postmodernblues's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.0
mkaminski34's review
4.0
I bought this just for the Scott Smith story but was pleasantly surprised with the quality of that and many of the other stories. There’s way more hits than misses in this collection that covers a ton of variations on the traditional vampire story. Highly recommend
pamwinkler's review
5.0
Absolutely fantastic. Very very good. Rather than listing the good stories, I have to list the stories I didn't like as much.
The Neighbors by Sherrilyn Kenyon was ok, but it seemed to be more jokey than actually scary. I didn't like it as much.
Shadow and Thirst by John Langan was good, but a bit too much? Too elaborate to really be scary.
Mother by Joe McKinney was good, I think, but I didn't like it much.
Same thing with Blood by Robert Shearman, good but I didn't like it.
Separator by Rio Youers was the same thing; good but I didn't like it. Kinda gruesome and action-packed.
The Neighbors by Sherrilyn Kenyon was ok, but it seemed to be more jokey than actually scary. I didn't like it as much.
Shadow and Thirst by John Langan was good, but a bit too much? Too elaborate to really be scary.
Mother by Joe McKinney was good, I think, but I didn't like it much.
Same thing with Blood by Robert Shearman, good but I didn't like it.
Separator by Rio Youers was the same thing; good but I didn't like it. Kinda gruesome and action-packed.
jamiezaccaria's review
3.0
Although some of the common themes got old after awhile (specifically the "post-infection" stuff) this was a pretty awesome collection of varied vampire tales. A few I really didn't like but most I am glad I read.
My favorite were:
Up in Old Vermont by Scott Smith
On the Dark Side of Sunlight Basin by Michael Koryta
What Kept You So Long by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Blue Hell by David Wellington
My favorite were:
Up in Old Vermont by Scott Smith
On the Dark Side of Sunlight Basin by Michael Koryta
What Kept You So Long by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Blue Hell by David Wellington
moonlit_shelves's review
dark
mysterious
medium-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? No
3.5
vis_98's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I've read quite a lot of short story collections (although this is my first vampire anthology) and this is the first one I really got engrossed in. I will say there were a few I didn't enjoy but the ones I did far outnumbered them. I like the many different takes on how a vampire manifests. Some of the stories will absolutely stick with me (in a positive way), rare, when most collections feature stories I find utterly forgettable or stories I only remember for the way I disliked them.
I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys vampire stories with the caveat that while most of the stories keep it pretty much PG (or as PG as horror gets), there are a couple that are quite graphic. Considering there are 20 different stories, each one clearly marked, I'd say you could always just skip those and try the others.
I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys vampire stories with the caveat that while most of the stories keep it pretty much PG (or as PG as horror gets), there are a couple that are quite graphic. Considering there are 20 different stories, each one clearly marked, I'd say you could always just skip those and try the others.
owlribbon's review
dark
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Sexual assault
macbean221b's review
4.0
I received SEIZE THE NIGHT as an ARC from NetGalley.com.
SEIZE THE NIGHT is, hands down, the best vampire anthology I've read in...maybe ever, actually. Even if it's not the very best I've ever read, it's been a very long time since I've read one this good. So long that I can't even remember it. But at least part of this is due to the fact that I've always liked vampires in horror, not romance. It never occurred to me until this book that that is very likely the reason why my interest in vampire fiction has nearly disappeared in the past decade or so. After the overwhelming influx of vampire love stories, SEIZE THE NIGHT was a breath of fre--uh...graveyard air.
There are twenty stories in this collection. There were only three that I really disliked, and that mostly had to do with the fact that my tolerance for graphic on-screen/on-page rape dwindles exponentially as I get older. I don't need details of that to be horrified by it, and it disgusts me even further as a method of titillation. Ugh, gross.
Aside from the three flat-out dislikes, there were three stories that simply had no impact on me, negative or positive. That's a fairly impressive number, I think, in a collection of twenty stories. Even if my number of dislikes was higher, this would make me interested in more anthologies collected by this editor.
So that leaves fourteen out of twenty stories that I really liked. My reactions ranged from delight at bleakness, to heartbreak over characters or themes, to needing to turn a light on, to jealousy that I didn't think of the concept and write the story first, to a note of simply "OH MY GOD THERE WAS SOME GRAPHIC GORE IN THIS ONE." This is definitely a book that I will want to revisit in the future. I recommend it to any fan of old-school vampire stories.
SEIZE THE NIGHT is, hands down, the best vampire anthology I've read in...maybe ever, actually. Even if it's not the very best I've ever read, it's been a very long time since I've read one this good. So long that I can't even remember it. But at least part of this is due to the fact that I've always liked vampires in horror, not romance. It never occurred to me until this book that that is very likely the reason why my interest in vampire fiction has nearly disappeared in the past decade or so. After the overwhelming influx of vampire love stories, SEIZE THE NIGHT was a breath of fre--uh...graveyard air.
There are twenty stories in this collection. There were only three that I really disliked, and that mostly had to do with the fact that my tolerance for graphic on-screen/on-page rape dwindles exponentially as I get older. I don't need details of that to be horrified by it, and it disgusts me even further as a method of titillation. Ugh, gross.
Aside from the three flat-out dislikes, there were three stories that simply had no impact on me, negative or positive. That's a fairly impressive number, I think, in a collection of twenty stories. Even if my number of dislikes was higher, this would make me interested in more anthologies collected by this editor.
So that leaves fourteen out of twenty stories that I really liked. My reactions ranged from delight at bleakness, to heartbreak over characters or themes, to needing to turn a light on, to jealousy that I didn't think of the concept and write the story first, to a note of simply "OH MY GOD THERE WAS SOME GRAPHIC GORE IN THIS ONE." This is definitely a book that I will want to revisit in the future. I recommend it to any fan of old-school vampire stories.
nora_nevermore's review
4.0
When I first picked up this book I immediately loved the concept. I, like the authors featured in this book, am sick of what the vampire image has become. Thanks to movies and TV shows vampires are nothing more then sex symbols who just happen to live off of blood but do it in the most cordial ways. This book is Seizing the Night and bringing bad the vampire that should be feared!
I won't go into each story but there of course are ones that I really enjoyed and others that where "ok" but as a whole I enjoyed reading these stories and being reminded how scary vampires can be.
I won't go into each story but there of course are ones that I really enjoyed and others that where "ok" but as a whole I enjoyed reading these stories and being reminded how scary vampires can be.