A review by errantdreams
The Hair Wreath and Other Stories by Halli Villegas
5.0
is a wonderful collection of horror and paranormal tales. Particularly at first I felt that some of them ended entirely too abruptly, when they just seemed to be hitting their stride, leaving me saying, “what was that?” They were still intriguing; they just didn’t entirely deliver on that intrigue. I found the rest of them so engrossing, however, that overall I love the book.
Many of the stories are surreal little nuggets. There are mysterious killings, and plenty of ghosts. Some hauntings are paranormally-based while others are purely human. People vanish and people die. Most of these are modern horror, but there’s even one sci-fi story; it’s focused enough on the horror that I think it didn’t particularly break the feel of the book. Many stories’ endings go unexplained (particularly those stories that end precipitously). I found many of the stories, particularly the longer ones, really engrossing. I just wish more of the tales had at least a smidgen of denouement. Or even, in some cases, an actual ending rather than simply a cessation of story.
Consider my rating a 4.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/short-take-the-hair-wreath-and-other-stories-halli-villegas/
Many of the stories are surreal little nuggets. There are mysterious killings, and plenty of ghosts. Some hauntings are paranormally-based while others are purely human. People vanish and people die. Most of these are modern horror, but there’s even one sci-fi story; it’s focused enough on the horror that I think it didn’t particularly break the feel of the book. Many stories’ endings go unexplained (particularly those stories that end precipitously). I found many of the stories, particularly the longer ones, really engrossing. I just wish more of the tales had at least a smidgen of denouement. Or even, in some cases, an actual ending rather than simply a cessation of story.
Consider my rating a 4.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/short-take-the-hair-wreath-and-other-stories-halli-villegas/