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poisoned_icecream's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
3.5
misspalah's review against another edition
4.0
“He wanted to tell someone so badly about the hanged man who was sitting on his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. Only when he was about to run out of air did the thing drag itself off his chest and was about to scream for help, the hanged man hopped back on to his chest and lay there like a security blanket. Although it has no form or face the shadows on the folds of the blanket anthropomorphized into a being that only alfie could see. Something that had a wicked grin and eyes so dark that there was no end to the abyss from whence it came”.
- The boy who cried hangman (Taiping Tales of terror by Julya Oui)
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Okay, let me be honest by saying that i have high expectation towards this book. I mean you can never go wrong with Southeast Asian / Malaysian horror stories. Unfortunately, i was being let down by the scary factor. These stories were okay-ish. It was not that terrifying that it could send chill to my spines. However, i have my reasons why i still give this book 4 stars. First, it captured Taiping in its entirety. You want headless ghost in Burmese Pool, you got it. You want a gruesome pile of dead bodies floating in Taiping Lake Gardens, here you go. You want restless spirit wandering in Maxwell hill (Bukit Larut), this is the one. Second, the diverse community that lived in Taiping is cemented well in these tales. You came across Malay, Chinese, Indian in these stories that truly believe in superstition and ghosts but you also met those who are skeptical and mocking it by saying it did not exist. Different races has a different names for these ghosts such as Siloban which is referring to Penanggal and or-eu-lang which is referring to Orang Minyak added a nice touch to it. Third, Karma is really the main focus for majority of these stories. You may escape and not being punished by law after committing the crime, but dont ever think that these vengeful spirits will let you go. You will pay the price and it will be much worse than going to jail. Fourth, some of these stories is quite nostalgic actually. For example, the story of “Jaga-jaga”, we often heard the story of the guard who did his duty at night either in school or dormitory but what we dont know is that guard is already passed away 10 years ago. Then, who is the one who came last night? Or 13 people went for a camping but in the name list, theres only 12 people - then who is the ghost among these 13? Fifth is the lesson you learned from these stories is that you dont tempt or summon something that you dont know or quite sure of it. Hollywood horror movie always depicted someone saying hello whenever they hear something unusual but the Malaysian in me will say, nope. Lets get the fuck out of there
- The boy who cried hangman (Taiping Tales of terror by Julya Oui)
.
.
Okay, let me be honest by saying that i have high expectation towards this book. I mean you can never go wrong with Southeast Asian / Malaysian horror stories. Unfortunately, i was being let down by the scary factor. These stories were okay-ish. It was not that terrifying that it could send chill to my spines. However, i have my reasons why i still give this book 4 stars. First, it captured Taiping in its entirety. You want headless ghost in Burmese Pool, you got it. You want a gruesome pile of dead bodies floating in Taiping Lake Gardens, here you go. You want restless spirit wandering in Maxwell hill (Bukit Larut), this is the one. Second, the diverse community that lived in Taiping is cemented well in these tales. You came across Malay, Chinese, Indian in these stories that truly believe in superstition and ghosts but you also met those who are skeptical and mocking it by saying it did not exist. Different races has a different names for these ghosts such as Siloban which is referring to Penanggal and or-eu-lang which is referring to Orang Minyak added a nice touch to it. Third, Karma is really the main focus for majority of these stories. You may escape and not being punished by law after committing the crime, but dont ever think that these vengeful spirits will let you go. You will pay the price and it will be much worse than going to jail. Fourth, some of these stories is quite nostalgic actually. For example, the story of “Jaga-jaga”, we often heard the story of the guard who did his duty at night either in school or dormitory but what we dont know is that guard is already passed away 10 years ago. Then, who is the one who came last night? Or 13 people went for a camping but in the name list, theres only 12 people - then who is the ghost among these 13? Fifth is the lesson you learned from these stories is that you dont tempt or summon something that you dont know or quite sure of it. Hollywood horror movie always depicted someone saying hello whenever they hear something unusual but the Malaysian in me will say, nope. Lets get the fuck out of there
pageglue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
I loved this short story collection! A group of boys tell scary stories around the campfire. While the genre certainly is horror, these stories aren't scary. There are moments of Shirley Jackson-esque tension building, but the author is always reticent on the scary details (Show me the were-tiger ripping people apart!). However, I can highly recommend this as an anthology of spooky, Malaysian folklore.
ansdnl's review against another edition
4.0
4.3 stars for me. I just love Taiping so much and it’s such a fun read on the local folklore on the tales. Love the scenery and details on food as well as the local customs of Malaysia. It’s such a good depiction of how it is living in Taiping.
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