hazeyjane_2's review against another edition
3.0
Part of my rating is due simply towards my apathy to the tentacled horrors and the self-consciousness of the bizarre in Lovecraftian weird fiction. Many of his tropes are such cliches that I read them as pastiche, along the lines of "And it was all a dream and she woke up", except more like "And she saw a many-tentacled, reeking creature rise up from the serpentine depths of the buried ancient temple of Xyzzzgz, and she went mad."
Not being familiar with Lovecraft, I probably missed most of the specific allusions, e.g. albinism and the white apes. If I’d known this was a weird fiction collection prior to reading it, I probably wouldn’t have touched it.
As it was, my top stories were the ones more rooted in human relationships than the eldritch.
Standouts:
1. The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad
2. The Energy of Your Body is Violet - excellent low-key horror
3. De Deabus Miniabus Exterioris
4. The Cypress God
5. Queen of a New America
6. Provenance - brilliantly written, and it was only one of two to creep me out (the other being The Energy of Your Body).
7. Shub-Niggurath’s Wife
I liked Magna Mater and The Adventurer’s Wife for their take on European colonialism. Turn on the Light was a good metafictiony response to Lovecraft himself.
Skipped:
* Ammutseba Rising. The vagueness was too generic for me. It was a clever format and I love a good rondel, but the best rondels and villanelles go somewhere. This didn’t seem to progress, it just seemed repetitive.
* Hairwork, Body to Body to Body, Cthulhu of the Dead Sea, The Opera Singer, Notes Found in a Ddcomissioned Asylum, The Eye of Juno - just too long and overwritten, or the style didn’t keep my interest
Not being familiar with Lovecraft, I probably missed most of the specific allusions, e.g. albinism and the white apes. If I’d known this was a weird fiction collection prior to reading it, I probably wouldn’t have touched it.
As it was, my top stories were the ones more rooted in human relationships than the eldritch.
Standouts:
1. The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad
2. The Energy of Your Body is Violet - excellent low-key horror
3. De Deabus Miniabus Exterioris
4. The Cypress God
5. Queen of a New America
6. Provenance - brilliantly written, and it was only one of two to creep me out (the other being The Energy of Your Body).
7. Shub-Niggurath’s Wife
I liked Magna Mater and The Adventurer’s Wife for their take on European colonialism. Turn on the Light was a good metafictiony response to Lovecraft himself.
Skipped:
* Ammutseba Rising. The vagueness was too generic for me. It was a clever format and I love a good rondel, but the best rondels and villanelles go somewhere. This didn’t seem to progress, it just seemed repetitive.
* Hairwork, Body to Body to Body, Cthulhu of the Dead Sea, The Opera Singer, Notes Found in a Ddcomissioned Asylum, The Eye of Juno - just too long and overwritten, or the style didn’t keep my interest
ohhdeanna's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5. This had some really standout stories in it for me, but then some stories that kind of fell short. I loved these ones especially: De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris by Jilly Dreadful; Lockbox by E. Catherine Tobler; Hairwork by Gemma Files; Eight Seconds by Pandora Hope; The Eye of Juno by Eugenie Mora; Cthulhu of the Dead Sea by Inkeri Kontro and The Cypress God by Rodopi Sisamis. Lots of creepiness, badass female characters and really intriguing plots that left me wanting more.
I felt great joy reading this diverse, feminist collection of eldritch horror knowing that it would likely have H.P. Lovecraft turning in his grave! 😂
I felt great joy reading this diverse, feminist collection of eldritch horror knowing that it would likely have H.P. Lovecraft turning in his grave! 😂
erimia's review
3.0
Disappointing. When the collection was just being advertised, it was promising stories centering around female characters from Lovecraft's stories and collaborations, but it seems that authors couldn't amass enthusiasm to write enough stories to fill the collection, so the half of the book consists of tales that are about original characters and mostly have very little to do with Mythos or Lovecraftian literature. And even most stories about Lovecraft's characters here don't engage with them deeply and often are focused on original characters too. As a result, what could have been an original and enriching concept turned into an another generic "we are going to fix Lovecraft" book.
Stories that I liked the most: "Eight Seconds", "Hairwork", "Turn Out the Light", "Violet is the Color of Your Energy", "Body to Body to Body", "Notes Found in a Decomissioned Asylum".
Stories that I liked the most: "Eight Seconds", "Hairwork", "Turn Out the Light", "Violet is the Color of Your Energy", "Body to Body to Body", "Notes Found in a Decomissioned Asylum".
literarypenguin's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.0
This was a interesting collection of short stories inspired by H.P.Lovecraft but I do wish we could have had just a little bit more than what we got. The stories themselves weren't terrible but some of the stories took too much exposition or were a bit of a let down especially coming from stories based on Lovecraft's work. The changes that were made to the stories did fit very well and even added a bit to each story. A difference in tone could have helped this book as well, it just felt like all the stories had a continuous dark tone and didn't break up the dark tone with anything else. Those are just my personal opinions though but I still really enjoyed the book regardless.
My favorite stories were: Shub-Niggurath's Witnesses, ( The dark humor was a very good choice and I loved watching the antics of these door to door cultists.) De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris Theomagicae, ( A tale of a woman slowly succumbing to madness as she studies a book that shouldn't be studied.) and the Cypress God ( A story of a young girl who is finally pushed to her limit after being ignored by others for too long.)
My favorite stories were: Shub-Niggurath's Witnesses, ( The dark humor was a very good choice and I loved watching the antics of these door to door cultists.) De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris Theomagicae, ( A tale of a woman slowly succumbing to madness as she studies a book that shouldn't be studied.) and the Cypress God ( A story of a young girl who is finally pushed to her limit after being ignored by others for too long.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Incest
arthurbdd's review
3.0
I applaud the concept, but the hit/miss ratio doesn't win me over. Full review:
https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2020/11/02/from-out-of-the-shadows-a-spotlight-on-women/
juliav's review
dark
mysterious
fast-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
2.75
gotoboston's review against another edition
4.0
I was meant to read this in 2021, and I just couldn't get to it in time. But this was an excellent anthology and liked almost every story in it. Which is unusual, as usually one story in a collection stands out and the rest tend to be meh. But overall I thought all the stories were fairly well done and the art was awesome.