We finally got to October! The month itself isn’t particularly special to me; but it is the month that many of my most-anticipated books get released. The End and Other Beginnings was one of those books that I just had to have. It is a collection of six stories; three of them were published previously. Since these six stories vary, I will be reviewing all six stories separately.
Inertia
I first read “Inertia” in Summer Days and Summer Nights (link is to my review). I still love that story about as much as I did the first time I read it. This story will probably get the most rereads in this anthology. It’s a story about a girl whose former best friend is dying and they realize what they mean to each other.
The Spinners
“The Spinners” is a story about sisters. It’s also a story with aliens in it. I liked it, but not quite as much as “Inertia”.
Hearken
“Hearken” is a story where people naturally have a song, and these people called hearkeners are able to hear these songs. For some reason, hearkeners are revered in society. This is a world where evil people will set off bio-bombs in order to hasten the apocalypse. It had an interesting end.
Vim and Vigor
“Vim and Vigor” was a pretty cool story about friendship. Four friends bonded years ago over a group of female superheroes. Things happened, as some friendships do, and their friendship just isn’t the same. The ending was pretty sweet. If I was to rank the stories in The End and Other Beginnings, this one would be close to the top.
Armored Ones
“Armored Ones” contains two stories from the Carve the Mark universe. One is from Teka’s point of view, the other one is from Akos’s. While I knew there would be stories about Akos and Cyra in this book, I was kind of hoping that there would be stories that took place after The Fates Divide.
The Transformationist
“The Transformationist” is another story that takes place in the Carve the Mark universe, although it primarily takes place on Zold, with new characters. I enjoyed seeing a different part of the universe. The familiar planets and concepts brought me happiness.
While the last two stories take place in the Carve the Mark Universe, you can probably enjoy the story without reading the duology.
At 256 pages, The End and Other Beginnings was a quick read. I really liked it, and I’m sure I’ll be reading these stories again in the future. Three of these stories were previously published, so if you already have the original anthologies, you might be less inclined to get this book. If you haven’t read the Carve the Mark duology, you might still enjoy the last two stories, but you’ll appreciate them more if you’re familiar with that universe. At $15 for a hardback, it might not be worth the money if you already have her stories in previous anthologies and haven’t read Carve the Mark, but since I don’t have her previous anthologies and did read her duology, it was worth it to me.