6.30.2014

Review: Wonderstruck (A Collection of Inspiration) by Various Authors

Title: Wonderstruck
Author: Various Authors
Publication Date: June 12th, 2013
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 488
ISBN13: 978-0-98947-011-7
Source: ARC from Publisher
Rating:

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
When you look at a picture, what do you see? We gave authors around the world the challenge to write a story based on a set of five images. More than thirty authors rose to that challenge and created an amazing young adult anthology of drabbles, short stories, novelettes and novellas for you to enjoy. Flip the pages and prepare to be Wonderstruck! 

Dive into a world where wind is a power that feeds the flames and love makes everything more complicated. A life where a scorned bride can cause a great deal of trouble and a place where silence as you will find out has a lot to say. Find yourself in a future where a powerful enemy can only be stopped by the most dangerous weapon of all: the truth. All of this and more lies within these very pages... Are you ready? 

Wonderstruck is Clean Teen Publishing's first break through Young Adult anthology. All stories within this book have fallen within our YA rating scale, however, not all stories have young adult characters. You will find a great deal of entertainment within Wonderstruck that is appropriate for readers of all ages. 
A | Gr 

  I'm a part of some Writers Guilds in my area, and one of the exercises we do is a writing prompt. A slideshow of images is put before us, and we write whatever comes to mind in the amount given based on one or all of the images. It actually makes a really good spontaneous exercise, and it's interesting to hear what everyone comes up with. We all think on different planes, and often times I'm surprised at the result. This is the concept of Wonderstruck

Note to the reader: this book is pretty big, but it's actually a really light read! It's full of dribbles, novelettes, novellas, and short stories based on 5 picture prompts. As you can see above, there are SEVERAL authors involved, some who are award-winners, others who are just emerging with their craft. Needless to say, there is a lot of variety in this book, and don't let the size scare you!

Sometimes anthologies are difficult to get into because the writing is inconsistent between authors, so I usually have to brace myself between stories, especially when I was really getting attached to one. I will say that the showcased authors were very good, and I really enjoyed their works. It was also a good start for several of the other emerging authors, and many of them I enjoyed watching their talents blossom as well. I'm sure each person that reads this collection will enjoy different stories of their own kind. "Heartkeeper" was definitely one of my favorites and one that I would recommend.

I really liked the variety! Not all of the works were predictable or ended well, but I honestly like open ends and dynamic plots. I can't say that I loved EVERY story, but I would still say this is worth the reader deciding!

If you want a book you can take with you and read between your busy schedule, Wonderstruck is perfect. Not to mention, it has a gorgeous cover.

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