This collection of short stories, all covering the intersection between queerness and magical beings, from brownies and selkies to yosei and huli jing, is interesting, but uneven.
Many of the selections rise to the challenge of building a world in a short format; Richard Bowes’ “The Wand’s Boy” and Berman’s own “The Price of Glamour,” beg to be extended into full-length novels where the tantalizing worlds can be better explored. Some (“The Coat of Stars,” by Holly Black and “Detox,” by Elspeth Potter) do a wonderful job of bringing the modern world together with the magical one, but others (“From Asphalt to Emeralds to Moonlight,” by Aynjel Kaye) are more flash than substance.
There are some unfortunate typographical and grammatical mistakes that could have been caught by more careful editing, but Berman’s inclusion of stories based in Japanese and Chinese mythology is a thoughtful one. Queer fairy fiction is ripe genre, and if there are future editions of So Fey, they would benefit from even more diversity, mining the richness (and potential queerness) of monsters like chupacabras and skin-walkers, and tricksters like Anansi and Coyote.
So Fey is recommended for most collections, especially those where short stories and fantasy circulate well.
Reviewed by, Nicole Pasini
San Mateo County Library
