Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from the publisher. 

This is a really interesting collection of horror stories often exploring grief and the body and hunger. While not all 18 pieces in this collection are long (in fact a few are just flash fiction pieces) I enjoyed the way the stories were structured in the anthology, trading off longer pieces with shorter ones, which made for a nice change of pace while reading. My favorites of the collection were Exuviae, Flesh Advent, The World of Iniquity Among Our Members Is the Tongue and The German Cousin, but there wasn’t a single story I did not enjoy (even the flash fiction pieces where enjoyable and managed to tell a story in the few words they were given). 

The writing absolutely excels both in the intriguing premises, but also in how it paints a picture of the haunting scenes, making the stories feel very atmospheric. I also loved the diversity of horror presented here, from academic, body and cult horror to parasite and psychological horror there’s something here for any fan of the macabre. 

All in all, I had a really fun time reading this collection and I can just recommend you check it out. Below you can find my thoughts on (nearly) all pieces included here (except for three very short flash fiction pieces) as well as trigger warnings (which are also included in the anthology itself!) 

The Consultant’s Hand: A haunting story about a university struggling to survive under recent budget cuts. I enjoyed the POV taken for this (second person, which I normally do not vibe with) but through the choice to include the narrator in the story and tell the tale as if it was being told to us it somehow worked and made the whole thing feel very intimate.
 TW: child death, death 

Estrangements: A father walks into his living room and finds his children transformed into monsters! The premise of this story is haunting and the emotional core of this horror story is very strong. I loved it.
 TW: car accident, child death, death, loss of sanity, matricide, murder, unreality 

*FAV* Exuviae: A haunting story about a strange family and the people that join it. I love a good parasite horror and this one really dug deep into the messy vibes of bone-deep terror, autonomy, violence and love.
 TW: body horror, gore, home invasion, kidnapping, loss of autonomy 

Bite-Apple: A short story about a little Halloween game. Very short, but I enjoyed the lore it built in that time. 

Feast of the Upside-Down Saint: A very short story about a town and the saint they worship. A bit too short for me to fully dig into it, but I loved the visuals.
 TW: abuse of authority, death, harm to children, injury, murder 

*FAV* Flesh Advent: A high school athlete, an English teacher and a chemistry teacher have teamed up for the purpose of All Flesh. A race to the finish line descends into a glorious body horror show down. Incredibly well written, horrifying and lyrical, I loved this one.
 TW: body horror, death, gore, injury 

A Goodnight Kiss from Aunt Spider: A young girl, grieving her grandmother, finds solace in watching Aunt Spider in the garden. Creepy, gross, fun, a great insect horror that makes great use of its child protagonist.
 TW: animal death, grief 

*FAV* The World of Iniquity Among Our Members Is the Tongue: A small town school finds its social structure changing, when a girl whose mother died and whose father, the preacher, turned to a fanatical interpretation of theology shows up wearing a mask one day. What starts out as a community trying to accept the oddities of one of their vulnerable members soon questions the ideas of acceptance versus willful ignorance. The ending was great and I really enjoyed this story.
 TW: death, grief, gore 

Winter Savory: A young man celebrates his first Christmas with his mother’s family and learns about their strange, violent rituals. Fun and gorey, I liked that one.
 TW: gore, torture, violence 

Osculum: Two people get real close on the dance floor. Nice gore. 

Graceful Degradation: A survivor of a horrific car crash is offered the chance to reclaim their life through an experimental medical trial of the definitely-not-a-neuralink brain interface, but of course things don’t go well. Horrifying.
 TW: death, injury, grief, medical abandonment 

Duet for Breath and Flame: A grieving man buys a little music box from two children on the street and soon finds himself obsessed with the strange instrument as the noises it makes remind him of his dead wife’s voice. The family that made the instrument unsettles and intrigues him too.
 TW: death, death by fire, grief 

Smoochfest: A man struggles to accept his new neighbors’ constant smooching. A really strange, but intriguing story.
 TW: dismemberment, murder, nonconsensual touch 

Dreamland Coffee: A cosmic horror story about a coffee shop where reality blurs and language fails. Intriguing. 

*FAV* The German Cousin: A family in ruins after the husband’s suicide and the German cousin, who arrives to support the grieving widow and her children. I loved the focus on the intricacies of language, as well as what gets lost in translation. And as someone who speaks German I enjoyed getting to understand all the references, even though “rühig” unfortunately seems to be a mistranslation/typo as the actual word is spelled “ruhig”. I really loved this story otherwise though, it’s great!
 TW: death, grief, harm to children, suicide 

TWs for the flash fiction pieces: Hydra (TW: death), Wheel of Meat (TW: death, gore, torture), How I Turned My Little Brother Human (TW: death, infant death). 

I liked them, but since they are so short I feel that giving my thoughts on them will spoil the plot.