Reviews

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson

pangnaolin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this collection! I found every story fun, and a solid few had really unique writing and ideas (though some of those ideas then got a bit repeated and predictable in following stories). I definitely loved Evenson's style and felt like every story was just very easy to read, a bit creepy, and fun. 

I wouldn't say it's especially profound or striking as a collection, though-- it sort of felt like reading a book of really good r/nosleep stories-- so if you're looking for something intense, I'd direct you more toward authors like Carmen Maria Machado. If you're a sci-fi or horror fan and just want some interesting, fun, captivating stories, then I'd say this is definitely for you. Awesome read!

dogsbooksandpizza's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.25

The strong stories were really great, but I felt like a lot of elements got too repetitive. It made me want a novel that incorporated those elements instead of predictably stringing them through multiple stories. I found myself getting frustrated when yet another “fluttering” came around, and a tendriled sentient thing entered a human. It was cool in the first half, but this 200 page collection actually felt long because of all the repetition. I enjoyed the first half the most, and there were still some solid entries toward the end (“Wanderlust” was a big standout), but they did start blurring together for me. I will still read all of Evenson’s stuff because I think he’s a great writer; this collection just felt a bit bloated to me.

aalessi's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

It reminds me of r/nosleep
Some great stories. Some bad ones. A lot of predictable ones. 

ferns_citruscorner_8's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

_tourist's review against another edition

some pertinent unraveling occurs, but i havn’t quite worked out what i think of horror; what its functions are. i have not read enough to know what to expect.
some stories i particularly liked: leaking out, wanderlust, lather of flies. plenty of others seemed non-urgent.

rpcroke's review against another edition

4.0

Really really liked the most stories. A few we're a bit uneven but this is a great collection. The strongest stories are incredibly strong.

jennitheghost's review against another edition

4.0

I was tempted to give this three stars but I decided to give it 4 because I usually just don't like collections of short stories !! Like, I enjoyed these stories, they were creative and varied and spooky but I am always left wanting I love to get involved in stories !! I also definitely didn't get some of them but I'm sure that's on me :) it had some cool ideas that I hope will haunt me in the future

bechols's review against another edition

3.0

Eerie and thought provoking. A bit repetitive.

rocketiza's review against another edition

3.0

These were well written but never really took off for me. I am interested in checking out his longer works though.

nayabimtiaz's review against another edition

5.0

Handsdown 5 stars. As someone who adores sci-fi and horror fantay I LOVED this book. Since it was a collection of short stories, I found it to be very satisfying. Planning on reading The Way of Kings but like it's not only a 1000+ paged book, but also a series with more than 3 books so I am reallyy struggling but if that's even half as good as this, ig it'll be worth it??