These are stories, stories of humans struggling with their humanity, struggling with their past, present, and future, struggling with what it means to be human, and struggling with the burden that humanity sometimes brings. From a beautiful women called "skull crusher" trapped without escape in a high, keep-like tower in the middle of a wasteland, to a Knight of the Greenwell in a society that must placate impish, sometimes violent, sea folk in their mis-worship of water, Patricia A. McKillip’s stories cover a lot of ground regarding what it means to be human.
Artistry and Craft
In classic McKillip style, these short stories are written with the purplest of prose, making the reading experience immersive and rich in literary excellence. McKillip writes stories that make you pause, and sentences that make you say the words out loud in cadences like poetry, like music.
The variations in the lengths of the short stories range from just a couple of pages to ten or twenty, which gives the book a really nice feel and "texture," broadening the already wide variety in the collection. Touching upon variety, there was a range of topics as well as settings explored, from high fantasy to urban fantasy, each with its own uniques, separating each story from the rest.
The first half of the book was my favorite, containing some of my favorite short stories. While the latter half was still okay, I found three of the stories not as good...Some of the downsides to these stories were that a couple of them dragged, while I had to skip two others because I felt uncomfortable or not in the right place to read them, like "The Fortune Teller," which I skipped out of conviction. However, mostly any negative or passive feelings I had about this book are down to my own preference, momentary headspace, or personal conviction.
The Essential was incredible and was truly a piece of art. It was also a bit of a puzzle, but overall, I enjoyed reading it in terms of its artistry.★★★
Themes and Messages
The stories that McKillip writes aren’t afraid to handle difficult topics in unique ways. McKillip is able to talk about the prison of guilt and the prisons we are trapped in because of life and its harshness, often in alien sci-fi settings that seem almost dystopian or from the same world you and I live in, but just not quite.
One of my favorite short stories was "The Stranger" for its creativity and imagination when discussing a difficult topic. Another interesting short story that I would like to note was one that spoke to the unstable power dynamic in the relationship between painters and their muses pre-21st century. The author used this unique setting and relationship dynamic to talk about and highlight the cultural conversation around dehumanization that culture perpetuates and the rehumanization process that each individual must undertake in order to change, not only the culture but ourselves.
As McKillip doesn’t shy away from the glories of humanity or its downfalls, being hurt and hurting others, creating walls, and self-doubt, this wasn't a "fluffy read" in any regard. However, it wasn't grim either; it was somewhere in between and permeated with philosophical undertones in uniquely whimsical or fantastic settings.★★★
Final Thoughts
Overall, I thought The Essential was pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get into more classical fantasy but may not have the patience or attention span for a long fantas 1 y story. While the latter half was okay, I found 2 it wasn't as captivating as the first hal 3 f; however, readers who are not opposed to skipping certain sections of the book may find this compilation of short stories right up their alley. Some of the stories resonated with me more than others, so overall, I'd give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Content Discretion:
Death, magic, and sexual assault. I personally skipped "The Fortune Teller" out of conviction and ended up skipping two stories in total.
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