A series of stories that mainly feature women at the centre of each. They are mainly fantastical or interrogated some form of magical setting, and the women in these stories usually used their agency to extricate themselves from precarious or unwanted situations.
Many of these characters are based on fairytale or popular fictional protagonists, with a twist. The stories often have a dark undertone, which I appreciated, and the women were never written as one dimensional.
These were truly short stories as the pacing was quick and did not lag, making them easy to read and kept me engaged.

This is my first time reading a book by Marjorie Liu, and it being an anthology makes me really glad as I now know which type of her stories resonate more with me than not.

I have received this book in exchange for an honest review, thank you at Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for the opportunity.

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I believe that because she tries to incorporate as many themes and ideas in her book as possible, I want to go through my thoughts for each story one by one instead of just a general thought process (These would be so easy to spoil) as I've been doing for some other anthologies I've read lately. Before that however, I have to commend her choice of adding her own small message at the end of each of the seven stories where she discusses the inspirations behind the stories, her aim and sometimes her own thoughts and ideas before writing.

I really enjoyed reading that, and honestly, I would welcome it if more anthology writers followed this approach as in usual novels, the author does give a brief of their own thought process at the end. Moreover, I liked the length of almost all of them with the exception of one. Because they are only seven, I think that it gave Ms. Liu the chance to take her time telling these stories and it's another thing I liked about the anthology.

So without further ado:

Sympathy for the Bones

To be fair, this is my first exposure to a story detailing the usage of hoodoo so I took it as somewhat of a learning experience. That aside however, this story gripped me from the start and refused to let go till it was done. The way this magic works, and what is required for a practitioner was fascinating. I really liked that the author included multiple instances of its application, what happens afterwards and what that made our main character, Clora, feel in the end.

The anthology deals with several hard ideas, if I can call them that, and in this one it's being held by invisible strings beyond your will and with seemingly no way out. I liked the dangerous feel this brought to it and I really like to see how the protagonist reacts to situations like these or how they struggle more like. I believe that out of the seven, this was my favourite one overall.

- The Briar and the Rose

While I do think that I enjoyed the previous story a bit more than this one, I do think that out of the seven, this story had the most interesting mix of elements in it. In a sentence, I'll call it a strange mix between Rumpeestiltskin and Sleeping Beauty. To someone like me, who isn't a big fan of retellings so far, I think this was a very interesting experience to read about.

The main idea of trying of trying to save someone in this type of way is something I don't see very often, its often one-sided and usually it's this big and loud affair. Here it was more subtle, more cunning and with an impending time limit that made it feel more dangerous.

"As most women I know will tell you, they don't always sleep a lot - but they fight plenty."

- Call Her Savage

For the first half of this story, I wasn't very invested and I think it is something I can attribute to my lack of knowledge about the world she's envisioning here, since once that made sense; it was a lot more interesting. I think reading this story, to me, was a bit of an amusing idea since I was being somewhat bombarded in my usual book channels with "superhero fantasies." and this one was like that in a way, just a little bit more bloody. I liked that she didn't shy away from it, because if you're writing about war, I don't need it to be anything less than dangerous.

I also liked that she included a legend of sorts in the story and made it have a big role, gave it a bit of history, but made its effect felt in a lot bigger ways than simply passing through. Which brings me to our protagonist here and how that affected her own state of mind, it wouldn't be the first time I read about this type of hero and it also wouldn't be the first time they were made to do things that they didn't want to do, but I enjoyed seeing her overcome the obstacles.

- The Last Dignity of Man

This also follows the whole superhero angle, but kind of flips it over its head.

I for one, like seeing the attempt and especially the aftermath of any human character attempting to play god. It's a bit of a cliche setting given how easily known the outcome is, but I still enjoy seeing it. Moreover, the idea here isn't actually a bad one, it could potentially be very good if done right, but yeah, not our place.

This story is also the first one where I considered the main character to be simply pathetic, the whole hero worship thing exists, but to this extent makes it hard to accept as easily when it's from a character of this type and lets say, status. However, I will also say that I really liked being in his mind and learning more about this need of his. I have a hard time connecting with people, or at least being overly attached to someone, but I have seen it and being in someone's mind like that gives me an interesting perspective even when the "voice of reason" in this case, or rather their reason to exist felt a bit on the nose.

- Where the Heart Lies

I didn't enjoy this story all that much, which is to be expected given that it's a collection of short stories (I will admit that the bigger focus on romance is probably the main reason as to why), but I will say that the themes she discusses in each of them is more than enough to make up for it. In this one, we talk about self worth and belonging.

"She understood now, what could drive a women to abandon all."

The above quote resonated deeply with me, because I know first hand what it feels when you're pushed just so and the only thing that matters after that is getting away. This ties in with how our protagonist Lucy, ends up feeling in a world where women are basically property to some of the men around her. She gets sent away by her father to a place, that at first glance, will seemingly appear to be a death sentence and she discovers many new things, amongst them are very dark secrets and dangers as well.

I personally really enjoyed this contrast, it's horrible and dangerous, but there are times when the resolution makes it all better.

- After the blood

Reading this in a pandemic is not a very good idea, but hey, I finished it. I will also say that this story is the only one of the entire collection where I felt completely and utterly detached from every single happening in it. I couldn't care less about the characters, I couldn't care less about their struggles and I couldn't care less about their romance either. Why though? simply because, it combined two entities I really dislike in any story.

I did like the resourcefulness however, I enjoy survival stories a lot and I really hoped that this would be a bit more interesting for me to read in the end. Even though, I didn't enjoy it, I do think that reading the survival aspect of it combined with Ms. Liu's writing made the experience better than it might have been any where else.

- The Tangleroot Palace

Final story of the collection, and is most likely the only one where I think it was a bit longer than it needed to be.

I do think that the themes she was going for were fun to read about, and I really think that I would have liked it a lot more if it was a more solo effort than not. I say this because the whole "banding" together aspect, made the resolution easy to see from that single second. I think I've been exposed to many stories where I'm not very surprised anymore, but I do think that a what if scenario is something I'll enjoy a lot more than anything else in situations like these.

That of course, does not mean that the story was boring, no, it was much better than the two before it. The mystery surrounding the Tangleroot Palace was fun to try and discover, I also liked that Sally thought of different ways to change her own fate and I enjoyed seeing her venture on an adventure. Having that adventure be dangerous was the cherry on top if you will, growth stories are much more felt to me when they aren't easy. I will say that I liked the twist at the end there in regards to the final confrontation, but yeah, solo > group any time.

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A very interesting experience overall and I would not mind reading more books by Marjorie Liu now that I know which type of books of hers would suit me best :)

The Tangleroot Palace was a mixed bag for me. I adored the interesting LGBT retelling of Sleeping Beauty, which was imaginative and worked so well. A couple of the other stories were also fine, but some I struggled to engage with, finding the characters a little two dimensional. In a short story you don't have many pages in which to build worlds or characters, so what you do needs to be spot on from the start, and that wasn't always the case here. That said, although I couldn't fully get into some of the pieces, I could appreciate the clever ideas behind them in the way they played with popular tropes from fantasy and fairytales. So if you are a fan of fairytale retellings and fairytale-like short fantasy, this is a book you might want to check out.

I don't really read a lot of short stories since I find that I am not able to connect with the characters or the story. However, this was not the case for Marjorie Liu's Tangleroot Palace. Each story, despite being short, is perfectly paced. I loved every single story. The characters and world-building felt so vivid which is amazing since there wasn't a lot of room for the author to work with. With that being said, I am very excited to see how Marjorie Liu would do with a full-length novel.

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<p>The Tangleroot Palace: Stories by Marjorie M. Lui is the authors debut story collection that includes six previously released stories and one new novella that has dangerous magic and even more dangerous women. That tag line was what got me interested in this collection as the only other thing that I've read by Marjorie Liu is the Monstress graphic novel series. However, this collection is also about hope and making your own destiny. Each story made me fall in love with the characters and world and though I would love more each story had a satisfyingly ending. I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </p>
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<p>The stories included are:</p>
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<p>Sympathy for the Bones which focuses on a young woman Martha who works for the old witch in town that uses bone magic to hurt people and grant others wishes. Martha can't escape because the witch owns her soul but she finds a way to make her own way in life though that freedom does cost her. This is a very creepy story that sucked me in and made me keep reading. </p>
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<p>The Briar and The Rose is a take on Sleeping Beauty but in this world the witch has taken over the body of a young woman name Rose. The witch has a Duelist in her service who finds out what the witch has done, meets and falls in love with Rose. The story is about their love and women saving each other. </p>
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<p>Call Her Savage is a Chinese inspired steampunk story where the main character Xing, who is considered a hero though she doesn't want to be any more, ends up fighting an old friend to try and stop the march of war. This story throws you into the action but gives you just enough world building to understand the setting and the stakes for the characters. I would love there to be more stories in this world but the ending felt right. </p>
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<p>The Last Dignity of Man the follows a rich man named Alexander Lutheran who in many way emulates Lex Luthor from the Superman comics as he believes that maybe if theirs a supervillain a superhero has to come out to save the day. However, its clear that Alexander knows that its not real he also knows that if he's the one ding these not great things he might be able to stop someone worse. Though that's the main plot of the story its more about loneliness and hope that there is love out there for everyone. </p>
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<p>Where the Heart Lives is the most fairytale like of all these stories. We follow Lucy who is sent to work for Miss Lindsay who maintains a property in the woods where many people come to bury their loved ones. However, the forest is inhabited by "ghost" that try to steal other way. It turns out that its the fairy queen of the forest that takes them. The story itself is mostly about heart break and how love and family make people vulnerable and stronger. This story is also an early prequel to the Dirk &amp; Steele paranormal romance series but you don't need to know anything about the series to read this story. </p>
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<p>After the Blood is about a world where plague has killed off most of the world and forest grew up around the old cities but are not natural as magic is involved though many don't want to believe it. The communities that have survived are mostly the Amish and those who grew up around them. In this world some people have been turned into vampires and zombie like creatures attack the settlements. The story follows Amanda who due to the nature of her blood can use it to protect land and building from these creatures. After her friend Steven is found out to be a vampire they save what is left of his family and decided that they end to move from this settlement. This is a possible future for the Dirk &amp; Steele series but again you don't need to know anything about the series to read and understand this story. </p>
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<p>Tangleroot Palace is the new novella for this collection. We follow Sally who is a princess about to be forced to marry a fearsome warlord to help protect her fathers kingdom. She doesn't want to marry and goes on a journey to find answers in the Tangleroot Forest and is full of magic and can trap people. Along the way she meets a traveling band of performers led by Mickel Thorn and Sally realizes that she is starting to fall in love with Mickel but still wants to find her answers. Sally ends up in the forest and confronts the queen that is trapped there who tries to force Sally to free her. In the end Sally saves herself and Mickel, who turns out to be the warlord but all of his actions are just stories. </p>
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<p>Overall, I loved this story collection. A few I felt where better than others but I liked everything. If you like any of Marjorie Liu's other work or if the description of this collection sounds like something you would like then I would recommend that you read it. Currently its scheduled to release in June 2021.</p>
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A magical, compelling short story collection with diverse characters and storylines. I haven’t read any of the author’s works before, but I will be doing so after this!

This collection has three stand-out stories in my opinion: Sympathy For The Bones, The Briar and The Rose, and Tangleroot Palace. Each had a different setting, diverse leads, and gorgeous writing. The Briar and The Rose was perhaps my favourite, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty where women have power and find strength together. Many of the stories in this collection feature BIPOC characters that are fleshed out well and some are even queer, which I just loved!!

While my favourites were the first two stories and the last one, the middle stories didn’t have that magical writing for me. While they were well-done, I just personally wasn’t drawn in as much as with the others. However, I did enjoy them and Liu has an obvious talent for worldbuilding and character creation. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the ARC.

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.

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.

ARC received by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who has only read comics from Marjorie Liu this was a great introduction to her novels. I really loved every story in this series. There is always the one story that sticks out as a little boring in an anthology to me and there was one in this as well but that is just me. I can bet that some people would love that story while I didn't which always happens. Still, I do have to say that at least this one was just a little off to me and I did finish it while there have been some short stories that I totally could not read and felt like I needed some bleach for my eyes. I would highly suggest this anthology for someone like me who is new to Marjorie Liu's novels and want to see what they are like.

It's always a challenge to review a collection of short stories, because there will always be some stories that appeal more to you (or are stronger) than others. However, on the whole, I really enjoyed The Tangleroot Palace.

All of Majorie Liu's short stories were deeply imaginative, and I was very impressed with how rich the worlds she crafted in her stories were (especially considering the short page count). Even in the stories that I did not love, the characters were vibrant and the plots were interesting. I liked how in all of her stories, you often did not fully understand the world or the characters at the start, yet as the story progressed, the mysteries of the world and the characters' backstories slowly unfurled. The themes of some of these stories really resonated with me, in particular the search for love and connection, and the lengths we'll go to for this search.

My favourite stories were the first 3: I loved the mix of magic, body horror and interesting female characters. Even though I felt that the latter half of the stories were not as strong as the first half, I would still recommend this book overall.

This collection has also definitely inspired me to read more of Liu's work.

4.5 out of 5 stars. Wow. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read this book. The book is a collection of short stories written by the author. They remind me of a tone that would fit right in with Grimm's Fairy Tales, only darker and grimmer. Not all of the short stories are like that; some have a bit more of a modern twist. The book was well written. Some of the stories are a bit disturbing in content.

From the author of the hit graphic novel series 'Monstress', this is a collection of 7 pieces of shorter fiction but, in my opinion, a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. Not that there's an issue with the quality of the writing as a whole but a couple of them lacked that final piece of something intangible that makes a piece of shorter fiction memorable.

The first story, 'Sympathy for the Bones' is possibly the one I liked best of the entire collection. It's a story about power and how you choose to wield it, in a world not unlike our own. I also very much liked 'Call Her Savage', though I suspect that was more about the world-building going on to create a setting where crystal skulls are used as a source of arcane power and the Emperor of China has been forced to flee to the new-born United States for refuge.

In all, it's an enjoyable enough compilation but not one I can see myself reading again.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Im really conflicted with this book. The collection of stories, all had very intriguing themes and plots, but the first half of the book was so hauntingly beautiful and yet the last three stories came off as boring to me. Despite that im so glad i got to read this because the first 4 stories really are *that* good.
* sympathy for the bones
I got so haunting vibes from this because the writing style fit so perfectly well with the tone of the story. It was atmospheric, and so, SO beautiful. I wouldn’t say its lyrical but, i honestly don’t know the writing style just took a hold on me until the character work decided to show itself. The main character’s thoughts, how her mindset changes, why she is the way she is, the way the magic was fleshed out in such a short story, ive got nothing but praise for the author. The ending again, was ironic and the darker themes were explored so well, i’m hesitant to call it gray morality because she too admits to her own doings but that certainly had reasons, this haunting tale is a unique take on a character who we would usually see as an antagonist. The voice was so distinct and well defined.

* The Briar and the Rose
This was a queer reimagining of sleeping beauty. The author maintains the dark and haunting original themes at the same time giving it a fresh perspective. I adored the character work of Briar and the romance was truly heartwarming and the plot while meandering, had a much deeper thematic plot going on between the lines and behind the words. This paired up with the beautiful and atmospheric writing style the Briar and the Rose is truly a masterpiece.

* Call her Savage
This is probably my favorite one on this book. The writing style was again phenomenal, but what truly made this story worthwhile was its character work. The story follows the Lady Marshal Xing through the Opium wars as she, after heavy losses and betrayals comes back to fight for her nation. It showcased what war does to a person, how one’s moral compass changes so much after being a killer, after so much violence, how people’s entire mindset and perspectives changes. Xing was so well realized with such a distinct voice, i fell in love with her. And the queer romance, if one could call it that, was haunting and tragic but what moved me most was Tom and Xing on that final scene. When all is lost and its just them against the colonizers. I absolutely love this story so so much and i cannot recommend this enough.

* Last Dignity of Man
This one. Damn. Right up there with Call Her Savage. Again the writing style was so atmospheric and impeccable really, it added so much to how well defined the character Alexander was and how distinct the voice felt. The premise is so so unique. A man who basically owns half the city with all this power with such a unique kink. I appreciate the author bringing topics most people dont even talk about let alone write about, but beyond that this was still fundamentally a story about wanting to be loved. Hoping that somewhere someplace, someone would love him. And thats such a strong message no matter how different he deals with that i think we all relate to it so so much and thats what it makes this story so special. The sci fi element and plot too was surprisingly enjoyable because i don’t usually love sci fi plots like this but this worked.



* Where the heart lives
* After the blood
Both of these, felt so disappointing idk after those 4 banger stories i expected something more. The writing style was not as atmospheric either and it didn’t capture me like the other 4 did. The characters felt weak and not that distinct and the plots were boring honestly.

* tangleroot Palace
I guess with this one, again the writing style became more descriptive than atmospheric and I didn’t love that. I didnt care much for the romance but the romance was a pretty huge part of the story. Honestly it was too tropey and the fact that the romance aspect was presented as a plot twist made it as disappointing as it seemed to me because it felt too obvious and yeah i just didn’t like that. The world isn’t particularly something i enjoyed either. Its still an okay story but barely. :((

All in all i highly recommend the first 4 stories, the last 3 not so much but get this book for the first 4 its worth it!! Thank you to Tachyon Publications for providing me with an arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I love Liu's graphic novels so naturally I was excited for this one, and it's the first non-comic piece I've read by her, but not the last.

It's a collection of short stories, fairytale stories with a twist, each very different from the other.
It changes between genres and has everything from voodoo, witcher, princesses, vampires and mad scientists.

As most things Liu writes it's beautiful and really well written, you can easily connect fall in love with the characters even though you only know them for a few pages, and the worldbuilding for each story is superb.

More please!

Marjorie Lui is an excellent writer who creates vivid worlds and characters. This collection of her short stories is well worth the read.

Ms. Lui explains that this is the first collection of her short stories. She ties each story into its backstory.

The stories are in different genres but each is fascinating and well done. I highly recommend giving this a try.

I received a free copy. I am leaving my honest review.

I'm not typically a reader of short stories, but Marjorie Liu totally blew me away. Each story had such a unique and complex world that it honestly felt like I was just reading a ton of mini novels, which was an amazing experience. Each tale brought something beautiful and totally original to the table and I truly felt completely immersed in every sentence Liu wrote. Tangleroot Palace was probably my favorite and I loved its ending, but literally, all of these stories are ones I fully intend on revisiting and convincing as many friends as possible to read. The Briar and the Rose was such a bittersweet tale of love, Sympathy for the Bones was so dark and mysterious, and After the Blood was a supernatural setting unlike any I'd read before (I could go on and on about all of these stories). All in all, The Tangleroot Palace was a fantastic collection of stories that really made me think about humanity and life in ways I'd never really considered with such dynamic characters. Definitely check this book out.

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.

This book is a true ode to beauty not only of language but also of the stories written here.
The author presents us with a book with seven tales covering different stories about vampires, witches, princesses with powers, scientists who play gods, etc.
All characters featured in the stories are beautifully described: they suffer, feel, love, fight, and convey all their emotions to the reader. Strong, brave, and very human characters are running through these pages. We can find love stories that go beyond any prejudice.
Although the tales are short and the stories aren't told from the beginning, their reading hooks you from the first word and does not let you go to the endpoint of each narration.
It only takes one word to resume the whole book: perfect.