Ellen OhA Thousand Beginnings and Endings: 15 Retellings of Asian Myths and Legends

Disclaimer: I received a free copy via Edelweiss for review purposes.A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is an anthology made up entirely of #ownvoices authors from Asian backgrounds. The short stories are influenced by or are retellings of Asian folklore and mythology.There were a few stories that missed the mark for me, but overall, there is so much talent in A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. Mostly all of the stories were magical and sweet and there was such a large variety of different stories and genres: you want sci-fi? Got you covered. Contemporary? Check. Fantasy? You bet.I was already aware of a large portion of the authors of this anthology, but a lot of them I hadn’t had a chance to read. This anthology has definitely made me want to pick up something of theirs, particularly Cindy Pon, Aliette de Bodard, and Shveta Thakrar.There were a lot of stories that I really loved, but I will try and narrow it down to my absolute favourites. The first story in the anthology is by Roshani Chokshi, titled Forbidden Fruit and it’s a retelling of the story of Maria Makiling, a goddess associated with Mount Makiling in the Philippines. This was such a fantastic opening to the anthology, and it’s a beautiful story with a dark twist. Amazing.Another favourite was The Counting of the Vermillion Beads by Aliette de Bodard, which is about two sisters trying to escape from the Emperor’s palace and go home back to their family, and as all of you know I am a sucker for sister stories, and this one was so lovely!Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar was also another favourite, and it’s about a girl born with sunlight in her chest who yearns for a friend, a companion. So when she meets a boy with moonlight in his chest, doomed to die in a year, she can’t let him go. A gorgeous story with beautiful writing. I adored it! So magical and sweet.Another standout story was The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon, based on the story of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but in this version, the goddess is empowering and has autonomy and it’s so great! I would totally read a full-length novel based on this short story it was so good!These are just a few of my absolute favourites, but A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is full to the brim with fantastic retellings, magic, romance, and originality! If you’re a fan of anthologies, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is one not to be missed.

This book holds 15 retellings of Asian inspired legends, myths, epics or folktales by 15 renowned authors.I got the audiobook from the local library and listened to the stories, enthralled, amused, intrigued by the variety of stories and takes I found within these fifteen stories. I got to go to quite some places and got to discover some of the tales that originate from Asia.After each story, the author gives a summary of the original story and her motivation why she chose this story to be retold. By the end of the book, I wanted more.I can only recommend to get hold of this book. It soon will be available as paperback as well.

This is a collection of fifteen retold fairy tales, each written by an award winning or acclaimed author.I’ve read several of these authors and will now go looking for the others,