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Tales of the Damned: A Collection of Classic Horror Stories
This spine-chilling collection features retellings of eight classic horror stories.
From the disturbing short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, to gothic classics and chilling ghost stories, this striking anthology is the perfect introduction to the world of horror.
Includes:
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Masque of the Red Death
Bluebeard
And many more...
From the disturbing short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, to gothic classics and chilling ghost stories, this striking anthology is the perfect introduction to the world of horror.
Includes:
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Masque of the Red Death
Bluebeard
And many more...
128 pages, Hardcover
Published September 14, 2023
5 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 31, 2024
RELATOS MALDITOS
Una colección de historias de terror clásicos
De Math Ralphs y Taylor Dolan
Ed. Hachette
En este libro se presentan versiones distintas de cuentos de terror clásicos, puedes encontrar a Edgar Allan Poe, por parte de los vampiros por supuesto que al Conde Drácula, de historias salidas de la tumba tenemos a La garra del mono, Caperucita Roja como un cuento de hadas oscuro, como nacimiento de un monstruo a Frankenstein, por parte de los cuentos de magia a Vasilisa la hija, Silva y acudiré como parte de los cuentos de fantasmas victorianos y como cierre a Barba Azul.
La idea me gusto, ya que nos narra estos clásicos del horror pero con otras versiones; el diseño del libro es genial, ya que esta completamente ilustrado y cada cuento al final nos da información de la historia o del tema del cuento.
Cabe mencionar que los cambios a estos cuentos son geniales, como que refresca la historia; mi favorito fue Frankenstein, ya que nos presenta un desarrollo con cambios y un desenlace diferente y muy bueno.
Creo que este libro es ideal para leerlo en estas épocas, donde el Halloween esta cerca, y que queremos leer algo de terror pero que no sea muy largo.
Una colección de historias de terror clásicos
De Math Ralphs y Taylor Dolan
Ed. Hachette
En este libro se presentan versiones distintas de cuentos de terror clásicos, puedes encontrar a Edgar Allan Poe, por parte de los vampiros por supuesto que al Conde Drácula, de historias salidas de la tumba tenemos a La garra del mono, Caperucita Roja como un cuento de hadas oscuro, como nacimiento de un monstruo a Frankenstein, por parte de los cuentos de magia a Vasilisa la hija, Silva y acudiré como parte de los cuentos de fantasmas victorianos y como cierre a Barba Azul.
La idea me gusto, ya que nos narra estos clásicos del horror pero con otras versiones; el diseño del libro es genial, ya que esta completamente ilustrado y cada cuento al final nos da información de la historia o del tema del cuento.
Cabe mencionar que los cambios a estos cuentos son geniales, como que refresca la historia; mi favorito fue Frankenstein, ya que nos presenta un desarrollo con cambios y un desenlace diferente y muy bueno.
Creo que este libro es ideal para leerlo en estas épocas, donde el Halloween esta cerca, y que queremos leer algo de terror pero que no sea muy largo.
October 24, 2024
4.5 Stars
What a fantastic book! It is filled with eight rewritten short horror stories and then a page afterwards with the history about that type of horror story.
Firstly, the illustrations in Tales of the Damned are utterly brilliant. They are so well done and not only look brilliant but really get the story and the horror aspects across. There was a perfect balance of words to illustrations as well.
The eight stories are:
The Masque of the Red Death
Dracula
The Monkey's Paw
Red Riding Hood
Frankenstein
Vasilisa the Daughter
Whistle and I'll Come to You
Bluebeard
All were brilliant, with Dracula and Frankenstein being my favourites. I didn't know half of the stories and that was actually great to read them and learn about them in such an accessible way.
I think it must be hard to rewrite a classic book, especially horror as so much relies on the atmosphere. So to make these stories short and still have such an impact is a real credit to the author.
I really liked that the themes were so varied too. We had vampires, ghosts, witches, evil men, scary fairytales and more. It was a brilliant selection!
I think it is also perfect for people that aren't huge horror fans but enjoy a spooky read around Halloween! I'm a wuss when it comes to scary things so rarely read them but really enjoyed this.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that fancies some short stories for Halloween and of course, horror fans.
Please note that I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
What a fantastic book! It is filled with eight rewritten short horror stories and then a page afterwards with the history about that type of horror story.
Firstly, the illustrations in Tales of the Damned are utterly brilliant. They are so well done and not only look brilliant but really get the story and the horror aspects across. There was a perfect balance of words to illustrations as well.
The eight stories are:
The Masque of the Red Death
Dracula
The Monkey's Paw
Red Riding Hood
Frankenstein
Vasilisa the Daughter
Whistle and I'll Come to You
Bluebeard
All were brilliant, with Dracula and Frankenstein being my favourites. I didn't know half of the stories and that was actually great to read them and learn about them in such an accessible way.
I think it must be hard to rewrite a classic book, especially horror as so much relies on the atmosphere. So to make these stories short and still have such an impact is a real credit to the author.
I really liked that the themes were so varied too. We had vampires, ghosts, witches, evil men, scary fairytales and more. It was a brilliant selection!
I think it is also perfect for people that aren't huge horror fans but enjoy a spooky read around Halloween! I'm a wuss when it comes to scary things so rarely read them but really enjoyed this.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that fancies some short stories for Halloween and of course, horror fans.
Please note that I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 19, 2024
I do love a short story, and what's not to love about this book? Not only did it give piecemeal horror stories - some of which I knew, some I didn't, but the art in this book was also stunning. Could have read a few more stories even! Tiny comment: quite a lot of spelling errors.
August 25, 2025
2.5… I really don’t think i liked this lol. i liked the illustration style, but felt at least in the first few stories that there should have been more illustrations, and that they were oddly placed/the images chosen to be illustrated were not the best options from the story provided, as well as one of the illustrations not aligning with the text. i did not enjoy the way dracula was re-written. i feel that the way the story was shortened cut out too many important plot points that pertained to the plot points the author chose to keep, so the story didn’t flow well, and the pieces of the story that were blatantly changed didn’t fit well in my opinion. i also did not enjoy the way Little Red Riding Hood was re-written; the “humorous” anecdotes added felt very out of place within the story. My favorite of the collection was the original story “Vasilisa The Daughter”, which I think also had some of the best artwork in the book. There were also many typos and issues with the actual text.
*I DID NOT READ THE FRANKENSTEIN REIMAGINING AS I PLAN TO READ FRANKENSTEIN LATER THIS YEAR AND DIDN’T WANT TO BE SPOILED
*I DID NOT READ THE FRANKENSTEIN REIMAGINING AS I PLAN TO READ FRANKENSTEIN LATER THIS YEAR AND DIDN’T WANT TO BE SPOILED
October 17, 2024
Las ilustraciones y apartados con datos sobre el terror entre cada cuento simplemente son magníficos 👌🏽
November 18, 2024
Una dosis de datos muy interesantes sobre la literatura de terror, me quedo con ganas de más, son buenos precisos y concisos. Información relevante y datos curiosos.
April 4, 2024
4.5⭐️!!
This was fantastic! I absolutely loved the layout of this book- from the introduction, to the well-timed illustrations, to the information spreads after each story, it was all so so good!!
I loved that the classic stories were retold, with some subtle and some dramatic changes. A particular favourite was the ending of Frankenstein which ended far less cleanly than the original, and definitely left an unnerving impression. Being familiar with some and less familiar with others, I think the choice to retell these stories in a recognisable but original way was a really great one :)
I think my favourite of the tales was, of course, The Masque of the Red Death (followed closely in second place by the Monkey’s Paw); I think the choice to address the reader directly really paid off, I left that story feeling the kind of discomfort I assume the original tale had in mind. The Monkey’s Paw was also fantastic- I’m not sure how much it differed from the original, but I will always love a horror that plays on the unknown, compared to guts and gore.
This is perfect for both horror enthusiasts and anyone who wants to dip their toe in the genre but may be intimidated by the classics. It gives you a taste of horror without the demands of one of the original texts!
Thank you Templar for this finished copy in exchange for an honest review xx
This was fantastic! I absolutely loved the layout of this book- from the introduction, to the well-timed illustrations, to the information spreads after each story, it was all so so good!!
I loved that the classic stories were retold, with some subtle and some dramatic changes. A particular favourite was the ending of Frankenstein which ended far less cleanly than the original, and definitely left an unnerving impression. Being familiar with some and less familiar with others, I think the choice to retell these stories in a recognisable but original way was a really great one :)
I think my favourite of the tales was, of course, The Masque of the Red Death (followed closely in second place by the Monkey’s Paw); I think the choice to address the reader directly really paid off, I left that story feeling the kind of discomfort I assume the original tale had in mind. The Monkey’s Paw was also fantastic- I’m not sure how much it differed from the original, but I will always love a horror that plays on the unknown, compared to guts and gore.
This is perfect for both horror enthusiasts and anyone who wants to dip their toe in the genre but may be intimidated by the classics. It gives you a taste of horror without the demands of one of the original texts!
Thank you Templar for this finished copy in exchange for an honest review xx
May 30, 2025
A collection of eight classic horror stories, adapted into a short story form, this book chills the blood. We see psychological horror, represented by Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"; supernatural horror, represented by "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (M.R. James) and "The Monkey's Paw" (W.W. Jacobs); survival horror, represented by "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault; gothic horror, represented by "Dracula" by Bram Stoker and "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley; slasher horror, represented by an adaptation of "Red Riding Hood" by Matt Ralphs; and pagan horror, represented by "Vasilisa the Daughter" by Matt Ralphs. Each adaptation or retelling was stunningly illustrated by Taylor Dolan. Dolan's illustrations brought the stories to life, intensifying the fear and disturbance caused by each story. This was even better than I could have anticipated.
At the beginning of the book in the "About This Book", Matt Ralphs clearly explains the theory of horror. Matt Ralphs explains the origins of the horror genre and the subgenres of horror, from supernatural horror featuring vampires and zombies to survival horror which pits protagonists against explainable phenomena — serial killers, cannibals, and harsh environments, for example. I found the introduction to the book very helpful in learning more about the genre itself, as the other segments throughout the book also do. I haven't read a horror book that so clearly explains the theory and literary history. This introduction set the stage well for the rest of this chilling and informative book.
As stated above, each story was adapted as needed to fit into an anthology of 125 pages. Frankenstein, for example, was greatly compacted to fit with seven other stories and explanations of literary history, as was Dracula. Some, though, were short stories to begin with (such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Red Riding Hood"), and they did not need to be adapted. Based on what I'd read of the horror books before I read this one, I feel that the stories decently followed the main ideas of the stories and the points of them. They were very good short versions of these classic horror stories.
After each tale came a two page explanation of literary history that is related to the given story. These explanations were on Edgar Allen Poe, vampires throughout history, returning to life from the grave, the fairy tales before being adapted, Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein), magic through the ages, ghosts and the rise of spiritualism, and the use of blood and gore in horror. The explanations were well-written and informative. I liked learning more about the history of horror from the Victorian Era onward. I especially enjoyed seeing and learning how the genre of horror has changed throughout the ages, in both themes and types of horror.
Now, I don't particularly care to critique each story, as the author of this book is not the author of most of the stories and the actual authors of many of the stories are dead by now, as they lived in the Victorian Era. However, I would like to say that Ralphs did a good job choosing stories to include. I had heard of many of these stories or authors before, and they were satisfyingly frightening and blood curdling. He thoughtfully adapted each story and stories of the same subgenre were not put right next to each other, allowing for some variety. My favorite was probably Frankenstein or "Masque of the Red Death".
Finally, I'd like to mention the art. I was honestly startled by how much I loved the art style. While I usually have a preference for highly 3D drawing styles, this was fitting for the book. It wasn't super realistic, and it looked relatively 2D. Characters often blended into each other somewhat, but that is okay in this book because the contrast in colors was more important and used in the book. For example, red and white might be used together to create a dynamic difference between blood and skin to illustrate the gore. Gold and white could be used to show the shadows in a dress while red contrasted with them to show the bright difference between a cape and the night sky. The artist, Taylor Dolan, created dynamic scenes in this book that truly bring the stories to life, leaving just enough to the imagination that even the art adds to the fear felt by a reader.
I can't recommend this enough to any horror lover or anyone who is interested in literary history. Good job on this one to Ralphs and Dolan!
At the beginning of the book in the "About This Book", Matt Ralphs clearly explains the theory of horror. Matt Ralphs explains the origins of the horror genre and the subgenres of horror, from supernatural horror featuring vampires and zombies to survival horror which pits protagonists against explainable phenomena — serial killers, cannibals, and harsh environments, for example. I found the introduction to the book very helpful in learning more about the genre itself, as the other segments throughout the book also do. I haven't read a horror book that so clearly explains the theory and literary history. This introduction set the stage well for the rest of this chilling and informative book.
As stated above, each story was adapted as needed to fit into an anthology of 125 pages. Frankenstein, for example, was greatly compacted to fit with seven other stories and explanations of literary history, as was Dracula. Some, though, were short stories to begin with (such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Red Riding Hood"), and they did not need to be adapted. Based on what I'd read of the horror books before I read this one, I feel that the stories decently followed the main ideas of the stories and the points of them. They were very good short versions of these classic horror stories.
After each tale came a two page explanation of literary history that is related to the given story. These explanations were on Edgar Allen Poe, vampires throughout history, returning to life from the grave, the fairy tales before being adapted, Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein), magic through the ages, ghosts and the rise of spiritualism, and the use of blood and gore in horror. The explanations were well-written and informative. I liked learning more about the history of horror from the Victorian Era onward. I especially enjoyed seeing and learning how the genre of horror has changed throughout the ages, in both themes and types of horror.
Now, I don't particularly care to critique each story, as the author of this book is not the author of most of the stories and the actual authors of many of the stories are dead by now, as they lived in the Victorian Era. However, I would like to say that Ralphs did a good job choosing stories to include. I had heard of many of these stories or authors before, and they were satisfyingly frightening and blood curdling. He thoughtfully adapted each story and stories of the same subgenre were not put right next to each other, allowing for some variety. My favorite was probably Frankenstein or "Masque of the Red Death".
Finally, I'd like to mention the art. I was honestly startled by how much I loved the art style. While I usually have a preference for highly 3D drawing styles, this was fitting for the book. It wasn't super realistic, and it looked relatively 2D. Characters often blended into each other somewhat, but that is okay in this book because the contrast in colors was more important and used in the book. For example, red and white might be used together to create a dynamic difference between blood and skin to illustrate the gore. Gold and white could be used to show the shadows in a dress while red contrasted with them to show the bright difference between a cape and the night sky. The artist, Taylor Dolan, created dynamic scenes in this book that truly bring the stories to life, leaving just enough to the imagination that even the art adds to the fear felt by a reader.
I can't recommend this enough to any horror lover or anyone who is interested in literary history. Good job on this one to Ralphs and Dolan!
October 27, 2024
Relatos malditos: Una colección de historias de terror clásicas de Matt Ralphs en colaboración con @hachettelivremx
“Diario de Victor Frankenstein, Ingolstadt, Alemania, 1793: Veré a mi mejor amigo para unos tragos, y debo fingir que esta tarde fue como cualquier otra. Él preguntará, “¿qué has estado haciendo?”. A lo que yo responderé, “estudiar para la lección de anatomía de mañana, lo normal.”
En este libro encontramos una magnifica recopilación a manera de resumen de todos aquellos cuentos e historias tenebrosas que hemos conocido desde siempre, y que nos encantan a todos los amantes de los clásicos y el terror.
Personalmente siempre me han encantado dentro de la literatura estas historias llenas de fantasmas y sospechosos de crímenes. Una historia con un toque oscuro siempre me va a parecer más interesante.
Ahora, al ya haber leído de manera individual algunos de estos relatos, como lo es Frankenstein y Drácula, encontrármelos en esta versión más pequeña e ilustrada aumenta mi pequeña colección, y será el ejemplar con el cual espero poder crear varios pequeños lectores dentro de mi círculo más cercano.
Todas las páginas están llenas de color e ilustraciones, y leerlas en estos días de lluvia, frío y con Halloween a la vuelta de la esquina fue una experiencia espectacular. Absolutamente todo de él me encantó, además de ser un libro pequeño y ligero que se lee rapidísimo.
Recomendado para todo público que disfrute de leer clásicos, terror y thriller.
¿Cuál es tu clásico de terror preferido?
“Diario de Victor Frankenstein, Ingolstadt, Alemania, 1793: Veré a mi mejor amigo para unos tragos, y debo fingir que esta tarde fue como cualquier otra. Él preguntará, “¿qué has estado haciendo?”. A lo que yo responderé, “estudiar para la lección de anatomía de mañana, lo normal.”
En este libro encontramos una magnifica recopilación a manera de resumen de todos aquellos cuentos e historias tenebrosas que hemos conocido desde siempre, y que nos encantan a todos los amantes de los clásicos y el terror.
Personalmente siempre me han encantado dentro de la literatura estas historias llenas de fantasmas y sospechosos de crímenes. Una historia con un toque oscuro siempre me va a parecer más interesante.
Ahora, al ya haber leído de manera individual algunos de estos relatos, como lo es Frankenstein y Drácula, encontrármelos en esta versión más pequeña e ilustrada aumenta mi pequeña colección, y será el ejemplar con el cual espero poder crear varios pequeños lectores dentro de mi círculo más cercano.
Todas las páginas están llenas de color e ilustraciones, y leerlas en estos días de lluvia, frío y con Halloween a la vuelta de la esquina fue una experiencia espectacular. Absolutamente todo de él me encantó, además de ser un libro pequeño y ligero que se lee rapidísimo.
Recomendado para todo público que disfrute de leer clásicos, terror y thriller.
¿Cuál es tu clásico de terror preferido?
October 29, 2024
Tales of the Damned by Matt Ralphs, beautifully illustrated by Taylor Dolan, contains seven retellings of classic horror stories of varying lengths, and from different genres, such as The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and the traditional fairy tale Red Riding Hood. There is an eighth, chilling, original story to send shivers up your spine by Matt Ralphs too, entitled Vasilisa the Daughter. An intriguing introduction prefaces the collection, and each story is followed by a fascinating postscript delving into its history and special features.
These tales are gruesome indeed, and absolutely perfect for an adult audience (older teens too). Ralphs does an excellent job in his retellings, and cleverly condenses down the essentials of the novels to maintain the atmosphere and story incredibly well. I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
These tales are gruesome indeed, and absolutely perfect for an adult audience (older teens too). Ralphs does an excellent job in his retellings, and cleverly condenses down the essentials of the novels to maintain the atmosphere and story incredibly well. I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
May 8, 2024
Я в перші хвилини: вау, цікава збірка, прикольні малюнки та ще англійською
Я в останні: шоо? Баба Яга!? У вас не було іншого прикладу спалення, бляха, відьом? 2023 року видання, і до сих пір можна побачити цей шлак. Дякую
P.S. 1 бал за мальовку, другий за історію горору після кожної історії та третій за дед русню (Дракула), далі мінус 2 за згадку про вищезгадану істоту (я знаю, що першоджерело було не в росії, але це не відміняє факту що при пошуку вибиває саме їхню культуру)
Дякую за увагу і поменше шлаку!
Я в останні: шоо? Баба Яга!? У вас не було іншого прикладу спалення, бляха, відьом? 2023 року видання, і до сих пір можна побачити цей шлак. Дякую
P.S. 1 бал за мальовку, другий за історію горору після кожної історії та третій за дед русню (Дракула), далі мінус 2 за згадку про вищезгадану істоту (я знаю, що першоджерело було не в росії, але це не відміняє факту що при пошуку вибиває саме їхню культуру)
Дякую за увагу і поменше шлаку!
October 28, 2025
[EN]
This was an interesting book. The stories were creepy and I really liked the informational sections about who wrote it, the time period it was written in and how this type of horror came to be during that era.
[FR]
Ce livre était intéressant. Les histoire était creepy et j'ai beaucoup aimé les sections informatives à propos des personnes qui ont écrit les différentes histoires, la période durant laquelle l'histoire a été écrite et comment le type d'horreur est né durant cette période.
This was an interesting book. The stories were creepy and I really liked the informational sections about who wrote it, the time period it was written in and how this type of horror came to be during that era.
[FR]
Ce livre était intéressant. Les histoire était creepy et j'ai beaucoup aimé les sections informatives à propos des personnes qui ont écrit les différentes histoires, la période durant laquelle l'histoire a été écrite et comment le type d'horreur est né durant cette période.
November 3, 2024
Relatos cortos de historias de terror clásicas que han trascendido durante años y con ilustraciones. Me gustó que entre cada relato el autor de información! No suelo leer clásicos y tampoco libros de terror, pero sin duda con este libro me dieron ganas de lanzarme a leerlos.
November 21, 2023
Really enjoyed the retellings, particular the bits of humour added by the author. The stories were all scary in different ways.
January 27, 2025
C’était très sympa à lire. J’ai aimé en apprendre plus sur des contes traditionnels qui sont accompagnés d’illustrations magnifiques mais évidemment glauques.
March 28, 2025
fuck i love horror and creepy stories
October 26, 2023
Lovely book, great introduction to classic horror with a bit of history and interesting information after each story. I really enjoyed it and shared some of the stories with my daughter, for her first experience of the genre, although Riding Hood was a bit too graphic, so I skipped some parts for her, but she enjoyed the Monkeys Paw very much! Great!
January 27, 2024
Story collections are a wonderful thing, all bound up between the covers of one book we find more than one story, usually short stories too which means that if we don’t have too much reading time, we can still read a whole story. Now, as it is Halloween, and Autumn it is the perfect time of year for short spooky, scary stories. The nights come in earlier, the dark is dark, and our imaginations love it! Does your imagination love to be scared? I hope so for Matt Ralphs has taken some classic stories, ones we might know very well, and given them a very dark twist. Add to this the simply gruesome two-tone illustrations of Taylor Dolan (they are quite simply macabre) and you have a collection of stories in Tales of the Damned: A Collection of Classic Horror Stories that I guarantee you will be wanting to read with the lights on!
Matt Ralphs doesn’t just present the stories on their own, they are all introduced with horror themed spreads, sharing with us some of the background to the stories and the way they have been used over many, many years to scare people… It’s fascinating and encourages you to see each of the stories in a new light, to understand how and why, and how effectively, they can be adapted to different settings. We all know that tales of monsters, murderous and murderers, ghosts, ghouls, and other things that go bump in the night have fascinated and scared us all in equal measure for thousands of years, now it is our turn to experience that again with some classics retold in this collection. Meet White Riding Hood and learn how her cloak turned that bright red colour we know so well. See both Dracula and Frankenstein in a new light, explore Victorian ghost stories, tales from the grave and learn about the ancient art of magic. With so much to explore this book is a must read for this season and beyond.
Matt Ralphs doesn’t just present the stories on their own, they are all introduced with horror themed spreads, sharing with us some of the background to the stories and the way they have been used over many, many years to scare people… It’s fascinating and encourages you to see each of the stories in a new light, to understand how and why, and how effectively, they can be adapted to different settings. We all know that tales of monsters, murderous and murderers, ghosts, ghouls, and other things that go bump in the night have fascinated and scared us all in equal measure for thousands of years, now it is our turn to experience that again with some classics retold in this collection. Meet White Riding Hood and learn how her cloak turned that bright red colour we know so well. See both Dracula and Frankenstein in a new light, explore Victorian ghost stories, tales from the grave and learn about the ancient art of magic. With so much to explore this book is a must read for this season and beyond.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews