Giant Bones

Peter S. Beagle is someone I turn to time and again when I just need comfort. This collection of short stories (set in the world of the Innkeeper's Song but with only 1 story involving its characters) is no exception. It's a showcase for the voice that made Beagle the legend that he is. The stories feel older than they are probably because they are mostly framed as stories being told to you by some character who has need of passing the information on. Much of the collection is about aging, and it's a stories that I think is more valuable to me now than ten years ago and will be more valuable still ten, twenty years in my future. My one issue with this collection is the same as my issue with IS, and that is some weirdly phrased elements around race that just make it very obvious that this is written by a white male. Not necessarily offensive (at least not to this very white girl), but definitely doesn't feel contemporary. Here though, it only crops up in Lal and Soukyan's story. If you like Innkeeper's Song, you should read this to get a little more into the adventures of Lal and Soukyan, and if you didn't read IS, you can definitely enjoy this collection with no problem.