A review by monakabbani
Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors by Todd Keisling
3.0
“I know a lot of names, kiddo. I speak a language of them, but right now, yours is my only tongue.”
Here are eleven stories of torment. Eleven stories of confusion and torture. Eleven stories recounting the lives of individuals who have been bulldozed over by a dark force they never saw coming.
Todd Keisling has a simple syntax structure which allows for one’s vivid imagination to take over. The read is a breeze and the stories are interesting. Many of them follow the same theme of a beautiful woman demonically torturing male souls. I actually saw on Goodreads someone complain about how that story arch is overused and we need something new. And my response to that is I need MORE beautiful demonic women torturing men. I thrive for it. But this anthology has more to offer than just that. We have possessed Greyhounds and stalker Devils. What treats!
My negative is that the writing is often stretched in a few of these stories. It drags a bit in detail where I wanted to just push on with the story. The pacing is about medium speed because of this.
Top Three:
Saving Granny From the Devil (The moral to this story caught me off guard with such an impactful message.)
When Karen Met Her Mountain (This was just badass.)
The Final Reconciliation (This story was for me maybe 5 pages too long but worth it in the end. The ending didn’t sucker punch me too much but being carried along for the ride was surreal. I love the rockstar age.)
Here are eleven stories of torment. Eleven stories of confusion and torture. Eleven stories recounting the lives of individuals who have been bulldozed over by a dark force they never saw coming.
Todd Keisling has a simple syntax structure which allows for one’s vivid imagination to take over. The read is a breeze and the stories are interesting. Many of them follow the same theme of a beautiful woman demonically torturing male souls. I actually saw on Goodreads someone complain about how that story arch is overused and we need something new. And my response to that is I need MORE beautiful demonic women torturing men. I thrive for it. But this anthology has more to offer than just that. We have possessed Greyhounds and stalker Devils. What treats!
My negative is that the writing is often stretched in a few of these stories. It drags a bit in detail where I wanted to just push on with the story. The pacing is about medium speed because of this.
Top Three:
Saving Granny From the Devil (The moral to this story caught me off guard with such an impactful message.)
When Karen Met Her Mountain (This was just badass.)
The Final Reconciliation (This story was for me maybe 5 pages too long but worth it in the end. The ending didn’t sucker punch me too much but being carried along for the ride was surreal. I love the rockstar age.)