A review by reads_vicariously
The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Vol. 1 by James D. Jenkins, Ryan Cagle

4.0

I have to applaud the editors at Valancourt for the immense time and effort it must have taken to not only comb the globe for great stories, but to also translate them for this book. The magnitude of such an endeavor is overwhelming to me. Luckily it was all worth it as this is a fantastic collection of horrifying short stories from around the world!

The stories vary widely in their plots and the type of horror they contain, so there is truly something for everyone here. It was exciting reading this collection as each new story also introduced me to a new author, many of whom I would love to read more from. As with all anthologies there are hits and misses, but overall this is a solid group of entertaining and terrifying tales!!

Some stand outs for me are:

“Mater Tenebrarum” by Pilar Pedraza (Spain)
“The Time Remaining” by Attila Veres (Hungary)
“Señor Ligotti” by Bernardo Esquinca (Mexico)
“The Bones in Her Eyes” by Christien Boomsma (Netherlands)
“All the Birds” by Yvette Tan (Philippines)