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A review by bottomofthebookshelf
Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror by Julián López
2.0
*Thank you to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for giving me this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*
I really wanted to enjoy this collection of short horror stories. I loved that each story contained queer representation, and the premise of certain stories really drew me in. Unfortunately, I was kind of disappointed by this collection. I didn’t really find any of them scary even though I was reading them in the dark every night. Also, I found some of the dialog to be unnatural which really took away from the story telling. My biggest issue, however, was the use of a slur for little people in the title story Cirque Des Freaks. It’s used multiple times casually and it made me super uncomfortable. The story also makes it seem like little people are ‘freaks’ equal with a two headed man and a lizard person, and I don’t understand why you’d write about that. This story also has mistakes in the French grammar used which took away from what I was reading.
Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this collection of horror stories, however I did enjoy the one called Loving Death. I just wish the rest of the collection was like that one tale.
I really wanted to enjoy this collection of short horror stories. I loved that each story contained queer representation, and the premise of certain stories really drew me in. Unfortunately, I was kind of disappointed by this collection. I didn’t really find any of them scary even though I was reading them in the dark every night. Also, I found some of the dialog to be unnatural which really took away from the story telling. My biggest issue, however, was the use of a slur for little people in the title story Cirque Des Freaks. It’s used multiple times casually and it made me super uncomfortable. The story also makes it seem like little people are ‘freaks’ equal with a two headed man and a lizard person, and I don’t understand why you’d write about that. This story also has mistakes in the French grammar used which took away from what I was reading.
Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this collection of horror stories, however I did enjoy the one called Loving Death. I just wish the rest of the collection was like that one tale.