Review: Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 418
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories
Release Date: 01/02/2012
Publisher: Harper Collins
Received from Publisher.

THE BLURB:
Dangerous promises and beguiling threats swirl together in a dozen stories of enchantments dark and light by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr. Uncanny and unexpected creatures appear from behind bushes, rise from beneath the seas, or manifest from seasonal storms to pursue the objects of their attention—with amorous or sinister intent—relentlessly.

From the gentle tones of a storyteller’s cadences to the terror of a blood sacrifice, tales of favorite characters from Marr’s Wicked Lovely novels mix with accounts of new characters for readers to fall in love with...or to fear.

Lush, seductive, and chilling, Melissa Marr’s stories revel in the unseen magic that infuses the world as we know it.

MY THOUGHTS:
Like Melissa Marr's novels, this anthology was very enthralling. 'Faery Tales and Nightmares' by Melissa Marr incorporates stories Marr has written for other anthologies as well as the novellas 'Old Habbits' and 'Stopping Time'. Some of the stories included are about 'Wicked Lovely' characters and some aren't. I really enjoyed this collection of stories. It was just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump! (And, the text isn't too small which also helped because the reason  I hadn't been reading was because of my sore eyes)

I'm a little unsure of how I feel about Marr's anthology and how it groups stories she had published in other anthologies. On one hand it's a great thing. Marr is simply releasing the stories in one volume so her fans can access all the stories without purchasing other anthologies filled with various other authors they mightn't want to read. On the other hand I know there will be some readers out there who have  already read the stories in other anthologies that will be a little peeved about purchasing this one only to find out that they are reading the same stories.

Some of the stories - as mentioned above- include characters from the 'Wicked Lovely' series. I have only read the first three books in the series, so there was definitely a bit of confusion there. I noticed a few spoilers, but to me I guess it didn't feel completely spoiled because I only knew where the characters were at and not how they got there. Just a word of warning to those who haven't finished the series, you might want to go ahead and do that before you read this anthology.

I thought that Marr's story telling was pretty grand, once again. Many authors -no matter how great- can have me completely lost on their short stories. I always find that short stories are more difficult to understand and some stories by other authors can seem to lack any sort of message or seem too basic. In this anthology I understood the majority of the stories. One of the stories was more of a prelude to the anthology and the other one was more of a fill-in between 'Wicked Lovely' books and didn't really conclude.

I think the title sits well with Marr's writing. Her highly descriptive, fanciful writing definitely reminds me of children's fairy tales. These tales though, were a bit more grown up than that and were more wicked. I really enjoy Marr's ability to create beautiful imagery and a unique "world" for her characters to live in. I think it's especially cool when an author can use one of their own "terms" as a descriptive word. E.g. "He was very Dark court".

Overall I think this Anthology is worth 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed myself while reading this one and I think I will definitely revisit it from time to time. This is a must have for all Melissa Marr fans and is a great way for newcomers of  the Marr world to become acquainted with her writing(if you don't mind learning a few spoilers).

Also by Melissa Marr:

-The Wicked Lovely Series

-Graveminder

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