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Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite
Down Under Fantasy Realms: An Anthology By New Zealand and Australian Authors is a collection of twenty fascinating stories by seven authors. Belinda Mellor, Sue Perkins, Wendy Scott, and Kate Shaw are from New Zealand, while Brett Adams, Ashley Capes, and Kirsty Anderson are from Australia. The collection consists of some complete short stories, excerpts from existing novels, works-in-progress, and prequels. There is a fantastic diversity of genres and mixed genres: fantasy, magic, faes, family lore, shapeshifters, science fiction, and time travel. Human and fae characters fill the stories, while the main characters include children, women, men, old and young, monks, teachers, mercenaries, and a private investigator. The characters are complex, compelling, and face challenging personal choices and transformative journeys.
I was captivated by the highly imaginative stories in Down Under Fantasy Realms by Wendy Scott et al. I liked the range of stories, from complete works to character development excerpts and explorations of scenes. More than one story piqued my curiosity, as some of them ended all too quickly for me! I liked the tension in Belinda Mellor's prequel The Belomancers, in which a flight of arrows has critical consequences for a young woman's journey in life. I was pulled into the heart-wrenching episode Changeling's Dreams by Belinda Mellor about a faerie-raised human boy searching for his fae mother. I liked the contemporary setting of magic users in Kate Shaw's stories about Danton Bay. I enjoyed the two stories by Brett Adams for their remarkable characters and his The Last Ambassador is a science fiction story of deep space travel through the Fibre. His story Izotoap is the suspense-filled story of Detective Janus McIlwraith in a post-cataclysmic Philadelphia. I enjoyed this collection of well-crafted, intriguing, and thought-provoking stories very much indeed!
