I backed To Root Somewhere Beautiful on Kickstarter and received the e-book. The description reads (in part): “twenty-two diverse authors explore what nature's vengeance might be like, and how humanity could adapt and change, giving these stories of climate change and disasters a center of hope.” The stories stay close to the theme, each featuring end-of-world scenarios all related to humans having dramatically changed the earth. There is a fair amount of horror-leaning and dystopian writing though I didn’t find anything in the collection scary really – moreso thought provoking and, in some instances, quite disturbing. I did star rate each story individually just for my own reference while reviewing; almost all my ratings were 3.5 or above.

Like any anthology, any reader will enjoy some stories more than others. I do think that it was strong overall. My favourite stories included “The Last Singapore Girls” by Wen-yi Lee, “They Used to Build Parks Here” by SJ Whitby, “When the World Gives Out” by Rachal Marquez Jones, and “To Root from Flesh” by Isa Arsen.

Content warnings: body horror, violence, gun violence, murder, death of a child, racism, racial slurs, sexism, fire injury, abandonment, suicidal thoughts