Of the three volumes in the Dangerous Women set (ed. George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois) I liked this one the least. I'm a little curious what reading the whole collection as one volume would be like, since I found this volume unremittingly grim and nihilistic.
Would dispersing these stories among the others in a different manner give the collection as a whole a better tone? Or would it just serve to bring down the whole collection? Thinking back, there were a number of downer type stories in volumes 1 and 2, but they worked well with the other material in those volumes. I suspect I'd find the whole collection a bit of a slog.
Perhaps because the stories in this volume were so grim, I found myself most engaged by "Bombshells" by Jim Butcher. It was light, fun, some interesting mythos, but not a great sense of dread or darkness. Since it was the first story in the collection, perhaps it got my expectations moving in the wrong direction. I wonder if it might have worked better about halfway through. Anyway. I haven't previously read any stories by Jim Butcher, because I had the impression his stuff was darker than I'd probably enjoy. But this was a lot of fun.
I think a good way to describe the story is being like Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series (A Kiss of Shadows, A Stroke of Midnight etc.) with a touch of Piers Anthony's Xanth series (Spell for Chameleon et al.).
"Bombshells" has as its protagonist Molly, who I gather was an apprentice of his principal character, Harry Dresden. I didn't entirely follow how magic and demons and vampires work in this world, as I think it presupposes some level of awareness of the Dresden novels. I just went along with the ride, enjoying the surface of the story without trying to work out the overall mythos or where things might fit in the bigger picture. I enjoyed the story, and would be prepared to try some of Mr. Butcher's other work, particularly that which features Molly.
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