Reviewed by Terri M. LeBlanc on
The cover of The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath caught my eye at MidAmericaConII last year while I was visiting the Angry Robot table. Sadly they didn’t have any copies of the book, but I am grateful my #OTSPSecretSister granted one of my wish list books within the past few months.
The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath attempts to create a new fairy tale or something—to be honest, when I finished the book, I wasn’t quite sure what I read. Hell, I still don’t know what I read. The story seems disjointed, unclear, unfinished. I didn’t get it. I felt stupid. I strongly dislike books that make me feel stupid.
What was Mirror? Did Goliath really turn into different animals? Why did he turn into different animals? Why did the book have so many fragmented points of view? Children’s souls in clocks, what?! Is there time travel or not? Color me confused.
The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath is certainly unique. It blends a couple of known myths (Persephone) and fairy tales (The Twelve Dancing Princesses is mentioned), but the mess of points of view leads to a disjointed tale that in the end left me feeling like the dumbest reader on the planet because I just didn’t get the point.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 11 May, 2017: Finished reading
- 11 May, 2017: Reviewed