Reviews with content warning for Murder - All These Sunken Souls

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All These Sunken Souls by Circe Moskowitz

8 reviews

halem13's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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daniellestarredpages's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I was really disappointed with this anthology. It started out quite enjoyable, I liked the story and I felt the tone carried over from one story to the next but then it went downhill.

"Lights" might have been my favourite short story and I enjoyed "Be Not Afraid" and "All My Best Friends Are Dead".The Teeth Come Out At Night" was okay but I didn't love it. I felt the writing style was easy to read but after a while the story dragged and while I understand it was a short story, I felt the ending could've been wrapped up a bit better. I absolutely hated "I Love Your Eyes". The writing itself was not well-done and the plot twist made absolutely no sense given the POV we were in. "The Consumption Of Vienna Montrose" just left me confused and uncomfortable but not in the way I want to be when I enjoy a horror story. The writing itself was enjoyable but the plot was . . . . not. The rest of the stories felt very average to me and my biggest takeaway was that there seems to be an obsession with teeth.

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kendal_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

This anthology starts and ends strong. The first three stories and the last four all would've gotten ratings above 4.5 had I the luxury of giving them independent ratings. The middle three stories were 3-3.5 stars for me as there was a key element that felt rushed or cut out. These ratings averaged together netted the anthology a healthy 4.25, though it should've been 4.3 mathematically speaking.
Several of these stories suffer from their short length as they could have benefited from six or more pages to really develop into something.
The stories that most desperately needed something more were I Love Your Eyes, The Consumption of Vienna Montrose, and The Teeth Come Out At Night. The first of these three was so rushed that the big reveal at the end felt comical rather than scary. The second one was vague in a way that you can almost feel the details that should've been there. The last one had so much world just outside the plot that it was like looking at the world through a bus window as it speeds down the road.
Even though several of the stories use very popular flavors of horror there is just enough uniqueness to them that they feel fresh.

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mrpointy's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was a fun dive into the diverse world of black horror. Each story gripping and thrilling in a different way.

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chamomile1's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I liked most of the stories in this collection. My favorites are "Lights" for its take on monstrosity and genre expectations, "All My Best Friends Are Dead" for the way it plays with characterization and perspective, and "No Harm Done" for the sudden pivot into horror after an interesting but not obviously creepy opening.

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readthesparrow's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

SUMMARY

In All These Sunken Souls, horror is explored through a blending of genres–ghost stories, folklore, and weird, among others–written by established and debut Black authors.

REVIEW

All These Sunken Souls hits like hell and doesn’t stop. Every time I thought I’d surely found the standout story in the collection another came along and vied hard for the position, leaving me with three choices and no desire to choose favorites. So I shan’t! It's my review and I can do as I please.

“Be Not Afraid,” “The Consumption of Vienna Montrose,” and “Mother, Daughter, and the Devil” hit everything I want from a good horror short story. These three have fantastic prose that takes on a life of its own; it’s rare I feel like I can hear the protagonist's voice clear as day; these girls spoke. The narratives are fresh and unique while conversing with tropes, stories, and histories that came before them. And, as a bonus, they feature beautifully written female characters.

Save one, every single short story was as least three stars, with most of them being four or five stars. The single exception was a matter of purely taste–I didn’t enjoy the first five pages, skimmed ahead, and realized that my issue, the prose, persisted throughout. So I skipped it. (I only mention the fact I DNF’d this one story for transparency’s sake, as this was an ARC.)

Broadly speaking, this collection features tropes and themes I love love LOVE in horror. Body horror (tooth, flesh, and bone), names (and the lack of them), houses (sentient or otherwise), biblical imagery (of the accurate angelic sort), folk tales and ghost stories (told and acted), and the comfort–yet also the horrific pain–of isolation.

And that’s not all, of course. But you’ll explore the rest yourself.

INDIVIDUAL STORY RATINGS

"Lights" by Kalynn Bayron - ⭐⭐⭐
"Be Not Afraid" by Ashia Monet - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"All My Best Friends Are Dead" by Liselle Sambury - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The Teeth Come Out At Night" by Sami Ellis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"I Love Your Eyes" by Joel Rochester - DNF
"The Consumption of Vienna Montrose" by Joelle Wellington - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (ok it's 5⭐ but GOD I loved this one so much)
"The Landscape of Broken Things" by Brent Lambert - ⭐⭐⭐.5
"Mother, Daughter, and the Devil" by Donyae Coles - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Papa Pearlie" by Ryan Douglass - ⭐⭐⭐
"No Harm Done" by Circe Moskowitz ⭐⭐⭐⭐

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you like horror, you absolutely must read this collection. Doubly so if you have interest in diverse horror, horror short stories, or, like me, just really love a visceral piece of character-driven horror.

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley. If you are interested in All These Sunken Souls, it will be released 17 October 2023. If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org!

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