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A review by orasmis
Vicious Traditions : Tales of Terror and the Grotesque by Azzurra Nox
3.0
*Free copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
Vicious Traditions is a horror anthology which has collected many different types of stories between its covers. Tales range from supernatural creatures to encounters with the worst of humanity.
The trigger warning that you get at the start of this is very well placed. Most of the stories involve extreme violence and gore. Several of them also feature some kind of assault (physical and sexual). Take this warning very seriously. If you cannot handle that kind of reading please do not read this.
There are a lot of stories in this short book. Most of them are a good length. You get enough story to satisfy you but they don't linger for too long. There are several stories that are only a couple of pages long however (Driver Surprise Me and Across the Woods in particular) and that is just way to short for me. It's unsatisfying. I think I would have liked those if I had more background and had more time to spend in the world of the stories.
My favorites were Fields of Blood (really quite excellent. I can see this as a short movie in a horror anthology. I would love to see how the visuals would translate from page to screen), One For the Money (very short and somewhat predictable but very well done), and Good Sister, Bad Sister (I just straight up think this would be a fantastic movie I would pay to see this in the theater).
My least favorites were Red Snow (mental illness is not a plot twist), Green Gloves (story moved way too quickly for me. I think it would have been much better if it had taken it's time in a longer story), and Lake of Sin (my least favorite. Main character makes incredibly stupid choices for no reason and is very lucky),
The way I rate anthologies and short story collections is to rate each story and then average it out at the end. As a result this is getting 3 stars. I really liked some of the stories but the really bad ones dragged the overall rating down with them.
I'm not going to say that I don't recommend this book. The good stories really were amazing. Once again, do not ignore the trigger warning at the start of the book. It is there for a very good reason. Recommend this for fans of horror and horror shorts of an appropriate age to handle the content.
Vicious Traditions is a horror anthology which has collected many different types of stories between its covers. Tales range from supernatural creatures to encounters with the worst of humanity.
The trigger warning that you get at the start of this is very well placed. Most of the stories involve extreme violence and gore. Several of them also feature some kind of assault (physical and sexual). Take this warning very seriously. If you cannot handle that kind of reading please do not read this.
There are a lot of stories in this short book. Most of them are a good length. You get enough story to satisfy you but they don't linger for too long. There are several stories that are only a couple of pages long however (Driver Surprise Me and Across the Woods in particular) and that is just way to short for me. It's unsatisfying. I think I would have liked those if I had more background and had more time to spend in the world of the stories.
My favorites were Fields of Blood (really quite excellent. I can see this as a short movie in a horror anthology. I would love to see how the visuals would translate from page to screen), One For the Money (very short and somewhat predictable but very well done), and Good Sister, Bad Sister (I just straight up think this would be a fantastic movie I would pay to see this in the theater).
My least favorites were Red Snow (mental illness is not a plot twist), Green Gloves (story moved way too quickly for me. I think it would have been much better if it had taken it's time in a longer story), and Lake of Sin (my least favorite. Main character makes incredibly stupid choices for no reason and is very lucky),
The way I rate anthologies and short story collections is to rate each story and then average it out at the end. As a result this is getting 3 stars. I really liked some of the stories but the really bad ones dragged the overall rating down with them.
I'm not going to say that I don't recommend this book. The good stories really were amazing. Once again, do not ignore the trigger warning at the start of the book. It is there for a very good reason. Recommend this for fans of horror and horror shorts of an appropriate age to handle the content.