Spells: Ten Short Tales of Magic eBook Review




Product Description:

Ten short story of fantasy, edited by Rayne Hall.

The authors of these ten tales have spun yarns based on the premise that magic is real, but it requires skill to harness its force, and abuse brings danger. Suspend your disbelief, and find out what happens when people use magic to gain power, healing, wisdom or love.

Some stories take place in fantasy lands, others in the world you know. Some are short, others long; some are funny, others poignant; some aim to entertain, others to make you think. Each author has a different vision of magic, a different way of telling a story, and a different writing style. See which of them resonate with you.

Read about wizardry, witchcraft and sorcery. Let the stories guide you into worlds where magic is real, and enjoy the enchantment.

MY REVIEW:

  Before we get started with my review I wanted to share a quote from the book, completely unrelated to magic in any way, "Everyone would like to be rich, sire, but the truth is there's only so much wealth a nation can produce; so if one man takes more of it, another man has to live with less."  Well isn't that the truth?  I wish those people who have more, lots more, would start sharing with those of us who don't have much or any in some cases.

  So now... *Trumpets blast into the air* on with the review...

  This is quite the collection of tales.  You have mystery, a little bit.  You have romance, well, not a lot.  You have some humor and laughter, that may have just been from me.
 
  I really did find many of these stories entertaining.  There is a very little one near the end of the book involving a fairy, a student and a evil, hungry little rat that made me chuckle.  Just the shortness of the story was unappealing to me.  Short stories are great but it's like taking a pitcher of milk out of the fridge only to find there is a tablespoon left because some little person in your house decided it was best to drink "almost" all of the milk and then put it away with some left so they didn't have to change the bag.  Ya, that happens at my home and that's how I feel about short stories more often than not.  You open the book to discover that there is only a page or two.  It's not that the stories aren't satisifying, it's that you get into them and before you know it it's over.  Ya, I guess that happens in other places in life too.  I really did love this little tidbit of humor, and I likely would have chose the same had I been the grad student, or maybe I wouldn't have chosen anything.  I believe I'm smart enough, I wouldn't want to be the wisest person on earth, my husband thinks I'm sexy and as long as he's always wearing glasses and can't see well then I'm fine in that department to.  And I am already the wealthiest person in my world.  With love and all the things that matter in life, so I'm good.  Just be gone with yourself little fairy and try to stay out of the reach of pesky vermin next time.  I may not be around.  Yep, that's how I would have felt.

  There are stories of royalty and riches, of fools who have more money than brains.  I found most of these stories to be somewhat entertaining for one reason or another.  I've always liked witches, wizards and things to that nature, I blame my mother she's always been the same, she likes the supernatural things that most people could never phathom to be the truth so it must be made up, it can't be real, it's an illusion of sorts.  Well, some times you just have to let go of what society drills into our minds of being acceptable and enjoy the fact that some things might not be able to be explained.  People believe in Magic, more power to them.  I do not judge, I do not sit on wagon rides with princes and I don't hang out in the library saving fairies and having wishes cast upon me, would I like to HECK YA.  This book is a great read for those with an open mind, people who do believe in magic, fans of all kinds would find something enjoyable on the pages of this book.  I think Rayne Hall did a fantastic job choosing ten stories to include in the book, each written by a different author, with different perspectives, and story lines.  Different views and beliefs.  I think that's what I like best about the book, there is variety and not every story is the same old story of magic and casting spells.

  If you're like me sometimes reading a 500-1000 page book gets to be a little much and you need to change things up.  You want to finish your story but then you may forget what's going on.  This book gives you the joy of finishing stories quickly and not worrying about it being too long, or expanding too many days, you can choose how much time you have to devote to reading and pick which of the ten stories best would be suited for your reading that day, or just at that moment, maybe you know you'll be able to read more later and that you could start a longer story that you'll pick up later.  I know that may seem silly to some of you, going back to my mom; that lady can read a book over the course of the week and be fine with it.  I like to read from start to finish, don't get me wrong, that barely ever happens, I'm not a super reader by any means but the more time I can devote the better, otherwise I might lose interest.  With four kids it's hard to find time to sit down and enjoy reading, other than late at night when my eyes are so heavy I can't tell if they're still open or if I'm just seeing visions of my computer in my sleep.  So, this book and other "Ten Stories" books by Rayne Hall are great for me because I get to choose the length of the story I have time for.

  So grab yourself a copy of this book and enjoy these great stories, enjoy the well written tales of royalty, of magic, of fairies and more.  Enjoy your travels through these tales of magic and maybe you will begin to believe, and if you don't at least you will have enjoyed ten great tales of magic.

~~I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.~~

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