★ "[Yu's] sentences shine with unexpected images and turns of phrase. . . . Each story here is a gem. A trove of fantastical treasures."
–Kirkus, starred review
★ "Laugh, gasp, wonder, grieve, reflect: Jewel Box asks what enchantment is, even as it mesmerizes you and steals your heart.
–Foreword Reviews, starred review
"[Yu's] sentences astonish. . . . Well worth reading for any fan of speculative fiction." –
Publishers Weekly ". . .Alluring and often surreal."
–LitHub "Each story shines, with Yu's stark prose perfectly suited to these magical realist tales. Read one as a treat. Read the whole thing in one sitting. However you like to consume story collections, make sure you spend time with this one."
–Tor.com "Like Oscar Wilde or Ray Bradbury, E. Lily Yu writes the kind of delicious short stories that come with a sting in the tail. Utterly beguiling." –
Kelly Link, bestselling author of
Get in Trouble "You hold in your hand a collection of marvels - Yu's stories float like fairy tales and sting like bees. Sometimes funny, often sobering, magic in every word." –
Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves "I've been waiting for an E. Lily Yu collection for more than a decade–one book to rule them all. Powerful, meaningful, unforgettable, her stories part the veils of history and myth to bring forth marvels for a fractured age. Highly recommended!" –
Usman T. Malik, award-winning author of
Midnight Doorways "With the bone-ringing clarity of fairytales and the scientific precision of a star-map, Yu has an unfailing sense of how words work. With it, she delivers fresh insights into the ancient myth of Orpheus, evokes the Peter Beagle-esque magic of a unicorn roaming wild in New York's Central Park, and distills a man-eating monster's dysfunctional parenting patterns. Her words spark recognition and awe in us a thousand times, in a thousand different ways." –
Nisi Shawl, Nebula Award finalist and author of
Everfair "E. Lily Yu has created a cabinet of curiosities with this collection, inviting us into the faceted worlds therein. Eclectic and erudite, equally adept with ordinary and the fantastic, what ties these stories together is Yu's brilliance and compassion; an insistence that the lives (and deaths) of anarchist bees, Babylonian judges, and amorous streetlamps are all worthy of being held up to the light." –
Nino Cipri, award-winning author of
Finna "How many of these tales left me in tears? How many in a rage? How many in an ecstasy of wonder? Each one exceptional. Every sentence immaculate. Fearless, meticulous, masterful, E. Lily Yu's J
ewel Box: Stories is clear as cut-crystal, with a drop of blood in every facet." –
C. S. E. Cooney, author of
Saint Death's Daughter "Don't be fooled by the strangeness of her worlds or the fable-like quality of her stories. E. Lily Yu is relentless in her pursuit of the many truths that move our world and she does so with sharpness and kindness alike.
Jewel Box is a kaleidoscope of stories that invoke wonder, empathy, and contemplation." –
Eugenia Triantafyllou, author of
The Giants of the Violet Sea
