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kimabill's review
4.0
This collection of horror/sci-fi/hard to categorize stories was very good and left me with such a sense of unease. Many of them had to do with something mysterious that the protagonist just couldn't quite see or figure out. The danger or threat was right there but you just couldn't quite see it. In one story, a passenger on a strange spaceship is convinced that there is a tiny smear on the glass panel in front of him. In a very "The Tell-Tale Heart" kind of way, he becomes obsessed with this smear and if he can get out of his protected spacesuit and space seat to investigate it. In another story, a man is so convinced that someone if watching him that he becomes a total recluse and then eventually flees the city and the dimension to get away from the completely unseen threat. Another story set on a doomed space station was so creepy and unsettling that it had me looking over my shoulder with intense paranoia. I really appreciated how the author could create such a sense of unease and frustration. It made me think of dreams I've had where I'm trying to read something but I can't quite see the words just right, or another dream where I'm hiding and I know the monster is right around the corner about the pounce and doom is inevitable.
chuckyscorner's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
alilysong's review
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
0.5
lame collection imo and wish i had both my time and money back. make no mistake, this is not literary horror, which is what it seems to be marketed as. it’s like, the antithesis of literary.
stylistically, this reminds me of paul tremblay’s the cabin at the end of the world. and i do mean that in the most pejorative, condescending way possible lol. i am to a degree influenced by the fact that i read this in conjunction with ray bradbury’s the october country collection of short stories which really highlights the inferiority in quality among this one. writing here is basic, clumsy and purely ineffective - establishes zero atmosphere/sense of the eerie/disturbing and wasn’t impressed with the ideas brought up in the sci-fi leaning stories. there was an attempt at snarky humor in the story ‘trigger warnings’ which would normally land for me, but the bit went on for too long.
would never have guessed this author has a phd in literature lol. the fact that he’s apparently frequently compared to kafka is laughable. completely flabbergasted by all the awards this thing has won.
slowly chipping away at my kindle purchases i made when i was being a dumbass and not reading samples prior to purchasing.
stylistically, this reminds me of paul tremblay’s the cabin at the end of the world. and i do mean that in the most pejorative, condescending way possible lol. i am to a degree influenced by the fact that i read this in conjunction with ray bradbury’s the october country collection of short stories which really highlights the inferiority in quality among this one. writing here is basic, clumsy and purely ineffective - establishes zero atmosphere/sense of the eerie/disturbing and wasn’t impressed with the ideas brought up in the sci-fi leaning stories. there was an attempt at snarky humor in the story ‘trigger warnings’ which would normally land for me, but the bit went on for too long.
would never have guessed this author has a phd in literature lol. the fact that he’s apparently frequently compared to kafka is laughable. completely flabbergasted by all the awards this thing has won.
slowly chipping away at my kindle purchases i made when i was being a dumbass and not reading samples prior to purchasing.
kjthompson01's review
5.0
Brian Evenson might have the most distinct voice in horror fiction and this collection might be his best one. There’s really no one that sounds remotely like him working in the genre. The comp that I always seem to come back to is actually Poe. Although he manages to evoke Poe’s signature motifs (paranoia and immersion into the logic of a mind breaking with reality), it never reads like pastiche. It’s more like he’s the second coming of Poe by way of Donald Barthleme.
Although the tales in Song for the Unraveling of the World didn’t haunt me quite as much as the best stories in Collapse of Horses, this collection is much more even and Evenson displays even more mastery of the absurdist style he brings to the horror genre. Evenson is also the best when it comes to the rhythm and cohesiveness of a collection in its totality. You can expect no less with these stories.
Although the tales in Song for the Unraveling of the World didn’t haunt me quite as much as the best stories in Collapse of Horses, this collection is much more even and Evenson displays even more mastery of the absurdist style he brings to the horror genre. Evenson is also the best when it comes to the rhythm and cohesiveness of a collection in its totality. You can expect no less with these stories.
smellie_mooo's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bukushelves's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5