| Title | : | Seasons of Glass and Iron |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Unknown Binding |
| Number of Pages | : | 12 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2016 |
Seasons of Glass and Iron Reviews
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A lovely re-telling. If a bit obvious, it at least has some powerful emotional truths.
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/s... -
Amal El-Mohtar continues to floor me, wow... her writing style is gorgeous as ever and the themes in this one—female solidarity, breaking free from patriarchal thinking, the power of love—are truly so lovely
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I don't think I can do justice to this story. It's beautiful in its message, in its characters, in how it's written. It's amazing, but I guess for Amal El-Mohtar, it's just another Monday.
As readers, one of the greatest joy is discovering a new author, that visceral reaction from catching a glimpse of something magical. For some inexplicable reason, the rest of the world has yet to discover Amal El-Mohtar; help fix that by reading Seasons of Glass and Iron:
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/s... -
This is absolutely beautiful. It fits right in with my rage.
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I read this not-so-long story in two parts. Reading the first part I mostly felt quite confused about what was going on. Reading the second part I fell in love with the story while it also in ways broke my heart. It has the trappings of a fairy tale but in its core it was so much more.
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She recalls shoes her brothers have worn: a pair of seven–league boots, tooled in soft leather; winged sandals; satin slippers that turned one invisible. How strange, she thinks, that her brothers had shoes that lightened their steps and tightened the world, made it small and easy to explore, discover.
Perhaps, she thinks, it isn’t strange at all: why shouldn’t shoes help their wearers travel? Perhaps, she thinks, what’s strange is the shoes women are made to wear: shoes of glass; shoes of paper; shoes of iron heated red–hot; shoes to dance to death in.
How strange, she thinks, and walks.
What amazing introduction to Amal El-Mohtar's work! I absolutely loved this feminist sapphic retelling of some common fairy-tale motives. There were so many gems in this one... the story is very simple and not there really are no surprises, but... I liked it a lot. I'm definitely sold on to El-Mohtar's work - off to read more!
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic... -
A short story with a feminist take on fairy tales, with a lesbian romance slant. Not new-new, one could describe a lot of late 90s short fiction like that, and I keep thinking it funny how trends keep getting recycled and revisited even in fiction writing.
But it is very good, the writing is just so (IMO, obviously) and the girls feel real (this is often a problem in fairy tale retellings, that the main characters feel mythical and not real).
It won the Nebula Award AND the Hugo award AND the Locus award which is quite something. I am not sure I see why though, or at least it fell a bit short of my expectations for something like that - nice though it is. -
Lovely short story, read June 1, 2021.
I'm logging it here because I want to remember it and remind me to seek out more of El-Mohtar's writing. Lyrical, feminist twist on a couple obscure fairy tales.
excerpt:
“The glass hill has been very useful to me,” says Amira quietly, “and the golden
apples have kept me warm and whole and fed. But I will leave them—I will follow you into
woods and across fields, I will be hungry and cold and my feet will hurt. But if you are with
me, Tabitha, then I will learn to hunt and fish and tell the poison berry from the pure, and I
will see a river raise its skirt of geese, and listen to them make a sound like thunder. Do you
believe I can do this?”
“Yes,” says Tabitha, a choking in her voice, “yes, I do.” -
Was part of an anthology,
The Starlit Wood. The short story crosses two different fairy tales in an interesting way and presents its take over them. It was a good read -
IN UNCANNY MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTEEN | 7472 WORDS
Lovely fairy-tale. Although can you say something is a fairy tale if it's written in moderns times? I'm not sure this is an retelling though. It has elements of other fairy tales but nothing I've read before.
I was glad that I could recognise the nods to the other fairy tales! -
I really liked this short story. It’s one of those stories that feel like an answer to all the terrible fairytales we hear growing up. There’s also the deeper criticism of the patriarchy and how we treat victims.
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A beautiful story that both challenges the logic of traditional fairytales (maybe values is a better word here) and uses it to tell its own new one. Beautifully written, and despite the short span of the story, made me care about the characters.
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Was the messaging a little heavy handed? Sure. But that didn’t detract from me absolutely loving this short story! I quite liked how El-Mohtar leaned in on the fairy tale storytelling, while still tackling very very real issues. Tabitha and Amira deserve the world and I love them both.
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Read this a second time and still can't get over how dignified and perfectly paced this story is with its symbols and framing.
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What a lovely parable of how love, guilt and gaslighting can imprison you, but then, somehow hope and support can help you cast off the shackles.
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It's a tale of love and resilience, of growth and freedom.
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I will literally read anything this woman writes. I cannot get enough. Such a great little short story.
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http://uncannymagazine.com/article/se... -
Once in a while Goodreads hits a jackpot with recommendations, and Mohtar's short is one of such cases. Purely by chance two women cursed with fairy tale fate meet each other - One who must tear seven iron shoes, one who hides on the top of the Glass Mountain. What will happen? Well, I bet on romance and breaking the mold shaped either by tradition or abuse.
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Two women, who have suffered because of men, realise through their love and friendship that it isn’t their fault. Poetic and beautifully written.
