Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction [Hardcover]

"Gentlemen Send Phantoms" by Laini Taylor:4/5 3 girls wanting to meet their intended follow a town tradition by making cakes and waiting to see what guys phantom appears to them.

"Burned Bright" by Diana Peterfreund:5/5 This one is about a cult, and a planned group death that goes wrong/ or right? and the ramifications of the ppl who do not die.

"The Angriest Man" by Lisa McMann:1/5 A boy who was told all his life that everything is his fault, and therefor he acts accordingly.

"Out of the Blue" by Meg Cabot: 3/5 2 twins (girl, boy) meet an alien as small children and then grow up and finaly share the story of meeting the alien. This one has a lot of personality, the reader gets to know the character of both twins.

"One True Love" by Malinda Lo: 5/5 This is about a princess being trapped away not getting to see men ever bc it will lead to his downfall. Just dont assume everyone is heterosexual. I love that!!

"This Is a Mortal Wound" by Michael Grant: 3/5 A smart ass boy who is living the good life and then is kidnapped and is made to do school work and at the end he is still a smart ass. What I liked about this story is that the writer is saying there is not always just one way to do something, different methods work.

"Misery" by Heather Brewer: 5/5. A story about a boy (and the rest of the town) who all get a present every year. This year the boy is nervous before he gets the present. Will he not like it? This is a non happy town, not unhappy, just blah. He is unique bc most ppl do not feel this way about their present. Which means he does not belong in this town.

"The Mind Is a Powerful Thing" by Matt de la Pena: 4/5 A paranoid girl, who had a terrible experience watching her loved ones get murdered as a child goes out on her 16th birthday and gets a fortune cookie that makes her fear the whole evening. She then sets things into motion herself (maybe if she hadnt been so paranoid things would have turned out different?)

"The Chosen One" by Saundra Mitchell: 4/5 Sisterly love. The older crownded princess is dieing and the younger one follows a profecy to try and save her. She is a selfless girl and meets a boy who helps her save her sister. I cant say much more without spoilers. Basically if you are selfless and love something good might come to you in the end.

"Improbable Futures" by Kami Garcia: 3.5/5 A young fortune teller brought up in the circus life, disliking her life and is tired of lieing and giving out negative fortunes. But is she really lieing?

"Death for the Deathless" by Margaret Stohl: 3.5/5 (this author and the one before write together a series, but these shorts are not based on the series) This is about nostradomus and the imortals behind him. A man and a women (both points of view) and their having to tell the other imortals that the end of the world is today.

"Fate" by Simone Elkeles: 4/5 fluffy sweet romance between two teens. One a pessimist and one an optimist. With a happy ending.

"The Killing Garden" by Carrie Ryan: 5/5 Story by the editor of the collection. A young lady gardener who isnt just a gardener, she protects the kingdom and races the kings prisoners. If she wins the race she strangles them to death, if they win they are exhiled. She always wanted to prove she could handle it to her dad who was the previous gardener and so she took her job serious until she meets a man who changes how she feels about her life/ her job.

"Homecoming" by Richelle Mead: 4/5 The only short story based from a novel in this collection. Vampire Academy (dont read short unless you read series) I loved getting to see Rose and Demitri together again. :) they go back and visit his family and his crazy grandma makes another prediction, and so they are off again to kill a strog. who is killing towns ppl. lots of wittiness as usual and the last pages were amazing, no more books on them, but i think the last pages give enough hints.

I've always been fascinated by the theme explored in Foretold: prophecy and prediction. I remember various instances throughout my childhood when my mother told me that, for better or worse, something was meant to be. Later, in middle school, I fell in love with the epic tale of a boy fulfilling a prophecy in David Eddings' The Belgariad. Then, in high school and college, I was intrigued by the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy I studied in my psychology course. So, when I picked up this collection of short stories, I was curious see what others would connect to the mysterious concepts.

In addition to my initial curiosity about the theme of this collection, I was interested in the concept of a collection of short stories. Though I'd glanced at them before, I'd never actually sat down and read a collection of short stories... or any short stories at all apart from those assigned in my literature seminars. I found it curious that many readers appeared to have purchased or read this collection specifically for Richelle Mead's short story, Homecoming, which centers around Rose and Dmitri the Vampire Academy books, which was worrisome to me because I never finished that series and hadn't picked one up in years.

The anthology begins with Laini Taylor's Gentleman Send Phantoms, which I immediately adored. For me, that story set the tone for the entire collection. Whimsical with gorgeous imagery, this story set the tone as anything is possible. Each story had an entirely different feel and tone, yet they were all connected by thread extending from Taylor's story.

The anthology ends with the Richelle Mead story based in the world of the VA books. For me the story didn't shine as bright as it might have if I still read the VA books or had read them recently. I remember really loving Rose and her world, but the details were hazy and I didn't feel as invested in Rose and Dmitri's story after being away from it for so long.

Unless you are a diehard fan of their story, I can't imagine buying an entire book and never reading the other stories. Because they are amazing. Even the ones that wasn't entirely captivated by were interesting. I have read full length books by many of the authors in this anthology, so I'm familiar with their writing, but I was blown away by what I read in Foretold. The style of each author was present, but shaped in a completely new way.

I was particularly drawn to the stories that featured magic and fantasy than those that were more science fiction or realistic... Still there were a couple in the latter categories that ended up being favorites as well:

Laini Taylor / Gentleman Send Phantoms
Malinda Lo / One True Love
Heather Brewer / Misery
Saundra Mitchell / The Chosen One
Margie Stohl / Death for the Deathless
Simone Elkeles / Fate
Diana Peterfreund / Burned Bright
Carrie Ryan / The Killing Garden
Lisa McMann / The Angriest Man

Many of the stories that ended up being on of my favorites felt very connected to other things I'd read by them, like the stories by Laini Taylor, Malinda Lo, Richelle Mead, and Michael Grant. Others, however, showed side of some of my favorite authors that I wasn't as familiar with, like Saundra Mitchell, Simone Elkeles, Diana Peterfreund, Carrie Ryan, and Lisa McMann, and I wanted more. Plus, I experienced some writers for the first time, like Matt de la Pena, Margie Stohl, Kami Garcia, and Heather Brewer.

Not only did I love the stories in this collection, I closed the covers with a hunger to read and reread a number of these authors. It felt like a nice little snack to help decide what I wanted for my main course: whatever full length novel I chose to read next, perhaps by one of the authors in this wonderfully imagined collection.

I've been getting interested in short stories since taking fiction writing classes for my English minor. It's fascinating how much a writer can tell within a limited word count. At the same time, I'm a fiction reader at heart. There's simply not enough room in a short story to expand upon a world and fully develop it. Nevertheless, with fourteen stories in this collection, there are sure to be stories for different fans of the paranormal. I myself found several stories that I adored, and this collection is worth getting for the precious gems that you'll find in this book.

The story that interested me the most by far was "Homecoming" by Richelle Mead. I confess. I'm a big VA fan and was super excited to find out that this story is set after series ended. Rose and Dimitri visit his hometown for the first time since the last time they were there, and the mood is very different in a nice way. The story is centered on Yeva's predictions, which always result in confrontations with Rose that had me laughing. Fellow VA fans know how headstrong Rose can be even when she knows that she's on the losing end of an argument.

A story that surprised me was "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" by Laini Taylor. The beginning had me thinking that is was going to be some kind of chick flit with a supernatural angle with the girls' belief that baking a cake can help them learn who their future husband will be. My mom and her friends once did a similar thing with a hairbrush, candles, and a mirror when they were younger for the thrill. It didn't show them anything, and I was thinking that maybe this would be similar, except that the visions might be real. It is a bit of a chick flick. There aren't major changes in character, and the plot is fairly straightfoward. However, it's sweet at the same time. It's about love, insecurities, and pride almost standing in the way of true love. In a way, Pippin reminds me of Anne of Green Gables with her insecurities about her appearance and her silly pride.

I also enjoyed "Misery" by Heather Brewer. Misery is a dark and creepy town where everyone acts pleasant but never smiles. Alek knows that there is something wrong with the place, but he doesn't know what to do about it. Then the resident fortune teller makes a prediction and things get freaky after that. This is a clever, creepy story. Some may guess the twist before it's revealed. I had some guesses, but I got too absorbed in Alek's fate to worry much. This is a short story and gets into the heart of the plot without dawdling much.

Another story that I really liked was "The Killing Garden" by Carrie Ryan. It's about girl who beats her father in a race and takes over his position as the Emperor's Gardener, pruning both his garden and his court as the official executioner. She does this to win her father's acceptance only to learn that he never wanted her to take over his duties. The story follows her as she finds herself and learns what a father really wants for his child. It's a morbid story of a girl finding her self-identity.

Other stories I want to bring up: "Burned Bright" by Diana Peterfreund was strange but interesting. "Out of the Blue" by Meg Cabot is funny, delves a little into the absurd, and not to be taken seriously. "Improbable Futures"by Kami Garcia is about a fake fortune teller's unfortunate predictions coming true and wrecking havoc around her. I liked it, though it isn't my usual kind of read. "Fate" by Simon Elkeles is a silly, sweet romantic story, also not my usual kind of read, but refreshing. I really thought that Willow was a child from her way of talk, which threw me off at first before she grew on me.