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MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Advanced Review Copy
BOOK DESCRIPTION
With this volume, you may add another felicitous five to the file of fives set forth above, for as hard as it is for me to believe, this is, indeed, the fifth collection I've assembled of amazing short stories by some of the best writers of science fiction and fantasy alive today, all of whom were guests on my podcast, The Worldshapers.
And you need not worry that the fine feel of five will fall to suspiciously slippery six, for this is not only the fifth of these anthologies, it is the final one.
While this is an anthology, I only read P.L. Stuart’s story Forest Dark.
🚨 I received an advanced reader copy, provided by one of the authors for an honest review. 🚨
This did not impact my rating in any way.
MY REVIEW
While this anthology features many great authors, I zeroed in on P.L. Stuart’s short story, Forest Dark, drawn by my love of his work. As an arc reader and fan, I’m always eager to jump back into the world of Acremia, this time as the title says, a shadowy corner known as the Forest Dark, a place dripping with eerie beauty and an otherworldly sense of dread. Stuart’s meticulous touch shines here, painting a haunting setting into the medieval-inspired realm of The Drowned Kindgom saga.
Where the main novels touch on the more elemental magic and the divine, this Forest Dark plunges headfirst into the supernatural with vympyrs, where’s Buffy when you need her? Vympyr are fierce, female predators of the night that add an extra layer of horror to an already GrimDark tale. The story centers on Goor and his daughter Saa, who live in a village rife with slavers and prejudice against the darker-skinned Anibians. Goor rejects the bigotry, teaching Saa the wrong in it, as the village holds Ija, an anibian woman captive.
“Nothing wrong with being scared. Fear keeps you alive. There are … bad things in the forest. Things we shouldn’t speak of.”
Stuart doesn’t shy away from the heavy themes, the vympyr, more good than bad, wage a bloody crusade against oppression, ravaging one village at a time. The second part of the story adds a really good little twist as it time jumps twenty years into the future, the vympyr still haunt the Forest Dark, and these nightmarish beings could reveal themselves within the main novels very soon.
This is a must-read for fans of The Drowned Kingdom saga, as a Stuart devotee, I relished this darker, supernatural addition, it’s like a gothic fairytale carved into Acremias still-beating heart. My only gripe is that this gripping tale left me hungry for more.
Wolfmantula.com 