I love Naomi Novik and was thrilled to learn that she was publishing a story collection, including stories tied to her established worlds! The stories themselves were hit or miss for me, but there were definitely some gems like Spinning Silver and Araminta that I thoroughly enjoyed. I LOVED an update on the Scholomance, which remains one of my favorite magical systems and worlds.

I was most excited by The Long Way Round, which was introduced almost as a teaser to Novik's next big project. I couldn't yet picture it as a full fledged book, but it painted an amazing picture of a new world where the bulk of the action takes place at sea. It gave serious LOST vibes.

I expected great things - these are Naomi Novik stories after all - but was nonetheless blown away. Each kernel left me wanting more. Beautiful, heartrending and heartwarming, all rolled into one package.

Useless to pretend that anything Naomi Novik writes is going to get less than five stars from me. Even a short-story collection, never mind the inevitability that some stories will be less good than others. A less-good Novik story is still going to be arresting; there will still be sentences that start off sounding as if they're going someplace perfectly ordinary but then go rocketing off into parts unknown. The second sentence of the very first story, "Araminta, or, The Wreck of The Amphidrake," goes like this:

She departed in the company of not one but two maids, a hired eunuch swordsman, and an experienced professional chaperone with the Eye of Horus branded upon her forehead, to keep watch at night while the other two were closed.

See what I mean? The selfsame story includes a pirate introduced as "the notorious Weedle," because this is Naomi Novik's take on the Regency romance.

"After Hours," set in the Scholomance post-Golden Enclaves, is something of a mini-Scholomance, in that it shares the theme of kindness and generosity winning out against the temptation to return cruelty for cruelty. There's also a cameo by someone from the books, who's living his best life. After that, "Vici," kind of a prequel to the Temeraire books, quite startled me with its utter amorality -- but it's set in ancient Rome, so viciousness is only to be expected.

Well, I shan't go through story by story any further; I'll just say that every one exercises Novik's gift for reminagining the familiar -- for estranging it -- sometimes comically, sometimes darkly. Pride and Prejudice and dragons? Check. (Temeraire world again!) A Minotaur whose sister loves him with all her heart and who proves to be a chthonic deity -- mostly. (But "He wanted to keep this piece of himself separate, this part that could love her, for as long as he could. Even if he had to stay down there in the dark.") World War I, the trenches, and the meaning of safety. What can I say, they're all wonderful, and the last one, "The Long Way Around," is set in a world that Novik is still in the process of imagining, so it left me wanting to go pound on her door and tell her to write faster. Though that would probably be counterproductive, and she writes pretty fast anyway.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Let me first say that Naomi Novik is one of MY FAVORITE AUTHORS EVER. No one will ever surpass her for me. I reread her books yearly. I loved her "Spinning Silver" so much that I almost carry it with me everywhere, like a comfort blanket as a child does. I always recommend everyone read all of her books. But this newest one is absolutely superb. When "Buried Deep" is published, RUN to the bookstore and stock up, because it truly is the best. What a fantastic, intelligent, exquisitely written group of wonderful stories - I felt like a child again, reading fairy tales late into the night.
I truly say that I will read anything she writes, even the side of a cereal box. I am off to read it again, but it was so, so, so good.

I fell in love with Temeraire in 2008, and ever since then, reading Novik has felt like coming home. Vivid, precise prose beckons within wonderful worlds, from the familiar Scholomance or Holmesian history to myths to other places entirely new. While most of the stories were previously published in other multi-author anthologies, I’d only read the one included in the Golden Age Temeraire collection, and I’m glad these shorts now have a home all together.

I left every story wanting something more, a sign of engaging short fiction, but of course my favorites featured sailing and dragons, or other beasties. Happily, based on the last entry The Long Way Round, it seems that Novik’s next series will feature those things.

P.S. Read "After Hours" after finishing Scholomance, unless you don't mind a preview of how it ends.

A really great collection of short stories that spanned a wide range from dragons to fairy godmothers to greek re-tellings. A couple of the stories had ties to the Temeraire series which I have not read and therefore took me while to get into it. However the rest were all varying levels of good to absolute bangers!
And I did come away feeling I needed to catch up on the Temeraire series so I could re-read this and give it the attention it needed.

A great anthology!

Huge thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was so excited to jump into Buried Deep and Other Stories, Naomi Novik’s anthology of short stories because I LOVE her Scholomance series (man do I need to read the rest of her work). After Hours, one of the stories in the anthology, takes us back to the Scholomance and WOW, the anthology is worth it for this story alone! 😍

Buried Deep is impressive. I was completely floored by the breadth of Novik’s writing and her ability to bring such varied worlds to life. The anthology shows off the versatility of her scope. We get magic and dragons and monsters and Sherlock Holmes and even Pride & Prejudice. Yep, you read that correctly!

I read this collection because I’m a fan of Novik’s, but short stories aren’t my favorite. There are some stories in here that are so fantastic I simply wanted more, more, more. And others were good, skillfully written, but not as much my thing - and so they felt long.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommended for fans of Novik and SFF readers.

Buried Deep is out now! Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing (Ballantine) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Short story books are hard. They very easily can get dragged down by just one bad story. Overall the collection is solid and I was really impressed by the variety Naomi Novak shows in tone and mood and pacing. It’s not super obvious that all of these are by the same author which is a tough feat sometimes. The different worlds built were fun and varied. However one or two of the stories just fell a little flat for me, packing a weak punch that could have benefitted from either being a little longer and more fleshed out, or in one or two cases a little shorter to cut out some slow fluff. Overall though I’m really glad I got to read these and dive into more of Novik’s worlds.

A short story collection by the author of Spinning Silver and Uprooted.

1. It’s refreshing to read a collection of stories with mostly female protagonists. That said, I was not thrilled with how she handled all of them. (SPOILERS) Irene Adler (“Commonplaces”) slinking off to Paris to sleep with Sherlock Holmes and then returning to an apparently stifling domesticity did not strike me as the most interesting thing to say about her.

2. Marc Antony (“Vici”) is exactly the sort of character I adore reading about—roguish, witty, dissatisfied. I love how Novik can convey exactly the sort of person a character is so immediately, in this case at Antony’s own sentencing. As with most of Novik’s characters, I get the sense that he is still adventuring long after the close of the story. I could gladly read an entire novel about him. As it is, I’ll satisfy myself with Plutarch’s Life of Antony.

3. The titular “Buried Deep” was creepy and fraught. Novik excellently combined the heartlessness of the original Greek mythology— (SPOILERS) what does it matter that Ariadne has seemingly struck multiple men from existence altogether?—with a child's impassioned sense of justice.

4. The inclusion of the ur-Spinning Silver felt unnecessary, although I can see how some readers may be interested in the earlier version of the novel. To my eye, there were better uses for this space in the collection.

5. As usual, Novik shines in her ability to set up a fantasy world and then turn it on its head. Her final short story evidently shares a setting with her next novel which I eagerly await.

Overall: Good for fans of Novik’s previous works.

I enjoyed engaging with these stories and what they added to books I've already read. Naomi is an automatic read whenever I see her name on a book!

I tried very hard to get into this. I think I’m just not a fan of Naomi’s writing. I didn’t love Deadly Education either… So definitely probably me and not the book.

Overall, this is a delightful short story collection written with Naomi Novik's usual clever world-building and careful character development. The two new stories were particularly exciting: the Scholomance short story will excite fans and entice new ones, and The Long Way Round is a tantalizing and intriguing look at Novik's upcoming work, which left me greatly looking forward to its release. Seven Years from Home was another standout for me -- more of a sci-fi angle than most of Novik's published work with a geopolitical complexity that felt reminiscent of Ann Leckie's work.

I enjoyed this new collection of short fiction from Naomi Novik. It was fun to visit the Scholomance and Temeraire universes again; the Pride & Prejudice retelling was a particular highlight. I am also curious about the new world she is exploring in the final story in the collection, which she says is the basis of a future book or series. These tales are imaginative, clever, and thoughtful, with daring female protags galore.

I love fantasy short stories they are very intriguing. Naomi Novik is an amazing author and especially when it comes to fantasy story telling. Her writing is absolutely beautifully written and I am always amazed and in need of more. Thank you NetGalley for giving me this amazing opportunity. I will always support Naomi Novik’s work. Can’t wait to purchase a physical copy for my collection.

This anthology is a great companion to any of Novik's full-length novels. As a big fan of the Scholomance series, which I think is her strongest work, I was most excited for her short story set in the world of the Scholomance. However, I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection, even the ones related to novels I haven't yet read.

This was a mostly fun collection of short stories. Naomi Novik is a great storyteller and I enjoyed her spin on some known literary characters mixed in with her own ideas. Not all of them were winners and when looking at the previous publication dates of the individual stories, I definitely preferred her later work.

I've read The Scholomance trilogy, so appreciated the short story After Hours as a way to revisit that world. It had the same quirky dark comedic quality that I loved about the series.

My favorite story was the book's namesake, Buried Deep. I like spins on mythology, and felt myself wanting the story to be longer when it ended. I could see myself reading a full length book on Ariadne's story from Novik.

The audiobook has a different narrator for each story which was great when reading the stories back to back.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 hearts

Novik had created some worlds I've really enjoyed. I was excited to get her anthology of short stories. Most of these have been previously published throughout the years, but I hadn't read any of them previously so I was intrigued. Like most anthologies of short stories, some I really enjoyed and others are just so so for me but it always great to see how an author's mind is at work when they aren't committed to their larger novels.

Of the thirteen short stories in the book, by favorites stories were After Hours since it was set in the Scholomance world after the events of the series and I was interested in seeing what the school was like now. Blessings was a cute story about what could happen if too many Faeries decide to bless a child, it was short but pretty funny overall. Dragon's and Decorum was an interesting twist on Pride and Prejudice if it was set in the world like Temeraire with Dragons and war. I am a big fan of Pride and prejudice so I really liked this one, plus dragons of coarse.

The last story The Long Way Around is one I think fans of Novik will be the most excited about. This is a story where Novik is playing around with new characters in a new world as she is developing something that might be her next series. I think it will be a lot like Spinning Silver, where you could see the bones of the short story that turned into a novel. If you only read a few stories in the Anthology I think this should be the first one even though it is at the end of the book.

Of the thirteen stories, I think there were two I struggled to push through, but all the others were fun stories that show how creative Novik can be and how her mind work when crafting a bigger story. The stories in the book were 3 and 4 star reads for me with one being a 2 star read.

If you have enjoyed Novik's works in the past or if you were interested in seeing if her writing style is one you could enjoy this may be a good find for you.

***Finding magic, finding a thing of magic, while you were still young enough to truly believe, could open the door, and then if you had some little gift as well, a powerful magic could awaken it to bloom.***

Buried Deep and Other Stories is an anthology that belong to Novik‘s previous universes. For me, I came here for the Scholomance short stories and I enjoyed all of them. Nobody does that dark academia/fantasy/magical school setting better than Novik. It makes me want her to continue writing Scholomance stories for as long as she will.

Thank you #Netgally for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

#NaomiNovik is one of my absolute favorite authors. I was spellbound with the novel #Uprooted and then again with #SpinningSilver. Lets not forget about The Schoolomance series as well. Naomi Novik has kept readers spllbound with her words since the very start and the stories within the pages of #BuriedDeepandOtherStories is just as spellbinding as ever. Full of smaller stories from her other novels including the aforementioned ones she takes you on more journey's into the worlds of the characters that we have loved for so long. I have loved every moment of being taken back into the stories of those who's books I had already closed.

I want to thank #Netgalley for the chance to read #BuriedDeepandOtherStories by #NaomiNovik in return for a fair and honest review.

a beautiful, beautiful collection of short stories from an author that i already adore--there is no universe in which i could write a review that could encapsulate all of the feelings i have about novik's work. a quality of novik's work that i have always admired is that every story feels like a tiny, passing glimpse into an enormous, functional world, and this book exemplifies that so, so well! these characters feel like complete <i>people</i>, with all their little idiosyncrasies and gripes and passions, and the language that novik uses to approach both her characters and her settings is baked with so much love and care. everyone's personhood is handled so meticulously that they really feel like they're walking, talking <i>people</i>, and you just have a momentary glimpse into their psyche. something about her work just reminds me of how much i love art!!! i would have to take years and years and years to write down everything i felt with each of these stories, but i will sum them up as a full five stars instead.