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madrugada_dorada's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
pbraue13's review against another edition
4.0
I initially read this purely for the title story that is a sequel to "Let the Right One In" (which is one of the best horror novels of all time!), but was pleasantly surprised at the fun and ofttimes scary short stories in this collection!
filesm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
horrorswiftie's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
kellyisntcool's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Great collection of horror stories! Like putting your brain through a meat grinder (good way.) Grateful for the concluding story being the continuation of Let The Right One In and for ending on a sweet, hopeful note.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent
em_harring's review against another edition
4.0
Somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 stars. A couple of the stories are a bit of a miss, but all of them are that strange, cryptic, mystical weirdness that I've come to expect from John Ajvide Lindqvist.
And the afterword is perfect.
And the afterword is perfect.
pineconek's review against another edition
5.0
A+ marketing for pitching this as "a sequel to let the right one in and other stories" and putting said sequel at the end of the collection. The journey made me feel like I was indeed living deliciously.
Lindqvist is phenomenal at writing about love and human relationships, and chooses unleash that power in horror which makes me very happy.
A lot of the stories were not really my thing: a shoplifters union, a troll, a Lovecraftian demon, a sea creature seeking revenge... Are all backdrops that I typically sidestep as I prefer having my horror grounded in reality. But gosh did I like these. The prose is so beautiful and paints a vivid picture of Swedish life. My favorite stories were the border (the one with airport security and neighbor's baby), let the old dreams die (Stefan and Karin tho), tindalos (our main characters marriage wrecked me tbh), and the one with the leaning apartments as well as the one with the unborn baby and husband who almost drowns.... oh, and the one with the corpse who covered.himself with a blanket (what the hell!!), oh and..
You see where I'm going with this. The only skips in this collection were stories that were only a few pages long and read like a writing exercise. Everything substantial was damn weird and damn good. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Recommended if you loved let the right one In (and if you haven't read it, go change that) and want more paradoxically gentle Swedish horror in your life.
Lindqvist is phenomenal at writing about love and human relationships, and chooses unleash that power in horror which makes me very happy.
A lot of the stories were not really my thing: a shoplifters union, a troll, a Lovecraftian demon, a sea creature seeking revenge... Are all backdrops that I typically sidestep as I prefer having my horror grounded in reality. But gosh did I like these. The prose is so beautiful and paints a vivid picture of Swedish life. My favorite stories were the border (the one with airport security and neighbor's baby), let the old dreams die (Stefan and Karin tho), tindalos (our main characters marriage wrecked me tbh), and the one with the leaning apartments as well as the one with the unborn baby and husband who almost drowns.... oh, and the one with the corpse who covered.himself with a blanket (what the hell!!), oh and..
You see where I'm going with this. The only skips in this collection were stories that were only a few pages long and read like a writing exercise. Everything substantial was damn weird and damn good. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Recommended if you loved let the right one In (and if you haven't read it, go change that) and want more paradoxically gentle Swedish horror in your life.