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A review by ricardoreading
Doorbells at Dusk by Evans Light, Joshua Viola, Ian Welke, Josh Malerman, Gregor Xane, Chad Lutzke, Sean Eads, Jason Parent, Amber Fallon, Adam Light, Curtis M. Lawson, Joe Koch, Charles Gramlich, Lisa Lepovetsky, Thomas Vaughn
3.0
Anthologies are, almost by definition, a mixed bag, which is both their blessing and their curse. The sheer diversity of the stories held within them can be, in my experience anyway, extremely refreshing or ridiculously frustrating.
My reading of this book swung more towards the latter. I finished this book feeling like... I had just finished a book. Which is really a poor thing to feel after putting one down.
There are some nice stories here, though, ranging from the decent to the genuinely good: "The Rye-Mother" by Curtis M. Lawson does a good job of mixing fairy lore with Hallowe'en, turning out a bittersweet story about finding a place to belong. Editor Evans Light cranks up the schlocky fun with his own "Rusty Husk", which, like a thousand slasher films before it, finds amusement in the morbid. "Vigil" by Chad Lutzke, probably my favorite of the lot, is a surprisingly wholesome story about communities coming together after a tragedy. And Sean Eads and Joshua Viola's "Many Carvings" channels Goosebumps by way of The VVitch in a style I can only think of as "pastoral spooky."
The rest of the stories I found inoffensive but forgettable.
My reading of this book swung more towards the latter. I finished this book feeling like... I had just finished a book. Which is really a poor thing to feel after putting one down.
There are some nice stories here, though, ranging from the decent to the genuinely good: "The Rye-Mother" by Curtis M. Lawson does a good job of mixing fairy lore with Hallowe'en, turning out a bittersweet story about finding a place to belong. Editor Evans Light cranks up the schlocky fun with his own "Rusty Husk", which, like a thousand slasher films before it, finds amusement in the morbid. "Vigil" by Chad Lutzke, probably my favorite of the lot, is a surprisingly wholesome story about communities coming together after a tragedy. And Sean Eads and Joshua Viola's "Many Carvings" channels Goosebumps by way of The VVitch in a style I can only think of as "pastoral spooky."
The rest of the stories I found inoffensive but forgettable.