A review by seethinglloron
What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre by John Joseph Adams, Douglas Cohen
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.75
Incredible writing here! I'm not usually one to do this when I read anthologies, but I found myself stopping to look up authors and see if I could find other works they had written to read later! This is an incredible show of work here. There is maybe one story in here that wasn't for me, and that I found myself skimming just to get past it- but one out of so many is a great hit rate for anthologies, especially ones with such an interesting theme! Many of these stories take that idea of monsters and they RUN with it. Some standouts for me include:
- Fossil Heart by Amanda Downum
- Those Gaddam Cookies by Scott Sigler
- Little Widow by Maria Dahvana Headley
- Whose Drowned Face Sleeps by An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky