Sunday, April 29, 2018

Angry Kings, by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

[BCS]
★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Epic Fantasy) The King’s daughter fled the kingdom because of his cruelty. Today she’s coming home with a plan to deal with it. (7,693 words; Time: 25m)


"," by (edited by Scott H. Andrews), appeared in issue 250, published on .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: We don’t expect the King to be so evil that he successfully resists and even kills his own ghost. He doesn’t even see it for what it is: he just sees that his daughter tried to poison him. That's a nice twist.

The story is very rich, with lots of pieces: Magritte’s childhood, her torment by the King, her time at the chapel with Milo, her visit with the witch (not to mention the truth stone and all that it implies), her chat with the King’s ghost, her confrontation with the King, the aftermath, and, of course, all the little fairy-tale fragments along the way.

Con: Trouble is, I don’t see how those pieces fit together. At the end, it seems that they all fall apart instead. I’d love to hear if anyone has an interpretation that brings it all together.

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Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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