An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge

I enjoyed most of these stories, and I don't consider myself a sci-fi/fantasy fan. Some were too gruesome and some just weren't for me. I wish the book had included more authors of color, more characters of color and that all of the stories (with the exception of The Twelfth Girl and part of The Raven Princess) hadn't been so heteronormative. But in general, it's a pretty good collection.

Here are my thoughts on each story. They are listed in the order I read them, not the order they appear in the book.

The Key: This story picked up at the end (I was worried at the beginning for it), it really set the tone for the whole collection. I liked this one.

Figment: The story was interesting enough to keep my attention, but I wasn't that into it.

The Raven Princess: An interesting twist at the end, good retelling that expands on the original tale and borrow from other fairy tales to do so (the key felt very familiar).

Thinner Than Water: I skimmed most of this one. The incest was too much for me.

Beast/Beast: I don't really have any thoughts on this story. It wasn't bad, but I probably won't remember it a year from now.

Untethered: This was one of my favorites. It's very short, but that works in the story's favor.

Better: DNF

Light It Up: A very straightforward retelling of Hansel and Gretel

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue: An interesting twist on the original tale

A Real Boy: This was probably my favorite story in the collection. I would love to read a whole book set in this world. Blue was an interesting character (and the only character in the entire collection who is explicitly described as a character of color as far as I remember). Blue's gender is ambiguous until at least halfway through the story, and I wish it had remained that way (I kept going back and forth as to whether I thought Blue was a boy or girl until it's stated). But a black girl working on robots is cool too.

Skin Trade: This tale was too graphic for me. I finished it, but I could have stopped halfway through and not missed anything.

Beauty and the Chad: DNF, I felt the author (can't remember who wrote this one, too lazy to look it up) was trying too hard to be funny but the story fell flat. Also, very derivative of the Disney film, which I think was the point, but again, the parody (or whatever it was supposed to be) didn't work for me. 

The Pink: This story was probably longer than necessary, but it was entertaining. 

Sell Out: Interesting premise, but I wasn't that into the story. 

The Twelfth Girl: Probably my second favorite story in the collection (surprising because I don't like Malinda Lo that much, her premises always interest me but she loses me with her execution). Really imaginative retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Before the Rose Bloomed: This seems to be the most skipped story in the collection and I can see why. It's presented in verse form, but it doesn't really seem to be written in verse. I had such a hard time just reading it that I ended up giving up. It didn't seem that different from the original either, so I'd rather just reread the Hans Christian Andersen tale.

The Brothers Piggett: Really interesting twist on the original tale.