reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

I thought I was close to being done with this, then looked and saw I had over 2 hours left, and I just couldn't face carrying on with it.
 
The HUGE issue with my experience was the narration of the audiobook. The book itself seemed 3 star-ish, but I think I would have continued it if it weren't for the ATROCIOUS narration.
 
The narrator for Caro was fine, I had no issues with them. BUT, the narrators for Sally and Pauly were SO bad. Their cadence was so weird and disjointed. Sentences were broken up and it was impossible to feel the flow of the story - I even completely lost track of what the characters were saying in places because everything was so clipped while also being unnecessarily drawn out.
 
Sally and Pauly's narrators also gave pretty much no emotion or feeling. This may have been a stylistic choice, but due to the baffling reading cadence, I'm more convinced that they're just not very good voice actors. 
 
It's a true shame that the narration made me DNF this book, as I thought it discussed some interesting ideas. I just couldn't get past the audiobook’s lacklustre delivery.  

Some of the stories were really good, some not so much. As a horror fan, I wanted some of them to delve more into horror or get darker, but I realise this isn't the point of the collection. 

For a collection of so many authors, I would have expected there to be some more diversity in the characters (there is only one obviously POC character).  

As a collection I was debating between a 3.5 or a 3.75 star rating. All of the stories felt very cohesive, apart from The Hanging of the Greens which seemed very out of place (more details below). If it weren't for the lack of diversity and final story, I would have given it more.

A Study in Black and White - 4 stars
A good opener.

Thwaite's Tenant - 4.5 stars
The real horror in this one is how men think they have the right to own women.

The Eel Singers - 5 stars
This one was nice and eerie. I thought it was so masterful how Pulley created such realised, close, and complex relationships between characters is such a short space of time. Also, the only story with a specified POC character. 

Lily Wilt - 3.5 stars
I thought the pacing was a little off in this one, and needed more development in the second half to truly feel spooky. 

The Chillingham Chair - 4.5 stars
Quite predictable, but very well told. 

The Hanging of the Greens - 3 stars
This one lost me a little bit, there were some interesting ideas, but it all seemed very convoluted, almost like Hurley was trying too hard to be clever. I also felt the prose wasn't as good as those in the other stories, which all had a haunting, lyrical feel. This one felt more Stephen King. I also couldn't tell what time period it was in. All the others were pretty clearly set in the 1800s, so it was weird that this one was later with seemingly modern cars? Maybe by itself I wouldn't have notice these things, but the story felt out of place in the collection. 

Confinement - 5 stars 
Oof, this is definitely the best story in there. Truly haunting, and gross seeing how little autonomy can be granted to vulnerable people, especially pregnant/post-partum women. 

Monster - 1 star
A horribly disappointing ending. There was nothing about ghosts or hauntings. It was just about a horrible rapist with delusions, and it seemed like the author was an apologist. She tried really hard to excuse him for his behaviour at the end of the story, all because his mother never showed him any love. Incel vibes. Also, some of the prose was very confusing, but obviously not in an intentional way, just in a badly written way.

I enjoyed this book, especially at the beginning. The 'magic' in it was interesting, and I always love a bit of Norse mythology.

However, the ending felt rushed and wasn't very impactful.

I also really don't like characters magically coming back from the dead in most cases, so that ruined the ending for me. I feel like its overdone and ruins the suspense/emotion of the story.

There was also fatphobia at the beginning, and I didn't like the main character calling herself ugly or looking like a monster for as long as she did. 

I probably won't be continuing the series, but it was a fun read.

Never have I hated a character more than EVERY SINGLE man in this book. Hendrix managed to write amazingly realistic characters who I utterly despised. The husbands were almost more horrible to read about than the horror elements themselves.

This book was an enticing mix of murder mystery and vampire novel, and included really impactful explorations of misogyny/abusive relationships and casual/socially ingrained racism. 

Trigger warning for pretty much everything you could ever think of. 

Oh my God I was SO disappointed by this book - at times to the point of anger. 
 
I had to drag myself through it because I've heard this Era gets better, but like during Alloy of Law, I was just BORED and underwhelmed. How could the first trilogy have been so good, yet this is the follow-up??
 
If the next book doesn't get any better, I will probably have to give up on the series, which I REALLY don't want to have to do. 
 
So, here's a list of my issues with this book:
 
 - There was almost no worldbuilding or power growth. Alloy of Law at least established the new world, so there was some interest, but this had basically NONE. And I really enjoyed the power growth and learning in the first Era, but again, this one was devoid of it - all the characters just had the same abilities without learning anything throughout. 
 - All of the relationships between characters are so shallow and basic. 
 - Wayne was good comic relief at times, but just seems like a parody of a character, rather than a real, fleshed out person.
 - EVERYTHING seems so toned down, underdeveloped, and no way near as intriguing or complex as the first Era.
 - I hardly felt any emotions while reading it. The only times I did feel something were when characters from the first Era were referenced/made an appearance.
 - One of the plot points is that the world is stagnating because they have been provided with everything they need. In concept, this is a really interesting idea, but I think in trying to incorporate this, Sanderson just made the book a drag to read. 
 - Wax is supposed to have a lot weighing on him because he has to protect 'hundreds of thousands of people', but we never get to SEE them. We hardly get any insight into the non-nobility world, so Wax's worries about his responsibilities don't hit hard at all. In the first Era there were characters like Vin and Spook that were skaa and enabled an interesting power dynamic/class discussion. In this book they're all just privileged knobs.
 -

Bleeder's motivation for everything just being that she was 'mad' was such a weak motivation for a villain. Everything about her was so surface level, and her character just seemed like an excuse for destruction and conflict, rather than an organic villain story.

 - All of the reveals were 100% predictable and nothing shocked me at all. 
 
Just WHHYYY?? 

I've been wanting to read this for so long, and I'm so glad it didn't disappoint! 

This was such a beautiful book, and a really unique idea. I will be devouring the rest of the series.

Also, the positive trans rep was such a comfort to read - authors take note, this is exactly the kind of rep we need!

If you’re trans and reading this book, please make sure to look after yourself while doing so, especially if you’re yet to transition as much as you want to (either socially or physically). There are some lovely passages about acceptance and community, but the book also contains (important) discussions around dysphoria and repression. 
 
As a trans man myself, I found Elliot's memoir to be very validating - comforting and challenging in equal measure. 
   
Though this is a powerful book, unfortunately it’s not written very well. The writing was clunky and confusing in places, resulting in meanings and potentially impactful moments being lost. 

Greta is so powerful. 

I wasn't expecting to love this so much, but I really did! 

So many red herrings and so much deception, but they all made complete sense and I didn't see a single one coming.

I can't believe I thought Joyce was guilty, even for a second. Shame on me.

This was a nice enough domestic drama. Nothing much to say.