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bunnieslikediamonds's review
2.0
Not what I expected. Based on some reviews and recommendations, I had in mind something more subtle and complex than these straight up weird tales. I don't mind a bit of tentacles and that sort of thing, but I felt like these stories aspired to be more, and failed. The protagonists (well, main characters at least) are all men, tortured and conflicted and going through some crisis or other. There are some female casualties, but mostly it's an orgy of male suffering. As it turns out, this reader is finally all out of sympathy for tormented fictional men. Even though they are meant to be unsympathetic, it's no good when you can't wait for them to be devoured by some ancient beast. Nor did I find the stories scary. It was fairly obvious where they were going from the beginning, and most of them were dragged out for so long the final denoument was pretty anticlimactic.
This didn't do it for me at all, but I seem to be in the minority. Perhaps I'll give the author another go if I come across his other stories.
This didn't do it for me at all, but I seem to be in the minority. Perhaps I'll give the author another go if I come across his other stories.
thomaswjoyce's review
5.0
I enjoyed this collection of weird tales quite a lot. I was never really sure which direction most of the stories would take. I often found myself so immersed in the stories and carried along by the rhythm of the prose that on a couple of occasions I had to tell myself to go back over a paragraph, purely because the description or action I just read was really well written (the part that springs to mind is in the second story, and it may resonate more because my daughter shares the name of the daughter of the main character, Harvey, but the description of his daughter is very touching). Overall I found the collection enjoyable and I would definitely read more by this author.
ashmind's review
2.0
It felt so weirdly outdated that I had to check when it was published. It wasn't the style itself -- plenty of authors are inspired by the classics of horror, and their work often turns out great. My surprise was more at the lack of empathy and understanding of others.
A person comes to Mexico and is annoyed people speak Spanish and not English. First Nations protesting misuse of their land must have their own dark secrets. Women are either objects of desire or annoyance.
And of course those are thoughts of the characters, which might have been designed to be unlikable. Unfortunately most of the stories focused heavily on the characters, and only few plots are memorable on their own.
A person comes to Mexico and is annoyed people speak Spanish and not English. First Nations protesting misuse of their land must have their own dark secrets. Women are either objects of desire or annoyance.
And of course those are thoughts of the characters, which might have been designed to be unlikable. Unfortunately most of the stories focused heavily on the characters, and only few plots are memorable on their own.
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