THE UNDERWATER BALLROOM SOCIETY edited by Tiffany Trent & Stephanie Burgis – Review

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Underwater Ballroom Society by Stephanie Burgis, Tiffany Trent
Published by Five Fathoms Press on April 30 2018
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 330
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: An unexpectedly delightful and varied collection of stories about a most magical place, the underwater ballroom.

Having enjoyed Stephanie Burgis’ adult fantasy novels, I was thrilled to receive a review copy of her new anthology. I had never heard of underwater ballrooms—I mean, really, is that a thing?—but Burgis has based her idea around an actual place, and she’s invited other authors to let their imaginations run wild using this fascinating setting. And it worked. I enjoyed this collection so much, and I’m happy to say there isn’t a bad story in the bunch, which isn’t always the case with anthologies. I’ve decided to give you a quick blurb on each of the ten stories below, in addition to my thoughts and individual ratings:

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The Queen of Life by Ysabeau S. Wilce – 4.5 stars

They said that the Muse of Music taught Robert Mynwar to play, that She made his guitar, the Queen of Life, with her own hands, carved the guitar’s body from her own shin bone, strung the neck with strands of her own hair, and that the pearlescent inlay on the fretboard were teeth plucked from her own mouth.

I have never heard of Wilce before, but wow can she write! This wonderfully magical story about a famous guitar player is filled with glorious imagery. It’s the story of the infamous Oberon, who decides to steal away rock guitarist Robert Mynwar and take him to Faery. The band’s singer, a woman named Sylvanna de Godervya, sets out on a quest to bring him back. I loved the way the author incorporates music into the story, and Sylvanna’s journey to rescue her beloved isn’t quite the straight path she expected. This was a wonderful story to open up this collection!

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Twelve Sisters by Y.S. Lee – 4 stars

Lee takes the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and asks the question, “What happened next?” to great effect. In her version, the youngest sister remains unmarried, and while all her sisters are mostly happy with husbands and children, one sister is not. The younger sister, Ling, tells the story of how she and her sisters ban together to save Anya from her cruel husband. We discover in this story that the underwater ballroom is the enchanted  place where the sisters snuck off to dance the night away in the original tale. I loved the way the theme was incorporated into this story, and I also loved the underlying theme of spousal abuse and how the sisters dealt with it.

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Penhallow Amid Passing Things by Iona Datt Sharma – 4 stars

Sharma’s writing is spectacular! I loved the old-fashioned feel to this story about a kingdom that has lost its magic and is trying to find it again. I was immediately caught up in this tale about a woman who unwittingly helps smuggle a source of magic into the kingdom. I would love to read a novel by this author!

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Mermaids, Singing by Tiffany Trent – 3.5 stars

I’m a sucker for circus stories, and Trent’s tale focuses on the emotional side of magical beings who are enslaved in a circus. A downtrodden group of circus performers, compelled by magic to change forms and perform against their will, plan to escape, aided by a man/hound who has had enough. Like several other stories in this collection, this one deals with a world where true magic has been lost.

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A Brand New Thing by Jenny Moss – 4 stars

This was a delightful tale with a Pride and Prejudice sensibility about a girl who is given a secret key to a magical ballroom. Eve is the “odd” sister who keeps her nose in a book at all times and just doesn’t fit the norm, while her older and more lovely sister Edith is about to get married. I love the romantic aspect of Eve meeting a dashing young man in an underwater ballroom and discovering that she can join in the dance with a special key. But are her nighttime adventures real—or simply a dream?

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Four Revelations from the Rusalka Ball by Cassandra Khaw – 4 stars

This was the only flash fiction piece, and although it’s barely two pages long, it definitely packed an emotional punch. I have never read anything by Khaw before, but her writing is stunning. I will definitely go back and read her novels after this enticing sample! Had this been longer and more developed, it probably would have received a higher rating.

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Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis – 4.5 stars

I absolutely loved this prequel to Burgis’ recent novel Snowspelled (which I have not read but you can bet I will now!). Spellswept has the feel of a Regency romance, but this society is completely flipped on its head. In Burgis’ world, men are the only ones who are allowed to wield magic, but women run the show in the areas of politics and marriage. A girl named Amy is planning to ask for a man’s hand in marriage at the upcoming ball, but it’s purely for her political advantage. Meanwhile, the man she secretly loves, along with his young sister, becomes swept up in a magical scandal, one that could have serious repercussions. If you’ve already read Snowspelled, this delightful short story will fill in some of the blanks of the characters’ early lives.

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The River Always Wins by Laura Anne Gilman – 5 stars

It’s hard to pick a favorite story in this glowing collection, but if I had to it would be this one. Gilman is the author of the recent Silver on the Road (another book I need to read, now that I’ve experienced the author’s writing!), and this nostalgic story of a siren and a fury visiting a punk rock club that is about to shut down was surprisingly wistful in tone. It doesn’t hurt that said club is located under a river (the underground ballroom aspect), and Gilman’s atmospheric writing brings to life a world filled with magical creatures.

The Amethyst Deceiver by Shveta Thakrar – 3 stars

This was my least favorite story, simply because I just didn’t get it. A group of creatures with mushroom-like qualities ban together to rescue one of their own. I loved how imaginative this story was, but perhaps it would have worked better in a longer format.

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A Spy in the Deep by Patrick Samphire – 4 stars

Samphire continues his Harriet George series with this closing novella about—you guessed it—Harriet the Spy on Mars! This definitely felt like just one story in Harriet’s life, and even though I didn’t feel as if I were missing anything from not reading The Dinosaur Hunters first, I can tell this is going to be an ongoing series, which is a good thing! Harriet is in training to be a spy and has just been given her first real mission: to meet with an informant and collect information that could lead the British-Martian Intelligence Service to apprehend the ringleader of a smuggling operation. Her brother-in-law will accompany her on the mission to the Louros Hotel which lies beneath the waters of the Valles Marineris, where Harriet will meet the informant, collect the information and bring it back home. But things don’t go as smoothly as Harriet had hoped, and suddenly she finds herself investigating a murder. This story had the cozy feel of a drawing-room mystery, but add in dinosaurs on Mars, robots, clockwork trains and more and you have one crazy and unique story.

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All in all, I had a great time with this collection. It was interesting to see how each author incorporated the “underwater ballroom” theme into their tales, and in most cases, I was fascinated to note, the ballrooms themselves were not the main focus of the stories. I will be looking out for more work from several of these authors, who are now new favorites of mine.

Big thanks to Stephanie Burgis for providing a review copy.