Scan barcode
kinosthesia's review against another edition
4.0
Superb language and a real eye for creating places and people that area touch outside our own reality and yet still worryingly believeable. I particularly liked the stories about the northern town near the border and how so many name sin all the stories seem to overlap and link together. You do need to concentrate to not miss anything!
dracola112's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
tobin_elliott's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
Having read Ligotti's bigger works before this, this one strikes as, in true Ligottian fashion, both too much Ligotti, while also not quite Ligotti enough.
He's still plumbing those very weird depths that no one else is using, and he's still doing so to good effect. The stories are weird, hypnotic, dreamlike, claustrophobic, dark, and confusing in a frustratingly entertaining way. The first half of this collection is filled with stories of workers in bizarre industries, all seemingly interrelated in some horrid way. The second half tends to focus more on artistic types and the nefarious art they do (or don't) produce. So, we're still treading the strange pathways of the mind of Thomas Ligotti, all right.
At the same time, however, these stories don't seem quite as fantastical as his previous collections, at times relying on the same plot devices more than one (that man! it was me! and intestinal issues galore).
Too me, I feel like Ligotti is definitely branching into different areas, but they seem to be somewhat more dull and repetitive, more drab than usual. Perhaps that was his goal all along.
He's still plumbing those very weird depths that no one else is using, and he's still doing so to good effect. The stories are weird, hypnotic, dreamlike, claustrophobic, dark, and confusing in a frustratingly entertaining way. The first half of this collection is filled with stories of workers in bizarre industries, all seemingly interrelated in some horrid way. The second half tends to focus more on artistic types and the nefarious art they do (or don't) produce. So, we're still treading the strange pathways of the mind of Thomas Ligotti, all right.
At the same time, however, these stories don't seem quite as fantastical as his previous collections, at times relying on the same plot devices more than one (that man! it was me! and intestinal issues galore).
Too me, I feel like Ligotti is definitely branching into different areas, but they seem to be somewhat more dull and repetitive, more drab than usual. Perhaps that was his goal all along.
tregina's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely my kind of horror, cerebral and strange and human. A couple of the stories I found brilliant, and a couple of them I found tedious, which lands it about in the middle overall but not because it is in any way average. There is nothing normal about it.
panastasia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
4.0
Ανθολογία ιστοριών τρόμου. Πρέπει να είναι μια από τις πιο όμορφες προτάσεις ever. Ένα μπουκέτο φρίκης. Παράδοξο και βγάζει νόημα.
Άλλοτε με ένα άγγιγμα τρόμου που ανατριχιάζει και άλλοτε με ένα γερό ασφυκτικό κράτημα που αφήνει σημάδια, το γράψιμο είναι πάντα ζοφερό και πάντα φτάνει κάτω από το δέρμα, χτυπώντας σα φλέβα. Και είναι σχεδόν πάντα κινηματογραφικό. Πολλές φορές η κάμερα κινείται στην άλλη πλευρά του φρικιαστικού παζλ με μια ιστορία να εκτείνεται σε περισσότερα κεφάλαια. Λεπτομέρειες βιολογίας, φαινομενικά αθώα αντικείμενα, ξεχασμένα κτίρια, το αδιόρατο σύστημα που δυσοίωνα καλύπτει τα πάντα. Όλα αδηφάγα, με αυστηρούς κανόνες λειτουργίας και χωρίς ιδιαίτερο έλεος σε ένα ταξίδι στο οποίο δε φαίνεται να επιτρέπεται κάποιο τέλος.
Ξεχώρισα τις "Διευθυντής της πόλης," "Κόκκινος Πύργος," "Ο προσωρινός μας προϊστάμενος," "Teatro grotesco."
"Η είσοδος στον εφιάλτη είναι η έξοδος από αυτόν."
"Ήμουν κουρασμένος κι ένιωθα τον πόνο κάθε σπασμένου ονείρου που είχα κουβαλήσει ποτέ μαζί μου."
Horror stories anthology. One of the prettiest sentences ever. A bouquet of dread. Paradoxical and it works.
Sometimes with a touch of chilling horror and sometimes with a firm stranglehold that leaves scars, the writing is always bleak and always gets under the skin, pulsing like a vein. And it is almost always cinematic. Many times the camera moves to the other side of the gruesome puzzle with a story spanning multiple chapters. Details of biology, seemingly innocent objects, forgotten buildings, the invisible system that covers everything ominously. Voracious, with strict rules and no intention for mercy on a journey that seems to allow no end.
I singled out "City Manager," "Red Tower," "Our Interim Boss," "Teatro grotesco."
"The entrance to the nightmare is the exit from it."
"I was tired and I felt the pain of every broken dream I had ever carried with me."
Άλλοτε με ένα άγγιγμα τρόμου που ανατριχιάζει και άλλοτε με ένα γερό ασφυκτικό κράτημα που αφήνει σημάδια, το γράψιμο είναι πάντα ζοφερό και πάντα φτάνει κάτω από το δέρμα, χτυπώντας σα φλέβα. Και είναι σχεδόν πάντα κινηματογραφικό. Πολλές φορές η κάμερα κινείται στην άλλη πλευρά του φρικιαστικού παζλ με μια ιστορία να εκτείνεται σε περισσότερα κεφάλαια. Λεπτομέρειες βιολογίας, φαινομενικά αθώα αντικείμενα, ξεχασμένα κτίρια, το αδιόρατο σύστημα που δυσοίωνα καλύπτει τα πάντα. Όλα αδηφάγα, με αυστηρούς κανόνες λειτουργίας και χωρίς ιδιαίτερο έλεος σε ένα ταξίδι στο οποίο δε φαίνεται να επιτρέπεται κάποιο τέλος.
Ξεχώρισα τις "Διευθυντής της πόλης," "Κόκκινος Πύργος," "Ο προσωρινός μας προϊστάμενος," "Teatro grotesco."
"Η είσοδος στον εφιάλτη είναι η έξοδος από αυτόν."
"Ήμουν κουρασμένος κι ένιωθα τον πόνο κάθε σπασμένου ονείρου που είχα κουβαλήσει ποτέ μαζί μου."
Horror stories anthology. One of the prettiest sentences ever. A bouquet of dread. Paradoxical and it works.
Sometimes with a touch of chilling horror and sometimes with a firm stranglehold that leaves scars, the writing is always bleak and always gets under the skin, pulsing like a vein. And it is almost always cinematic. Many times the camera moves to the other side of the gruesome puzzle with a story spanning multiple chapters. Details of biology, seemingly innocent objects, forgotten buildings, the invisible system that covers everything ominously. Voracious, with strict rules and no intention for mercy on a journey that seems to allow no end.
I singled out "City Manager," "Red Tower," "Our Interim Boss," "Teatro grotesco."
"The entrance to the nightmare is the exit from it."
"I was tired and I felt the pain of every broken dream I had ever carried with me."
madmadder's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ionizemyatoms's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.0
mcnan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Really hard to give a book like this a rating out of 5. It is slow and intentionally repetitive at times, but there are some ideas, atmospheres, and moments that are astounding. Some stories crushed it while others, for me, didn't pay off for the work required. Favorites from this collection are My Case for Retributive Action, Our Temporary Supervisor, Purity, The Bungalow House, and The Shadow, The Darkness
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
sabrhabibi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
microbiologist's review against another edition
5.0
Just finished this, my first experience with Thomas Ligotti, and he is like nothing i've ever read before. It's like experiencing a series of nightmares in prose. Horror, but not in the traditional "somebody or something is coming to kill you" sense. But more like the way you experience nightmares, where everything seems just a little off, and even if something extremely terrible or strange occurs it seems only to be slightly strange. It's the offness of the whole thing that just makes you extremely uncomfortable.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without knowing their style of reading, it's definitely not a page turner, more of a slow burn but if you like the strange it may be worth checking out.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without knowing their style of reading, it's definitely not a page turner, more of a slow burn but if you like the strange it may be worth checking out.