Dark Stars features talented authors and varied subgenres of horror, but it’s not the most cohesive of short story collections.
This short story collection features a wide array of notable horror writers coming together as a homage to the 1980s horror anthology, Dark Forces. The stories tackle a variety of topics from psychological horror to dark fantasy. A young girl becomes the victim of a terrible summer fling. A man’s scientist spouse starts the wrong experiment when they’re locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic. A disillusioned doctor travels to a mysterious island. A man seeks to become a vampire’s familiar. These stories and more come together to create Dark Stars.
If you’re a lover of all types of horror, this anthology is perfect for you. It brings together a diverse range of horror stories to give you a taste of everything. It’s also fantastic if you’re new to horror and want to figure out what kind of stories you’re interested in. Dark Stars perfectly demonstrates the range of talent and writing in horror at the moment. At the same time, as an anthology, it didn’t feel cohesive. The stories differed so much that it was difficult to enjoy all of them, and the book was easy to put down and forget about. It would change drastically depending on personal taste, but some stories were excellent, and some didn’t hold my attention at all. As an anthology, Dark Stars does exactly what it set out to do, but that doesn’t mean it was completely enjoyable.
Thanks to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
John F D Taff is a Bram Stoker Award short-listed dark fiction author with more than 25 years experience, and more than 100 short stories and seven novels in print.
If you want to remember to check out this book you should Add to Goodreads!
You can pre/order the book from retail sites such as Blackwell’s!
I’d recommend checking out your local indie bookshop!
Luminosity Library 