especially enjoyed the last story, This collection of Victorian era ghostly tales was written by some very notable names including Dickens, Stevenson and Conan Doyle.
The writing style was very indicative of the Victorian novel, from how the characters spoke, to how descriptions were written.
My problem was, overall, the stories were not very spooky, at least to me, There were occasional atmospheric moments, but, in my view, very little about this book really showed it was a book of ghost stories.
For the most part the spooky element did not even arrive until the very end of the story.
It was authentically Victorian in terms of writing style, but disappointing in terms of ghostly atmosphere.
Really, really enjoyed this collection of Victorian
ghost stories, Im a chicken when it comes to spooky tales, so I was relieved that these werent was scary as I thought they would be.
My favorites were The BodySnatcher even though I suspected what was coming, The Captain of the PoleStar, and The Screaming Skull.
But I loved the others as well, The illustrations in this edition are fantastic, Theyre more moody than they are truly scary, much like the stories, The cover of Ghostly Tales looks absolutely fantastic, and definitely screams Victorian horror to me! For those of you who dont know, I like both horror and the Victorian era, so this book was basically made for me.
The beauty of this books design also continues into the interior of the anthology, with the end paper being designed to look like a Victorian wallpaper with parts of human skeletons snuck in.
When I dove deeper into Ghostly Tales, I found that each short story begins with its own unique full colour illustration related to what it contains.
This book also comes with an attached black silk bookmark, and I just love how its designed, inside and out.
As for the stories themselves, I had read works by Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, and Arthur Conan Doyle before, and loved their writing in this book.
I was also happy to be introduced to some Victorian writers who I either had not read before now, or had not even heard of! All in all, this book is just beautiful especially if youre into the Victorian horror like me, and is just an amazing reading choice for this time of the year! For a collection of stories written so long ago long ago from my point of view, at least the writing style and tones of most of them seemed modern.
The ways in which the authors created suspense reminded me of any good scary story Id read today, except these stories were more subdued than the contemporary works I might find.
The horror was subtle, and they could only barely be described as definite ghost stories, If the endings of each were taken away, some would sound like coincidences that really could happen under unnerving circumstances.
They were nice reads, although that doesnt surprise me considering the authors that were included,,promising but no
I knew the stories wouldn't be chilling or scary, classics never are imo.
But still it managed to disappoint me
I liked couple of them, that's it,
The book gets points from the beautiful illustrations once again, and from the idea,
My own enjoyment was the problem, First of all, I want to say that this book appearance is really beautiful, I love the shape and the cover fits really well with the stories inside
Oh, whistle and Ill come to you, my lad by M.
R. James
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I love the title in this story and I loved the end as well.
It was a nice ghost story but I feel like it was really slow, especially the beginning.
I think that I would have enjoyed it more if the parts were the ghostly things happen were longer because when they happened, they gave me the chills.
The old nurses story by Elizabeth Gaskell
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I like that the narrator on this story is an old woman who talks about her past and how she lived the events shes describing.
The ghosts in this story are really scary and thanks to the descriptions one can imagine easily the atmosphere of the house.
The ending is really surprising, I wasnt expecting it,
The signalman by Charles Dickens
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It was a little bit hard to enter in this story for me because I didnt understand really well the setting.
Later on, I could imagine it better, As the story takes its course, I felt more and more invested in the strange events the man on the cabin was explaining.
The bodysnatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
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This story was unsettling the moment were MacFarlane appears.
The whole atmosphere became dark and dangerous and while I was reading it, I felt uneasy, Part of it was because of MacFarlanes attitude, the other part was because of the story, Also, this ending gave me the chills for real, The ending is why I gave this story a/,
The captain of the PoleStar by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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It was interesting to read this story, I loved the relationship between the Doctor and the Captain.
Also, the Captain was an interesting character and I would love to know more about his life.
The Phantom Coach by Amelia B, Edwards
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I enjoyed this story as well but my expectations of what was going to happen were really different of what happened instead and that left me quite puzzled.
It was a good story, thought,
The screaming skull by F, Mario Crawford
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This one is my favorite one, I love the way it was written, like the narrator was talking with me directly, like I was the other one in the room with him.
At the beginning this was a little bit confusing but then it really engages you with the story.
This story was amazing, starting with the guilty feelings of the narrator, the way he interrupts what hes saying just because he wants you to hear the wind, the waves the screams also the way he “doesnt believe” in paranormal stuff but he doesnt deny it either.
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Find Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories Of The Victorian Age Written By Chronicle Books Shown In Document
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