Half-Human (Anthology)
Mar. 14th, 2011 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
booksofafeatherShort review: An anthology of stories about people who are caught between human and not... "beings that stand between the two worlds feeling the emotions, thrills and confusions of both". From an otherkin perspective, it's mixed with some stories about longing to be more human and some stories about longing to be more not, although most of the stories have something in them about accepting both parts even if it is very near the end. From a winged person's perspective, there are three stories about winged people and a fourth that mentions them: one doesn't have anything about the wings, one has only a tiny bit, one is negative, and a fourth is positive or negative depending on how you look at it, but has a lot of beauty. That one story is quite worth reading but how you feel about the ending may vary. There is also a poem that mentions winged people and other species. I think otherkin and winged people will find more interest in it than not, although there are some very negative things said about being non-human.
For the information of otherkin, the species in these stories are: medusa, mermaid, selkie, tree-person, mixed (poem), scarecrow, centaur, half-dragon, half-hawk, and fallen angel. The selkie one is by far the best! I'm pleased for any selkies out there, because this is a great story. ^-^
Writing: This book is an anthology of stories by various authors, so the writing varies, although I thought they were all well written in a technical way, though maybe offensive to some.
From a winged person's perspective...: The one story that I thought was most relevant to winged people in this anthology was Soaring by Tim Waggoner, which has powerful descriptions of the need to fly, although I have mixed feelings about the ending. The poem How To Make A Human by Lawrence Schimel is quite negative towards both birds and humans, but does have some beauty for fliers and those who long to fly. The story Becoming, by Nancy Springer, mentions winged people but is very negative about them. The story The Hardest, Kindest Gift by Bruce Coville has a winged character but doesn't mention anything about the experience, and Princess Dragonblood by Jude Mandell has only a very small mention. I think for Soaring it is worth reading.
Trigger warnings: In Becoming, there are mentions of cutting off wings in order to become more human which is seen as a positive thing. In many stories, there is the use of words like "freaks", "monsters", etc. to describe non-humans or half-humans.
More thoughts...: Well... like I said, this book is an anthology, so the stories range from beautiful to ridiculous. Let me get the ridiculous out of the way first! In the first story, Becoming, I already didn't get such a good impression of this book. One of the bird-people in that story says that wings are a terrible thing to have, and that feathers itch! I don't even know what to say to that... feathers don't itch... it's just like having hair. Really, is any person uncomfortable with something that naturally grows out of their body, unless they have a terrible allergy or illness? It's true, there are diseases birds can have that makes it itchy and uncomfortable to grow their feathers. It's very sad, they pull them all out. But for someone without that disease... it's such a silly thing to say.
Okay, I'm finished with the ridiculous part. （´・ω・｀） Sorry... I just had to complain. Well, the stories get better from here, and even Becoming has a good ending. Really, these stories have a pattern of negative story/positive ending, or positive story/negative ending, very often. The best story in this anthology though is Water's Edge, by Janni Lee Simner. This is just a beautiful story of how someone longs to express the non-human part of themselves and how they resolve the human and non-human parts. I'm not a creature of the sea... I like water okay... but it's not my element... but I could feel the beauty and power in the descriptions as a girl takes joy in discovering all of who she truly is. Elder Brother by Tamora Pierce is very interesting too, about the sadness and wonder of a tree who is turned into a man.
And then, since this is what we're here for of course, on to the stories about winged people. Really, The Hardest, Kindest Gift is not about being winged... it's about death and is an interesting story for that, but not relevant here. Princess Dragonblood is also not really about that... it's about the battle between human and dragon nature (and dragon nature is seen as negative, greedy and violent while human nature is good and loving, sorry to any dragons out there).
And then Soaring... I loved this story so much of the way through. A boy is born with wings, but can't fly with them, and of course it is all he can think about. There are some beautiful and heartbreaking descriptions of his dreams of flight... and then... he realises that the solution is to separate the human and bird parts of himself, so that the bird can truly fly and the human can live his human life. This is very similar to Hawk, I'm Your Brother in that there are two ways to look at it and the ending doesn't quite say which... one is to look at the part where he experiences being both the hawk and the boy, and to say he has the best of both worlds now as he can experience flying as a bird and experience ground life as a human too, without losing anything or being trapped in between. The second, more negative one is the thought that they split in the end... and so the only way to deal with having a half-bird nature like that is to let the bird self go and be free, while you stay on the ground. Obviously, for many people, that's an upsetting thought.
I would say that this anthology is worth three and a half out of five... there are some good interesting stories in it. But be very wary that a lot of the way that non-human nature is seen as a negative thing might make it hard to read all the way through.
For the information of otherkin, the species in these stories are: medusa, mermaid, selkie, tree-person, mixed (poem), scarecrow, centaur, half-dragon, half-hawk, and fallen angel. The selkie one is by far the best! I'm pleased for any selkies out there, because this is a great story. ^-^
Writing: This book is an anthology of stories by various authors, so the writing varies, although I thought they were all well written in a technical way, though maybe offensive to some.
From a winged person's perspective...: The one story that I thought was most relevant to winged people in this anthology was Soaring by Tim Waggoner, which has powerful descriptions of the need to fly, although I have mixed feelings about the ending. The poem How To Make A Human by Lawrence Schimel is quite negative towards both birds and humans, but does have some beauty for fliers and those who long to fly. The story Becoming, by Nancy Springer, mentions winged people but is very negative about them. The story The Hardest, Kindest Gift by Bruce Coville has a winged character but doesn't mention anything about the experience, and Princess Dragonblood by Jude Mandell has only a very small mention. I think for Soaring it is worth reading.
Trigger warnings: In Becoming, there are mentions of cutting off wings in order to become more human which is seen as a positive thing. In many stories, there is the use of words like "freaks", "monsters", etc. to describe non-humans or half-humans.
More thoughts...: Well... like I said, this book is an anthology, so the stories range from beautiful to ridiculous. Let me get the ridiculous out of the way first! In the first story, Becoming, I already didn't get such a good impression of this book. One of the bird-people in that story says that wings are a terrible thing to have, and that feathers itch! I don't even know what to say to that... feathers don't itch... it's just like having hair. Really, is any person uncomfortable with something that naturally grows out of their body, unless they have a terrible allergy or illness? It's true, there are diseases birds can have that makes it itchy and uncomfortable to grow their feathers. It's very sad, they pull them all out. But for someone without that disease... it's such a silly thing to say.
Okay, I'm finished with the ridiculous part. （´・ω・｀） Sorry... I just had to complain. Well, the stories get better from here, and even Becoming has a good ending. Really, these stories have a pattern of negative story/positive ending, or positive story/negative ending, very often. The best story in this anthology though is Water's Edge, by Janni Lee Simner. This is just a beautiful story of how someone longs to express the non-human part of themselves and how they resolve the human and non-human parts. I'm not a creature of the sea... I like water okay... but it's not my element... but I could feel the beauty and power in the descriptions as a girl takes joy in discovering all of who she truly is. Elder Brother by Tamora Pierce is very interesting too, about the sadness and wonder of a tree who is turned into a man.
And then, since this is what we're here for of course, on to the stories about winged people. Really, The Hardest, Kindest Gift is not about being winged... it's about death and is an interesting story for that, but not relevant here. Princess Dragonblood is also not really about that... it's about the battle between human and dragon nature (and dragon nature is seen as negative, greedy and violent while human nature is good and loving, sorry to any dragons out there).
And then Soaring... I loved this story so much of the way through. A boy is born with wings, but can't fly with them, and of course it is all he can think about. There are some beautiful and heartbreaking descriptions of his dreams of flight... and then... he realises that the solution is to separate the human and bird parts of himself, so that the bird can truly fly and the human can live his human life. This is very similar to Hawk, I'm Your Brother in that there are two ways to look at it and the ending doesn't quite say which... one is to look at the part where he experiences being both the hawk and the boy, and to say he has the best of both worlds now as he can experience flying as a bird and experience ground life as a human too, without losing anything or being trapped in between. The second, more negative one is the thought that they split in the end... and so the only way to deal with having a half-bird nature like that is to let the bird self go and be free, while you stay on the ground. Obviously, for many people, that's an upsetting thought.
I would say that this anthology is worth three and a half out of five... there are some good interesting stories in it. But be very wary that a lot of the way that non-human nature is seen as a negative thing might make it hard to read all the way through.
