A review by toastgrl
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror by John F.D. Taff
2.0
okay y'all, bear with me on this one.
Short-story compilations by multiple different authors are hard to rate of course, how can you rate an entire novel if you kinda liked one story but not the next? I had high hopes for this one as it was recommended by a horror artist I really love, calling it some of the 'scariest stories he's ever read' but it was just really hard for me to get that same feeling of fear from this one. There was a small handful of stories I REALLY enjoyed and I am excited to continue reading other books written by those authors, but there are some stories in here where I couldn't even tell you what they were about - not only because some of the writing felt disjointed or confusing, but also because they weren't good or creepy enough for my brain to retain them:
The Attentionist was okay, written kinda weird, but I enjoyed the premise and the two sisters and I felt that it ended on a creepy note.
I genuinely couldn't even tell you what A Life in Nightmares or All The Things He Called Memories was about, I've read Stephen Graham Jones before too and though I liked the way the story was written I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on and I also hate when they throw reality into the novels that I read (AKA - COVID-19)
Papa Eye - wtf? It was an okay story I guess but I'm still trying to figure out how this falls under horror at all
Volcano, I found out this one really resonated with the writer, she mentions at the end of the book that the story will most likely resonate with people in different ways - she knows herself how it resonated with her but she doesn't need to explain that, and I'm like, well maybe you should start explaining because idk what this story was about and I didn't like the main protagonist.
Swim In The Blood of a Curious Dream was interesting to say the least, though I'm not the biggest fan of ghost stories so maybe that's what dampened my spirit a bit. It just felt kinda random idk, didn't hook me.
Trinity River Blues was better than most but it still didn't stick out to me like crazy, I really enjoyed the characters in this one though. The Jazz Player ghost bestie was probably one of my favorite written characters out of this whole thing, I want him as my tagalong best friend!
The Sanguintalist, I never DNF anything but I literally couldn't finish this one. The writing was confusing as hell, I had to re-read the first couple of pages because I couldn't figure out what it was all about. There are some writers who can paint a perfect picture in your head, sadly this wasn't one of them!
My favorites from this series were:
The Familiars Assistant by Alma Katsu - this was was soooo dark and harrowing, had me wanting to read more the entire time, a great story about discovering who the 'real' monsters are in society. I wish this one was more than a short story.
Mrs Addison's Nest by Josh Malerman - Ahhhh this one was SO FUN!! And the premise is actually pretty out-there; four guys come back as adults to kill the Witch that royally fucked them up in grade school and though you were of course rooting for these guys, the ending was deliciously chilling and sort of sad. I added all of Malerman’s books to my TBR hahaha
and Challawa by Usman T. Malik - I loved loved loved all the history in this one, and he writes it in a way that doesn't keep it boring like you're reading a textbook. I definitely didn't know where this story was going when it started but I definitely loved where it ended. I loved all three of these equally but this one may have had the biggest impact and I already want to read it again!
It took me so long to get through this one and I'm not even going to lie I haven't read the last story yet - Enough For Hunger and Enough For Hate - when I get to it I'll come back to this review
Short-story compilations by multiple different authors are hard to rate of course, how can you rate an entire novel if you kinda liked one story but not the next? I had high hopes for this one as it was recommended by a horror artist I really love, calling it some of the 'scariest stories he's ever read' but it was just really hard for me to get that same feeling of fear from this one. There was a small handful of stories I REALLY enjoyed and I am excited to continue reading other books written by those authors, but there are some stories in here where I couldn't even tell you what they were about - not only because some of the writing felt disjointed or confusing, but also because they weren't good or creepy enough for my brain to retain them:
The Attentionist was okay, written kinda weird, but I enjoyed the premise and the two sisters and I felt that it ended on a creepy note.
I genuinely couldn't even tell you what A Life in Nightmares or All The Things He Called Memories was about, I've read Stephen Graham Jones before too and though I liked the way the story was written I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on and I also hate when they throw reality into the novels that I read (AKA - COVID-19)
Papa Eye - wtf? It was an okay story I guess but I'm still trying to figure out how this falls under horror at all
Volcano, I found out this one really resonated with the writer, she mentions at the end of the book that the story will most likely resonate with people in different ways - she knows herself how it resonated with her but she doesn't need to explain that, and I'm like, well maybe you should start explaining because idk what this story was about and I didn't like the main protagonist.
Swim In The Blood of a Curious Dream was interesting to say the least, though I'm not the biggest fan of ghost stories so maybe that's what dampened my spirit a bit. It just felt kinda random idk, didn't hook me.
Trinity River Blues was better than most but it still didn't stick out to me like crazy, I really enjoyed the characters in this one though. The Jazz Player ghost bestie was probably one of my favorite written characters out of this whole thing, I want him as my tagalong best friend!
The Sanguintalist, I never DNF anything but I literally couldn't finish this one. The writing was confusing as hell, I had to re-read the first couple of pages because I couldn't figure out what it was all about. There are some writers who can paint a perfect picture in your head, sadly this wasn't one of them!
My favorites from this series were:
The Familiars Assistant by Alma Katsu - this was was soooo dark and harrowing, had me wanting to read more the entire time, a great story about discovering who the 'real' monsters are in society. I wish this one was more than a short story.
Mrs Addison's Nest by Josh Malerman - Ahhhh this one was SO FUN!! And the premise is actually pretty out-there; four guys come back as adults to kill the Witch that royally fucked them up in grade school and though you were of course rooting for these guys, the ending was deliciously chilling and sort of sad. I added all of Malerman’s books to my TBR hahaha
and Challawa by Usman T. Malik - I loved loved loved all the history in this one, and he writes it in a way that doesn't keep it boring like you're reading a textbook. I definitely didn't know where this story was going when it started but I definitely loved where it ended. I loved all three of these equally but this one may have had the biggest impact and I already want to read it again!
It took me so long to get through this one and I'm not even going to lie I haven't read the last story yet - Enough For Hunger and Enough For Hate - when I get to it I'll come back to this review