Author: Marjorie Liu
Title: The Tangleroot Palace: Stories
Format: E-book
Pages: 256
Series: –
Other: Short story collection
I’ve known Marjorie Liu as the author of Monstress, a dark fantasy graphic novel series with the wonderful art by Sana Takeda. I liked Monstress well enough to request Liu’s short stories collection from NG the moment I saw it there – just look at this cover! In hindsight, I might’ve been better served by gathering more intel on Liu’s work of fiction first. That’s not to say that the collection is irredeemably bad; most stories are inherently readable and subtly creepy in Liu’s trademark Monstress way, and there are a couple that are actually all right. As for the rest, however, ah – best see for yourself, below.
As usual, I offer here a short summary of each story, each scored separately, with an overall rating at the end.
Sympathy for the Bones 7/10
A nicely creepy voodoo (here called hoodoo) story, with dolls and gris-gris and the possession of one’s soul. The sewing aspect was what’s really drawn me to the story, and the spin on the usual witch-and-her-victim trope was interesting. In Liu’s stories men have no agency – and while in this one it made perfect sense, the issue of male agency clearly delineated in the conclusion in a wonderfully perverse way, the whole idea quickly turned into a tired, overused schtick in other stories.
The Briar and the Rose 4/10
A retelling of The Sleeping Beauty, with a completely unnecessary heaping of cringy. Here, men are actively stupid and spineless, the fabled prince is a masculine lesbian, and the princess’s body is inhabited and continuously sexually exploited and abused by an old powerful witch with some sort of sexual addiction. The Sleeping Beauty is creepy enough on its own, without such weird spins. The relationship here is quite sweet, actually, and I would enjoy it but for the plot. I know that those idealistic wishes of mine will never realize, but I just wish authors would have enough responsibility and presence of mind to read not only fairy tales but also their analyses – some really smart people already covered that ground, and better, and didn’t leave in their wake the lingering feeling of distaste.
Call Her Savage 1/10
A half-Chinese lesbian Captain America fights with British killing machines, bioengineered with the use of mystic power of crystal skulls. That in itself would be enough for a “WTF?” but that’s only the beginning. The British empire is portrayed, as usual, as bloodthirsty and ruthless (and that’s true, I’ve no beef with this), and its behavior is contrasted by the wonderfully wise and benevolent Chinese empire, which, known for its adherence to the maxim “Live and let live,” peacefully obtained large swathes of West coast of North America and entered into mutually beneficial treaties with Native Americans. Because of course. I don’t know which part is more offensive to me: the wilful selective blindness to history or the vengeful fantasy. I almost DNFed the whole collection at the end of this.
The Last Dignity of Man 6/10
A poor rich boy wants to become an archvillain because in his highly functioning but still somehow addled mind he figured that this would bring Superman into his world and into his life. Some apt commentary on the power of modern corporations, and examples of subtle, elegant writing, sparse yet meaningful, but the plot just doesn’t make sense.
Where the Heart Lives 5/10
This one is a tough one to judge. Evocative, flowing prose, again, and it possesses an interesting, fairytale-like premise, but ultimately turns out to be an inconsequential prequel/sequel to an already existing series of UF books by Liu I knew nothing about and didn’t care. After reading the story, I still don’t care. There are some wonderfully lush images of a haunted forest reminiscent of Uprooted, but the whole remains a less-than-subtle illustration of the simplistic belief that lack of love makes everything bad while love makes everything good. I mean, I agree with the sentiment that love is crucial in life, absolutely – but I would really like to see a bit more subtlety here. It’s not like this story is the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, after all.
After the Blood 2/10
Amish vampires, rapists in the woods, and their boring guilt. A post-apocalyptic future somewhat resembling a cross between the UF of Ilona Andrews and Rebecca Roanhorse. Honestly, the main image I had was Al Yankovic’s Amish Paradise. This story is pretty long, more like a novella, and that length is felt. I guess it was supposed to evoke feelings of oppression and danger, but what I got from it was a load of angsty buried drama, and a dramatic overflow of words. The only oppressive feeling present here is boredom. Oh, and a bit of guilty vengeful fantasy – after all, it seems a theme in American UF to showcase female strength by having the protagonists kill their rapists. “The trees told me to do it” is a new rationalization, however.
The Tangleroot Palace 6/10
A fairytale-like novella, with chapters, a desperate king, a headstrong princess, a famous warlord, and another haunted magical forest with an imprisoned evil queen, who must be confronted once every generation by the descendants of the witches that defeated her long ago. Guess who would that be? That evil queen part is really lame and makes no sense whatsoever, but whatever – by authorial fiat the protagonists needed to go to the forest and face their fears and bind their fates together. That said, apart from this it was a nice, sweet story, with likeable and quite memorable characters I’d be happy to read more about, so if you’re willing to overlook the glaring holes in logic and common sense, it’s actually enjoyable.
Summary
All in all, this collection boasts of strong feminist vibes, strong and really well done LGBT+ representation, fairytale inspirations, and acres of haunted forests. All of it is very tame and mainstream, however, bordering on mushy, with just a tad of uncanny here and there to spice up the comfortable popcorn read. If you feel like this is something for you, you may quite enjoy it. For me, it was unfortunately a largely forgettable experience, the stories laying bare the deficiencies of Liu’s storytelling I was willing to overlook earlier in the Monstress comic books because of Takeda’s art.
Score: 4/10
I have received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.
Re-enchantment Of The World 
I bought the first volume of Monstress because of the art. I couldn’t get into the story so I didn’t continue with it. These stories don’t sound very appealing, but I’m not the target audience. 😉 Thanks for the review, Ola.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The art in Monstress is just so cool! But the story lags behind, and is lacking in many aspects. As I mentioned in this review, I was willing to overlook the deficiencies because of the art, but in these stories they are laid bare. I have a feeling I won’t be coming back to Monstress, after my adventure with Liu’s prose 😉 It seems I’m not the target audience either.
Thanks for reading, Wakizashi!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, that’s disappointing indeed! From your review it would seem that the author is trying much too hard to get her message across, and therefore missing the mark… It sounds like a collection of weird ideas, but far too weird even for my tastes.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately, you’re right. I feel like the stories (most of which were written for anthologies, so pre-ordered, so to speak) were just haphazardly bunched together for this collection, without regard to their quality. It’s a missed opportunity, as this time around I’m far from the only critical reviewer and the general reception seems very lukewarm.
Thanks for reading, Maddalena! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
The cover was interesting. At a closer look, how could a thin arm lady swing a broadsword with one arm?
Thanks for your review, I‘ll pass.
But Amish vampire is innovative 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heh, there was no sword in that story! 🤣 And she’s an evil witch so she’s got magic powers and no broadsword is too heavy! 😜
Amish vampire could’ve been innovative, I agree! Alas, in this story they weren’t. They were just boring 😂😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Boring vampires is also something new for me. Usually, they are intriguing, or just bad, sad or whatever. But boring? 🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let me rephrase then: tormented by anguish and guilt and denying their own nature. Sounds familiar? I thought Rice covered this theme to death – or rather undeath… 🤣🤣🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, she did. Not with Amish ones, though 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Does not sound appealing. Too much angst and bitterness and morality signalling and hypocritical disgust in these stories. The genre is full of it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Agree 1000%. I was just so disappointed that it was only more of the same, and I mean the same, ad nauseam. It’s like fantasy Wendy’s, or McDonald’s – cheaply made fast food, where “hygienic” is the best adjective you can think of.
LikeLiked by 1 person
bloody wordpress had me unfollowing you. sigh.
After a couple of reviews of Monstress and its contents, I knew this author and I would never connect in anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, that happened to me too recently, with regards to several bloggers – mostly self-hosted, though.
Yup, I think I’m done, too. This one was just so mediocre I can’t be bothered to give her any more chances. Ah well, less on my TBR 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thinning the TBR is always good….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes indeed!!! 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oops.
That’s it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very eloquent, Chris! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let me chime in: ouch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🤣🤣🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have Monstress on my TBR strictly for its art, hopefully for its story too. But wow. This one… You had me laughing out loud at “A half-Chinese lesbian Captain America fights with British killing machines”. When people try to go 200% diversity, that’s what you get… Toss in politics… and it’s game over. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading, Lashaan!
Yeah, I feel reading and reviewing this one was sort of a public service 😜 because it definitely didn’t bring me pleasure. Monstress starts well, goes down afterwards, but the art is impeccable throughout. It’s still a “girl story,” don’t be mistaken, but quite gory at that 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a striking cover, that’s for sure. She’s someone I have on my TBR but I’ve not made it to exploring her work yet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You should see Monstress! It’s a comic book by Liu with absolutely gorgeous art by Sana Takeda, and there the deficiencies of storytelling are much less visible thanks to all those pretty pictures 😀
LikeLike
Hmm. I rarely get along with short stories and I will make sure to avoid these. Your review was great though: tame and mainstream, bordering on mushy… Made me laugh even if it didn’t convince me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I admit I was a bit sharp-tongued with this one, but it deserved it! 🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
Best to be honest, that is my policy as well! And I love sharp-tongued reviews, for some reason they tend to make me laugh (I know, odd sense of humour…. 😆)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do enjoy reading a well-aimed, cutting critique (and I tend to laugh at them, too ;)) so I’m happy some of my reviews fulfill this role 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am sorry this book endend up being such a disappointment, and I don’t think it is the right one for me, for a lot of reasons, but reading your review was fun!! Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m happy to know that! 😀 Sometimes writing a sharp, honest review is just what I need after reading a bad book, so I’m glad that you enjoyed it 😀
Thanks for reading, Susy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh man! Quite a burn there of a review, but great review and I appreciate it as a warning to lower my expectations going in. I want looking forward to trying it since I’m only familiar with Liu through the Monstress comics. I don’t know if she’s done short stories or novels before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, it’s a good measure of my disappointment with this collection! 😉 I really liked Monstress and expected something similar, whereas what we get here is apparently more in line with Liu’s previous UF novels I never knew about ;).
Thanks! 😀
LikeLike