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booksthatburn's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Stalking, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual content, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Abandonment, Vomit, Car accident, Excrement, Racism, Slavery, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Drug use
readthesparrow's review
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
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Gore, Body horror, Death, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Confinement
Minor: Stalking, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
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