Reviews

What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre by John Joseph Adams, Douglas Cohen

einnymydog's review

dark 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? Yes

3.5

anna_hepworth's review

3.5

My problem with anthologies is that they are a reflection of the tastes of their editors, and I often disagree about the readability of the stories. These are all well written stories, but they are not all very interesting, and there were multiple that bored me. Which is not what I'm looking for in a horror story!

Also, this is horror that leans heavily on the protagonists being unpleasant people/people as monsters. I do appreciate that as a trope, but I'd much rather be reading that from another viewpoint. 

Looking through, I recommend

• Those Gaddam Cookies (Scott Sigler) - creepy body horror, in space. 
• Only unclench your hand (Isabel Yap) - law is fine for city folk, but who helps those outside the city?  
• Little Widow (Maria Dahvana Headley) - three young women survive the mass suicide of a cult. 
• We all make sacrifices: A Sam Hunter Adventure (Jonathan Maberry) - nice twist on detective noir. 
• Whose drowned face sleeps (An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky) - surreal and non-linear. This line from the first page really sets the scene: "This is a murder story. It's the story of how I killed myself"

(of those, I'd probably rate most of them as four stars, with the stand out being Little Widow, which is a solid 4.5)

In the category of 'mostly meh, but the ending sold it'

• The Bad Hour (Christopher Golden) -  War veteran goes in search of a friend who has gone silent. 
• The House that Love Built (Grady Hendrix) - man whose two wives are somehow out of synch (temporally?) with each other and thus share a house unknowingly

which leaves 13 stories that I didn't find memorable enough to write about (even though some of them are by authors whose work I really love! who did tricky things with tropes! They just weren't my thing). 

oculus74's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

barbtrek's review against another edition

4.0

This was good! The last few stories were really good.

seethinglloron's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

Incredible writing here! I'm not usually one to do this when I read anthologies, but I found myself stopping to look up authors and see if I could find other works they had written to read later! This is an incredible show of work here. There is maybe one story in here that wasn't for me, and that I found myself skimming just to get past it- but one out of so many is a great hit rate for anthologies, especially ones with such an interesting theme! Many of these stories take that idea of monsters and they RUN with it. Some standouts for me include:

• Fossil Heart by Amanda Downum
• Those Gaddam Cookies by Scott Sigler
• Little Widow by Maria Dahvana Headley
• Whose Drowned Face Sleeps by An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky

suzannekm's review against another edition

2.0

The stories that work are really very good, but the anthology overall is very uneven. While the theme is amusing - I don't think it was strong enough to wrap a full anthology around.

I especially liked Seanan McGuire's "#CONNOLLYHOUSE #WE SHOULDN'T BE HERE" which managed to give me chills with only a series of tweets.

solaniisrex's review

5.0

I love anthology books. You never know just quite what you're getting yourself into. They will be filled with stories ranging from good to bad and everything in between. And since it's all short stories, if you don't like one, the next is just around the corner. They also give you an excellent idea of whether or not you'll enjoy other works from a dozen or so authors you may have never read before. Such a joy!

In this case, the book's stories revolve around creature features. Some are mundane like werewolves or Cthulhu. Others are bizarre and imaginative (my favourites). If you want some crazy horror, this is the book for you!