Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

All Roads Destined: A Collection of Dark Fiction and Poems by Lisa Diaz Meyer is the second book in Meyer's All Roads trilogy, arriving on the heels of the highly-rated first book, All Roads Home. The anthology begins with the second installment of the author's remarkable Outposts saga, followed by a collection of independent short stories and fifteen poems. The Outposts II carries on the story of Zaxton Mitchell and George/Georgia - with a greatly anticipated wedding - in the post-apocalyptic drama, taking a comfortable and perfectly executed turn into the realm of science fiction. Meyer's short stories include gems such as Friendship 59, which reads like a futuristic Siren tale, and poetry with prose that both sings and shatters the heart, such as The Climb.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that All Roads Destined by Lisa Diaz Meyer is gripping in a way that watching a tragedy unfold might be. Aristotle once told us that the aim of tragedy is to bring about a catharsis, and Meyer certainly forces a reader to dig deeper in the most unforgiving, morbidly cleansing way. Her short stories rarely have a happy ending, something of a reflection on the realities of our human experience she is able to tap into with little in the form of beings that are actually human. Her work might be dusky and dark (or macabre and funereal, as she unapologetically describes it) but the quality of Meyer's writing makes it not just palatable, but enjoyable too. For those waiting to see how The Outposts series unfolds, they won't have to, as All Roads Shattered, the saga's finale, is already available.