Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
On paper, this is just my kind of book (no pun intended). I am an absolute tragic for folk horror- it’s just the right blend of menace, the unknown, and that very specific era of Hammer films where everyone was doing rituals in the woods. I did find, however, that this collection didn’t quite take me where I wanted to be.
One critical issue was that so many of the stories cut off. We got an existential threat, but they didn’t quite come through with as much scare factor as I would have liked, and it just made for some rather disappointing endings. I do think quite a few of these stories could have been longer form and we could have had a bit more meat on the bones.
The characters as well were a little too underwhelming for my taste, and I could have done with a bit more about them so I cared about them more.
There were, however, some absolutely stunning entries. One particular standout was dedicated to Cheddar Gorge, and had just the right level of ‘Lair of the White Worm’ nastiness. I would love to see a longer piece of work from this author in a similar vein- I feel like it would just scratch the right itch.