Tales of the Rose Rabbit by Kirsten Weiss – Poetry Book Review

Tales of the Rose Rabbit by Kirsten Weiss is a companion chapbook of poetry and poetic prose for the Witches of Doyle cozy mystery series.

Featuring a variety of poetic styles, the book contains shape poetry, rhymed-poetry, some with quatrains, stanzas and others as a single block, but all highly enjoyable pieces.

The themes are often dark, sometimes with a bit hope at the end. The main ones are war, darkness, hope and fantasy.

The pieces in the Tales of the Rose Rabbit have to be read in the order in which they've been assembled, since I felt that some poems build on their predecessors.

The reader is told that the narrator of the collection, Lenore Bonheim, is a fictional poet and witch from the Doyle Witch cozy mystery series.

The book opens with a prose piece, followed a brilliant poem titled "Elemental Dance". What is particularly interesting about this piece is the flow of the stanzas and how each begins with the closing of the previous idea.

"They Arrive" is the five-star dark-themed poem, done in shape poetry. I wish I can quote it whole.

Then there is "The Queen Vanishes", a poetic prose piece with a bit of internal rhyme and wicked word choice. Another dark but magical piece.

"The Dancing Lady" is a conversation in poetic form and I absolutely loved it.

"Prisoner's Dilemma" is another five-star poem.

"I pray it is my dungeon-dimmed eyes

And not my world that has died."

Other recommended pieces from Tales of the Rose Rabbit: "The Ivory Queen and the Rose Rabbit Do Battle", "Treachery", "The Enchanted Other" and "The White Lady".

Overall, Tales of the Rose Rabbit is a musical, flowing, magical and brilliant collection. I loved it!

Add the book on Goodreads.

Note: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Kirsten Weiss worked overseas for nearly twenty years in the fringes of the former USSR, Africa, and South-east Asia.  Her experiences abroad sparked an interest in the effects of mysticism and mythology, and how both are woven into our daily lives.

Now based in San Mateo, CA, she writes genre-blending steampunk suspense, urban fantasy, and mystery, mixing her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.

Kirsten has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer re-runs and drinking red wine. Sign up for her newsletter to get free updates on her latest work at: http://kirstenweiss.com

Check out Nadaness In Motion's book review Kirsten Weiss' The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum and Pressed to Death.

Also, check out this post by Kirsten Weiss on the main elements that differentiate a cozy mystery from a traditional mystery. The post is a collaboration between Kirsten and myself (most of the work done by Kirsten though :D). Read it here.

The book can be purchased on Amazon for 99 cents here.