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A review by silenciadelumbrae
Haunted Nights by Ellen Datlow, Lisa Morton
5.0
You guys. You guys. I don't think I've read a horror anthology I loved so much in quite some time. (Is this because of specific stories? Yes, of course, fight me.)
Generally I read horror anthologies for a spooky little thrill, and as soon as I get what I'm after I forget them. This one, though...this one stuck with me, and I think I'll be thinking about a few of the stories in it for quite some time.
Reviewing a short story collection is hard, so I'll just do a quick review of my personal highlights.
The story that earned the book five stars: "Lost in the Dark" by John Langan. This is the best story in the book by a mile, according to my subjective opinion. It hit all my buttons, and left me with enough questions (good questions!) that I actually went looking for author editorials or similar at 3 am when I couldn't sleep. The only problem I have with this story is that Lost in the Dark is not a real movie that I can go see. This is the only story in the book that left me with that fabulous book-hangover feeling, though it's not the only one I enjoyed.
The stories that would have earned the book four stars: "With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds" because I liked the haunted-house conceit; "A Small Taste of the Old Country" because given some countries' current political situation, it was deeply satisfying; "Witch-Hazel" thanks to its supremely understated use of vengeance and creepy twins; "The Seventeen-Year Itch" for that pleasant WTF feeling I've come to associate with Garth Nix. Also, so much medical malpractice.
Most of the rest: were all good stories, and I didn't mind them, but they didn't stand out to me the way the above did. I feel like Kelley Armstrong's story "Nos Galen Gaeaf" suffered from being a spinoff of a series I haven't read yet; normally I like her works a lot, but this one was just meh. That said, I may bump it up to four stars later just for its brilliant portrayal of gross entitled manchildren.
There were two I wasn't a big fan of: "The First Lunar Halloween" was a good story, just not to my taste. Too heavy on the sci-fi for a short story--if you're gonna set up all that awesome backstory, I wanna hear more about that. I am also apparently the only person reviewing this book who didn't like "Dirtmouth," which is cool--I'm glad other people got something out of it that I did not, but personally I found its twists extremely by-the-book. Also, who tf takes twin infants alone to a cabin in the woods for a month? Who does that? (To me, that's more of a horror story than anything that happened after, but I readily concede I'm not great with children.)
Overall, an excellent Halloween collection!
Generally I read horror anthologies for a spooky little thrill, and as soon as I get what I'm after I forget them. This one, though...this one stuck with me, and I think I'll be thinking about a few of the stories in it for quite some time.
Reviewing a short story collection is hard, so I'll just do a quick review of my personal highlights.
The story that earned the book five stars: "Lost in the Dark" by John Langan. This is the best story in the book by a mile, according to my subjective opinion. It hit all my buttons, and left me with enough questions (good questions!) that I actually went looking for author editorials or similar at 3 am when I couldn't sleep. The only problem I have with this story is that Lost in the Dark is not a real movie that I can go see. This is the only story in the book that left me with that fabulous book-hangover feeling, though it's not the only one I enjoyed.
The stories that would have earned the book four stars: "With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds" because I liked the haunted-house conceit; "A Small Taste of the Old Country" because given some countries' current political situation, it was deeply satisfying; "Witch-Hazel" thanks to its supremely understated use of vengeance and creepy twins; "The Seventeen-Year Itch" for that pleasant WTF feeling I've come to associate with Garth Nix. Also, so much medical malpractice.
Most of the rest: were all good stories, and I didn't mind them, but they didn't stand out to me the way the above did. I feel like Kelley Armstrong's story "Nos Galen Gaeaf" suffered from being a spinoff of a series I haven't read yet; normally I like her works a lot, but this one was just meh. That said, I may bump it up to four stars later just for its brilliant portrayal of gross entitled manchildren.
There were two I wasn't a big fan of: "The First Lunar Halloween" was a good story, just not to my taste. Too heavy on the sci-fi for a short story--if you're gonna set up all that awesome backstory, I wanna hear more about that. I am also apparently the only person reviewing this book who didn't like "Dirtmouth," which is cool--I'm glad other people got something out of it that I did not, but personally I found its twists extremely by-the-book. Also, who tf takes twin infants alone to a cabin in the woods for a month? Who does that? (To me, that's more of a horror story than anything that happened after, but I readily concede I'm not great with children.)
Overall, an excellent Halloween collection!