The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest

This was somewhat of a disappointment for a fan of this editing team and their previous anthologies. Admittedly, I did not realize that this one was categorized as YA until after I bought the book, so it was immediately at a disadvantage with me.

The first story was definitely starting out on the wrong foot. Although I enjoyed Delia Sherman's adult fantasy, [b:The Porcelain Dove|19998|The Porcelain Dove|Delia Sherman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1167291004s/19998.jpg|21197], this urban fantasy tale never bridged the gap of disbelief for me. I know Central Park quite well, have explored the wilds of it, watched the sun set from the rocks at the south end of the park, roamed the Sheep Meadow, circled the Reservoir, and let me tell you, real nature is kept to a bare minimum and no spirits of nature would ever roam that acreage. I know the difference because I grew up in a place with plenty of wilderness all around me......real wilderness, with real spirits of nature.

The others were pretty good; but I was disappointed when I got to the Patricia McKillip story that I had been looking forward to and realized that I had already read it.

Overall, it was okay. ( )

As with most short story anthologies I’ve read, I liked almost but not quite all the stories. There are a few that didn’t jive with me, that either felt rushed or had messages that didn’t sit well with me or were told in a style that was hard to follow, but overall, I liked this. The stories were certainly inventive, which is mostly what I read it for. I suspect only a couple of the stories will stay with me in any meaningful way, though. That’s par for the course with most anthologies too.

7/10 ( )

One of my favorites.... ( )

After having read Kingsley Amis' book The Green Man, and seen the film version with Alfred Finney, I expected this book to have more horror tales based on the Green Man mythology. There was a poem by Neil Gaiman and a story by Charles de List that were good, but the rest was mainly fairy tales. ( )

I've never met an anthology that wasn't a mixed bag. And I don't really have much more to say about this.

I guess I can say that they all seemed a bit full of themselves and the 'mutual admiration society' attitude got old.

I can say that none of the authors who were new to me tempted me with this story to look for more of their work - but I can't say why and most certainly YMMV.

I can say that I put only two bookdarts in it:

1. I loved this description by [a:Delia Sherman|24|Delia Sherman|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg] of a being who is, erm, easily distracted: She couldn't even finish a conversation with a butterfly."

2. I liked this analysis by [a:Midori Snyder|53256|Midori Snyder|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1278864531p2/53256.jpg] of a certain life transition (though I find it implausible a teen girl would be able to articulate it so well to her boyfriend): "[T]his is our last summer together before we go away, before we become someone else, and grow up into something else. But right now, this summer, we can still have fun, still be free, still be who we are, not what we will be. Let's enjoy ourselves.... you'll always be my sweetest memory..."" ( )