I'm almost done reading
Drawing Destiny, with only six stories left. All in all I found it's a pretty good anthology so far, with some good characters, and ingenious interpretations of the tarot cards. I also liked that some stories had links with previous ones found in
World in Shadows, it strengthens the feeling of one common universe. Also loved the cameo appearance of
[spoiler]All Wings[/spoiler]
even if it stays subtle.
While
Spells & Chrome and
World of Shadows had some good stories, other were... not so good. In
Drawing Destiny, however, the quality was consistently high, with only one or two weaker tales.
That being said, there are a few things that I found a bit weird.
In
My Enemy, Mi Amici, the author seems to be confused about technomancers, and seems to believe they are actually magic users. For instance:
You probably don’t want to use magic at all. The secrets begging to be exposed in the catacombs will be too tempting for technomancers and mages to ignore.
As it turns out, this story is one of the few I didn't like, as the plot made no sense to me. I mean:
[spoiler]A corp CEO playing shadowrunner?[/spoiler]
I actually, physically rolled my eyes at that point.
To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield lists three cards as its inspiration: The Avatars, The Ride, and Strength. That last one should be Discipline.
The Placebo Effect has a runner named Mika among its characters. But this Mika is a woman. Since the Mika from Jackpoint is a dude, it's either another Mika, or, I suspect, the writer has confused Mika with his rival, Ma'Fan. Or (and that would actually be a fun story in itself) Ma'Fan is actually using Mika's name in some runs, to annoy him :p
Last but not least, being French, I cannot help but wince when writers try to use French words but make mistakes.
For instance, in
One for the Other:
“Crasseaux porc…” Deveaux muttered.
The correct spelling would be "crasseux", and even that doesn't sound very natural. It's debatable, of course, but I believe a true Frenchman would rather say something snappier like "Sale porc..."
Then in
Moon Palace, Serpent Sea, there's this:
If she could bottle the pong of the place, she’d sell it under the name Mal Choix de Vie: “Terrible Life Choices.”
That whole part is pretty great, truly, but unfortunately "Mal Choix de Vie" is not proper French. "Mal" is a noun, not an adjective; the adjective is "mauvais". Therefore the correct name should be "Mauvais Choix de Vie".
Dear writers, do not trust Google Translate and try to have a native proofread your texts whenever possible
If you don't have one at hand, send me a PM, I'll be happy to help ^^