Ranking All Horror Books I've Read (In Progress)

The premise of this book is brilliant. Moreno-Garcia blends several different genres of horror beautifully, and places them all in a Mexican context that adds another profound layer of meaning. I won't say much more because I think it's best to go in cold.

The only negative thing I can say is that, like with most modern books, the writing style is bland; it places accessibility and ease of reading over artistry. I suppose this makes it easier to sell and promotes binge reading. With that said, I'll take this over the impenetrable cinderblock of Lovecraft's prose any day.

A pretty decent collection of short stories, some great ("Crouch End" and "The Moving Finger," for example), some good ("Night Flyer" and "Popsy"), and some just okay ("Home Delivery" and "House on Maple Street"). They kind of average each other out. However, as my very first Stephen King book, it did leave me interested to check out more of his work.

As with any collection, some stories are better than others. But when Poe is at his best, he's fantastic. For me, this is "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Tell-Tale Heart." The man basically invented the modern horror story, science fiction, and detective stories; he's a genius. In addition, most of his stories still hold up very well today.

Lovecraft's innovations still remain genre-defining, and even today seem far ahead of their time. However, the stories hold up pretty poorly, and I find it hard to believe that there are people who truly have fun reading him. His writing is stiff, his dialogue amateurish, and his world so full of racism that it's hard to get past it.

It's a fairly subdued ghost story written in simple but intelligent prose. The story, however, is held back by its everyman narrator, a dry and lifeless lawyer who's the death of the party. Seeing the events from his perspective drains much of the interest and style from the rather clever narrative, even if I can see why the author chose him (seeing a no-nonsense man of rationality broken down into terror should theoretically add more drama). Much of the plot also feels somewhat ghost-story-by-numbers now, since haunted house movies/books have been so overdone, but this is a fairly well-crafted example of the genre.

The one thing though that completely redeems this book for me is the ending. The final chapter, and how it has been set up throughout the book, is phenomenal. I think it's one of the most extraordinary endings I've read, and because the book is so short (around 160 pages), it's enough to carry the entire novel. Based on the ending alone, the book stands out as one to be remembered.

A collection of decent short stories, but nothing fantastic. "Everything's Eventual" and "1408" are the best, and even these are only around a 3 or 3-and-a-half out of 5.

A brilliant concept that far outshines the execution. Wells feels like a non-fiction writer at heart, and only wrote fiction in order to prove a point (in this case, that humans are not so different from animals). His writing is often too blunt, especially here where it's narrated as if written in a letter; it's all "telling" and no "showing," and lacks the real artistic flavor that would make it actually enjoyable to read. It seems a common problem of this era, so perhaps we can't blame him too much. But I think the story has been told more effectively by others.

Intolerably boring. Couldn't get through it. It's a classic story, but this particular telling of it has not aged well.

A decent story, but largely forgettable. I finished it a few weeks ago and already can barely remember the most basic sketch of what it was about. Lacks the mystery and terror of his best work.