Book: A
Collection of Dreamscapes
Author:
Christina Sng
Genre:
Poetry Collection, Twisted Fairy Tales, Dark Poetry
Publisher:
Raw Dog Screaming Press
Publication
Date: 16 April 2020
Number of
pages: 170
A
Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng is a poetry
collection divided into 5 sections and featuring an array of beautifully dark
poems.
I
particularly enjoyed the rewritten "Fairy Tales" and
"Myths and Dreamscapes" sections.
A
Collection of Dreamscapes opens with "Allegra," a
5-star stunning and beautiful mythological story within a poem. I absolutely loved
this one. I must note though, that the poems in this opening section should be
read in order – as I realized – but you will enjoy them nonetheless.
As
I said, I loved the "Fairy Tales," where Sng takes on
common tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and
twists them all. Sng also has several different stories/poems about a single
fairy tale, like Rapunzel.
My
favorites were: "Little Red," "Snow," "The
Girl from the Tower," "Jack and the Giants," and "The
Mermaid."
"Snow," the
poem on the Snow White and Seven Dwarves tale, is different from anything I've
read. Sng introduces ideas such as social media into the story. That said, I felt
the poem was a bit long, less poetic in some places, and unbelievable in
others. Still, it was definitely a far cry from the prince charming theme known
for these types of tales but still Snow White wasn't the strong woman, unlike
Sng's version of The Red Riding Hood.
An
interesting take is Sng bringing the modern world into the fairy tales. Interesting
but a bit jarring still. You can find this in "Snow" and
"Rapunzel."
"Beauty
Sleeps for a Century" is a good rewrite of the Cinderella
story, however, there was a significant repetition of "but"
throughout that, for me, disturbed the flow of the poem.
I
also liked how Sng mixed some of the tales together as you'll see in "Cinderella," "Always
a Beast" and "Living Well Is the Best Revenge."
I
absolutely loved "When There Are Monsters." It’s
a dark and powerful piece and easily relatable to the real world, where monsters
aren't just confined to books or TV screens.
The
poem "The Monsters Within" is one of
the more gruesome pieces in A Collection of Dreamscapes. It sent shivers
down my spine. Similarly, "Violation" is a dark, gruesome
and heartbreaking piece.
"In
the Tall Grass" is a full on sci-fi poem. And I've never
read a poem like it before. It's interesting, exciting, and definitely different.
I
absolutely loved "The Lady of the Lake," with
Sng's take on it; dark but brilliant. I wish I can quote it whole.
"The
Joy of Sewing" is a creepy and gruesome piece that
reminded me of the movie The House of Wax.
One
recurring problem for me with A Collection of Dreamscapes is that many of the pieces read as more prose than
poetry. An example of this is seen in "The War of the Fall," which
has a great story but is not very poetic. I also found the sequence of the poem
to be a bit confusing.
I have no problem with free verse, I write in it
mostly myself but when writing in free verse there is a fine line between just
dividing your sentence and having poetic flow to the piece. At the end of the
day, you want people to read your free verse pieces as poems not as a newspaper
article.
Other recommended pieces in A
Collection of Dreamscapes: "Margritte
of Mer," "Concepts," "Lobotomy," "Annalise
Wanders the Forest," "Noonwraiths," and "The Tooth
Collector."
Overall rating for Christina Sng's A
Collection of Dreamscapes: 4 stars
Originally I rated this collection 3 stars, but upon
an inspection while writing the review, I think the book deserves 3.75 to 4
stars.
Note: I received an advanced reader's copy (ARC) of A
Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng from
Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi. This review
is part of National Poetry Month.
