Violent Advents: A Christmas Horror Anthology - Edited by L. Stephenson - ★★★.¼

 

EDITOR: L. Stephenson

GENRE: Christmas Horror Anthology

PUBLICATION DATE: December 12, 2024

RATING: 3.3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A short-fiction anthology filled with Christmassy horror. Some really good stories here, though I wish there had been more variety in the “source of the evil.” A good option for those who are fed up of saccharine seasonal stories.

This is the time of the year when readers are torn between spooky season and Christmas season. Here's a book that combines both. 😉

This indie anthology contains twenty-six stories by twenty-six writers. There’s no editor’s note, but the title and the tagline make the theme clear – it is a “Christmas horror” anthology. The stories are mostly fast-paced, which works well in this genre.

After the first few stories, I wondered why a majority of them were using the Christmas tree as the horror device-of-choice. It occurred frequently enough for me to start eyeing every Christmas tree in the stories suspiciously. Only after rereading the blurb did I notice this factor already mentioned – “why you should never turn your back on the centrepiece of this joyous holiday...the Christmas tree.” Oh well, my bad! I do wish there hadn’t been such a limitation placed on the contributors. While the Christmas tree does offer tremendous potential for horrifying stories (and some stories really used the tree in the creepiest way possible!), the experience begins getting repetitive after a while. That said, some stories in the book break this requirement and use some other festive aspect to deliver the scares – these felt refreshing.

The blurb also mentions that there are twenty-six illustrations in the book. I cannot comment on this as my copy had no graphics at all. A bit disappointed at this!

While it is easier to guess the potential rating for single-author story collections, it is much tougher to estimate for multi-author anthologies, as each author can have varying writing skills and experience. While there is no lack of creativity in this book, the inexperience of some of the contributing authors shows. For instance, in a couple of the stories with first person narration, the gender of the speaker isn't immediately clear. Some stories had too much telling in the writing, which affected my concentration.

At the same time, I must mention the two things I loved about the collection. First, all royalties will be donated to The British Heart Foundation and the American Heart Association. Second, the twenty-six stories come with an Advent calendar, with Story One to be read on Dec 1, and so on, making its way ahead all the way to Boxing Day. The date is mentioned just before the title of the story. Such a nice idea! I obviously couldn’t follow the Advent calendar, but I read 2-3 stories a day and that helped me handle the spookier tales without losing my sleep.

Horror as a genre speaks differently to different people. I don’t like reading horror novels, but in smaller doses such as short stories, they can be fun. However, individual preferences do come into play. To those who love gory horror, this book will probably be a treat. Not being a fan of splatter punk, I am more into atmospheric horror. So my ratings reflect my choice and not necessarily the quality of the stories, though I have tried to be fair to all of them.

As always I rated the stories individually. Most of the stories were around 3 stars for me, meaning I liked them, but I probably expected something different or something more from them. Some stories did blow me away. Here are my favourites!

🎄 I Heard the Screams On Christmas Eve - Jason Kyriacou: This could easily have been among the best stories of the collection with fewer characters and more details, especially about the whys and the hows. But what was there was also creepy enough. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 Dead December - Bethany Russo: This story finally made me acknowledge that spiders can indeed be scary. 😳 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 A Slay Ride, With Skeletal Remains - Christopher La Vigna: Just when I thought that my tolerance for horror was improving came this story to shatter my illusion. Eeeks! It gave me nightmares! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 The Disappearance of Casey Greene - Alyssa E. Stadnyk: One heck of a twisty tale! I kept thinking I knew where it was going and every time, I was proven wrong. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🎄 Death is Only the Beginning - Y.M. Miller: Would have been a great emotional story had it not been part of a horror anthology. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 Maggot Party - Caleb James K: I was dreading this one because of the title. I was right to dread it. Ugh! I often like to put myself in the character's shoes and wonder what I'd have done in their place. For this story, I have no answer. An extra half star for writing a gory story without any gore on the page. Way to send my imagination into uncharted territory! 😬 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 O Tannembaum - Lennox Rex: Excellent in atmosphere as well as horror. I can’t believe this story was slotted for “Christmas Day” in the Advent calendar - Gosh! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all, this has quite a lot to keep horror lovers happy. I wish I had enjoyed this genre more, but too much of gore and brutality does saturate me. That said, I quite liked the range of the stories.

Recommended to horror fans. The book would make a nice festive gift to horror readers, and the fact that royalties go for a worthy cause should spur you further to grab a copy.

3.3 stars, based on the average of my rating for each story.

My thanks to Zooloo’s Book Tours and editor L. Stephenson for a complimentary digital ARC of 'Violent Advents', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

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Blurb:

There is more to fear on a silent night than who is coming down the chimney. The writers of this anthology present to you a feast of festive frights. Read them if you dare, and find out why you should never turn your back on the centerpiece of this joyous holiday...the Christmas tree.

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Check out this book:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213574042-violent-advents

Purchase from: https://mybook.to/violentadvents-zbt

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This has been a stop on the #ViolentAdvents blog tour conducted by Zooloo's Book Tours. (@ZooloosBookTours on Insta.) Thanks for stopping by!