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readers_together's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
4.0
anna_hepworth's review
3.0
Good, solid anthology, with a nice variety of stories, despite the narrow genre. A couple of weaker stories, but I found it very readable. Story by story commentary, somewhat stream of consciousness:
Intro - Nicely written. Even though one section was nominally about the stories, it wasn‰ЫЄt a systematic commentary, which was nice. And the other section was a nice summary of a type of fiction, and the motivation for the anthology series, which was helpful coming in to it for the first time.
Badlands - I wasn't expecting to like this, because it starts with ugly americans in Korea. But the ugliness, at least in terms of sexist racist stereotypes, felt like there was just enough to be believable without so much that it was the author revelling in it. As a ghost/zombie story it really worked for me - the length was right, the plot was well paced, the world building was good, and I just kept reading - very impressed.
Of storms and flame - difficult to get into, but beautifully detailed. I don't know enough about the relevant history, but I‰ЫЄm making the assumption that it is reasonable. Not as strong as the previous story, but given that was the opening story, not that surprising.
In vaulted halls entombed еК- v. nice pacing, appropriately creepy. Whatever the monster is, they took long enough to find it that suspense was properly built. Interesting to then find that the first monster was only the guardian of the tunnel! And the ending- subtly chilling - how many more are going to die in those tunnels?
They own the night - nice military based take on the risen christ/water of life tropes. The idea of a bunch of Crusaders protecting a Christian temple in the jungles of Vietnam - intriguing. Really enjoying this anthology, even though it isn't my thing as a general rule.
Fallen lion - meh. Nice premise, but I‰ЫЄm finding the armament details distracting. Not all that interested in pop philosophy via revenant dinosaur. And the ending just too trite. еКHowever, still a strong story - I may not have been all that keen, but I can respect it. This is still a good, solid anthology.
Sucker of souls - sucky start. Dialogue poor? Story okay, end cute, probably the weakest so far.
The bohemian grove - beautiful. I loved the mix of people, the odd supernatural elements, the subtle personalities and the way that they were brought out.
After the red rain fell - zombie takes the warehouse, and all the military sent against it.
The slog - aptly named. Can‰ЫЄt keep track of the characters, not convinced I'm following the plot either. Bit all over the shop. This one ended up quite Cthulu dream-ish. Not sure that I *liked* it, but was possibly a good story at the end (even if the writing was hard to follow).
Show of force - initially, not at all interested in getting through. No idea why it is the last one in the book, ‰Ычtis tedious, with a lot of tell rather than show. meh. Started slow and boring, and there was a little much obsessive detail on the ordanance, but the pace eventually picked up. Poor characterisation, but damn good worldbuilding. Also worms.
This was such a strong anthology, but by the end I was a bit over it. I‰ЫЄm guessing it is a male dominated genre, but there is only one woman. Which I guess is better than some of the vaunted ‰Ычbest ofs‰ЫЄ I‰ЫЄve seen. But with the theme it did tend to rather bloky sameness.
Intro - Nicely written. Even though one section was nominally about the stories, it wasn‰ЫЄt a systematic commentary, which was nice. And the other section was a nice summary of a type of fiction, and the motivation for the anthology series, which was helpful coming in to it for the first time.
Badlands - I wasn't expecting to like this, because it starts with ugly americans in Korea. But the ugliness, at least in terms of sexist racist stereotypes, felt like there was just enough to be believable without so much that it was the author revelling in it. As a ghost/zombie story it really worked for me - the length was right, the plot was well paced, the world building was good, and I just kept reading - very impressed.
Of storms and flame - difficult to get into, but beautifully detailed. I don't know enough about the relevant history, but I‰ЫЄm making the assumption that it is reasonable. Not as strong as the previous story, but given that was the opening story, not that surprising.
In vaulted halls entombed еК- v. nice pacing, appropriately creepy. Whatever the monster is, they took long enough to find it that suspense was properly built. Interesting to then find that the first monster was only the guardian of the tunnel! And the ending- subtly chilling - how many more are going to die in those tunnels?
They own the night - nice military based take on the risen christ/water of life tropes. The idea of a bunch of Crusaders protecting a Christian temple in the jungles of Vietnam - intriguing. Really enjoying this anthology, even though it isn't my thing as a general rule.
Fallen lion - meh. Nice premise, but I‰ЫЄm finding the armament details distracting. Not all that interested in pop philosophy via revenant dinosaur. And the ending just too trite. еКHowever, still a strong story - I may not have been all that keen, but I can respect it. This is still a good, solid anthology.
Sucker of souls - sucky start. Dialogue poor? Story okay, end cute, probably the weakest so far.
The bohemian grove - beautiful. I loved the mix of people, the odd supernatural elements, the subtle personalities and the way that they were brought out.
After the red rain fell - zombie takes the warehouse, and all the military sent against it.
The slog - aptly named. Can‰ЫЄt keep track of the characters, not convinced I'm following the plot either. Bit all over the shop. This one ended up quite Cthulu dream-ish. Not sure that I *liked* it, but was possibly a good story at the end (even if the writing was hard to follow).
Show of force - initially, not at all interested in getting through. No idea why it is the last one in the book, ‰Ычtis tedious, with a lot of tell rather than show. meh. Started slow and boring, and there was a little much obsessive detail on the ordanance, but the pace eventually picked up. Poor characterisation, but damn good worldbuilding. Also worms.
This was such a strong anthology, but by the end I was a bit over it. I‰ЫЄm guessing it is a male dominated genre, but there is only one woman. Which I guess is better than some of the vaunted ‰Ычbest ofs‰ЫЄ I‰ЫЄve seen. But with the theme it did tend to rather bloky sameness.
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