A review by andreablythe
The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural by Herbie Brennan, Annette Curtis Klause, Holly Black, M.T. Anderson, Chris Wooding, Marcus Sedgwick, Libba Bray, Kelly Link, Nancy Etchemendy, Deborah Noyes
4.0
This anthology of presents ten short stories by young adult authors, involving zombies, vampires, ghosts, and all other restless dead not so easily defined.
The collection as a whole is quite good, as the writers selected really know their craft. There are two traditional ghost stories in the book ("The House and the Locket" and "No Visible Power"), which are well written and developed, but are also rather generic and predictable for my tastes (maybe I've just grown out of ghost stories). My favorites are below.
-- I read "The Wrong Grave" in Kelly Link's collection of stories, Pretty Monsters. The tale of a boy who accidentally digs up the wrong grave was just as creepy and humorous the second time around.
-- In "Kissing Dead Boys," Annette Curtis Klause presents a story steeped in the dangerous and addictive lust of vampires.
-- "The Necromancers," by Herbie Brennan, is a darkly comic tale of two brothers who raise the dead with unexpected results.
-- As an author Libba Bray continues to surprise me, and her story "Bad Things" gave me genuine chills. It's a terrifying and disturbing story of two brothers with images that haunt me well after the story is over.
-- Holly Black's "The Poison Eaters" is a dark fairytale of murder and political intrigue.
-- "Honey in the Wound," by Nancy Etchemendy , is a more traditional zombie tale (of the voodoo-ish variety).
The collection as a whole is quite good, as the writers selected really know their craft. There are two traditional ghost stories in the book ("The House and the Locket" and "No Visible Power"), which are well written and developed, but are also rather generic and predictable for my tastes (maybe I've just grown out of ghost stories). My favorites are below.
-- I read "The Wrong Grave" in Kelly Link's collection of stories, Pretty Monsters. The tale of a boy who accidentally digs up the wrong grave was just as creepy and humorous the second time around.
-- In "Kissing Dead Boys," Annette Curtis Klause presents a story steeped in the dangerous and addictive lust of vampires.
-- "The Necromancers," by Herbie Brennan, is a darkly comic tale of two brothers who raise the dead with unexpected results.
-- As an author Libba Bray continues to surprise me, and her story "Bad Things" gave me genuine chills. It's a terrifying and disturbing story of two brothers with images that haunt me well after the story is over.
-- Holly Black's "The Poison Eaters" is a dark fairytale of murder and political intrigue.
-- "Honey in the Wound," by Nancy Etchemendy , is a more traditional zombie tale (of the voodoo-ish variety).