Reviews

Carrossel sombrio e outras histórias by Joe Hill, André Gordirro

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cormoranlucreade's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

lesserjoke's review against another edition

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3.0

I don't really know what to do with this latest Joe Hill collection. My average rating over its thirteen short stories is a 3-out-of-5 stars, but the most common score that I'd give to the individual entries would be a 2. Overall, I guess it's a book that's worth picking up for the highlights, but maybe skimming or skipping much of the rest.

My favorite of the bunch is probably "Faun," a twisted look at big game hunters treating a Narnian-style fantasy world as their private reserve, but I also like the poignant humanism on display in "Late Returns" -- in which a librarian delivers books from the future to people who will die before they're written -- and "You Are Released" -- in which a jetliner's passengers and crew bear witness to a dawning nuclear war. That last title I had already read in the anthology Flight or Fright, but it's no less affecting on a reencounter here.

As for everything else, there's a lot of repetition of the basic slasher-movie plot structure, wherein a protagonist does something of dubious morality and then is punished by an apparently just universe in some horrific way. There are also plenty of homages to the author's father (including two works co-written with him, "Throttle" and "In the Tall Grass"), which successfully channel the Stephen King style but generally don't take it anywhere unexpected.

When Hill is on, he's outstanding, and he's easily produced enough quality fiction at this point in his career that it could be curated into something remarkable. But too much of his regular output is still landing inertly from my perspective.

[Content warning for miscarriage, slurs, and gruesome scenes including cannibalism.]

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scorched's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

thay_cas's review

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4.0

I loved and truly enjoyed 5 of the 13 short stories, and that's the only reason why it isn't a 5/5 star book for me. Hill became more politic by the course of the last years, which I think it had a lot of reason (Trump) to it. It's understandable. And I appreciate this new approach, but it still a bitter reading. Although completely and sadly realistic.
Looking forward for his next work, as always.

wowmcmeow's review against another edition

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5.0

I was not ready for the Joe hill featuring Stephen King deliciousness I opened when I got this book, Full Throttle. I liked every single shirt story in here. The horror/gore twist the them was just what I needed.
If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be..... “Faun” because that one stuck with me the most. The last one was so powerful because it really could happen, sadly realistic. I liked the blood and guts thrown in there when you were LEAST expecting it.
Only thing I disliked was how you were left wanting more with all of them. I don’t think that’s necessarily his fault though I’m just not used to short stories. They were all relatively well rounded stories besides “Wolvertine station”, which left on a cliff hanger.
Overall loved the Joe hill, Stephen king collaboration. They complimented each other very well and I wasn’t bored by any of the stories. I want to read everything by Joe hill honestly!!