You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder
Minor: Homophobia
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Slavery
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was really disappointed with this anthology. It started out quite enjoyable, I liked the story and I felt the tone carried over from one story to the next but then it went downhill.
"Lights" might have been my favourite short story and I enjoyed "Be Not Afraid" and "All My Best Friends Are Dead".The Teeth Come Out At Night" was okay but I didn't love it. I felt the writing style was easy to read but after a while the story dragged and while I understand it was a short story, I felt the ending could've been wrapped up a bit better. I absolutely hated "I Love Your Eyes". The writing itself was not well-done and the plot twist made absolutely no sense given the POV we were in. "The Consumption Of Vienna Montrose" just left me confused and uncomfortable but not in the way I want to be when I enjoy a horror story. The writing itself was enjoyable but the plot was . . . . not. The rest of the stories felt very average to me and my biggest takeaway was that there seems to be an obsession with teeth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
One of my favorite horror anthologies so far that I’ve read this year - most of the stories were a 4 or 5 star for me. This collection did a great job of having a mix of stories with a variety of tones - there was the more campy and humorous stories but also the more dire and bleak stories and even those with body horror and monstrous elements. All with through lines of both race and sexuality and discussion on how these interacted with elements of each story. Highly recommend this collection and it should also be a great way to test out a variety of Black authors with other great works to explore.
My favorites were definitely:
My favorites were definitely:
- No Harm Done
- The consumption of Vienna Montrose
- I love your eyes
- All my best friends are dead
Only a few I didn’t really end up liking as they felt a bit more slow and didn’t have as much impact as the others in the collection:
- Papa Pearlie
- Mother, Daughter, and the Devil
- The Landscape of Broken Things
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This anthology starts and ends strong. The first three stories and the last four all would've gotten ratings above 4.5 had I the luxury of giving them independent ratings. The middle three stories were 3-3.5 stars for me as there was a key element that felt rushed or cut out. These ratings averaged together netted the anthology a healthy 4.25, though it should've been 4.3 mathematically speaking.
Several of these stories suffer from their short length as they could have benefited from six or more pages to really develop into something.
The stories that most desperately needed something more were I Love Your Eyes, The Consumption of Vienna Montrose, and The Teeth Come Out At Night. The first of these three was so rushed that the big reveal at the end felt comical rather than scary. The second one was vague in a way that you can almost feel the details that should've been there. The last one had so much world just outside the plot that it was like looking at the world through a bus window as it speeds down the road.
Even though several of the stories use very popular flavors of horror there is just enough uniqueness to them that they feel fresh.
Several of these stories suffer from their short length as they could have benefited from six or more pages to really develop into something.
The stories that most desperately needed something more were I Love Your Eyes, The Consumption of Vienna Montrose, and The Teeth Come Out At Night. The first of these three was so rushed that the big reveal at the end felt comical rather than scary. The second one was vague in a way that you can almost feel the details that should've been there. The last one had so much world just outside the plot that it was like looking at the world through a bus window as it speeds down the road.
Even though several of the stories use very popular flavors of horror there is just enough uniqueness to them that they feel fresh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Slavery
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Overall a fantastic anthology with a lot of excellent authors
"Lights" by Kalynn Bayron
"Lights" by Kalynn Bayron
- 5/5 ⭐
- Literally one of my top 3 authors at this moment in time. This was such a stunning opening to this anthology.
"Be Not Afraid" by Ashia Monet
- 4.5/5 ⭐
- This was such a unique concept! The way the main character here watches everything happening around her with detached interest, like a kid watching ants work, completed the atmosphere here.
"All My Best Friends Are Dead" by Liselle Sambury
- 4.5/5 ⭐
- Another absolutely incredible author with another absolutely incredible story. I had sort of managed to guess what happened to our MC, but the ENDING. Wow.
"The Teeth Come Out At Night" by Sami Ellis
- 3/5⭐
- This is one of the two stories I had the most difficult time understanding. Mostly because I felt like I hadn't been given any answers at all by the end of the story. I still don't know what that thing was and I don't know why the teeth kept changing. This story in particular did have the creepiest buildup of dread though.
"I Love Your Eyes" by Joel Rochester
- 5/5 ⭐
- THIS. Is everything I love about gothic horror. The mansion setting. The steady unfurling of all secrets, revealing every character's rotting core. The final bid for victory.
"The Consumption of Vienna Montrose" by Joelle Wellington
- 2/5 ⭐
- Eugghhhhhhh she fucked the house. She. FUCKED. the. HOUSE. I was not expecting that in a YA Horror Anthology so it just really caught me off guard
"The Landscape of Broken Things" by Brent Lambert
- 4.5/5⭐
- Ohhhh I liked this one a LOT! The concept was very interesting and fresh. I enjoyed learning more about the mystery behind why the psychics couldn't see the future anymore.
"Mother, Daughter, and the Devil" by Donyae Coles
- 4/5 ⭐
- This exploration of the trauma passed down to us is rife with imagery. Whether it be the teeth, the smell, the crime, the revenge... All of it is vividly written in this story
"Papa Pearlie" by Ryan Douglass
- 3/5 ⭐
- Look. Dolls are creepy AF. But I am so disappointed in the MC here. Zeke did himself and his sister dirty.
"No Harm Done" by Circe Moskowitz
- 4/5 ⭐
- Truly I did not see this plot coming. I was fully prepared for a doppelganger situation, and well... I sort of got it I guess! That family is absolutely nuts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked most of the stories in this collection. My favorites are "Lights" for its take on monstrosity and genre expectations, "All My Best Friends Are Dead" for the way it plays with characterization and perspective, and "No Harm Done" for the sudden pivot into horror after an interesting but not obviously creepy opening.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Abandonment