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Reviews tagging 'Violence'
The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights by Catriona Ward, Natasha Pulley, Laura Purcell, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Bridget Collins, Jess Kidd, Andrew Michael Hurley, Stuart Turton, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Elizabeth Macneal
8 reviews
francescaminney's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Two of the stories were EXCELLENT - The Salt Miracles and Widow’s Walk. Some of the others were good and some were not so good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, and Classism
Minor: Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and War
alexbooksandmore's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The Winter Spirits is an anthology of ghostly tales by twelve different authors, offering just the right level of spookiness for the Christmas season. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to finish it by Christmas, but it still made for an intriguing read afterward.
Despite the relatively short length of each story (30–50 pages), I found it somewhat challenging to adjust to the different writing styles. However, a few stories truly stood out for me: A Double Thread, The Master of the House, and Carol of the Bells and Chains. These were the ones I wished had been longer—I wanted more world-building and a bit more excitement to really immerse myself in them.
Overall, I’d recommend *The Winter Spirits* if you’re in the mood for a chilling yet festive read during the holiday season!
Despite the relatively short length of each story (30–50 pages), I found it somewhat challenging to adjust to the different writing styles. However, a few stories truly stood out for me: A Double Thread, The Master of the House, and Carol of the Bells and Chains. These were the ones I wished had been longer—I wanted more world-building and a bit more excitement to really immerse myself in them.
Overall, I’d recommend *The Winter Spirits* if you’re in the mood for a chilling yet festive read during the holiday season!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
ashleyserena's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I'm not a horror reader, but if it's dipped in fantasy and folklore, it's a much more enticing meal to swallow. This collection of short stories ranged from making me feel mildly unsettled to prickling all over with goosebumps. Admittedly, some of the stories' endings made me more baffled than spooked, but there were quite a few that had me gripping my seat and making me think about them long after the narration had stopped. (Also, the narration was absolutely lovely, switching between a handful of absolutely excellent performers.) My favorite stories in particular were, "Inferno", "The Salt Miracles", "Widow's Walk", and "Carol of the Bells and Chains", with an honorable mention to "The Master of the House" for hitting me right in the parental guilt. And while most of these tales were centered around Christmastime, reading them in the cold of February still left me pleasurably chilled.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I recently found out that it was a Victorian tradition to read ghost stories for Christmas. And I have to say, this was the wintery collection I didn’t even know I needed for the festive season.
I can see why gothic ghost stories were popular for Christmas. They blend questions about religion and morality with bleak, dark, isolated settings in a way that encompasses the shadow side of winter.
All the stories had a historical setting that made for an atmospheric read I particularly enjoyed The Host, Inferno, A Double Thread and The Salt Miracles. The Host scared me the most and had me jumping at shadows in the night. Inferno had that Boschian style that really stuck in my brain. A Double Thread had such a gripping descent & I thought the FMC had good-character-building. The Salt Miracles I thought was the most unique and had an interesting, harrowing religious connection that had me hooked.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend adding this one to your gothic Christmas reading list!
I can see why gothic ghost stories were popular for Christmas. They blend questions about religion and morality with bleak, dark, isolated settings in a way that encompasses the shadow side of winter.
All the stories had a historical setting that made for an atmospheric read I particularly enjoyed The Host, Inferno, A Double Thread and The Salt Miracles. The Host scared me the most and had me jumping at shadows in the night. Inferno had that Boschian style that really stuck in my brain. A Double Thread had such a gripping descent & I thought the FMC had good-character-building. The Salt Miracles I thought was the most unique and had an interesting, harrowing religious connection that had me hooked.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend adding this one to your gothic Christmas reading list!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
clothildev's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I read this mainly for Natasha Pulley and Bridget Collins, their stories were the spookiest for me, I was truly unwell after reading them 😅
The rest was okay, I don't think this is my vibe tbh
The rest was okay, I don't think this is my vibe tbh
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
menagerie_of's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
booksjessreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I find short-story collections quite hard to rate because some of the stories are stronger than others and others just really speak to you, where others may not do so much. Whilst I gave this collection 4 stars, I don't quite know whether that is an accurate reflection of how much I loved it. I really enjoyed The Haunting Season and I just had to give this a read.
Despite the theme being Christmas for these ghost stories, Christmas was always the setting, but not the most important part of the story, and for a lot of them, it certainly wasn't constantly referred to. This not only meant that when reading this in February that it wasn't too Christmas heavy, but also meant that the horror and terror was the main focus, rather than getting too bogged down with the setting at Christmastime.
This collection has got some wonderfully haunting stories, and minus the occasional story, they all were aptly written and convincing. There was such a variety of stories as well, some strictly ghost stories, others centring on terror and there was the occasional more 'modern' story rather than all being set in the 1800s. There was certainly a lot of creativity from the writers and some settings that were unexpected for me. All of the stories were atmospheric and spooky and just overall a really good, cohesive collection.
I absolutely would recommend this collection!
Despite the theme being Christmas for these ghost stories, Christmas was always the setting, but not the most important part of the story, and for a lot of them, it certainly wasn't constantly referred to. This not only meant that when reading this in February that it wasn't too Christmas heavy, but also meant that the horror and terror was the main focus, rather than getting too bogged down with the setting at Christmastime.
This collection has got some wonderfully haunting stories, and minus the occasional story, they all were aptly written and convincing. There was such a variety of stories as well, some strictly ghost stories, others centring on terror and there was the occasional more 'modern' story rather than all being set in the 1800s. There was certainly a lot of creativity from the writers and some settings that were unexpected for me. All of the stories were atmospheric and spooky and just overall a really good, cohesive collection.
I absolutely would recommend this collection!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, and Suicide
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
_bookbug's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Story 1: 4☆
Story 2: 3,75☆
Story 3: 3,5☆
Story 4: 4☆
Story 5: 4,25☆
Story 6: 3,5☆
Story 7: 3,75☆
Story 8: 3,75☆
Story 9: 3,75☆
Story 10: 4☆
Story 11: 3,75☆
Story 12: 3,75☆
Story 2: 3,75☆
Story 3: 3,5☆
Story 4: 4☆
Story 5: 4,25☆
Story 6: 3,5☆
Story 7: 3,75☆
Story 8: 3,75☆
Story 9: 3,75☆
Story 10: 4☆
Story 11: 3,75☆
Story 12: 3,75☆
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment