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sauvageloup's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
3.5
Enjoyed the book a lot, though liked some stories much more than others.
pros:
- Especially enjoyed Mine Seven, which was intriguing and had great tension and fascinating folklore in it, which I always love. In the same vein, loved Swanskin, which was about swan shapeshifters/selkie-type women and was a cool story. Last rites was also compelling, with the different cultures seeming immersive and well-realised, and the idea so strange but very vivid.
- Bokeh was suitably creepy and interesting, and A hotel in Germany took me a while to comprehend but was fascinating when I did.
- I liked the inclusion of futuristic and strange horror stories, as opposed to just the ghost and traditional horror stories.
- reading an anthology was a nice change and whilst you have to constantly get re-acquainted with a new place/plot/theme each time, it was refreshing and each new story intrigued me.
cons:
- some of the stories seemed incomplete, with too-open endings, or they felt contrived. The ones featuring writers irritated me slightly.
(- I'm also curious which were the new writers and couldn't rly tell from the bios at the back. Might've been nice to have more new writers, say 50:50 rather than just a quarter.)
Good short stories feel complete on their own, but still leave you wanting more and I definitely felt that, particularly with Mine Seven, which was my favourite.
pros:
- Especially enjoyed Mine Seven, which was intriguing and had great tension and fascinating folklore in it, which I always love. In the same vein, loved Swanskin, which was about swan shapeshifters/selkie-type women and was a cool story. Last rites was also compelling, with the different cultures seeming immersive and well-realised, and the idea so strange but very vivid.
- Bokeh was suitably creepy and interesting, and A hotel in Germany took me a while to comprehend but was fascinating when I did.
- I liked the inclusion of futuristic and strange horror stories, as opposed to just the ghost and traditional horror stories.
- reading an anthology was a nice change and whilst you have to constantly get re-acquainted with a new place/plot/theme each time, it was refreshing and each new story intrigued me.
cons:
- some of the stories seemed incomplete, with too-open endings, or they felt contrived. The ones featuring writers irritated me slightly.
(- I'm also curious which were the new writers and couldn't rly tell from the bios at the back. Might've been nice to have more new writers, say 50:50 rather than just a quarter.)
Good short stories feel complete on their own, but still leave you wanting more and I definitely felt that, particularly with Mine Seven, which was my favourite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Suicide and Pedophilia
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