Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I really enjoy how Naomi Novik tells stories so of course I enjoyed this collection. Some were familiar/inspired by longer works of hers but some were new to me.

It's been a while since I've picked up an anthology but I was exited for this one as I really like Naomi Novik's writing. She has a way with fairytales and descriptions that I just enjoy a lot. This is a collection of previously published stories with her spin on them. Obviously some of the stories caught my attention more that others so some of my favorites were: Spinning Silver which is just a shorter version of her book by the same name with a slightly different ending. Blessing was super fun, drunk fairies fighting about which blessing to give to the child of a baron that end in a bit of a disaster. After Hours about a mushroom witch vas lovely, made me want to pick up her Scholomance series as it set in that world. Castle Coeurlieu because Novik mentioned was the story that planted the idea of Spinning Silver in her head. I really liked that the author gave a bit of an introduction before each story started talking about what inspired her or why she decided to do what in particular. I would read a chapter in between reading other books, it gave me a break from long stories while still giving something new each time. Overall I really enjoyed it.

Thank You to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the opportunity to read this Arc and share my honest review.

"Buried Deep and Other Stories" is a thrilling anthology that takes readers on a captivating journey through the imaginative worlds of Naomi Novik. From the dragon-filled landscapes of the Temeraire series to the gothic halls of the Scholomance trilogy, Novik's storytelling prowess shines in this collection of thirteen short stories.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

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So, if I tried to review this collection as a whole, my review would be short and boring. So instead, let's do a story-by-story breakdown.

Araminta, Or the Wreck of the Amphidrake: Overall funny and enjoyable, though not particularly deep.

After Hours: Mostly served to remind me that El and Orion both got godawful endings in The Golden Enclaves and I'm still not over it. I was also not a fan of this story reiterating the theme of decent people being expected to sacrifice their anger and personal priorities for the 'greater good.' Especially when they are magically coerced into doing so.

Vici: Another pretty entertaining one, proving that a protagonist can be engaging and fun to follow without being even a little bit sympathetic.

Buried Deep: This one had so, so much promise. It was atmospheric and original... And then it just ended really abruptly, with pretty much every member of the secondary cast getting no narrative closure and me wondering what their point in the story even was.

Spinning Silver: To be quite honest, I liked the short story <i>more</i> than the novel. It focused on what I really liked about the novel—the clever, desperate, ruthless Miryem and her lovely family—and completely eschewed any trace of the book's romances, which I did NOT care for.

Commonplaces: I love Irene Adler. This was a... perfectly okay fanfic look at her? Not really that deep, to be quite honest.

Seven: Now this one, I loved! I loved the city Novik created, and I loved Kath. I found myself fully immersed, and when the story was done, it felt complete.

Blessings: Reminded me a bit of Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, but was otherwise mostly forgettable.

Lord Dunsany's Teapot: I know I was missing some references and resonance here, not being familiar with Dunsany. But to me, this mostly felt like a Shaggy Dog Story and I wished there was at least more historical detail.

Seven Years From Home: Original and well-written, but didn't quite grip me. In this case, I fully admit that was a me problem rather than something objective I could nitpick.

Dragons and Decorum: Look. I love fanfic. Oftentimes, it gives the writer a chance to hold a mirror to canon, going deeper than the original story ever did. However, this particular story is a fanfic fusion of two different canons. I love Pride and Prejudice. I love Temeraire. But Dragons and Decorum winds up skimming the shallow surface of both and catching the charm of neither.

Castle Coerlieu: Another one I loved! As with Seven, a lot of that was due to my loving the protagonist, Isabeau, and the details of the historical setting. I also loved the numinous, nightmare-edge magic weaving itself into the story with visceral emotion.

The Long Way Round: Full disclosure, this one was a slog for me. Some of that was again a me problem. Novik loves nautical adventure. I'm bored by it. But also, I thought the story itself was too long, resolved almost nothing, and ended abruptly and weirdly. Novik mentioned in her author's note that she was using this story to develop a fantasy setting, and that definitely showed through. The setting was center focus. Not the characters, none of whom got a really complete arc. Not the story, with its derailed pacing. But the setting. Which I would probably have cared about more if it was supported by characters and story. Also, I found Tess, the protagonist, sanctimonious and bland, which didn't exactly help. I wish this story had not been last. It ended the collection on a bit of a sour note.

I have read a good chunk of Naomi’s books so these short stories were small delicious treats. I particularly liked the stories that were from her other worlds she has created like the Scholomance! I recommend this collection of stories if you are familiar with and love her work already.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy!

This anthology is truly fantastic. As someone who has never read her short stories before, it was a treat to gain more understanding of my favorite tales. Naomi Novik is a talented writer and I strongly believe that anyone who reads this book, whether they are a fan or not, will become a fan after experiencing her work. This collection serves as a perfect introduction to all of her brilliant stories. If you haven't already, I highly recommend giving her a chance.

This is a tough book to rate. There were some stories that were excellent, and some that I found incredibly bland. I loved that some of the stories were set in the same world as some of the author’s novels or other authors’ stories (the story about Elizabeth Bennet as the captain of a dragon Corps was my favorite!)

With the exception of a few standout stories, this was just a disappointing read for me. More than half of the stories felt too long, slow, and uninteresting. Based on the length of the author’s novels, I think short stories just might not be a strength of hers.

Most of these stories were previously published elsewhere, so if you’re someone who has read most of Naomi Novik’s writing, this may be too repetitive as well.

Naomi Novik always writes compelling novels. As usual, A-plus. I also think the cover is beautiful and it would definitely catch my eye in the bookstore!

Such a good anthology book, never stop writing!!

You won’t want the stories to end. Can’t wait for the upcoming series.

Burried Deep and Other Stories is a fun and fantastical return to the work of Naomi Novick that drew me in with a familiar name and kept me captured with its captivating prose.

What I loved
1. The author has gifted me as a reader with a short return to multiple worlds that I have been desperately missing.
2. Scholmance content in a self-contained short story was particularly unexpected.
3. The brief glimpse into the world of an upcoming work was so enticing.

What didn't work as well for me

1. by the nature of short stories every time I got comfortable in one world it was time to jump to the next and as such this is not a one-sitting read despite its short length.
2. The short stories while self-contained as stories do rely on existing knowledge of the world and I can not as such recommend this collection for my friends just getting into Novick's works.

Who do I Recommend this title for

Fantasy readers who have enjoyed Novick's previous works will be in for a treat with this small tour through her worlds with all new content for so many favorites.

I will read anything this author writes. Short stories are not usually my favorite but she still makes them interesting. I preferred her spinning Silver remix to the actual book! Seven was fascinating and I wanted The Long Way Around to be a full book. There is something for everything in this collection of short stories.

So good! I love Naomi Novik's writing style and world building so much! It's normally difficult for me to get into a collection of short stories, but these were really fun to get into. Most of them had appeared in previous anthologies, but there are two new ones I believe and they are excellent!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House for my digital ARC!

I'm a big fan of Naomi Novik and her writing. I do find most of her books to be slower burns for me; the more I read the more I'm sucked in and moved by the story. I think for this reason I found her shorter stories included here to be less compelling, and just too short to be as impactful as the longer ones. But I really really enjoyed some of the more lengthy stories. So over all a bit of a mixed bag, but with a very high standard of quality of writing. It was also exciting to get a quick peek into the world of her upcoming series!

A collection of previously published short stories by Naomi Novik, plus a sneak peak of the world-building for her upcoming book/series. There was a good mix of independent tales and ones based on her previous books (2 from Temeraire, 1 Scholomance, 1 Spinning Silver). I hadn't read most of these stories before and those I had were worth rereading, but individuals' milage may vary on that account. Overall, I highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys magical folktales and historical fantasy!

My favorite stories were:
- Vici (Marc Antony meets dragon in the Temeraire verse)
- Buried Deep (Ariadne & the Minotaur retelling)
- Seven Years From Home (Lawrence of Arabia but scifi)
- Dragons & Decorum (Pride & Prejudice in the Temeraire verse)
- Castle Coeurlieu (magical realism in a medieval French setting; it reminds me strongly of <i>The West Passage</i> by Jared Pechaček, although of course it predates that novel by nearly a decade)

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

An absolute fantastic collection of short stories. I was surprised to see that so many of the stories had been published elsewhere or were even available to read online though. If I was the type of Novik fan to have already hunted down everything she's ever published, I'd probably feel this book wasn't worth buying. But since I hadn't read any Novik short stories before, I really enjoyed this book. Seven and The Long Way Round were the standouts for me, but I genuinely had fun reading every single one.

This is the second time I've tried reading a Naomi Novik book, and just couldn't get into it. I'm sure it's a personal thing, because I hear great things about this author. Unfortunately tho, I wasn't pulled in and found no interest to continue.

Some of these are definitely better than others, but the good ones are, so, so good. Words words words. Words for review.

From a Netgalley ARC.

Good strong collection wavering on great. And nice intros, they suck you in but don't give you too much information.

Araminta: A pirate story - a good length and a good first story and definitely a bit of a surprise

After Hours: It was nice to have a Scholomance follow-up (as in my friends will read this the moment it comes out just for this story). This had a bit of a different tone to it, partially because it wasn't El ranting. This would still be good even if you hadn't read Scholomance but there are definitely spoiler hints.

Vici: Temeraire in Rome - didn't depend on knowing Temeraire and again a good early story for the book and a bit of a surprise.

Buried Deep: A revisit of Theseus and the Minotaur. Not my favorite ending. But an interesting setup.

Spinning Silver: An early shorter version of the book. A bit different but fun.

Commonplaces: Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes. I had just read a bit of this character in Theodora Goss's series - so it was nice to see another view. This was a bit meandering but fine.

Seven: A cool setup. A bunch of pottery. Kind of a weak ending.

Blessings: A bit simple setup. A minimal ending. But fun.

Lord Dunsany's Teapot: This didn't really work for me. But bits of this were fine. And it wasn't long.

Seven Years from Home: This is purported to be inspired by Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It is kind of a slow burn story. It starts being kind of irritating and long winded but eventually becomes fascinating. It feels like a story that would be better on the second read.

Dragons & Decorum: There was a Pride and Prejudice/Temeraire cross-over. This did not seem to depend on having read Temeraire. I barely remember Termeraire and didn't feel like I missed anything. It probably works better if you like Pride and Prejudice (which I do).

Castle Coeurlieu: A little bit of horror. Didn't quite work for me

The Long Way Round: There is an early bit of what is supposed to be a new book/series called Folly. There's no real hint at what part of this will become the new project. But the world feels real. There is quite a bit of sailing - but there could have been more.

All in all a great book. And worth reading for even a couple of the stories. Probably will be a five star for some less harsh graders.

overall, I enjoyed this collection. there are definitely some very fun and interesting stories in this, and some that I almost skipped over. I’m not a huge short story collection reader, so your mileage may vary. I definitely got some whiplash in the transition from story to story, though I enjoyed NN’s anecdote intros to each one. the scholomance follow-up and the original version of spinning silver were both quite good, and I think in general the longer stories were stronger. some really interesting worlds, plot tidbits, and character ruminations. however, some of these felt severely underdeveloped due to the length.

I will update this review with links to other postings- I intend to post this on my Instagram in coming weeks.

Absolutely masterful.

This collection of thirteen short stories was such a delightful reminder of why Naomi Novik is one of my favorite fantasy writers. All of the stories were new to me, although many been previously published in various anthologies. Some were set in the worlds of her books: a Scholomance story, two Temeraire stories, etc - while others were new. All were full of Novik's trademark wit, wisdom, and elegant storytelling, and I was equal parts sad to come to the end of each and excited to begin the next. Some particular favorites: the Pride and Prejudice x Temeraire Mashup, the gorgeous and painful spin on Ariadne and the Minotaur, the sea voyage full of magic, sibling love, and strange new worlds.

If I had to define a single thread that runs through the collection, it would perhaps be a sense of curiosity, of discovery and subsequent wonder - a thoughtful, imaginative series of "what ifs".