Labyrinth is the print version of some selected short stories from the virtual world of Litizen.com.
Its been a long time that I read a set of short stories and I read this one inspite of Brajesh's low rating, because while we share a lot of similar tastes in fiction and non-fiction, I do love quirky short stories too.
Its been a long time since I read an Indian anthology of short stories and with a variety of writers, it is obvious that some stories would be better than the others. This collection has 15 stories by 10 authors.
My favourite was Mainak Dhar's - The Martyr which completely brings home the futility of war and the senseless death of children.
The Puppet Show meandered a bit too much for me and I would have like a sharper editing. That actually was an issue with a lot of the short stories, they could have been kept shorter.
Candies was the most ridiculous of the lot, I just didn't see the point of actions taken by Divya, they were more psycho than anything else. If you want to include a twist in your tale, it better make logical sense. Jeffery Archer is a master of this genre, this was a damp squib.
I also enjoyed Rishabh's Travel through the Night and the Labyrinth is the best piece of Greek speculative fiction I have recently read.
A Day of Battle seemed pointless, as it had nothing new to contribute, I dont know why it was included in this collection.
Ruskaya Rulyetka was a good change and the Night of the wokambee had a really funny ending.
Not a bad attempt, but nothing extraordinary either.
Rating : 3 / 5
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