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gingerswag22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
georgesreads's review against another edition
4.0
A masterful story collection with a whole range of themes. What was really refreshing was the range of lengths- whilst I enjoyed the first short story, it had chapters which personally makes it not so short.. but overall I didn’t mind as there were also ones that were 5-6 pages long. The cover of this book is amazing too hello? This is my first John Langan, and I chose this one because I wanted a range of his work before diving into the fisherman, the writing here is well done and still easy to understand… so I’m hoping the case will be the same with his other work.
One of my personal favourites from this collection was the second story Hyphae.. because hello? New fear unlocked! But generally most of them were hits. I don’t tend to rate short story collections 5, just because no one can bang out banger after banger, and this is no different, but it came pretty close, but with the amount of content in the book it’s unsurprising that a few of them didn’t work for me.
One of my personal favourites from this collection was the second story Hyphae.. because hello? New fear unlocked! But generally most of them were hits. I don’t tend to rate short story collections 5, just because no one can bang out banger after banger, and this is no different, but it came pretty close, but with the amount of content in the book it’s unsurprising that a few of them didn’t work for me.
mjtucker's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
cupcake_overlord's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately I did not know what I was getting with this collection. Not for me. I did not get a lot of the references in the stories, but I really did enjoy the story notes at the end.
larrydavid's review against another edition
1.0
Most of the included stories are bloated, far longer than they need to be to achieve their effect. The writing is mixed: some striking and precise but almost every story contains at least one sloppy phrase that needed another draft. Most demonstrate the clear amount of research Langan puts into his work, but often to the detriment of a story; too often it feels like he has included everything he has learned, like a diligent but not gifted student, who throws down everything on the page without any attempt to analyse or synthesise.
My chief objection is that many of these stories were written for themed anthologies, etc. and these stories for me do not move enough beyond their inspiration. To take the title story as an example, in my opinion it is less inspired by Lovecraft than rewriting Lovecraft. It was a story that never once surprised me or gave me the frisson that comes from a new idea. You could argue that this is a good quality of course.
My chief objection is that many of these stories were written for themed anthologies, etc. and these stories for me do not move enough beyond their inspiration. To take the title story as an example, in my opinion it is less inspired by Lovecraft than rewriting Lovecraft. It was a story that never once surprised me or gave me the frisson that comes from a new idea. You could argue that this is a good quality of course.
nia_guy's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
raforall's review against another edition
4.0
Review Appeared in the August 2020 Issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2020/08/what-im-reading-3-booklist-reviews.html
Three Words That Describe This Book: immersive, atmospheric lyrical
You can suggest this collection to fans of an emerging class of stellar horror writers who have been inspired by Langan himself such as Usman Malik, Rachel Eve Moulton, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Three Words That Describe This Book: immersive, atmospheric lyrical
You can suggest this collection to fans of an emerging class of stellar horror writers who have been inspired by Langan himself such as Usman Malik, Rachel Eve Moulton, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
paulmoore's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
I finally finished Children of the Fang last night by the criminally underappreciated John Langan.
I took my time with this collection of shorts as you have to savour each one. Langan has the ability to write something that frequently reverberates around your head for days. He has some serious talent and this collection is so diverse you get to see it in every tale.
If you haven't read any Langan then I urge you to do so. If you're not a fan of short stories (then you're weird) then get stuck into The Fisherman. You won't regret it!
I took my time with this collection of shorts as you have to savour each one. Langan has the ability to write something that frequently reverberates around your head for days. He has some serious talent and this collection is so diverse you get to see it in every tale.
If you haven't read any Langan then I urge you to do so. If you're not a fan of short stories (then you're weird) then get stuck into The Fisherman. You won't regret it!
lamusadelils's review against another edition
4.0
Me gustó porque toma premisas que podrían rayar lo absurdo pero manejadas de manera equilibrada entre sentirse serias y deliberadamente exageradas, por lo que se vuelven lecturas muy entretenidas.
No sé cómo le hace Langan para tener un estilo tan propio y al mismo tiempo ser efectivo al emular otras voces bien reconocibles.
No sé cómo le hace Langan para tener un estilo tan propio y al mismo tiempo ser efectivo al emular otras voces bien reconocibles.
bookwisp86's review against another edition
4.0
A decent collection but not his best. More parts of stories then anything full fledged. Still enjoyable.