Metamorphose

Thank you, NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC!

<i> I am beautiful.
I am beautiful.
But I am alone.
Is it still beautiful, when there are no spectators? </i>

I wasn't a huge fan at first, but as I read on, there were parts I really loved. There were some parts that just felt too abstract to me, though.

There are many lines that are incredibly beautiful, but in that, lots of strange words I've never even heard before that required a lot of Googling (which got a little annoying, having to tab out every few lines, since the NetGalley app doesn't allow you to highlight & lookup words). This included a word where the only Google results were pages with unscrambled answers for Scrabble (naidr pg. 38?).

I also came across some typos:
- In "Sacrifice" pg. 34 ("Your have placed" = You have placed?)
- In "i" on pg. 39 ("ambonation" = abomination?)
- Missing spaces between periods on pg. 44. ("You are a wasp.I am just...")
- Two poems that trail off which may have been intentional but I found awkward enough to question it (pg. 34 & 44)
- In "I abhor beauty" (pg. 44) "can not" and shouldn't "tick ridden" have a hyphen in between?
Maybe some things were intentional, but they had me questioning.

Overall it's an interesting concept, but there were some segments where the underlying idea/themes on beauty became lost on me.

That said, there were parts in the last few pages that really spoke to me. ~I'm in my f--- beauty standards era~ right now and stopped wearing makeup to work recently. I am still shocked to the point of shuddering everytime I see a glimpse of my reflection, because in my head I'm always imagining myself walking around as the "prettified" version, not my actual, bare-faced self. I've never felt empowered by makeup or found any joy in putting it on, it has just always felt like something I had to do in order to not appear ugly. At almost 25 I'm just now realizing how uncomfortable I've felt in my own skin for the last 10 or so years. Parts of this little poetry book allowed me to reflect more deeply on that.

From "I abhor beauty", pg. 44--
<i> I abhor beauty. Beauty left me to decrepit waste. (...) I yowl and wail to be free from her talons. (...) You have encased me in your cocoon and now I am melting to become what you have crushed me to be. I am a monster. You have jumbled up my thoughts and tricked me to believe in your definitions of beauty. (...) It is true. I have descended into madness and joined you in this tick ridden chasm when you have sucked every scintilla and left me with gaping holes. (...) I can not tell where my thoughts have become knotted within your words. I am lost. I am alone. </i>

Hauntingly beautiful prose supported by stunning illustrations. Felt like wandering through a magical forest and I loved getting lost in this short collection. I especially enjoyed ending with The Weaver.

Will need to read more by this author!

Metamorphose by Kayla Stone was a very interesting little book with little words that had a strong meaning to them.

Metamorphose is the stunning new collection which confronts, in both rhythmic lines and beautiful illustrations, the age-old questions surrounding beauty, self-acceptance, and the lengths to which we will go to obtain our greatest desires.

A delicate butterfly, an enchanting flame, and the promise of a life of beauty beyond imagination. Who was uncertain of herself and loathing her outward appearance, a little butterfly moves throughout her world, longing to be beautiful. Drawn one day to a flickering flame within a lone lantern, she hears the fire speak to her. It tells her that it will make her deepest, dearest wish come true. She can join with the flame and finally be beautiful – but it will come at a terrible price.

The air wafts the smell of dung.
The wind shrieks the call of death.

Well this starts as it means to go on, doesn't it. I will start by saying that I love the formatting, the poet has taken good care to make the inside formatting as beautiful as the verse. I always appreciate that.

There's some lovely prose in here. Some doesn't work as well as others, muddying the imagery somewhat, but perhaps that is just personal taste. There are some very short poems, or even prose couplets, to break up the longer verse, which is always interesting.

My beauty.
My solar ray of effulgent beams.

I get the impression the poet has happened upon this word and fallen in love with it as they used it a few times. Correctly, that I saw, but still.

Yet,. there are some very nice lines.

I am hideous.
A grotesque splat on cooked pavement

Was a personal favourite. I love visceral, simple verse. It's my thing, I cannot deny. Sacrifice was a nice offering, if you'll pardon the pun, and the Weaver. The use of negative space and complex, careful verse, makes this a poet to watch. I think she will touch many hearts.

Metamorphose by Kayla Stone was well thought out and written. I enjoyed Kayla's words and found myself nodding my head in agreement with her feelings. Her writing was thoughtful and eloquent. I will definitely be reading more of her writing in the future.

I thought this was a beautiful collection of poetry. I’m so grateful I was able to read this. Some of the poems really hit me. This author poetic writing was incredible.

A beautifully delicate collection of poems. Unfortunately my kindle formatted it all skewy and on the side, but on reflection I can only believe that it enhanced my reading experience, reading it sideways like a butterfly squished on the pavement.

As someone with three butterfly tattoos, I feel connected to this.