Waters Luminous and Deep: Shorter Fictions

Rating:
Summary: "We Shall Go a Voyaging - Call the Boat..."
Review: Meredith Ann Pierce is definitely one of my favourite authors: her style, her narrative voice and her subject matter all appeal to me at the highest level, and after devouring all her other books I was incredibly thankful to find that she'd been published once more. Then I discovered that it was an anthology of short stories: if you've read any of my other reviews you'll know that I am not that fond of short stories: novels are more meaty and interesting to me. But in Pierce's hands, I had nothing to worry about. In "Waters Luminous and Deep" she presents eight pieces of writing that all surround the element of water, whether it be sea water, rain water, ice, snow, tears, or the still deep water at the bottom of a well. With her rich, beautiful imagery and her ability to take old fairytales and reshape them into something new and original, this anthology is a must-read for anyone who loves fantasy, folklore, legends or just storytelling at its best.

"Night Voyage" is the prelude to the book - a dreamy and quiet fragment that sets the mood and the theme of the rest of the book, of two children's experiences with the sea and moon.

"The Fall of Ys" is Pierce's retelling of the legend of Ys, a kingdom that sunk due to the sorcerous evils of the King's daughter (in some versions called Dahud, but here Myramond) and her father's noble/tragic decision to let her drown. Pierce takes a different slant on the story however, suggesting that King Gralond was the antagonist, his daughter the innocent, and the sea working not as a ravaging force of nature, but as an act of justice. Pierce also melds old tales of drowned suitors in the wave's crests and the Avalon-like priestesses of the sea-isles.

"Where the Wild Geese Go" is based on five pen-and-ink drawings (sadly not included) that touched Pierce's imagination and formed a story. A story reminiscent of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen", given that it concerns a young girl on a quest through a wintry landscape. Truzjka is sent by her grandmother into the wild in order to ease her heart's desire to know where the wild geese fly, and in Pierce's hands the usual fairytale obstacles and characters that Truzjka meets on the way become fresh and original.

"Icerose" fits in the "Snow Queen" element that was missing from the previous story with the inclusion of a figure known as the Icewitch. In order to return summer to the world Gunther and Demian set forth to retrieve the Icerose from the terrible Icewitch's frigid grip. Pierce melds stunning imagery (a swan frozen in the midst of taking flight) and her eye for detail: as the heroes sit by the fire, tiny black salamanders scuttle through it and into the night. This is one of my favourites, and brilliantly showcases Pierce's ability to tell new stories that *feel* like ancient tales.

"Rafiddilee" was written when Pierce was only fourteen years old: it was the story that told her she was a writer, and tells of a mute dwarf that comes into the service of his beloved queen, and their years together before her mind strays toward the prospect of a husband. Sad, grim and bittersweet, you can tell by the angst and tragedy that a teenager wrote it! Still, it is a remarkable feat for such a young person, and a beautifully told story.

"The Sea Hag" is perhaps the weakest story of the bunch: Pierce herself admits she isn't much of a humorist, and this attempt at comedy doesn't quite mesh. A young man takes to the life of piracy, but when the captain turns on him it would seem his only chance for survival lies with marrying a withered old sea hag. This story seemed stale for me because I was well aware of the myth on which it was based, and apart from a gender-switch, Pierce takes little effort to move away from it: that of the "Loathly Lady" of Arthurian lore, who demands the answer to a riddle: what is it that women most desire?

However, things pick up once more with "The Frogskin Slippers", which gets back to her more subtle technique of recognisable elements in a new light: this time she takes the idea of the Frog Prince, and here her humour is much more successful and natural. Rose is the daughter of her tyrannical mother, the mistress of Elverston Hall. When she rescues a small frog, she is visited nightly by a handsome prince named Rane, who whisks her away to a faery ball - and with her own fairy godmother and a pair of frogskin slippers, Rose begins to reach for the day when she is free of her stifling world.

The book ends with "Rampion", a novella concerning Alia, a young girl living on a tiny dull island, who discovers her half-sister Sif and the cruelty of her own father. Here Pierce has the time to create a larger world and more complex characters, with a story that stretches over several years and a nice twist at the end.

All in all a fantastic collection, and all I can hope for now is that the rest of the stories that Pierce mentions in her introduction are one day published!

Rating:
Summary: Not her best work
Review: Meredith Ann Pierce is hands down my favorite author of all time, but I really didn't see the point to this book. The stories were often scattered and irratic, lacking clear plot, character development and resolution. Some stories would have made better whole novels, and others, I am sorry to say, should have been left out of print. Still, I enjoy her writing style and the presentation of worlds in many ways similar to our own but with added elements of magic and fantasy. I hope Ms. Pierce's next endeavor is more along the lines of the Firebringer or Darkangel trilogies. Those were truly great works of literature.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best work
Review: Meredith Ann Pierce is hands down my favorite author of all time, but I really didn't see the point to this book. The stories were often scattered and irratic, lacking clear plot, character development and resolution. Some stories would have made better whole novels, and others, I am sorry to say, should have been left out of print. Still, I enjoy her writing style and the presentation of worlds in many ways similar to our own but with added elements of magic and fantasy. I hope Ms. Pierce's next endeavor is more along the lines of the Firebringer or Darkangel trilogies. Those were truly great works of literature.

Rating:
Summary: a wonderful collection of stories
Review: This is a marvelous collection of shorter works by a writer who is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. The title is nicely evocative, as all of the stories have to do with water (or ice or snow) in some way, and "luminous" is an excellent description of Pierce's beautifully clear and expressive writing. The stories range in length from just a few pages to novella-length, and in tone from the utterly charming "The Frogskin Slippers", a witty take on the fairy tale of "The Frog Prince", to the more serious "Rampion", a novella of two half-sisters, their lives on an isolated island, and the very different ways in which they rebel against their unscrupulous father. I find Pierce's longer fiction even more engrossing, but these shorter pieces still show off her wonderful imagery, strong heroines, and lovely writing.