Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'
The Haunting Season: Eight Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Elizabeth Macneal, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Bridget Collins, Laura Purcell, Natasha Pulley
5 reviews
outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
A collection of short stories with a ghost/haunting theme:
1) A Study in Black & White: man rents strange house & is haunted by the former owner who has a soft spot for chess.
2) Thwaite's Tenant: woman & her young son try to flee her abusive marriage but end up at a house where the owner's wife disappeared in strange circumstances.
3) The Eel Singers - man who can predict the near future heads to the one spot where he cannot see anything except the present.
4) Lily Wilt - photographer becomes obsessed with the corpse of a young girl he has been hired to photograph for posterity.
5) The Chillingham Chair - haunted wheelchair points to the murder of its former user.
6) The Hanging of the Greens: man is drawn into the strange tale of one of his self-help group attendees.
7) Confinement: late 19th century woman confined in her chamber to give birth is haunted by the tale of a local witch.
8) Monster: man goes looking for dinosaur fossils but who is the real monster?
The Chillingham Chair is the best of these stories & was written by Laura Purcell. The others are all really strange & not really very well developed & they left me with an odd sense of disappointment as if there was something missing from all of them.
1) A Study in Black & White: man rents strange house & is haunted by the former owner who has a soft spot for chess.
2) Thwaite's Tenant: woman & her young son try to flee her abusive marriage but end up at a house where the owner's wife disappeared in strange circumstances.
3) The Eel Singers - man who can predict the near future heads to the one spot where he cannot see anything except the present.
4) Lily Wilt - photographer becomes obsessed with the corpse of a young girl he has been hired to photograph for posterity.
5) The Chillingham Chair - haunted wheelchair points to the murder of its former user.
6) The Hanging of the Greens: man is drawn into the strange tale of one of his self-help group attendees.
7) Confinement: late 19th century woman confined in her chamber to give birth is haunted by the tale of a local witch.
8) Monster: man goes looking for dinosaur fossils but who is the real monster?
The Chillingham Chair is the best of these stories & was written by Laura Purcell. The others are all really strange & not really very well developed & they left me with an odd sense of disappointment as if there was something missing from all of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness
maxineee's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
Should’ve read the content warnings before I read this one. I should have dnf’d it. Besides the focus on very real issues, the writing was very dry and uncomfortable. Usually with anthologies like this I can’t generalize the book as a whole but I can with this one. Especially Monster, which was the most difficult to get through. Now I know not to read anything by these authors. I understand some people enjoyed the book but it just wasn’t the horror that I like. I went in expecting a Cabinet of Curiosities type of book but that is not what it was. This is likely going to put me off of the genre for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Child death, and Rape
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
izzyhallow's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book is the PERFECT January read. Eight short stories that invoke Winter but not necessarily Christmas, I enjoyed reading one or two each evening for the last week.
My ranking from favourite to least would be:
Monster
Confinement
The Eel Singers
Lily Wilt
The Chillingham Chair
A Study in Black and White
Thwaite's Tennant
The Hanging of the Greens
It made me chuckle how the (living) men in these stories were often the scariest ghouls.
When adding content warnings I realise that the book covers a lot of sensitive ground over the eight stories. I would class the majority of these instances as moderate or minor but do proceed with caution.
My ranking from favourite to least would be:
Monster
Confinement
The Eel Singers
Lily Wilt
The Chillingham Chair
A Study in Black and White
Thwaite's Tennant
The Hanging of the Greens
It made me chuckle how the (living) men in these stories were often the scariest ghouls.
When adding content warnings I realise that the book covers a lot of sensitive ground over the eight stories. I would class the majority of these instances as moderate or minor but do proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, and Infidelity
Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
cabbagecakes's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Suicide, and Alcoholism
_teoeo's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
3.25
Story 1: 3 ⭐
Was okay but a little too short
Story 2: 3 ⭐
Was unsettling but I'm not sure how I feel about the "abuse"-topic for it could be really triggering especiall with the detailed descriptions
Story 3: 3,5 ⭐
Quite nice, but too short for a propper world building, for it was a bit confusing. Think it would be good as a novel rather that a short story. Good characters and as far as I see it, Six could be autistic? (Update: recently learned that the characters are from one of her books and that makes so much sense!)
Story 4: 2,5 ⭐
Meh...was okay
Story 5: 3,25 ⭐
Quite liked it, wanted to rate ist 3,5 but the ending disappointed a little (not the plottwist but the very end)
Story 6: 4 ⭐
Liked it, would be a great movie, expeciall the parts where he tells about what happened at the farm (and the plottwist!)
Story 7: 4 ⭐
Loved the writing and had a really thrilling atmosphere. It also would be a great (A24) movie
Story 8: 1,75 ⭐
Way to much sexual content for my liking, also my gut turned at the part that seemed to be rape (I don't see how this is necessary as an element of horror.)
All in all the rating is 3,125 and I rounded it up to 3,25 because overall I enjoyed reading the book. Also, I know now that I like anthologies!!
Was okay but a little too short
Story 2: 3 ⭐
Was unsettling but I'm not sure how I feel about the "abuse"-topic for it could be really triggering especiall with the detailed descriptions
Story 3: 3,5 ⭐
Quite nice, but too short for a propper world building, for it was a bit confusing. Think it would be good as a novel rather that a short story. Good characters and as far as I see it, Six could be autistic? (Update: recently learned that the characters are from one of her books and that makes so much sense!)
Story 4: 2,5 ⭐
Meh...was okay
Story 5: 3,25 ⭐
Quite liked it, wanted to rate ist 3,5 but the ending disappointed a little (not the plottwist but the very end)
Story 6: 4 ⭐
Liked it, would be a great movie, expeciall the parts where he tells about what happened at the farm (and the plottwist!)
Story 7: 4 ⭐
Loved the writing and had a really thrilling atmosphere. It also would be a great (A24) movie
Story 8: 1,75 ⭐
Way to much sexual content for my liking, also my gut turned at the part that seemed to be rape (I don't see how this is necessary as an element of horror.)
All in all the rating is 3,125 and I rounded it up to 3,25 because overall I enjoyed reading the book. Also, I know now that I like anthologies!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Abortion, Sexual violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual content
More...