Hello Patrons! 🙂

I finished That Way Madness Lies yesterday evening. I had so much fun reading this collection y’all. In the beginning I wasn’t super impressed by the stories, but the further I got into the collection the more I liked the stories. I am going to break down my ratings for this collection based on the stories ratings. I am going to go from the stories I rated 2 stars to the stories I rated 5 stars. I didn’t have a ton of half star ratings with this collection so I will tack those on to whatever ratings are closer. Let’s get into it.

(I am not going to go into synopses of the stories because that would be spoiler-y.)

Thankfully there weren’t any 1 star stories in this collection so I won’t be too harsh starting off. So let’s first talk about 2 star stories!

2 Stars!

“Taming of the Soul Mate”, “Dreaming in the Dark” and “His Invention” were the stories I gave 2 stars to. They were both a little too weird for me. The premises of these stories were a little too out there for me. When I say that I mean after I read these stories I found myself asking what just happened? But not in a good way. Like a confused way. And I can’t put these stories definitely into a genre even. If you like weird check this collection out for these stories.

Okay onto 3 stars!

3 Stars (and 3.5 Stars)!

“We Have Seen Better Days”, “Some Other Metal”, “Lost Girl”, “Out of the Storm” were the stories I gave 3 stars. I was just underwhelmed with these stories but weren’t confused with them like the stories I rated two stars. I had some confusion but it was more in the beginning of the stories for a moment.

The stories I rated 3.5 stars are “Severe Weather Warning”, and “King of the Fairies”. I liked these a little more than the 3 star stories but not as much.

4 stars next!

4 Stars!

The stories I gave 4 stars are “Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow”, “The Tragedy of Cory Lanez: An Oral History”, and “Shipwrecked”. These stories were good, but something was missing to make it a full five stars. I liked that these stories took better known Shakespeare plays and turned them on their heads or updated them. One story is a transcript of a documentary, another is a dance that has the theme of a shipwreck. I was thoroughly entertained but wasn’t bowled over by these stories.

Last but not least 5 star stories!

5 Stars!

The stories I gave 5 stars were “We Fail”, “Elsinore”, and “I Bleed”. These stories were just fantastic. They either completely took the original plays and took a 360 degree turn and made it something totally different, or took the bare bones of the play and flipped some elements or dropped them in another setting. Mostly after reading these stories I went OMG OMG OMG that was so cool!

My Overall Thoughts:

I gave That Way Madness Lies 4/5 stars. There was so many strong stories, I was so impressed.

If you didn’t like reading Shakespeare in high school or college I say, check this book out. If you were a former English major pick this up! I was just super entertained.

I am currently trying to decide what to read next but when that happens, I will let you know. I’m in between 2 novels and another short story collection. I am planning on reading all three books in the coming month so its just a choice of what to read first. I am in between Color Outside the Lines: Stories About Love edited by Sangu Madanna, One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London, or The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. I am currently reading the first story of first chapter of all three to see which one fits.

Tell me what your reading or listening to in the comments below. Take care of yourselves, wash your hands, wear a mask in public, and…