Hello, all! Y'all may remember my exultation over the new editions of the Wingfeather Saga last year. I'm happy to say that the exultation continues as there's another re-release! The Wingfeather Tales was originally written as an anthology of stories and poems written by Andrew Peterson and many of his author friends to entice and reward backers for the Wingfeather short film a few years ago. Now it's being made widely available (with the addition of a bonus Florid Sword & Shadowblade comic!), releasing March 23, and I am very excited that new fans will get to enjoy it! Since this is an anthology, reviewing in Friday 5s format is going to be a little interesting . . . but I'm still going to do my best to provide my thoughts on the collection, its high points and low points, and whether or not you should pre-order it on Amazon or add it to your Goodreads TBR. (Spoiler alert: you should totally do both. Unless you haven't read the rest of the series, in which case you should just add it to your TBR for now and go pick up the other books.)

 

Thoughts on the Wingfeather Tales

1. Before you ask, these stories aren't sequels, and that's a good thing. A couple of the stories, specifically "The Prince of Yorsha Doon," the Florid Sword & Shadowblade comic, and parts of "The Places Beyond the Maps" do take place after the end of The Warden and the Wolf King. However, none of the Wingfeathers show up, so all we're really told is that Maraly and Gammon continue to be awesome and Oscar continues to be Oscar . . . and I'm happy about that. I think most other people are too. Instead, what we mostly get are stories that take place before (or, in one case, concurrently with) the events of The Wingfeather Saga, which gives us a fun look into the past of Aerwiar and certain significant people and locations.
2. The best story? "The Places Beyond the Maps." This is the last and longest story in the anthology — a full novella, actually, that takes up half the book. And it's heartbreaking, but it's also beautifully written. The style is almost like if someone combined Andrew Peterson, Anne Elisabeth Stengl, and Jennifer Freitag (Plenilune, for those who don't know) into one person. It's gorgeous. And, as I said, heartbreaking, as we see a man driven to the very ends of himself, and the author lays this man's soul bare to the reader with stunning effectiveness. But it comes to beauty in the end.
3. Wingfeather crossovers are not my favorite. To be more specific, two of these stories cross over Peterson's books with the books of another author (also known, though not especially well outside of certain circles, for Christian-themed fantasy), and they more or less ended up being my least favorite stories in the anthology. They're still good. And people who've read and loved the crossover series will probably enjoy these stories. For me, though? Not my favorite.
4. We do get a Podo Helmer story! Since Podo is one of my favorite characters in the series, the bar was set pretty high for this tale . . . but it more than surpasses my expectations. It's set back in Podo's dragon-hunting days, and it's pretty great. While I'm not familiar with the author of the story (A.S. Peterson), he has an excellent storytelling voice, perfect for a seafaring story such as this. And the story he chose to tell . . . it's hard to say a lot without spoilers, but I'd say it's worth buying the anthology just for this and "The Places Beyond the Maps."
5. If you saw "Florid Sword and Shadowblade comic" and got really excited, get the book in paper form. I got an eARC of this to review, which I read on my Kindle. Though I enjoyed the comic (I'm always a fan of both Gammon and Maraly), I did have a bit of trouble reading it on the screen. That might be different if you have a Kindle app on a device that lets you zoom in, I'd say it's worth just getting it in paper.

Are you excited for the Wingfeather Tales? Which story or stories are you most excited for (or, if you've read the anthology before, which did you like best)? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!