a liiiiittle bit tropey for me.
August 6, 2023
4.5 Stars
I'll always end up rating short stories 3 stars cause there are some I really enjoy and some I really don't like... But this wasn't the case with this one. I really liked every story and just one was a bit meh. The novella in the end was definately my fav!
"Sympathy For The Bones" > 8.8/10
The atmosphere was immaculate.
"The Briar And The Rose" > 8.9/10
A queer, magical, brutal and different retelling of Sleeping Beauty fairytale... I loved it 🫶🏻🤌🏻
"The Light and The Fury" > 6/10
Sadly this one was just pure confusion for me till the end. But I would love to read a full length novel or even a series about this story. 🙌🏻
"The Last Dignity Of Man" > 8.5/10
Was not what I expected at all! Loved all the deep characterization and the slugs!
"Where The Heart Lives" > 9.5/10
A really magical story that was kinda melancholic and sad.
"After The Blood" > 5/10
I did not vibe so much with the Amish vampires...
"The Tangleroot Palace" > 10/10
I loved it! I liked the characters and especially our main character! Also the atmosphere was immaculate und the ending was nice.
I'll always end up rating short stories 3 stars cause there are some I really enjoy and some I really don't like... But this wasn't the case with this one. I really liked every story and just one was a bit meh. The novella in the end was definately my fav!
"Sympathy For The Bones" > 8.8/10
The atmosphere was immaculate.
"The Briar And The Rose" > 8.9/10
A queer, magical, brutal and different retelling of Sleeping Beauty fairytale... I loved it 🫶🏻🤌🏻
"The Light and The Fury" > 6/10
Sadly this one was just pure confusion for me till the end. But I would love to read a full length novel or even a series about this story. 🙌🏻
"The Last Dignity Of Man" > 8.5/10
Was not what I expected at all! Loved all the deep characterization and the slugs!
"Where The Heart Lives" > 9.5/10
A really magical story that was kinda melancholic and sad.
"After The Blood" > 5/10
I did not vibe so much with the Amish vampires...
"The Tangleroot Palace" > 10/10
I loved it! I liked the characters and especially our main character! Also the atmosphere was immaculate und the ending was nice.
June 7, 2021
I am familiar with Marjorie Liu’s work from her "Monstress" series, which I love for its darkness and tough women. And the series' beautiful artwork, from the mind of Sana Takeda, whose gorgeous work graces the cover of the terrific collection of short stories (and one novella).
The Tanglewood's stories are dark and creepy, and I didn't find a weak one in the bunch.
I particularly loved the recurring presence of trees in these stories, with their age, hunger and power central to situations in several stories. The stories are:
-Sympathy For The Bones
-The Briar And The Rose
-Call Her Savage
-The Last Dignity Of Man
-Where The Heart Lives
-After The Blood
-Tangleroot Palace
It was hard to pick a favourite within this collection, but if hard pressed, would say that Sympathy for the Bones and Tangleroot Palace lingered in my mind after finishing this book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for a review.
The Tanglewood's stories are dark and creepy, and I didn't find a weak one in the bunch.
I particularly loved the recurring presence of trees in these stories, with their age, hunger and power central to situations in several stories. The stories are:
-Sympathy For The Bones
-The Briar And The Rose
-Call Her Savage
-The Last Dignity Of Man
-Where The Heart Lives
-After The Blood
-Tangleroot Palace
It was hard to pick a favourite within this collection, but if hard pressed, would say that Sympathy for the Bones and Tangleroot Palace lingered in my mind after finishing this book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for a review.
July 12, 2024
“Storytellers gave names to everything because they knew, better than anyone, that names were power.”
The Tangleroot Palace is a collection of six short stories and a novella spanning different genres: fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, and dystopia with paranormal elements. Although the author is best known for her graphic novel Monstress, this was my first time reading anything written by her and the experience has been, overall, positive. Below are my thoughts and ratings for each story:
⇢ Sympathy for the Bones: ★★
This first story follows a girl who has been trained for years by an old woman to create dolls using bone needles and fill them with hoodoo in order to kill men. It had all the ingredients to be the kind of dark tale I like, but I found it quite predictable and in my opinion it lacked creating a more suspenseful atmosphere.
⇢ The Briar and the Rose: ★★★★
This is a Sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty in which a bodyguard tries to save a woman whose body is inhabited by a witch every day of the week except one. It’s a beautifully written short story about losing agency over your own body.
⇢ Call Her Savage: ★★
This is an alternate history sci-fi story in which China is at war with Great Britain. A marshal with superhuman powers returns to the front after years of retirement to carry out an impossible mission. I was confused during the first half because the author suddenly drops the reader into the middle of the action without offering any kind of context. But once I understood what was happening and got into the story, I still couldn’t get interested in the plot.
⇢ The Last Dignity of Man: ★
I really didn’t like this story at all. A corporate billionaire with a Lex Luthor complex tries to find his Superman while creating giant worms for the government.
⇢ Where The Heart Lives: ★★★
This is a story about a young woman who is sent to work in a house next to a dangerous forest inhabited by a witch. I liked the atmospheric setting, found family aspects and the idea of the enchanted forest.
⇢ After the Blood: ★★★
This is a post-apocalyptic story with Amish vampires and where the protagonist tries to survive and protect the people she loves after a virus killed most of the population. One of the darkest stories in this collection, with plenty of action and a plot that left me wanting to read a full novel about these characters.
⇢ Tangleroot Palace: ★★★★
This novella was my favorite story in the collection. A princess is promised to a warlord and decides to run away and search for answers in a dangerous forest. Along the way she meets a strange troupe and joins them. Even though it’s a very predictable story, I really liked that it read like a fairytale with a curse and a romance at the center.
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November 10, 2020so what you're telling me is that Marjorie Liu who wrote the single most expansive world I ever encountered in a graphic novel (or any book for that matter) wrote a short story collection about DANGEROUS WOMEN AND DANGEROUS MAGIC and no one told me??
i will literally die of excitement
i will literally die of excitement
February 22, 2021
I am not usually one for short stories but I've been reading Marjorie M Liu for years so I took a chance. I'm SO glad I did. This collection of stories was amazing. It felt inventive and imaginative, while at the same time created a truly nostalgic feeling of reading one of the old fairy tale anthologies.
July 7, 2021
"You can't stop a plant that wants to grow. You'll only crush it if you try."
Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with short story collections? Like, I always think to myself, "They're short! I'll breeze through it!" Then, I start them and if they're good...well, I forget about wanting to let each story sink in. Basically, it always takes longer than I expect and I do it to myself. Anyway...to the stories!
Sympathy for the Bones -Similar premise to "Malice" as far as dark magic goes...I loved the language-the dialect. Some of it was difficult to understand, but you could still follow the emotions. Awesome/gruesome magic system. Well-ended. ☆☆☆☆
The Briar and the Rose -A sapphic twist on Sleeping Beauty that was SO original (and I've read at least two other sapphic retellings...). I loved how the sleeping curse was applied and how intertwined all of the characters were. Beautiful. ☆☆☆☆☆
Call Her Savage -An alternate-history in which California was settled earlier than the east coast in America. Dirigibles and war and rumors and legend. Probably my least favorite story...still pretty compelling and easy to follow. ☆☆☆
The Last Dignity of Man -A complex look into the psyche of someone who wants to be a villain, but actually has a heart. With sci-fi government experiments as the backdrop, I was actually fascinated by this premise! ☆☆☆☆☆
Where the Heart Lives -All I could think while reading this one was "Oh my gosh, I wish could read more of this world!!" Found family, the start of something good...At the end, I found out it was a prequel story to her urban fantasy series...and I'm so excited to dive into it!! ☆☆☆☆☆
After the Blood -Post apocalyptic, never really got introduced to the world, just kind of stumbling through it, surviving. Zombies...vampires? Magic? Creepy. Felt like the beginning of something more...very dire. ☆☆☆
Tangleroot Palace -I'm so glad this one was last. I figured the "twist" out, but it was still an absolute joy to read. All about lineage, found family, responsibility, self-fulfillment. I mean, I closed the book with a smile. What a lovely little fairy tale. ☆☆☆☆☆
Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with short story collections? Like, I always think to myself, "They're short! I'll breeze through it!" Then, I start them and if they're good...well, I forget about wanting to let each story sink in. Basically, it always takes longer than I expect and I do it to myself. Anyway...to the stories!
Sympathy for the Bones -Similar premise to "Malice" as far as dark magic goes...I loved the language-the dialect. Some of it was difficult to understand, but you could still follow the emotions. Awesome/gruesome magic system. Well-ended. ☆☆☆☆
The Briar and the Rose -A sapphic twist on Sleeping Beauty that was SO original (and I've read at least two other sapphic retellings...). I loved how the sleeping curse was applied and how intertwined all of the characters were. Beautiful. ☆☆☆☆☆
Call Her Savage -An alternate-history in which California was settled earlier than the east coast in America. Dirigibles and war and rumors and legend. Probably my least favorite story...still pretty compelling and easy to follow. ☆☆☆
The Last Dignity of Man -A complex look into the psyche of someone who wants to be a villain, but actually has a heart. With sci-fi government experiments as the backdrop, I was actually fascinated by this premise! ☆☆☆☆☆
Where the Heart Lives -All I could think while reading this one was "Oh my gosh, I wish could read more of this world!!" Found family, the start of something good...At the end, I found out it was a prequel story to her urban fantasy series...and I'm so excited to dive into it!! ☆☆☆☆☆
After the Blood -Post apocalyptic, never really got introduced to the world, just kind of stumbling through it, surviving. Zombies...vampires? Magic? Creepy. Felt like the beginning of something more...very dire. ☆☆☆
Tangleroot Palace -I'm so glad this one was last. I figured the "twist" out, but it was still an absolute joy to read. All about lineage, found family, responsibility, self-fulfillment. I mean, I closed the book with a smile. What a lovely little fairy tale. ☆☆☆☆☆
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