Reviews

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James

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anttirask's review against another edition

3.0

I used to love ghost stories. I think I still would, but getting older, being amused, let alone scared, by them is certainly harder. And what this adapted collection of short stories by [a: M.R. James|2995925|M.R. James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1254798756p2/2995925.jpg] fails to do is to be scary.

Now, I haven't read M.R. James original stories so I don't know whether the problem lies there or in the adaptation, but I'm just letting you know that I'm judging this based on the graphic collection alone.

The illustration of one of the stories, The Mezzotint, gave this book its "third star". Fouad Mezher was a new one to me, but I will definitely seek out more of his work. The style brings to mind that of [a: Mike Mignola|10182|Mike Mignola|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1344350234p2/10182.jpg], but there is enough originality there for it to be more than a carbon copy.

lacewing's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

judassilver's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

ilseoo's review against another edition

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4.0

The ghost stories of M.R. James are chilling even though the horror is understated and sometimes only hinted at. The antiquarian setting, where old church engravings and library manuscripts contain demons from the past, create an element of terror where history comes back to haunt us. I enjoyed all these stories individually and would recommend this collection to lovers of (classic) ghost or horror stories. I do think that, when read together, you start to notice some returning narrative elements and settings and quite an unvarying template which is used as the basis of almost every story. Although the template is very effective, recognizing it can take away some of the tension or the impression of originality. Therefore, I would recommemd reading his stories on at a time, rather than back to back.