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A review by cuddlesome
Classic Monsters Unleashed by James Aquilone
3.0
Monsters!!!!!!!!!! <3 !!!!!!!!!!
As with all anthologies, a mixed bag. There were some stories here that made me want to bang my head against the wall at the wasted potential and others where I gasped aloud and went "OOOOOO" at how well-executed they were.
My favorites were:
Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner
Dreams by F. Paul Wilson
Hacking the Horseman’s Code by Lisa Morton
They Call Me Mother by Geneve Flynn
The Nightbird by Michael Knost
A Tale of Wickedness by Kelsea Yu
Old Monsters Never Die was BY FAR my favorite overall. Such a fun, twisted take on werewolves and themes about tradition. The writing style was also very (literally) visceral. I loved it. Dreams, a Frankenstein retelling from a unique perspective, is a close second.
The Phantom of the Opera retelling disappointed me the most. In it, Raoul is--wait for it--a serial killer. Yeah. He plays opposite a benevolent Erik(a). It felt forced and cartoonish, even for POTO.
Overall, I would say that given the length of this anthology there is a lot to pick from and you're bound to resonate with some of them. I think that going in you should know that the general vibe is reinventing/retelling/sometimes modernizing these tales rather than strictly sticking to the source material.
In conclusion, we love glorified fanfiction of monsters in the public domain.
As with all anthologies, a mixed bag. There were some stories here that made me want to bang my head against the wall at the wasted potential and others where I gasped aloud and went "OOOOOO" at how well-executed they were.
My favorites were:
Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner
Dreams by F. Paul Wilson
Hacking the Horseman’s Code by Lisa Morton
They Call Me Mother by Geneve Flynn
The Nightbird by Michael Knost
A Tale of Wickedness by Kelsea Yu
Old Monsters Never Die was BY FAR my favorite overall. Such a fun, twisted take on werewolves and themes about tradition. The writing style was also very (literally) visceral. I loved it. Dreams, a Frankenstein retelling from a unique perspective, is a close second.
The Phantom of the Opera retelling disappointed me the most. In it, Raoul is--wait for it--a serial killer. Yeah. He plays opposite a benevolent Erik(a). It felt forced and cartoonish, even for POTO.
Overall, I would say that given the length of this anthology there is a lot to pick from and you're bound to resonate with some of them. I think that going in you should know that the general vibe is reinventing/retelling/sometimes modernizing these tales rather than strictly sticking to the source material.
In conclusion, we love glorified fanfiction of monsters in the public domain.