Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits

Each of the 5 stories in this book are very different. Pheonix - what if someone happened on the amazing creature from Egyptian theology after a museum burnt down? What would happen over time on the British countryside? Hellhound - Robin McKinley embraces her dogs... hardworking girl adopts dog with red eyes who turns out to not be a dog, really, but is best able to handle inherent trouble... Fireworm - Zip back in time, live in a cave w/ ancient beliefs and troubles where the unexpected raises to the challenge. Dickinson passes right by the obvious "save the humans" to examine the threat on a personal level, too. Thought-provoking! Salamander Man - Totally trippy. From the perspective of someone seeing events as they happen and understanding afterwards. Become a slave in an old, magical world where nothing is as it seems. First Flight - Wow! Dragon academy w/ beautiful, HUGE beasts working for the military... enter inconsequential boy w/ pet. The colors & scenes (and totally different world) are embedded in my memory forever! Not too surprisingly, this short story is 117 pgs. long... how was McKinley going to limit herself to "short"?! (In fact... I wonder if Chalice was supposed to be a short story for this book that expanded w/ a mind of it's own? There is an elemental priest of fire in it who sees bees as sparks... and core of the story is short if the diversions are intricate... ?)

As a long-time McKinley fan, I devoured her work. Peter Dickenson's stories, although well written, I cared for less. That's a personal preference, not a judgment on the work itself. I love McKinely's voice so regardless of the story itself I'm enthralled. Her ability to weaving a world that you just sink into, where the words disappear from the page within the first paragraph, is truly a gift. "Hellhound" was a bit scary me, but I'm an admitted lightweight when it comes to anything spooky. "First Flight" left me wishing that a full length book in this world & about these characters might follow. It was by far my favourite of the collection. Dickenson is not my particular cup of tea, so how much I liked the story was dependent on the story elements themselves. For instance, I really liked his "Phoenix" story, but was meh on "Fireworm". Would I recommend this collection? Yes. I'm even likely to reread it at some point. Is it my favourite book ever? No, not by a long shot, but short stories aren't really my thing. (My favourite book ever, by the way, is a Robin McKinley.)

It's been the better part of a decade since husband and wife Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley last teamed up to write Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits. Now they have once again joined forces to produce another collection of short stories, this one focused on fire. Unlike their previous attempt, in which McKinley's efforts clearly outshined Dickinson's, in Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, both authors put forward amazing fantasy stories that run the gamut from an eerie ghost story to a heartbreakingly bittersweet prehistoric fable, but all of which share the common thread of fire. There are five stories in this collection, three by Dickinson and two substantially longer ones by Mckinley: --Phoenix, by Dickinson, tells the story of an elderly British gamekeeper who discovers a phoenix, and as a result, begins to age backwards. Despite being placed first in the book, and having the best beginning, Phoenix is the weak link of the collection, and has a disappointing and anticlimactic ending. Still, don't get discouraged if you read this tale and find it lacking; the other four stories are significantly better. --McKinley's Hellhound is a nail-biting account of a young woman and her hellhound who find themselves forced into a confrontation in a haunted graveyard. McKinley's love of animals shines in this story, as the bulk of it takes place at a riding stable, and cats, horses, dogs, and birds are practically everywhere. --Dickinson's Fireworm is a prehistoric fable about a group of cavedwellers who must fight off their ancient enemy the fireworm. The line between heroes and monsters is completely wiped away, and midway through it's clear that regardless of the outcome, this is going to end in tragedy. I haven't read all of Dickinson's work, but of what I have read, this is by far the best. --Salamander Man, also by Dickinson, is a nice story about a young man enslaved to a kindly dealer of magical items. When he suddenly finds himself sold to a magician he's never met, his life takes an unexpected turn. While there is perhaps a bit too much exposition towards the end of the story, this is still a solid and entertaining tale. --First Flight is the final and longest (at over 100 pages) story in the book. Here, McKinley writes of unlikely hero Ern, an awkward and clumsy young man who prefers to hide in corners rather than be noticed. But when Ern's brother, in training as a dragonrider, comes home livid that a beloved injured dragon has been assigned a task it can't possibly complete, the local wizard suggests Ern accompany his brother back to the training academy. Certain that there is nothing he can do to help, but unwilling to risk defying the wizard, Ern and his pet Sippy head off to the academy to provide what moral support they can. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in high quality fiction, and especially encourage anyone who enjoys a good fantasy story (or several good fantasy stories) to read this collectio

This is a delightful book. Both authors are excellent writers with enviable imaginations. I highly recommend it. As I finished the last page, I was smiling.