Shards and Ashes

Shards and Ashes, ed. Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong, 369 pages

This is a collection of short stories, all of a dystopian or post-apocalyptic bent. They are of varying quality, and some definitely felt like they were meant to tie in to larger works, which is in my opinion usually a mistake in a short story collection. Additionally, several of them felt like they hurried through their plot – “Pale Rider” by Nancy Holder in particular felt rather disjointed, which admittedly may have been deliberate given the nature of the story (time is falling apart due to a magical intrusion) but came across as just rushed and sloppy. However, some of them were quite good. I enjoyed “Hearken” by Veronica Roth tremendously, set in a world full of bioterrorist attacks, where Hearkeners can listen to the songs of people’s lives or deaths, though I found the pseudoscientific explanation for this ability somewhat lacking and wish Roth had just glossed over that aspect entirely.