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chrisljm's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I don’t typically enjoy short stories, so I went into this collection mostly just expecting/wanting some gothic horror elements for the Halloween season.
While I didn’t love the first three stories (“Don’t Look Now”, “Not After Midnight”, and “A Border-Like Case”), they were at the least intriguing. However, I find myself giving this two-stars due to how little I enjoyed the last two stories. I could not care less when reading “The Way of the Cross”, which just felt like nonsense and seemed out of place compared to the first three. “The Breakthrough” was better than “The Way of the Cross” but still lackluster and disappointing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Death, Murder, Cancer, Infidelity, Incest, Colonisation, Child death, and Grief
Minor: Rape and Sexual content
hauntedvamphotel's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Racial slurs, and Death
Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Child death
abbie_'s review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
2.0
Honestly so disappointed in this collection from Daphne 😭 it’s been ages since I read one of her works and the amount of casual offensive remarks in these stories is ridiculous. Racism, ableism, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia… it’s hard to tell whether the characters have these views when it’s just woven casually into the narration. In the first story, a rabid murderer turns out to be a woman with dwarfism, a deaf woman is another villain, a woman suspects a group of men may be gay and is immediately outraged and disgusted. I know, ‘a different time’ but that’s no excuse.
Only two stars because Not After Midnight was pretty good, some decent tension built. Otherwise *raspberry noise*.
*didn’t read The Breakthrough as I’ve read this previously so my comments don’t pertain to that story!
Only two stars because Not After Midnight was pretty good, some decent tension built. Otherwise *raspberry noise*.
*didn’t read The Breakthrough as I’ve read this previously so my comments don’t pertain to that story!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Ableism, Transphobia, and Racism
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