Hope: The Thing With Feathers - B. Morris Allen - ★★★.¼

EDITOR: B. Morris Allen

GENRE: Short Story Anthology

PUBLICATION DATE: August 2, 2025

RATING: 3.2 stars.

In a Nutshell: An imaginative SFF anthology, with the feather motif and the theme of hope being the common thread across the stories. I was looking for a soothing and uplifting read, but many of the entries went too dark for my current state of mind. I think readers might like the anthology better if they go in with the right expectations. Better for older YA/NA readers.

Poetry aficionados might be aware of Emily Dickinson’s poem, "Hope is the Thing with Feathers". This book takes inspiration from the two key ideas of that title: hope and feathers, and brings together nineteen stories intertwining both the elements.

I hadn’t even heard of the poem as I have minimal awareness of and liking for poetry. I Googled it before beginning this anthology and understood only the first verse in its entirety. 🤭 Of course, you don’t need to actually search for it. The epigraph of this book contains the entire poem (just three verses!) – a great way of ensuring that readers know the foundation.

The collection begins with an outstanding write-up by the editor. It was so heartfelt, interesting and relevant that I probably enjoyed it more than many of the stories. One intriguing question he raised was: Do we keep hope alive or does hope keep us alive during tough times? I think it needs to be a mutually-sustaining relationship, like a growth loop that feeds on its own output endlessly to deliver more.

What I especially loved learning is that the cover (isn't it outstanding?! 😍) came before the book. The editor saw the artist's work, thought "That would make a great book cover!" and reverse-engineered his way to the conception of this anthology of feather-related, hope-filled stories. Serendipity, that's what it is. Especially considering the timing of the book, when the entire world is in drastic need of hope…

When I read such editors' notes, my expectations from the stories automatically shoot upwards. Perhaps my mind subconsciously anticipates anyone who writes so well to also know how to curate a story collection. Well, many of the stories are indeed written well, but they also contained several elements that do not work for me in general.

Given the feathers theme, a majority of the stories are speculative in nature, mostly covering fantasy but a couple also venturing into science fiction. Despite the SFF undertone, the realism in many of the stories is quite strong, effectively blending the actual and the fantastical. I truly loved the speculative content.

The author bios are presented right after the story, making it easy for us to learn more about those whose stories we enjoyed. There is also a little writeup by each author after their respective bio, talking about what hope means to them and, in some cases, what inspired the story.

However, a lot of the content wasn't what I anticipated from a book centred around hope. I was counting on the book to deliver some happiness and warmth. However, most of the stories have dark themes such as drugs, parental abandonment, mental health issues, and life struggles, and stay dark till almost the end. With such depressing content in most storylines, the endings are bittersweet. Many stories culminate with their characters escaping the problem rather than things actually turning more hopeful. In some cases, I struggled to see any hope in the climax as it was more a teensy glimmer (if at all!) than a powerful beacon. I think I completed the book in a sadder mood than I was at its beginning.

Further, while I was pleased at the thought of the feather being used as a motif, the implementation of this was somewhat mixed and strangely, even repetitive – quite surprising as multiple authors contributed to this anthology and there should have been no overlap as such. A few of the stories really pushed the bar of imagination, no doubt. But the rest were like recycled variations of the same basic dreary structure with the same feathery icons.

Lastly, a majority of the stories had YA characters. Though the writing itself didn’t feel like YA in most cases, I felt like I couldn’t connect better with these protagonists. Then again, if the collection had a greater variety of thematic moods, I wouldn’t have had any issue relating to the predicaments of younger characters. All the YAs were going through the same kind of struggles, which just exacerbated the déjà vu feel.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the nineteen stories, only five of the stories reached or crossed the 4-star mark. A majority of the rest were clustered around the 2.5-3.5 stars mark. Four of the 3.5-star stories – ‘Pitstop at the Lunar Station’ by Veda Villiers, ‘When an Angel Molts’ by H.L. Fullerton, ‘Queen of Crows’ by Rachel Ayers, and ‘Going Home’ by Martin Westlake – would have ranked higher had they offered a little more background to the events or a more satisfying/’hopeful’ ending. 

My top favourites were:

🕊️ The Letter Writers – Chloe Smith: An ekphrastic low fantasy inspired by an actual painting. Sibling love at its finest. Would have loved some more background details, but even as is, it's a beautiful story. (Pro tip: Google the painting after you complete this story. It's even better than you would have imagined and elevates the story further.) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🕊️ What We Had Left – Gabrielle Contelmo: A story that embodied the theme of "hope in times of darkness" in a realistically scary way. I don't even think I'd have any hope left if this scenario were to happen in real life. Bonus half-star for acknowledging that scooters are awesome! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🕊️ Blood Feathers – S. J. Fry: I wish there had been a bit more information during the reveal. Other than that, a beautiful (partly tragic) fantastical tale. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🕊️ Shiver Soft Feathers – L'Erin Ogle: Man! I'd have loved for this to be a novella! Such a fabulous premise but so many things left unsaid! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🕊️ The Sky was Made for Wings – Michael Reed: Nothing as powerful as a sibling bond in times of despair. A dark and depressing story, but the end was strong. (Not hopeful, mind you. But an apt ending for this kind of story.) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, this is a good enough collection, but it probably came in my life at the wrong time. Or perhaps, I picked it up with incorrect expectations. I was *hoping* for something a bit more uplifting. I simply didn’t expect a book titled ‘Hope’ to go into such dark and upsetting content. There’s nothing gory on page, but the premises weren’t of the soothing kind in most cases. Perhaps if you go in acknowledging that hope is most needed during times of despair, the gloominess of the stories won't bother you that much. I needed something more heartwarming and preferably with more adult characters, so it is clearly a case of reader-book mismatch. Take my thoughts with a pinch of salt.

Recommended to YA/NA readers, preferably those who enjoy speculative fiction as well. Given the content, it would be better suited to readers aged 15+.

3.2 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale.

My thanks to Plant Based Press for providing a complimentary copy of “HOPE: The Thing with Feathers” via the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.