Reviews for X and Y: And Other like Stories

The average rating for X and Y: And Other like Stories based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-15 00:00:00 Anne Coyne I was a huge fan of Hamilton's Anita Blake series, until the series went from supernatural to super-pornographic. The hyper-erotic turn simply ruined the character of Anita Blake for me, and angry at Hamilton I swore I wouldn't read any more of her books. I'm glad that I put that anger aside and picked up "Stange Candy." The book is mostly a collection of short stories published early in her career. The stories are suprisingly diverse, ranging from hard science-fiction to light-hearted, fluffy romance. Her ability engage the reader in only a few short sentences shines, and almost every story has the charcter development of a full-length book. My favorite story involved two sociopathic empath serial killers who find a way to build a career out of their "unique" abilities. Another good one was a fluffy tale about a pack of Cupids bribed to "hit" an unmarried, 35-year-old woman. I hope that Hamilton is able to re-find the creative spark shown in this collection. She's too good an author to be stuck writing vampire/werewolf threesomes for the rest of her life.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-09 00:00:00 Malyna Swyter So this was ... well "strange". I've never read any Hamilton books so I'm probably coming to it from a completely different background than most readers. I was really surprised by the fact that most of the stories were "straight" fantasy stories. I was also a little put off by the attitude of most of the introductions. Many of them sounded angry, basically saying, "This was rejected by some editor who was obviously a retard because he didn't absolutely love my work. But now that I'm famous I'm allowed to foist my sub-par writing on you at a premium price." The fantasy stuff was pretty lame and felt really dated. I'm assuming they were written 15 years ago so I guess that makes sense but I can only believe that it's the author's vanity that brought them back into print rather than the good sense of any editor/publisher. The silly stuff was silly (although I did realize I liked the superhero one later). Finally for some reason I didn't have all the files for the final (Anita) story so it ended abruptly in the middle. But it really didn't leave me wanting more so I didn't try to get the rest. So overall this makes me not that excited about her other books (translate to: I'll never get around to reading them unless really prodded by trusted friends).