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unexplainabl's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
3.25
Average Rating - 3.175 / 5 = 3/5
Favourites: 'Lone Gunman', 'How We Are', 'Fire Above, Fire Below'.
Least Favourites: ' Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone.', 'Ready or Not', 'So Easy to Kill'.
Story-by-Story:
1 | The Snow Child - Alison Littlewood | 3 - Pretty good start to the collection. [1-30-23]
2 | Friends for Life - Mark Morris | 3.5 - I really liked this one, was a bit sad though honestly. [1-31-23]
3 | Solivagant - A.G. Slatter | 3 - I'm not usually a fan ofvampire stories, but this one was better than I'd expected it to be. [1-31-23]
4 | Lone Gunman - Jonathan Maberry | 4.5 - Definitely my favourite so far, I need to check out more Jonathan Maberry. I'm surprised I've never read any of his other works because Zombies are definitely one of my favourites to read/watch movies about. In fact, my main writing project is a zombie story. [2-10-23]
5 | Second Wind - M.R. Carey | 4 - I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I'd love to read a full length novel set in this world, with more of Nick and Janine as well as others who are 'dead but not dead dead'. [2-10-23]
6 | Under Care - Brian Evenson | 3 - This was okay. I think they were aliens, or something. But I'm not positive. I'd like to read more about what happens after this ends and what happens to the MC. [2-11-23]
7 | How We Are - Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ | 4.5 - Wasn't enjoying this at first but glad I stuck with it. It's in my top favourites of the collection. [2-11-23]
8 | The Long Dead Day - Joe R. Lansdale | 3.5 - Not mad that there was another zombie story in here. [2-11-23]
9 | Alone is a Long Time - Michael Marshall Smith | 3 - Not bad, not great. [2-11-23]
10 | Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. - Lynda E. Rucker | 2 - I really wasn't a fan of this one. [2-13-23]
11 | Ready or Not - Marian Womack | 1.5 - So far my least favourite out of the collection. [2-13-23]
12 | Letters to a Young Psychopath - Nina Allan | 3.5 [3-3-23]
13 | Jaunt - Ken Liu | 3 - The concept of this one was kind of cool but it was really just a bit boring. [3-6-23]
14 | Full Blood - Owl Goingback | 4 - This one was rather short but I still enjoyed the story. [3-21-23]
15 | The Blind House - Ramsey Campbell | 2 - I won't Lie, I'm a bit confused on what was going on in this one. [3-21-23]
16 | There's No Light Between Floors - Paul Tremblay | 3.5 - This was another good one, I think I'll need to look up more books by Paul because I recently read "The Cabin at the End of the World" and enjoyed that as well. [3-22-23]
17 | So Easy to Kill - Laird Barron | 1 - Definitely my least favourite in the collection. I didn't know what was going on for the majority of the story and it was so boring to me. It felt like I was thrown into the middle of a hard sci-fi series with no context, and honestly if it wasn't in a collection I wouldn't have read the entirety of it. [3-25-23]
18 | The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall - Gwendolyn Kiste | 3 - This one was a short, quick read. I think it'd do pretty well as a short film. [3-28-23]
19 | Across the Bridge - Tim Lebbon | 3.5 - This one in ways reminded me of ‘28’ weeks later. [3-28-23]
20 | Fire Above, Fire Below - Lisa Tuttle | 4.5 - I really enjoyed this one, I’d love to read more in this world, both following the ending and also an outside perspective of what’s going on in the world while the MC is in the bunker. [3-29-23]
Favourites: 'Lone Gunman', 'How We Are', 'Fire Above, Fire Below'.
Least Favourites: ' Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone.', 'Ready or Not', 'So Easy to Kill'.
Story-by-Story:
1 | The Snow Child - Alison Littlewood | 3 - Pretty good start to the collection. [1-30-23]
2 | Friends for Life - Mark Morris | 3.5 - I really liked this one, was a bit sad though honestly. [1-31-23]
3 | Solivagant - A.G. Slatter | 3 - I'm not usually a fan of
4 | Lone Gunman - Jonathan Maberry | 4.5 - Definitely my favourite so far, I need to check out more Jonathan Maberry. I'm surprised I've never read any of his other works because Zombies are definitely one of my favourites to read/watch movies about. In fact, my main writing project is a zombie story. [2-10-23]
5 | Second Wind - M.R. Carey | 4 - I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I'd love to read a full length novel set in this world, with more of Nick and Janine as well as others who are 'dead but not dead dead'. [2-10-23]
6 | Under Care - Brian Evenson | 3 - This was okay. I think they were aliens, or something. But I'm not positive. I'd like to read more about what happens after this ends and what happens to the MC. [2-11-23]
7 | How We Are - Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ | 4.5 - Wasn't enjoying this at first but glad I stuck with it. It's in my top favourites of the collection. [2-11-23]
8 | The Long Dead Day - Joe R. Lansdale | 3.5 - Not mad that there was another zombie story in here. [2-11-23]
9 | Alone is a Long Time - Michael Marshall Smith | 3 - Not bad, not great. [2-11-23]
10 | Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. - Lynda E. Rucker | 2 - I really wasn't a fan of this one. [2-13-23]
11 | Ready or Not - Marian Womack | 1.5 - So far my least favourite out of the collection. [2-13-23]
12 | Letters to a Young Psychopath - Nina Allan | 3.5 [3-3-23]
13 | Jaunt - Ken Liu | 3 - The concept of this one was kind of cool but it was really just a bit boring. [3-6-23]
14 | Full Blood - Owl Goingback | 4 - This one was rather short but I still enjoyed the story. [3-21-23]
15 | The Blind House - Ramsey Campbell | 2 - I won't Lie, I'm a bit confused on what was going on in this one. [3-21-23]
16 | There's No Light Between Floors - Paul Tremblay | 3.5 - This was another good one, I think I'll need to look up more books by Paul because I recently read "The Cabin at the End of the World" and enjoyed that as well. [3-22-23]
17 | So Easy to Kill - Laird Barron | 1 - Definitely my least favourite in the collection. I didn't know what was going on for the majority of the story and it was so boring to me. It felt like I was thrown into the middle of a hard sci-fi series with no context, and honestly if it wasn't in a collection I wouldn't have read the entirety of it. [3-25-23]
18 | The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall - Gwendolyn Kiste | 3 - This one was a short, quick read. I think it'd do pretty well as a short film. [3-28-23]
19 | Across the Bridge - Tim Lebbon | 3.5 - This one in ways reminded me of ‘28’ weeks later. [3-28-23]
20 | Fire Above, Fire Below - Lisa Tuttle | 4.5 - I really enjoyed this one, I’d love to read more in this world, both following the ending and also an outside perspective of what’s going on in the world while the MC is in the bunker. [3-29-23]
babyfacedoldsoul's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
sdeeim's review
Reading other stuff want to read other thing. Not a priority but may check out again
bat_books's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of stories in this were huge misses for me, but I'm glad I stuck it through because I ended up finding some fantastic 4 star and 5 star reads in this mix. I feel I can only give this 3 stars because my ratings for each of the stories varied greatly, but I still highly recommend reading this anthology. This is a great read for someone who is exploring their preferences with horror.
My personal favourites were: Full Blood by Owl Goingback, How We Are by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, Solivagant by A.G. Slatter, The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste, Fire Above Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle, and Second Wind by M.R. Carey
This was my first horror anthology, as someone who always believed they were not a fan of short stories, and it has definitely inspired me to check out more in the future!
My personal favourites were: Full Blood by Owl Goingback, How We Are by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, Solivagant by A.G. Slatter, The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste, Fire Above Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle, and Second Wind by M.R. Carey
This was my first horror anthology, as someone who always believed they were not a fan of short stories, and it has definitely inspired me to check out more in the future!
shrewdbard's review against another edition
I recommend this collection if:
- you like horror tropes, but scare easily, and want to avoid anything too severe
- you are looking for thoughtful meditations on isolation
- you want to read a literary, slow-paced collection of reflective short stories
If you're looking for page-turning horror, don't bother. It's a shame because this collection fundamentally has better writing than the last horror anthology I read, but it's also much less interesting, hence the DNF. Many stories ended the moment anything interesting started to happen; just a sudden, mildly-shocking paragraph, no elaboration, then end of story. Still, the stories I did like stood out enough that I saved some of these writers' other works to my To Read list. Too lazy to check which I saved and list them here haha
jhallford's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
wildadvent604's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
kathran's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
I ❤️ horror anthologies. Some of these were really good, some were really bad. The idea of having an entire anthology based off of the theme of ‘isolation’ was really interesting to me, but it got boring and repetitive after a while (especially when authors would go for the obvious, ones that dealt with either Covid itself or obviously Covid inspired pandemics were a slog to read through). Some stories will definitely stick with me, though (the man who befriends a homeless woman he unwittingly and then sort-of-wittingly traps was fun, and the story of a woman being emotionally consumed by her pregnancy and her tale of grief on the coast of Maine was very well written and interesting). Altogether a fun read that got me through many long bus rides! My favorite from the entire anthology was most likely the one about the indigenous girl with the power to incite sickness and death through touch who is kept under her grandmother’s thumb. Very interesting and also queer and got three cheers from me. Also many zombie stories! And you know me, I am zombie lover #1.