Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a perfectly mixed recipe of cultural expectations, racial stereotypes, gender roles, and their own versions of terror. The mix of everything in this collection of short stories almost creates a genre all to itself in the best of ways. First of all, the title…this title is not “Loud Women” or “Women Speaking Out.” Using the word “Unquiet” fully emphasizes the breaking from the norm that these authors and their stories show.
I struggled with how to review this book, to be honest. It feel like it covers so many things and with so many different authors…whatever you are looking for in this book, you will find it. It is a beautiful collection of Asian women authors who have gathered their stories together to celebrate, critique, honor and share their cultures, trials and successes through mythology, traditions and horror. Editors Lee Murray (interviewed here) and Geneve Flynn have truly struck gold with this collection. If you want to read a book about Asian culture…pick this one up. If you want to read just a collection of fantastic short stories…pick this one up. If you want to read horror…pick this one up. If you want to overcome challenges in your life…pick this one up.
Always on track with its message, never overbearing, always scary and with no weak stories, I highly, highly recommend Black Cranes. You will be opened to new tales of terror, new creatures, new mythology, new traditions, new twists on old tales, and new exceptionally talented authors. Each author has faced her own experiences with how to be “unquiet” and the personal nature of each individual story is what makes this such a powerful and entertaining collection.
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is available now and you need to own it!
