Review: All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

What: All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology edited by Circe Moskwotiz

Who: Amberjack Publishing

When: October 17th 2023

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Amberjack Publishing for review.

Welcome to the Dark.

We are all familiar with tropes of the horror genre: slasher and victims, demon and the possessed. Bloody screams, haunted visions, and the peddler of wares we aren’t sure we can trust. In this young adult horror anthology, fans of Jordan Peele, Lovecraft Country, and Horror Noire will get a little bit of everything they love—and a lot of what they fear—through a twisted blend of horror lenses, from the thoughtful to the terrifying.

From haunted, hungry Victorian mansions, temporal monster–infested asylums, and ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners and cursed patriarchs in search of Black Excellence, All These Sunken Souls features the chilling creations of acclaimed bestsellers and hot new talents, with stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.

As with every anthology I read, there were a few hits and misses for me in These Sunken Souls but in the celebration of the spooky season, I’m going to concentrate only on the ones I enjoyed because I would pick this anthology up for these ones only anyway!

Lights by Kalynn Bayron

This one is a bit twisty and majorly macabre, and I enjoyed it from start to finish. I am a personal fan of stories that never reveal any personal details about the main character (kind of like Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier), and Lights did this! I was excited about that because I hardly ever get to read this specific thing except in things I write myself so *cheering*

Be Not Afraid by Ashia Monet

I think this may be the standout story of the anthology. The writing was beautiful and atmospheric, and again there was a bit of a twist and I loved it. I am here for the real villains of the story to get what is coming for them.

All My Best Friends Are Dead by Liselle Sambury

I really liked this one! I love a good teen girls think nothing through and end up summoning something they were 100% not prepared for story. I also really like Sambury’s writing (I loved it in her novel Delicious Monsters) so it was no surprise to me that it was one of my favourites in the anthology

Papa Pearlie by Ryan Douglass

This one did miss the mark just a teensy bit but I enjoyed it overall because creepy dolls. I am always here for creepy dolls. To be honest, I think Papa Pearlie could have done with being a bit longer so that things could have been explained and explored more.

No Harm Done by Circe Moskowitz

No Harm Done was pretty much the most brutal of the stories and I really liked it. Zombie stories are so often told right in the middle of the apocalypse but this one started out completely normal and then BAM – zombies. Kind of reminded me of the beginning of Fear the Walking Dead, which I really enjoyed. Definitely one of my top faves of the anthology!

© 2023, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.