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A review by oblomov
The Dark Domain by Stefan Grabiński, Madeleine Johnson
4.0
Year of New Authors
Have you ever read [b: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|1325218|Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Scary Stories, #1)|Alvin Schwartz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440189576l/1325218._SX50_.jpg|145600] as an adult and thought: 'why, I so do wish there was another collection of creepy and eclectic stories that swing between the deeply creepy and the deeply stupid, but for grown ups and covering most of the zeitgeist fears, rabid misogyny and train loving of an early 20th Century readership'?. Well one, that's oddly specific of you, and two, The Dark Domain most certainly provides.
Grabinski observes a miriade of mundane concepts or daily occurences and thinks 'what can I do to this relatable thing to make it naueously unnerving?' and he mostly succeeds. Taking clocks, trains, fire safety, squints, trains, gravestone architecture and trains (this guy wore an anarok), Grabinski covers them all in a shiny layer of itchy, drying slime. He incorporates the most overused tropes in horror literature and yet somehow manages to add a grimey, horrible twist to surprise and repulse. He still repeats himself, taking great delight in Tulpa-esque creatures and personal madness created through self-imposed solitude, and three of these stories involve the alluring power of trains, but he switches everything up just enough to keep your attention.
Best stories: Fumes and Vengeance of the Elementals
We've now left Praise, next stop: The Bollocks. Grabinski can get a little too wrapped up in the set-up of some stories, giving an over-explanation of his characters' psyche and leaving only a page or two at the end for a sudden whiplash of horror, so a few stories lack the necessary slow burn.
Many of Grabinski protagonists are indistinguishable, with all but one being a learned gentlemen bubbling with pressurised madness, anger issues and smarmy arrogance. Even that kind of works, since we read on happily knowing this horrible pillock will suffer and it's quite fun trying to guess where the steam is going to rupture from first.
Less fun and frankly indefensible is Grabinski's female characters, who almost exclusively take the role of succubus. That's it, they're just there for diabolical horniness and lack all other agency, which is not only distasteful but boring, since the mention of almost any female character made me sigh 'no surprises who the ghoul will be, woo-bloody-hoo'.
Worst stories: The Wandering Train and In the Compartment
Final stop, Conclusion-upon-Tweed:
I still enjoyed The Dark Domain, I greatly appreciate any book that takes the normal and defaces it with hairline fractures. I like any tale that leaves us guessing if nature and technology drive humanity mad, or mankind corrupts nature and poisons their inventions, and I adore them even more if the story directly asks us to face such philosophical questions.
Intriguing, repulsive and leaving you with the uncomfortable sensation that you've walked through a spider web, The Dark Domain is deserving of its rather cheesey name.
Have you ever read [b: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|1325218|Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Scary Stories, #1)|Alvin Schwartz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440189576l/1325218._SX50_.jpg|145600] as an adult and thought: 'why, I so do wish there was another collection of creepy and eclectic stories that swing between the deeply creepy and the deeply stupid, but for grown ups and covering most of the zeitgeist fears, rabid misogyny and train loving of an early 20th Century readership'?. Well one, that's oddly specific of you, and two, The Dark Domain most certainly provides.
Grabinski observes a miriade of mundane concepts or daily occurences and thinks 'what can I do to this relatable thing to make it naueously unnerving?' and he mostly succeeds. Taking clocks, trains, fire safety, squints, trains, gravestone architecture and trains (this guy wore an anarok), Grabinski covers them all in a shiny layer of itchy, drying slime. He incorporates the most overused tropes in horror literature and yet somehow manages to add a grimey, horrible twist to surprise and repulse. He still repeats himself, taking great delight in Tulpa-esque creatures and personal madness created through self-imposed solitude, and three of these stories involve the alluring power of trains, but he switches everything up just enough to keep your attention.
Best stories: Fumes and Vengeance of the Elementals
We've now left Praise, next stop: The Bollocks. Grabinski can get a little too wrapped up in the set-up of some stories, giving an over-explanation of his characters' psyche and leaving only a page or two at the end for a sudden whiplash of horror, so a few stories lack the necessary slow burn.
Many of Grabinski protagonists are indistinguishable, with all but one being a learned gentlemen bubbling with pressurised madness, anger issues and smarmy arrogance. Even that kind of works, since we read on happily knowing this horrible pillock will suffer and it's quite fun trying to guess where the steam is going to rupture from first.
Less fun and frankly indefensible is Grabinski's female characters, who almost exclusively take the role of succubus. That's it, they're just there for diabolical horniness and lack all other agency, which is not only distasteful but boring, since the mention of almost any female character made me sigh 'no surprises who the ghoul will be, woo-bloody-hoo'.
Worst stories: The Wandering Train and In the Compartment
Final stop, Conclusion-upon-Tweed:
I still enjoyed The Dark Domain, I greatly appreciate any book that takes the normal and defaces it with hairline fractures. I like any tale that leaves us guessing if nature and technology drive humanity mad, or mankind corrupts nature and poisons their inventions, and I adore them even more if the story directly asks us to face such philosophical questions.
Intriguing, repulsive and leaving you with the uncomfortable sensation that you've walked through a spider web, The Dark Domain is deserving of its rather cheesey name.