The Poison Eaters: And Other Stories

by Holly Black

Hardcover, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Publication

Big Mouth House (2010), Hardcover, 256 pages

Description

Fantasy. Folklore. Young Adult Fiction. HTML:Pick your poison: Vampires, devils, werewolves, faeries, or . . . ? Find them all here in Holly Black�??s amazing first collection. In her debut collection, New York Times best-selling author Holly Black returns to the world of Tithe in two darkly exquisite new tales. Then Black takes readers on a tour of a faerie market and introduces a girl poisonous to the touch and another who challenges the devil to a competitive eating match. Some of these stories have been published in anthologies such as 21 Proms, The Faery Reel, and The Restless Dead, and many have been reprinted in many �??Best of �?� anthologies. The Poison Eaters is Holly Black�??s much-anticipated first collection, and her ability to stare into the void�??and to find humanity and humor there�??will speak to young adult and adult readers alike. A Junior Library Guild Pick. Illustrated by Theo Black. Holly Black is the author of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults) and two related novels, Valiant (Norton Award winner) and New York Times bestseller Ironside. Her latest novel, Black Heart is the third of a new series, The Curseworkers. She and Tony DiTerlizzi created the best-selling Spiderwick Chronicles. Holly lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member emilove

My Thoughts:

Note: Because this is a review of the ARC, two stories are missing (The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Untitled [A Modern Faerie Tale Story]).

I don’t usually like to review anthologies, mainly because I’m a huge fan of back story, I mean, what’s a book without it? However, I am a bigger

fan of Holly Black than I am of back story, so I absolutely could not turn down the opportunity to review this one.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
I’m a bit tired of the vampire trend, but if there were more vampire stories like this, I would eat them up. The whole time, I was sitting there thinking “please don’t end!” This is one I wish Holly would expand on. (Plus, you know a story is good, or extremely creepy, when you read six pages before bed and have dreams about it!)

A Reversal of Fortune
Holly’s heroines are some of my favorites. They are consistently strong, smart, and ballsy. I didn’t second guess anything the main character did or why. From the very beginning, I knew there would be no screwing with this girl. It did seem a bit weird, however, that none of the other characters questioned any of the radical events that took place, but I guess that’s what happens when there is no back story.

The Night Market
This is a perfect example of a less-than-typical story. The setting, the Philippines, was far from normal, yet vibrant and perfect. The fact that Holly integrated some Filipino into the story was fascinating; the fact that the characters got to use their native language really brought them to life. The ending was not a traditional happy ending, but I can’t see the story having the impact it did without this particular ending.

The Dog King
Paragraph by paragraph, this story was a bit confusing, but when you reach the end and put it all together…wow! Definitely one of my favorites in the book. This is another that I wish Holly would expand on. The story was original and the twist unexpected, truly fantastic.

Virgin
I think this was the most heartbreaking story of them all. Holly seems to write a lot about homeless children, luckily, it’s something she does extremely well. Another unique, tragic, unexpected plot.

In Vodka Veritas
When I started this story, I swore I had read it before. Turns out, I had. In Vodka Veritas first appeared in the anthology 21 Proms. After I figured that out and realized I wasn’t crazy, I was able to thoroughly enjoy the story for the second time. Though it works as a short story, I’m not sure I would be able to stand the characters for an entire novel, so, I guess, good thing it’s in an anthology!

Coat of Stars
So tragically beautiful. Holly has a penchant for the dark side, I believe. She loves to show us that faeries are not bright little things with wings, but that they are truly greedy, conniving demons. Again, the characters were not typical, and I loved that.

Paper Cuts Scissors
Though I liked the characters, they weren’t my favorite. The plot, however, was top notch. Definitely another one of my favorites. The characters literally come to life in this story. I was completely enthralled, once again. I’ve heard that a lot of people don’t like the ending to this one. I completely see where they get that, but at the same time, I didn’t get too attached to the characters, so I was fine with the way everything ended.

Going Ironside
This story really shows you how distinct all of Holly’s characters are. The story is a bit disjointed, and if you haven’t read the Modern Faerie Tales series, I doubt you’ll understand what’s going on. I feel like nothing much happened, but it was nice to revisit the world Holly created in Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside.

The Poison Eaters
Wow. Just, wow. If I was forced to choose, this would, by far, be my favorite. I so wish this was longer! It was so original! And heartbreaking! My God. It felt very classic, too, unlike the rest of the stories, which felt more modern. Honestly, I don’t have the words to describe my love for this story.

The Verdict: Fabulous. Tragic. Heartbreaking. Delicious. Creepy. Crazy.

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LibraryThing member WeaselOfDoom

I should preface this review by saying that in general, I prefer full-length novels and novellas to short stories.

Some of the stories in "The Poison Eaters" worked for me ("The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" - so glad it is now a full-length novel coming out in September 2013, but concerned that the

blurb on the author's site has nothing to do with the short story; "The Poison Eaters"; "The Land of Heart's Desire" - it was good to see Kaye and Roiben again), some did not ("The Night Market," "Going Ironside), but overall it was a good quick read.

I do wish there was a "Curse Workers" short story, though!

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LibraryThing member DARKANG3L

This book is composed of short stories. The book is entertaining and easy to read. Great for wanting to read a book that is short and passes the time. Some parts can be a bit confusing and weird, but it's a new way to read.

LibraryThing member Ziaria

This was a quick, enjoyable read full of delicious wickedness and strange tales. Holly does an amazing job weaving life into her stories. I can honestly say I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection and wish there were more to be read. From vampires to unicorns, to characters from books

coming to life there's a story for all tastes within these pages.

If you're looking for a quick story to bide you over between appointments or just before bed, this would be the perfect book.
(I received this from the Library Things Early Reviewer program.)

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LibraryThing member book_in_hand

I Loved this book!!! All the stories made me want to read more. If I had to complain at all it would be about the short story a coat of stars. I sometimes wonder if people write about homosexuals to tell the world that they're not against them. Like blatantly saying see I'm not racist I have black

friends. But over all the book was wonderful.

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LibraryThing member carlienichole

For me, this book was a mixture of like an dislike. Some of the stories I absolutley loved an thought were great such as The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, The Night Market, The Dog King, Paper Cuts Scissors, and The Posion Eaters. All of these I really liked. But some of the other ones were very

confusing and a little out there like Virgin and Going Ironside. I din't like these at all.

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LibraryThing member ealaindraoi

Loved this! There was only one story I didn’t really care for: Going Ironside – it didn’t seem to actually go anywhere. The other stories were dark in topic as well as tone. Many of the stories fit into the Tithe world, and some seemed like they’d fit into the Spiderwick world, but not all

the stories are appropriate for younger teens. I especially loved Paper Cuts Scissors for this Jasper Fforde-ish tale.
Recommended for anyone who likes short stories on ….the dark side. (cue music!)

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LibraryThing member PureImagination

I don't usually like short stories. They are too short! I know, that's the point but I like to connect with characters and spend a lot of time with them. That's why I don't usually like short stories. I can honestly say that I really really enjoyed this batch though.

I tried to read Tithe by Holly

Black a long time ago and could not get into it. I'm thinking after reading The Poison Eaters that I really need to give it another chance!

There is something for everyone in this collection of stories. Vampires, elves, shapeshifters, and of course faeries. I liked some of the stories more than others but I enjoyed all of them. The thing that stands out the most though, is Holly Black's gritty and honest writing. She doesn't pretty it up for anyone. I love that! Her writing is very dark at times but it's always beautiful. She weaves a web with her words and you get sucked right in.

I really recommend this collection to any supernatural/paranormal fan. Like I said, there's something for everyone!

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LibraryThing member dcoward

I gave this a fairly low rating because although a few of the stories are fantastic, there are a few stinkers here as well.

LibraryThing member Alliebeth927

The Poison Eaters was as almost all collections of short stories are- a mixed bag. Some of them—such as The Night Market, In Vodka Veritas, and The Coat of Stars—were great and made me wish for more than just a few short pages. On the other hand, some of the stories were downright confusing and

mildly disturbing. Virgin and Ironside were the two that left me scratching my head and wondering what the point was.
But, as in all Holly Black books, the good outweighs the bad. The standouts in this collection were Paper Cuts Scissors and The Poison Eaters. The first brings to life the dream that so many book lovers have—seeing all your favorite characters leap out of their pages and interact with one another. Not to mention the ability to fold yourself into your favorite volumes and live there. The latter reads like a traditional, though twisted, fairytale. Of all the stories, it felt as though it would make the best stand alone book.
I enjoy short story collections, and this was no exception, though I think I prefer those that have selections from different authors. By the end I knew what to expect from each story since Black has such a distinctive style and way of storytelling. Overall, I liked this book, and would recommend it to any fan of dark paranormal literature.

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LibraryThing member krau0098

This book is a collection of Holly Black's short stories. Overall it is a decent collection. It you are a huge Holly Black fan, like I am, beware that many of these stories appear in other anthologies. So, I had already read some of them. There is a nice publication history in the back of the book

just in case you want to check and see which stories you may have already read.

The stories tend to be dark and follow paranormal/urban fantasy themes. Most of the stories are a bit ironic and have some sense of dark humor to them. There are a number of stories that touch on fairies, a couple that touch on werewolves, a story that deals with characters in books coming alive, one that deals with vampires, and a couple that deal with mythology. There is one story that takes place in the world that Black's Modern Tales of Fairie is in. There are twelve stories in all, they vary quite a bit in length.

I tended to like the stories towards the back of the book better. Among my favorites were: The Night Market about a girl who saves her sister from a fairy by braving the strange Night Market, Virgin a story about unicorns, The Coat of Stars a story about a costume designer fighting the fairy Queen for his lover's return, Paper Cuts Scissors at story about characters coming out of books and mingling, and The Poison Eaters a story about poisonous sisters.

There were also some stories that were a bit weak. The Land of Heart's Desire, which uses the characters from the Tithe series, wasn't the most interesting.

Overall though I enjoyed the majority of stories and am glad I read the book. It is a quick read, but if you are a Holly Black fan...or an urban fantasy fan in general you should enjoy this collection. Now I am looking forward to reading the start of Black's Curse Worker series "The White Cat".

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LibraryThing member fayeflame

The Short of It:I don’t usually like to review anthologies,mainly because I like the depth in stories but I've ALWAYS loved Holly Blacks writing. This book is "Wicked Lovely" i really enjoyed the way Holly played with the different roles of characters. I seriously think that all these stories

need a book.My faves were "Paper Cuts Scissors," "The Dog King," and "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown."

Holly has always been a edgy,dark,beautiful writer. She's the black widow of words, She does an amazing weaving life into her stories,you can't help but get sucked right in.

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LibraryThing member DonnerLibrary

Let me preface this review by saying that I am not generally a huge fan of short story collections. I enjoy spending a good amount of time reading and I find that short stories are better for small bits of time as I cannot move from one directly into the next as I can with chapters of a novel. I

think good short stories are also incredibly difficult to write as the author must convey enough background information to the reader for the story to make sense while also keeping the narrative short.

With that said, I did enjoy most of the stories in this book. My favorite by far was Paper Cuts Scissors about a library student who discovers that the characters in the books can come out of them and change their own stories. My least favorite was actually the very next story, Going Ironside, because it felt like an incomplete writing exercise. Maybe I just didn't get that one. Each story in the book is very different from all of the others and Black does show a great range in her writing. The characters were unique, although some felt a bit underdeveloped. Unfortunately, nothing about this book really stood out for me positively or negatively and I've found that I've already forgotten the majority of the stories.

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LibraryThing member thediaryofabookworm

Its been an exceedingly busy few reading weeks for me, I've received a bundle of ARC's plus there has been the release of Artemis Fowl the Atlantis Complex, Mockingjay and now Clockwork Angel on Tuesday. I've been reading full out to get everything in (of course enjoying every minute of it too!),

but once in awhile I find I've got a day or a day and a bit before a new release and after wrapping my current book. So I've been picking up Holly Black's short story collection The Poison Eaters: and Other Stories.

I'm not generally a lover of the short story, but the hubby found The Poison Eaters: and Other Stories while we were making one of our many visits to The Strand in New York, and I just couldn't turn it down since it promised stories linking into Valiant, Tithe and Ironside. Now first off, I have to say, only one of the stories actually linked into her characters from Valiant, Tithe and Ironside. One of the other stories (called going Ironside) was about elves so I suppose it tied in via subject matter, but it really had nothing to do with her previous faerie books.

A whole mix of stories from sudo-fairy tales, a vampire story, a competition with the devil and of course a variety of faerie stories made for a good mix. My only complaint is I find Holly's gritty style doesn't work as well on the extreme short stories. Going Ironside was about 3 pages long and was so gritty with no relief (i mean it's 3 pages after all!) that it was just depressing and slightly horrifying. The longer stories fared much better and in fact some were so enjoyable I would like to read more about them. On the bonus side, the book is extremely pretty, black hard cover with green foiled lettering across the front with a green foil scull and cross bones underneath, and lovely matching green end pages, makes this one of the prettiest Holly Black books I've ever picked up (outside, of course, of the spectacularly pretty Spiderwick books).

Be warned, if you haven't read Holly's YA before, this is no Spiderwick. She likes to write from a very gritty and intense angle often following runaways, teens who are so beyond caring that they abuse their bodies via sex and drugs, teens tangled up in hopeless lives where their mother sleeps with their boyfriend or they're struggling with their sexuality in all the wrong places etc, etc. This isn't your usual YA fare, which is part of what makes it great, but if that's not your cup of tea and you want a generic teen love triangle with the good girl and two gorgeous guys then she's not the writer for you!

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LibraryThing member storyteller1020

Best Holly Black to date! Very original.

LibraryThing member bookwormygirl

The Poision Eaters and Other Short Stories was my introduction to the awesomeness that is Holly Black. In it you'll find a variety of stories written by Holly (most have been previously published in other anthologies). But in this volume you'll find them all in one place.

Fans of paranormal will

rejoice in this book. There is a little bit of everything thrown in here - vampires, shape-shifters, elves, and, my favorite... faeries. These stories are dark, edgy and even show a flair for the macabre, but I could easily see Holly's humor interwoven throughout. For a collection of stories, I was really impressed by the world building and character development found in such brief entries.

Among my favorites were The Night Market (about a girl who ventures to save her sister after a fairy has cursed her), The Coat of Stars (a costume designer bribing the fairy Queen for his friend's return), Paper Cuts Scissors (a story where favorite characters leap out of their books and interact with each other), and The Poison Eaters (a story about poisonous sisters, and my favorite in the bunch).

Ms. Black has a distinctive style of storytelling and I was very impressed by this collection. For fans of Holly's previous works and lovers of all things paranormal, this is one book you won't want missing from your collection.

This collection of stories includes:
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
A Reversal of Fortune
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Night Market
The Dog King
Virgin
In Vodka Veritas
The Coat of Stars
Paper Cuts Scissors
Going Inside
The Land of Heart's Desire
The Poison Eaters

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LibraryThing member Bookswithbite

Ummmm...this stories totally rocked my socks off!!! I loved reading each and every single one. They all held a significance of someone getting back at someone. Basically, what goes around comes around. I loved that each story is unique. There were fairies, unicorns, etc. So much goodness.

I am

hoping to see if Ms. Black will continue any of the stories into a full novel. Which anyone she picks, if she does I know for sure I will be dying to read. This a great book with strong characters and plots you will never forget.

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LibraryThing member JRlibrary

This fantasy anthology of 12 stories is definitely meant for an older audience. Due to the content (mature themes AND use of profanity, I definitely would NOT recommend this book to middle school students. Some of the stories were just a bit too strange for my liking, but others were easier to

follow. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was an interesting read. Coldtown is an isolated area where folks who have been afflicted with vampirism go to survive. They keep humans as sources of blood. If you enter Coldtown, you don't get to leave. Matilda wants to rescue her boyfriend. She believes he has gone to Coldtown to save her, but that's not actually the case. Won't tell you what happens when she figures out the truth. In Reversal of Fortune, a girl makes a deal with the devil. He cheats, and she knows she's going to lose her soul to him, so she cheats as well, and manages to outsmart him. I quite liked that, although how she wins is a bit disgusting. Overall, some interesting stories, but definitely meant for older teens.

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LibraryThing member ComaCalm

You know what I love the most about Stephen King? His short stories! So I was pretty excited to learn that Holly Black has done some, not enough Authors do them these days. The Poison Eaters is a compilation of short stories (most of which have appeared in other Anthologies), all in the fantasy

genre. In here you can expect a whole host of fantasy creatures - werewolves, unicorns, elves, Vampires, the Devil and Wolverine. Yes, really, even has a cigar. The stories are quite varied too - The Poison Eaters, the last in the book, is more of a Fairy Story, a touch of romance is added in The Coat of Stars and some Fae try and get pregnant in 'Going Ironside'. The end up with a drug addiction.
I'm actually tied for what my favourite stories is. I loved the concept Paper Cuts Scissors, where you meet Wolverine and various other storybook characters, but The Poison Eaters was pretty damn good and a breathtaking ending that left me wanting more.
Of course, one major pull to buy this for a lot of Holly fans is The Land of Hearts Desire, where you get to meet the characters from Tithe again. I didn't enjoy the story as much as the others, I felt that it dragged a little. One thing I did love in this however is that there's a couple of gay relationships. Not many YA authors seem to be willing to explore this idea, sticking to what's safe but I find the ones that do are some of the best Authors.
If you read a few other Holly Black novels, throughout this you'll find a feeling f familiarity - many elements in this can be linked to books such as Tithe and Spiderwick. I hope that she'll write another short story compilation sometime, this one was amazing. Will be buying it!

Received free from Simon and Schuster to review.

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LibraryThing member jewelknits

This is a great collection of short stories, most of which can be categorized as horror, fantasy, or paranormal. Although billed as YA, these tales are for all fans of the strange and for those of us who like a taste of a good tale when time doesn't permit for prolonged reading.

Don't look for "The

Spiderwick Chronicles" in these pages; these stories are for a more mature set, full of dark faeries, unicorns, strangeness and cold fear. We have deals with the devil, bargains with vampires and vampire wanna-be's, and children who disappear on the beach.

As with all collections, some stories stand out more than others, but there's not a loser in the bunch, and quite a few gems.

This is definitely a book to add to your story collection.

QUOTES

Let me tell you something about unicorns - they're faeries and faeries aren't to be trusted. Read you storybooks. But maybe you can't get past the rainbows and pastel crap. - Virgin

I used to run a bookship, but I found that I wasn't suited for it. I didn't like it when people bought things. I like to have all my books with me. - Paper Cuts Scissors

After all, the devil was the most famous guest she'd ever had. She'd heard of him, and what was more, she was pretty sure he knew a lot of people she'd be impressed by. - A Reversal of Fortune

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LibraryThing member Radella

I don't like short stories. I hate not getting to know the characters and the worlds.... but this anthology was amazing. Perfect for dreary fall weekends to get into the Halloween mood.
Holly Black masterfully tells short stories that feel complete in the telling. The child who turns into a

werewolf. A girl who beats the Devil in a eating competition. All sorts of tales bridging the real world with the magical... I'm glad I decided to pick this one up!

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LibraryThing member bluesalamanders

It was like reading a book of fables, but I couldn't work out what the morals were supposed to be (which may be a plus, actually). There was a real mixture of stores I liked and stories I didn't care for but regardless, it was a fun little book and a quick read.

LibraryThing member reading_fox

A prety good collection of darker fantasy short stories. Quite varied settings themes and tones ranging from classical fantasy through to more urban fantasy feelings. Some of the short stories appear to be prequels or excerts from ther longer novel serieses.

As always there are hits and misses. I

liked her Ironsides from one of the novels as a vampire form of the Zombie outbreak that has overtaken popular fantasy for a few years. Also the modern faery fantasy from her other series, which worked quite well although I wasn't sure that the Elf should have been so high in the court. As a standalone tale I'm sure many LTers would have enjoyed the librarian's tale, getting to meet characters in many books. The last epynonmous tale, was one of the weaker ones. An intruguing concept but not quite worked out or suited to a short story.

All of the tales have dark undertones to them, not always death, and little gore, but still little in the way of happy endings or true love. There are a dozen or so tale sin teh collection which at 146 ebook pages, makes each one fairly short, they felt about uniform in length. Generally the endings twisted slightly, enough to be interesting and not necessarily predicatable, but without the sense of awe and shock that a finely crafted short story can invoke.

Enjoyable and worth seeking out other stories by this author.

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LibraryThing member the1butterfly

This had at least one retelling of a fairy tale, lots of fantasy, a bit of faeries, and lots of darkness. Holly Black infuses her stories with wisdom and an occasional bit of humor, and she's got her own take on fantasy. Her characters tend to be runaways hovering on the edges, but hovering on the

edge of society seems to allow them to touch the edge of reality as well.

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LibraryThing member SavvyEscapades

I preface this by saying that my previous exposure to short stories was about the bare minimum you would expect from someone with an English degree. As I want to write novels, I focused mostly on studying novels. One creative writing professor forced me to expand my horizons. I’ve read some Alice

Munro, some of Junot Diaz’s Drown, and though I am aware that I read more authors’ works for class assignments, those were the only two authors whose names immediately spring to mind. You see, the short story is a tricky thing, and I think people expect different things from them. I can already tell you that I liked Munro and Diaz because they were the only authors this one professor assigned that I thought gave me a complete story that was nuanced, but didn’t make me read the same page fifteen times just to figure out what the hell was going on.

Short stories can be many things— snapshots that give us deep insight into a character’s mind, legends reminiscent of the stories our parents told us a million times, the exact moment that things went wrong and why. Black delivers all of these in The Poison Eaters. Some of the highlights for me were:

“The Coldest Girl in Coldtown”
I was blown away by the first story in the collection. I mean, I was already amazed by White Cat, but in this short story Black showed me that my utter fangirly devotion is not misplaced. In 28 pages, Black somehow manages to create a whole world dealing with the aftermath of a vampire-plague AND deliver a plot. Again, that’s in 28 pages. The narrator explains the surroundings to the reader, but it doesn’t feel forced. I was sad when the story ended, because I could have easily read a whole novel about that world. If you like the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, make sure to check this story out.

“The Coat of Stars”
This story was one of my favorites because the entire tone of the story shifted about halfway through. In the beginning of the story, we follow the main character as he navigates a family gathering (which is a little awkward, as he is gay and VERY closeted about it around his Hispanic, urban family). By the middle of the story, however, the story has morphed into a story based on a classic fairy tale structure: the hero tailor must make three beautiful garments to convince the fairy queen to release his love. As disjointed as the two concepts seem, Black weaves them together so smoothly that I didn’t even notice the transition until we were on the second coat.

“The Land of Heart’s Desire”
This was my favorite story in the whole collection (though the above two were 2nd and 3rd place). This is exactly how I like my short story: a snapshot of someone’s day that shows us what makes them tick. This story is urban fantasy bordering on magical realism— the setting is a little cafe in a city (that I am presuming is New York) run by a pixie named Kaye and her best friend. Our protagonist is Kaye’s boyfriend Roiben, the King of the Unseelie (Fairy) court, who is roped into working at the cafe while he waits for Kaye. From here, we see Roiben contemplate his relationship with Kaye, including why exactly it is he’s willing to debase himself like this for her.
Also, I am kind of under the impression that Tithe is going to be set in this space and with these characters as well… GoodReads tells me that the main characters of that book are also called Kaye and Roiben… Oh dear. I hope I haven’t accidentally spoiled something for myself. On the other hand, even if I did, I’m kind of just glad I get to go back into that story. I will keep you posted, as Tithe is slated for review next week.

Rating: 4 stars (I really liked it and think that urban fantasy fans will love it. I’m still not sure how I feel about short stories in general though. I especially think I need to expand my reading of current, YA short stories, as all of my other experience has been a little snobishly high-brow.)

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