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A review by maddys_needful_reads
Classic Monsters Unleashed by James Aquilone
2.0
Review is for an ARC copy from NetGalley -- 2.5 stars, rounded down for Goodreads.
This is an anthology collection of 30 short stories tied together by classic monsters.
Pros:
•The few stories I liked were real gems. The ones that stuck out are "Mummy Calls," "The Picture of Doriana Gray," "Moonlight Serenade," and "Modern Monsters."
•If you love Dracula or Frankenstein, you're in for a treat (not a pro for me, but potential pros for others).
Cons:
•Thirty stories! That is simply too many. I enjoyed fewer than a third of them.
•I didn't feel like the stories tied together very well. Sure, they all had something to do with classic monsters, but the tone, time period, themes, writing style, vibes were all so incredibly different. This might have worked if they were presented in an order that embraced that diversity, but the order had no introduction and seemed to be without reason.
•By not including introductions to the monsters or dividing the collection into sections with an introduction, the audience has been narrowed down to only those very familiar with the intricacies of classic monster stories rather than horror fans as a whole. There were references I knew I wasn't getting even though I'm generally familiar with most of the classic monsters. This is targeted to that small niche of fans.
Overall, I would not recommend this to anyone that isn't a die hard classic monster fan.
This is an anthology collection of 30 short stories tied together by classic monsters.
Pros:
•The few stories I liked were real gems. The ones that stuck out are "Mummy Calls," "The Picture of Doriana Gray," "Moonlight Serenade," and "Modern Monsters."
•If you love Dracula or Frankenstein, you're in for a treat (not a pro for me, but potential pros for others).
Cons:
•Thirty stories! That is simply too many. I enjoyed fewer than a third of them.
•I didn't feel like the stories tied together very well. Sure, they all had something to do with classic monsters, but the tone, time period, themes, writing style, vibes were all so incredibly different. This might have worked if they were presented in an order that embraced that diversity, but the order had no introduction and seemed to be without reason.
•By not including introductions to the monsters or dividing the collection into sections with an introduction, the audience has been narrowed down to only those very familiar with the intricacies of classic monster stories rather than horror fans as a whole. There were references I knew I wasn't getting even though I'm generally familiar with most of the classic monsters. This is targeted to that small niche of fans.
Overall, I would not recommend this to anyone that isn't a die hard classic monster fan.