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scorcheded's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
cwcook's review against another edition
Only wanted to read Jeffrey Ford. Also read Evenson and part of Langan but they didn’t hold my interest.
roenfoe's review against another edition
For a horror/speculative fiction anthology, this wasn't scary, upsetting, unsettling, or exciting. Just boring:( very sad to call it quits but life's too short to read boring books!
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
4.0
Fearful Symmetries is a horror anthology of twenty short stories. It's a mixed bag for me, with some stories being gripping and entertaining, and some that leave me with uncertainty as to what just happened.
All of them, though, definitely fit the bill of the weird and wonderful, some quite horrific. According to the summary, Ellen Datlow's compilation won the 2014 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Edited Anthology, and it's easy to see why.
My favorite stories in this anthology were "The Atlas of Hell," by Nathan Ballingrud, "Kaiju," by Gary McMahon (this one wins the plot twist award, in my opinion), "Will the Real Psycho in this Story Please Stand Up?" by Pat Cardigan, "The Window," by Brian Evenson (in which horrors from another dimension somehow slip over into ours), "Mount Chary Galore," by Jeffrey Ford, "Power," by Michael Marshall Smith (perhaps my favorite of all of them), "Bridge of Sighs," by Kaaron Warren, "The Attic," by Catherine MacLeod, and "Episode Three: On the Great Plains, in the Snow," by John Langan.
Some of the others were good to a point, but I must confess, I didn't quite get the ending. So, as a whole, I really liked it, but didn't quite feel that it was amazing.
I would recommend it, however, to lovers of horror anthologies.
All of them, though, definitely fit the bill of the weird and wonderful, some quite horrific. According to the summary, Ellen Datlow's compilation won the 2014 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Edited Anthology, and it's easy to see why.
My favorite stories in this anthology were "The Atlas of Hell," by Nathan Ballingrud, "Kaiju," by Gary McMahon (this one wins the plot twist award, in my opinion), "Will the Real Psycho in this Story Please Stand Up?" by Pat Cardigan, "The Window," by Brian Evenson (in which horrors from another dimension somehow slip over into ours), "Mount Chary Galore," by Jeffrey Ford, "Power," by Michael Marshall Smith (perhaps my favorite of all of them), "Bridge of Sighs," by Kaaron Warren, "The Attic," by Catherine MacLeod, and "Episode Three: On the Great Plains, in the Snow," by John Langan.
Some of the others were good to a point, but I must confess, I didn't quite get the ending. So, as a whole, I really liked it, but didn't quite feel that it was amazing.
I would recommend it, however, to lovers of horror anthologies.
vlrieg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
christopherward's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
art_cart_ron's review against another edition
3.0
"A Wish From a Bone" by Gemma Files
4 stars for a story that didn't do a lot of original things, but did what it did with good visuals and language. It's a little bit Lora Croft meets Hellraiser… which isn't easy to dismiss as a bad idea. Well done.
"The Atlas of Hell" by Nathan Ballingrud
4 stars for some good imagery, but I don't know how many John Constantine, Titus Crow, Sandman Slim characters the world has room for. The likable occult anti-hero who stumbles into world-threatening trouble a few times a week is less fresh than it was. Hellboy seemed to have signaled that the age to parody the form had arrived… but no - on it goes. Hey, if the stories are good - I'll give them some time, but I'm eager to see what follows this increasingly loaded cliche. I get it - we all liked this stuff when we were young, and now the geeks are ascendent.
"The Witch Moth" by Bruce McAllister
2.5 stars - there's some "who's who, and what's reality" play going on, but not enough time, space, or interest for me to put in the effort to track it cleanly. The opening pages seemed like they were written by a different writer - one with less skill with words (maybe this was to represent the protagonist's younger age?), and some elements were asides more interesting than the main story - but it all get's pretty brown and mushy rather than resolved and satisfying. Meh.
"Kaiju" by Gary McMahon
2 stars - Pretty weak, although it did something enjoyable by saying the protagonist couldn't remember why they'd liked giant monster stories when they were young, after being faced with the reality of one in their adulthood. That sentiment sunk in, rather than feeling like cheesy sentiment. There's a Twilight Zone twist tossed in for 3 paragraphs that feels half-baked and uninteresting.
"In the year of omens: only annoying 1 star
The four darks: occult gumshoe. The pretentiousness of this one is off the chart, and not in a good way. My trust in the Shirley Jackson award, and the taste of Ellen Datlow, is low right now. To the point of considering bailing on the anthology." 2 stars
The Spindly Man - 5 stars, now that's what I'm talking about. Reread this story immediately. So many good elements. Would make a killer one act play or low budget film.
Mount Chary Galore - 5 stars - comes across like it was written for a "re-envisioned fairy tales" anthology. In a very good way. Really well written.
The Window - 3 stars, not a bad effort, contemporary Lovecraftian
Ballad of an Echo Whisperer - 2 stars
Suffer Little Children - 3 stars
Power - 3 stars
Bridge of Sighs - 3 stars
The Worms Crawl In - 2 stars
The Attic - 2 stars
Wendigo Nights - 3 stars
Episode Three: On the Greeat Plains, In the Snow - 2 stars - urgh, please only include supernatural detectives if the story is half decent. 1 star if not for the T Rex.
Catching Flies - 2 stars - plots are useful in stories
Shay Corsham Worsted - 4 stars - a sci fi story tucked in at the end. Pretty strong finish. Well written - good idea. Very Warren Ellis/comic bookish
54.5 divided by 20 = 2.7 Stars overall
As anthologies go, I can't say whether or not this is typical, but it falls short of 3 stars.
Save yourself some time with this one - just read A Wish From A Bone, Atlas of Hell, The Spindly Man, Mount Chary Galore, and Shay Corsham Worsted.
Especially The Spindly Man, and Mount Chary Galore
Many of the other offerings were ponderously poor choices, and I would definitely hesitate to read another Datlow anthology. Maybe it's because I bought the book for horror - and the premise isn't *quite* horror. Maybe one of her "Year's Best Horror" anthologies would suit me better.
For now, I'll be reading more from Stephen Graham Jones, and Jeffrey Ford thanks to this book - so it's a net gain.
4 stars for a story that didn't do a lot of original things, but did what it did with good visuals and language. It's a little bit Lora Croft meets Hellraiser… which isn't easy to dismiss as a bad idea. Well done.
"The Atlas of Hell" by Nathan Ballingrud
4 stars for some good imagery, but I don't know how many John Constantine, Titus Crow, Sandman Slim characters the world has room for. The likable occult anti-hero who stumbles into world-threatening trouble a few times a week is less fresh than it was. Hellboy seemed to have signaled that the age to parody the form had arrived… but no - on it goes. Hey, if the stories are good - I'll give them some time, but I'm eager to see what follows this increasingly loaded cliche. I get it - we all liked this stuff when we were young, and now the geeks are ascendent.
"The Witch Moth" by Bruce McAllister
2.5 stars - there's some "who's who, and what's reality" play going on, but not enough time, space, or interest for me to put in the effort to track it cleanly. The opening pages seemed like they were written by a different writer - one with less skill with words (maybe this was to represent the protagonist's younger age?), and some elements were asides more interesting than the main story - but it all get's pretty brown and mushy rather than resolved and satisfying. Meh.
"Kaiju" by Gary McMahon
2 stars - Pretty weak, although it did something enjoyable by saying the protagonist couldn't remember why they'd liked giant monster stories when they were young, after being faced with the reality of one in their adulthood. That sentiment sunk in, rather than feeling like cheesy sentiment. There's a Twilight Zone twist tossed in for 3 paragraphs that feels half-baked and uninteresting.
"In the year of omens: only annoying 1 star
The four darks: occult gumshoe. The pretentiousness of this one is off the chart, and not in a good way. My trust in the Shirley Jackson award, and the taste of Ellen Datlow, is low right now. To the point of considering bailing on the anthology." 2 stars
The Spindly Man - 5 stars, now that's what I'm talking about. Reread this story immediately. So many good elements. Would make a killer one act play or low budget film.
Mount Chary Galore - 5 stars - comes across like it was written for a "re-envisioned fairy tales" anthology. In a very good way. Really well written.
The Window - 3 stars, not a bad effort, contemporary Lovecraftian
Ballad of an Echo Whisperer - 2 stars
Suffer Little Children - 3 stars
Power - 3 stars
Bridge of Sighs - 3 stars
The Worms Crawl In - 2 stars
The Attic - 2 stars
Wendigo Nights - 3 stars
Episode Three: On the Greeat Plains, In the Snow - 2 stars - urgh, please only include supernatural detectives if the story is half decent. 1 star if not for the T Rex.
Catching Flies - 2 stars - plots are useful in stories
Shay Corsham Worsted - 4 stars - a sci fi story tucked in at the end. Pretty strong finish. Well written - good idea. Very Warren Ellis/comic bookish
54.5 divided by 20 = 2.7 Stars overall
As anthologies go, I can't say whether or not this is typical, but it falls short of 3 stars.
Save yourself some time with this one - just read A Wish From A Bone, Atlas of Hell, The Spindly Man, Mount Chary Galore, and Shay Corsham Worsted.
Especially The Spindly Man, and Mount Chary Galore
Many of the other offerings were ponderously poor choices, and I would definitely hesitate to read another Datlow anthology. Maybe it's because I bought the book for horror - and the premise isn't *quite* horror. Maybe one of her "Year's Best Horror" anthologies would suit me better.
For now, I'll be reading more from Stephen Graham Jones, and Jeffrey Ford thanks to this book - so it's a net gain.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
Nearly every story in this anthology leaves me feeling haunted, which is my favourite sort of horror, and overall the writing itself, stylistically, is exceptional. The stories show you what's happening and leave you with the implicit or explicit perception that the worst is yet to come. Maybe to you.
jsilber42's review against another edition
3.0
This was sort of an odd collection of horror from master anthologist Ellen Datlow, in that despite the name, there didn't seem to be any clear thematic link between the stories - I was expecting something about doppelgangers or twins or some such. Also, there were a high percentage of stories that had confusing or nonsensical endings (or in one case, confusing throughout) or were otherwise oddly flawed despite being well-written. All that said, pretty much every story here had SOMETHING good about it; there were none that were total stinkers. There were also very few that I thought were outstanding.
Four that that I thought were great were "The Window" by Brian Evenson about an unsettling nocturnal visitor, "Mt Chary Galore" by Jeffrey Ford about an old woman who may be a witch, "The Attic" by Catherine MacLeod about a woman with a troubled background who marries into a dangerous family, and "Shay Corsham Worsted" about a retired spy who is keeping an eye on the very very dangerous occupant of a safe house.
Four that that I thought were great were "The Window" by Brian Evenson about an unsettling nocturnal visitor, "Mt Chary Galore" by Jeffrey Ford about an old woman who may be a witch, "The Attic" by Catherine MacLeod about a woman with a troubled background who marries into a dangerous family, and "Shay Corsham Worsted" about a retired spy who is keeping an eye on the very very dangerous occupant of a safe house.