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Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous by Ellen Datlow

3 reviews

ehmannky's review

dark mysterious reflective 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? N/A

3.5

A few of the stories were really, really good, but for the most part I felt the stories in here were middling. There were only one or two that felt like a true drag, so I kept with it but it wasn't the best anthology I've ever read.

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howlinglibraries's review

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dark tense slow-paced

2.0

I'm sad to say what a relief it was to finally finish this anthology, but it felt like it dragged on for years, and that has nothing to do with the page count.

While there were a few stories I really loved, absolute diamonds in the rough, I mostly strongly disliked this collection. I've read a lot of Ellen Datlow's edited anthologies over the years and I usually love them, so I'm not sure why this one didn't connect with me. I finally had to commit myself to a goal of reading at least one story per day just to finally finish it, and even allowed myself to DNF a few of the pieces (which I almost never do with short story collections!).

That said, I'd like to focus on the silver lining of the 5-star reads that I adored and highly recommend:

• Wet Red Grin — Gemma Files:
The magic and monstrosity in this story had me on the very edge of my seat. Something about vicious elderly folks will always chill me to my core (perhaps because of the idea that someone who has had so many decades to hone their hatred might wield it much more powerfully?), and this was a brilliant example of it.

• The Virgin Jimmy Peck — Daryl Gregory:
I snickered throughout this entire story, loving the bizarre, campy direction it took all the while. If you liked the film 'Satanic Panic', I highly recommend this short story.

• Children of the Night — Stephen Graham Jones:
I'm forever a sucker for SGJ's short stories and this was delightful. I don't think Stephen gets enough love for the level of ridiculousness and dark humor he infuses some of his shorts with, and this was maybe the most comical of his work I've read yet. Bigfoot hunters are a wild bunch.

• What is Meat with No God? — Cassandra Khaw:
Cass is another author I was already smitten with before this collection, and I was so eager to reach their contribution. Khaw's writing style is so distinctive and unique, and this is easily the oddest thing I've read from them yet, but as I expected, it's also full of so much heart and lore. I would eagerly read an entire novella about the body and how it came into being.

• Burial — Kristi DeMeester:
I have an exceptional fondness for stories of abuse survivors of all kinds, getting their power back and moving on with their lives, and this was a very eerie, unique, and witchy play on that theme. Mara's love for her little sister and devotion to the idea of finding a happier life for them, mingled with the genuinely unsettling thing that Mara's rage conjures up... I loved every moment.

Unfortunately, only 5 stories out of 29 received 5 stars from me. While a few more were still very enjoyable (honorable mentions to Here Comes Your Man by Indrapramit Das, Crick Crack Rattle Tap by A.C. Wise, and The Smell of Waiting by Kaaron Warren), this means that 21 out of 29 stories ranged from slightly boring to entirely unlikeable for me. Given that I gave 3/4 of the collection 3 stars or less (and several stories only 1 star), I can't recommend this anthology as a whole or justify giving it a higher rating than 2 stars overall.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

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enchantressreads's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Screams from the Dark is anthology of 29 short stories discovering the monstrous. I love a good anthology, but this one fell a little flat for me. It was compiled to celebrate very classic tropes of horror, but it felt very basic. To someone who is new to horror stories, I feel like this would be a great place to start. More veteran horror readers might not be a huge fan of every story in this anthology.

There were definitely some great stories in this collection, but it mostly felt average, totaling up to a 3.3 average rating. Now, a 3 is not a terrible score and I would still recommend this to people who are interested. There are some great authors in this collection, and I felt it wasn’t the best stories these authors could have given.

However, I did love a few stories, listed below:

The Island by Norman Partridge
Burial by Kristi DeMeester
and my personal favorite, Bloedzuiger by John Langan

For anyone who loved The Fisherman, Bloedzuiger will be a lovely surprise. Of course, Datlow saved the best for last.

Those were my five star stories, but I also had a few four star stories, so some honorable mentions are:

Red Wet Grin by Gemma Files
Children of the Night by Stephen Graham Jones
The Smell of Waiting by Kaaron Warren

This is my first Datlow anthology, and while I wasn’t as happy with it as expected, I do plan on reading more of her compilations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the chance to read this advanced review copy. I’m a day late, but Screams from the Dark is available now!

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