Reviews

Come Join Us by the Fire, Season 2 by Catherynne M. Valente, Maria Dahvana Headley, Shaun Hamill, Sarah Langan, Brian Evenson, Indrapramit Das, Tade Thompson, Gabino Iglesias, Clay McLeod Chapman, T. Kingfisher, 'Pemi Aguda, Mariana Enríquez, Nibedita Sen, Jessica Guess, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Nick Antosca, Laird Barron, Seanan McGuire, Cassandra Khaw, Sonny Moraine, Kelly Link, Camilla Grudova, Craig Laurance Gidney, Matthew Lyons, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Daniel M. Lavery, Damien Angelica Walters

qalminator's review

(Recording thoughts on each story as I go; closing thoughts once I've finished)

Some Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Beautifully written tale of a father's ghost haunting a daughter. I did not particularly care for the ending, but I don't think I was supposed to.
The Changeling by Sarah Langan (2 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Well-written, but problematic. I was not particularly interested in Changeling tales to begin with, and now that I am aware the original tales were to explain away autism, I am even less interested. Also, I can think of a much creepier ending that I would have found more satisfying:

Spoiler

She recruits her brother and they kill the parents together.

Shaun Hamill- "Music of the Abyss"
Caitlín R. Kiernan- "Standing Water"
Tade Thompson- "Bone"
T. Kingfisher- "Origin Story"
Silvia Moreno-Garcia- "The Sound of Footsteps"
Laird Barron- "Jōren Falls"
Damien Angelica Walters- "Tooth, Tongue, and Claw"
Sunny Moraine- "If Living is Seeing I'm Holding My Breath"
Matthew Lyons- "Blood Daughter"
Jessica Guess- "Mama Tulu"
Daniel M. Lavery- "Prodigal Son"
Seanan McGuire- "Emergency Landing"
Indrapramit Das - "You Will Survive This Night"
‘Pemi Aguda- "Things Boys Do"
Kelly Link"The Specialist's Hat"
Clay McLeod Chapman- "The Fireplace"
Nibedita Sen- "Pigeons"
Camilla Grudova- "Ghost Bread"
Catherynne M. Valente- "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles"
Brian Evenson- "The Cabin"
Maria Dahvana Headley- "The Krakatoan"
Craig Laurance Gidney- "Spyder Threads"
Mariana Enriquez- "Things We Lost in the Fire"
Gabino Iglesias- "The Song of the Lady Rose"
Nick Antosca- "The Quiet Boy"

pdestrienne's review

dark fast-paced

great narrators, fascinating stories

saeruh's review

dark mysterious tense

4.0

Some of these were kinda boring, some were genuinely pretty freaking scary, and some were just interesting. I  wish most of them had been longer as it would end and I would be thinking that the story was only halfway done.

othersociologist's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

emilywrayburn's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

 Nice little creepy collection! There was one description of fingernails being pulled out that I had to turn off for a bit, and when I got home at 10pm after finishing the last story, I was rather quick to get inside out of the dark. But it was just the right level of scary for wimpy ol' me. 

curlybooks's review

4.0

Favorites: These were by far the best stories of this collection (in my opinion) and the only ones to truly scare me...5 emphatic stars each.
The Cabin by Brian Evenson
The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca

Liked:
Music of the Abyss by Shaun Hamill
Origin Story by T. Kingfisher
Tooth, Tongue and Claw by Damien Angelica Walters
The Days of the Flaming Motorcycles by Catherine M Valente
You Will Survive This Night by Indrapramit Das

Duds:
Some Breakable Things by Casandra Khaw
The Sound of Footsteps by Sylvia Moreno Garcia
Standing Water by Caitlin R Kiernan
The Fireplace by Clay Macleod Chapman (caveat: the story was ok, underdeveloped but still ok. It was the delivery of the narrator for this one that was painful. Acting choices were made and they were bad.)
The Krakatoan by Maria Dahvana Headley

All around this was a great listening experience. The production quality is amazing (minus a few poor/cringey narrator choices) and most of the stories were engaging and well written. There are some exceptions to this like every anthology, but I had a wonderful time this October listening to these tales. I highly recommend this and Season One of this series!

iamltr's review

5.0

I loved the stories included this year.

I do hope they do put out these anthologies every year.

biblio_beth's review

3.0

Another free group of short stories from Google Play Books. There are definitely some strong stories but more than a few duds.

lauriereadslohf's review

4.0

I don't know if I have it in me to review this collection in any proper way so I'm throwing a 3.5 at it (bumping up for GR) It is huge and there so many stories and though I'm thankful for all of them, these things are a bitch to review. Most of the stories are fantastic. There were a few that didn't personally thrill me but with so many stories that's always going to be the case. You may love them. You may hate the one's I love. That's okay. I highly recommend giving this audio a listen. It's free on GooglePlay and will likely be added to Spotify like the previous one was so you have nothing to lose but a little bit of your time.

I'll leave you with my mini reviews of my favorites which were mostly in the front half of the book:

Some Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw
A woman grieving the death of her father, who always demanded too much, finds no relief even after his death