In the Palace of Repose

by Holly Phillips

Book Overview

In the Palace of Repose is a collection of nine such stories, ranging from the delightfully fantastic "In the Palace of Repose," to the delicately horrific "One of the Hungry Ones," to the hauntingly literary "The Other Grace." Here indeed are young women, and young men, who have seen too much, and who have been abandoned to wrestle alone with the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying. Some triumph, some tragically fail. Most struggle on beyond...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809556235
• ISBN13: 9780809556236
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A jewel of a book ...

As a rule, short fiction doesn't interest me much. I prefer novels - there's more time for the detailed development of plot, character, theme, etc. I also enjoy genre-bending fiction. So when I read the fly leaf of this book, I wasn't too thrilled about it being a collection of short stories, but I was willing to give it a try. And I'm very glad that I did. The writing is concise and lyrical. The stories are gems that still resonate. And the author is a master at setting the mood for each of her stories. I look forward to this author's first novel.

Stories to Savor

With this masterful collection, Holly Phillips has given us a genre-defying set of stories about magic, family, and finding your place in the world. She writes about places that are only slightly removed from our own, places we recognize but find are subtly different. The title story, about an ancient king whose release may (or may not) cause great chaos in the world, is told matter-of-factly by one of his last remaining guardians. The ending is as sensible as it is surprising. The rest of the stories unfold similarly with delicacy, but never aimlessness. Take your time with this collection -- there is such a richness of characterization and, yes, magic, that you'll want to slow down and enjoy it.