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elizabethandhermonsters 's review for:
The Poorly Made and Other Things
by Sam Rebelein
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The Poorly Made and Other Things is a delightfully unhinged collection of interconnected horror stories that hit hard from the beginning, deliberately leave you unsettled, and refuse to let up until the very end. If you're a fan of horror anthologies that go beyond simple scares, or follow the known tropes, then The Poorly Made and Other things is definitely for you. These stories feature the antagonists winning robust victories over main characters that you may have been rooting for, and dialing up the gore and a outsized sense of "WTF?!" as so move from story to story.
I was thoroughly engrossed in each story, but it was the interlooping e-mail correspondence about the Renfield murders in 1927 that kept me reading for hours. For me, the e-mails contained Sam Rebelein's best storytelling in the entire collection. The sender's research, passion, and attention to detail in relaying the mysteries of the Renfield murders and subsequent strange occurrences in Renfield County were just perfect. The e-mails tie everything together.
s
I wasn't in love with every story, and some of the endings left things to be desired, and the lack of fleshing out the elements of cosmic horror and body horror were a bit frustrating. It's clear that Sam Rebelein is a student of the horror greats, and has a lot of potential in rivaling the scares they conjured in their books, but, it seems that he was hesitant to really "go there" in these stories. Maybe he thought he didn't have enough space for that kind of detail, but as someone who really enjoyed this collection, I wish he had.
Overall, The Poorly Made and Other Things is a wild, wonderous, and fun ride that any seasoned horror fan will enjoy.
*I receive this as an ARC from the publisher in exchange my honest review*
I was thoroughly engrossed in each story, but it was the interlooping e-mail correspondence about the Renfield murders in 1927 that kept me reading for hours. For me, the e-mails contained Sam Rebelein's best storytelling in the entire collection. The sender's research, passion, and attention to detail in relaying the mysteries of the Renfield murders and subsequent strange occurrences in Renfield County were just perfect. The e-mails tie everything together.
s
I wasn't in love with every story, and some of the endings left things to be desired, and the lack of fleshing out the elements of cosmic horror and body horror were a bit frustrating. It's clear that Sam Rebelein is a student of the horror greats, and has a lot of potential in rivaling the scares they conjured in their books, but, it seems that he was hesitant to really "go there" in these stories. Maybe he thought he didn't have enough space for that kind of detail, but as someone who really enjoyed this collection, I wish he had.
Overall, The Poorly Made and Other Things is a wild, wonderous, and fun ride that any seasoned horror fan will enjoy.
*I receive this as an ARC from the publisher in exchange my honest review*