Reviews

From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea by Mike Ashley

lamparmi's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

As a collection of stories I found it difficult to read and just a bit boring and repetitive. Stories of old are not always as scary now as they were in the 19th century and a lot of stories were just too old to be impactful. 

alexrudd's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

echosong's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

missbookiverse's review against another edition

3.0

Gruselgeschichten aus den Tiefen des Meeres mag ich ganz besonders gern. Ich hätte mir bei dieser Sammlung aber noch mehr Abwechslung gewünscht, die meisten Storys spielen dann doch (verständlicherweise) auf Deck und es geht um verschollene Schiffe. Ich hatte ehrlich gesagt mehr Meeresungeheuer erwartet. Außerdem habe ich gemerkt, dass mein Bord-Vokabular sehr klein ist und mich manche Beschreibungen deshalb verwirrt und gelangweilt haben.

Empfehlenswert fand ich: Wetjens The Ship of Silence (Geisterschiff), Muirs Sargasso (über die Sargassosee), Chestertons The Black Bell Buoy (Geisterboje) und Smiths No Ships Pass (Inselsetting).

connorshappytie's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

xandria88's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

An enjoyable read, easy to pick up as it's short stories. Has gotten me interested in a new genre of writing. 

laurenboys's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

chrystalclearwpg's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

 Some of the stories were interesting and kept my interest while others were hard to understand due to the old way of writing. I did keep that in mind (this being written quite awhile ago) as I was reading but found I was using the book as a filler instead of an actual reading material. This is all on me and not the content. 

barmyjen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

bookforestsprite's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.0

Solid collection. A lot of good and okay stories, a couple great ones as well as some duds. The best stories were the two Sargasso ones, From the Darkness and the Depths, the Black Bell Buoy, No Ships Pass and From the Depths (ghosts using Morse code!). I absolutely loved The Floating Forest – so dramatic, so Gothic, so epic! As is par for the course for the covers of these Tales of the Weird editions, this one looks fantastic too!

Edit: My friend pointed out that women are underrepresented in horror and similar genres, so here are the depressing stats for this anthology:

15 stories, 3 female authors, arguably 2 female protagonists (who both die for a man)