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Tales of Monstrosity: Monsters, Myths, and Miscreants by Victoria L. Scott, J. C. Mastro, Marx Pyle
wasauthor's review
5.0
I received an advance reader copy of Tales of Monstrosity for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Given my love of [b:Dragons of a Different Tail: 17 Unusual Dragon Tales|59611087|Dragons of a Different Tail 17 Unusual Dragon Tales|Marx Pyle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636827097l/59611087._SY75_.jpg|93877435], I jumped at the opportunity to review Tales of Monstrosity, another anthology from the same small publisher, edited by the same team, and featuring many of the same authors. And besides, the subtitle Monsters, Myths and Miscreants is too enticing to pass up.
Tales of Monstrosity is broken up into segments, this time three of them, each one named in the subtitle.
- Monsters broadly features the darker stories, those that are all about the horror, except when they’re whimsical.
- Myths lightens the mood with a little more humour and a little less horror, with a varied set of stories.
- Miscreants shifts the book’s focus to urban fantasy, exploring the fiends that populate the genre.
Tales of Monstrosity is a couple of hundred pages longer than its predecessor, and includes two additional stories for your reading pleasure, for a total of nineteen. Also for your reading pleasure, is some additional information about the stories, which is great for anyone—like me—who loves that little bit of extra content. And for your listening pleasure, the editors have even provided a list of songs for you to listen to.
Tales of Monstrosity tells a unique blend of tales, touching upon a variety of genres. While horror and fantasy are to be expected, and humour can often play a role in anthologies, the book also touches upon mystery, religion, blog posts, literary fiction, and middle-grade stories, and these tales all carve out their own niche. This isn’t a book about vampires or zombies; while some well-known creatures appear, so do the lesser-known ones. Various stories are borne from mythology from all around the world, providing an eclectic mix of creatures, stories and archetypes.
With any anthology, you'll inevitably find stories that don’t resonate with you, and that was the case for me. However, the stories that don’t resonate with me are far exceeded by those that do. And where stories don’t quite grab me, they remain wonderfully written.
Tales of Monstrosity is a wonderful achievement by all the writers and editors who had a hand in putting it together. Some stories will get inside your head like the monsters who feature in them; other stories will make you laugh, often like the monsters who feature in them.
My full review—including my thoughts about each of the individual stories—will be available on my website from 12 May, 2023. To read it, and a host of other reviews, click here.
Given my love of [b:Dragons of a Different Tail: 17 Unusual Dragon Tales|59611087|Dragons of a Different Tail 17 Unusual Dragon Tales|Marx Pyle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636827097l/59611087._SY75_.jpg|93877435], I jumped at the opportunity to review Tales of Monstrosity, another anthology from the same small publisher, edited by the same team, and featuring many of the same authors. And besides, the subtitle Monsters, Myths and Miscreants is too enticing to pass up.
Tales of Monstrosity is broken up into segments, this time three of them, each one named in the subtitle.
- Monsters broadly features the darker stories, those that are all about the horror, except when they’re whimsical.
- Myths lightens the mood with a little more humour and a little less horror, with a varied set of stories.
- Miscreants shifts the book’s focus to urban fantasy, exploring the fiends that populate the genre.
Tales of Monstrosity is a couple of hundred pages longer than its predecessor, and includes two additional stories for your reading pleasure, for a total of nineteen. Also for your reading pleasure, is some additional information about the stories, which is great for anyone—like me—who loves that little bit of extra content. And for your listening pleasure, the editors have even provided a list of songs for you to listen to.
Tales of Monstrosity tells a unique blend of tales, touching upon a variety of genres. While horror and fantasy are to be expected, and humour can often play a role in anthologies, the book also touches upon mystery, religion, blog posts, literary fiction, and middle-grade stories, and these tales all carve out their own niche. This isn’t a book about vampires or zombies; while some well-known creatures appear, so do the lesser-known ones. Various stories are borne from mythology from all around the world, providing an eclectic mix of creatures, stories and archetypes.
With any anthology, you'll inevitably find stories that don’t resonate with you, and that was the case for me. However, the stories that don’t resonate with me are far exceeded by those that do. And where stories don’t quite grab me, they remain wonderfully written.
Tales of Monstrosity is a wonderful achievement by all the writers and editors who had a hand in putting it together. Some stories will get inside your head like the monsters who feature in them; other stories will make you laugh, often like the monsters who feature in them.
My full review—including my thoughts about each of the individual stories—will be available on my website from 12 May, 2023. To read it, and a host of other reviews, click here.
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