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1: Mostly resistible tales
The collection has an intriguing premise: science fiction-romance crossovers (who knew?), but most of the short stories in the collection are almost painfully bad. A couple of nice exceptions: Jo Beverly's "The Trouble with Heroes," which succeeds in creating a complex and potentially sinister hero; and Lois McMaster Bujold's "Winterfair Gifts," which details a small but satisfying part of the Miles Vorkosigan saga. Vorkosigan fans may have missed this one (I did, for years) because it is not shelved with the Bs at local bookstores.
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2: 6 sci-fi/romance stories
I imagine a lot of people will buy this book simply for the Lois McMaster Bujold story 'Winterfair Gifts', which shows the wedding of Miles Vorkosigan and Ekaterin from the viewpoint of Roic, one of Miles's armsmen. We also have a side romance between Roic and Taura and a mystery as to whom is trying to injure Ekaterin before the wedding. It's a great little story full of all the usual Bujold magic and probably the reason that most readers are buying this anthology. It's worth the cover price, too, as an enjoyable romp and giving more depth to Taura and Roic who have featured in previous episodes in the Vorkosigan saga. Definitely one to enjoy for Bujold fans and works well on its own for those new to her writing.
But there are five others stories in this collection as well. Perhaps none of them are as good as the Bujold story but they are still worth reading and their variety adds to the enjoyment. It's a chance to dip into the writing styles of other writers (some of whom are better known for historical romance books rather than sci-fi) and gives a good overview of the different kinds of stories in the romantic sci-fi genre.
'The Alchemical Marriage' by Mary Jo Putney is a historical story which introduces her Guardians, subjects of three (to date) full length novels. The Guardians are magicians with various skills including weather working who try to use their skills for good. Sir Adam Macrae (ancestor of some of the Macraes in the later books) is in the Tower of London at the behest of Queen Elizabeth because he is a Scot who supported Mary Queen of Scots. However he is granted freedom because his weather working skills are required to turn back the Spanish Armada which is preparing to attack England. He is taken to the home of Isabel de Cortes, a Jewish refugee from Spain, who is also a mage although not of the weather as it is thought if they work together they will be more successful. Macrae finds himself without enough power to work the weather on his own and has to learn to trust Isabel and to gain more of an understanding about the consequences to Scotland of the Armada, he is unable to assume that it is only England that will be harmed. It's an enjoyable story without too great depth but with some appealing characters, particularly Isabel whose quiet wisdom and willingness to help is well written.
'Stained Glass Heart' by Catherine Asaro is set on a world where technology had been forgotten and is only now being remembered. Vryn is a Prince but he works as a farmer and enjoys dancing in secret - no men on the planet dance but his mother, an off-worlder, was a famous dancer and she and then dancing masters have trained him. He loves dance, he loves farming and he loves a neighbour's daughter Lily, but it appears Vryn can't have all he wants when a dynastic marriage is arranged for him. Vryn precipiates a potential crisis by his actions and has to evaluate what is most important to him when he is offered the chance to dance. The story is slightly twee and in some ways I was disappointed that Vryn made the decisions he did - one wonders how good a decision a fourteen year old can really make. However the descriptions of the planet and of the wildlife were enjoyable, as was the thought of the culture shock that people from that planet might find elsewhere. It's a good read but not really great and whiny teenagers who are rather selfish in thoughts can get a little irritating.
'Skin Deep' by Deb Stover has a very amusing central event - Nick Riley who died two years ago is sent back to earth to make up for some of his wrongdoings by helping his widow Margo to find happiness. Unfortunately for Nick he returns to earth in the body of a beautiful woman and very soon he discovers the man that Margo is supposed to marry was her first love with whom Nick spent his entire youth in competition. Jared is an undercover DEA agent and he meets Margo again when she is a journalist covering events at a nightclub where Jared is performing as a male dancer. There are several misunderstandings between Jared and Margo that need to be cleared up before Nick can finally get all the way into heaven. There are some fun moments in this lighthearted story and it's an enjoyable read.
'The Trouble with Heroes' by Jo Beverley is a fascinating story about a planet named Gaia colonised from Earth which experiences a strange new problem of energy forms turning people into ashes. Within the community there have always been a few 'fixers', people able to heal physical injuries and mend crockery, that kind of thing. Dan Rutherford, a fixer, begins to investigate further what his powers mean when the uprising of the blighters is causing people to leave their towns to avoid the frontline. His friend Jen, although afraid of some aspects of the world that Dan is explaining to her, seeks to try to understand what needs to be done. When it appears all the fixers have been killed in turning back the tide of blighters she carries on with her life. However when Dan Fixer returns to their town he is no longer welcome, people being afraid that he may have been changed in some ways by the blighters. Dan talks to Jen about what had to happen to win the war and she gains a new understanding of the nature of power and responsibility. This story is set in a great world and the events that take place are excellently described, particularly the way that Jen begins to understand what Dan knows and feels.
The final story, 'Shadows In The Wood' by Jennifer Robertson was by far the shortest inclusion in this collection. It mixes the Robin Hood and Maid Marian stories with Merlin and King Arthur when Robin and Marian find someone who is sealed into a tree and discover that a lot of the old legends have more reality to them than they had expected. They have a short quest to do on behalf of Merlin before continuing their lives in Sherwood Forest. This story was rather light and, although well written, I felt it was a bit short on actual plot and interest.
In conclusion this is a better-than-average collection of stories. They are all fairly romance based so plain sci-fi readers might find them a little irritating. However the variety of worlds, times and plots make it an interesting read for fans of the genre.
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3: Irreristible Stories Indeed
Great read. If you enjoy romances with a slight twist you will love these stories. Very hard to put down.
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4: not worth the trouble
Six stories; the Bujold is all right, maybe even four stars in its own right, but the rest of them range from mediocre to dreck, with "Skin Deep" being a notably low point. Bad story--obvious storyline, unconvincing dialogue, nonsensical plotting, embarrassing attempts at humor, random "surprise!" elements. Full disclosure here: I like Bujold, and SF as a genre, and not romance as a genre. If you're a Vorokosigan completist, you might want the book for "Winterfair Gifts", but otherwise don't bother.
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5: I just had to say something...
I looked over the reviews here of a book I enjoyed, and saw that the majority didn't care for Ms Putney's story. As it was my favorite among them, along with Winterfair gifts, I wanted to share my opinion that perhaps Ms Putney's story didn't work well with the mostly science fiction tales here, and regular readers of science fiction (of which I am not one) might not appreciate her brand of storytelling. I know that she has written a follow up novel, and I have set that aside to read when I have more time (I am a returning student, and my spare time is sadly taken up with reading less enjoyable fare). I also think that some reviews were harshly critical of the brevity of the stories, but after all, what do you expect from a romance story that is one of perhaps 4-6 tales in the same space used for a typical novel by these authors? If you don't care for two persons hooking up within the space of a few pages, I would suggest that you stop buying these compilations.
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