Demons of the New Year (An Anthology of Horror Fiction from the Philippines)

*I picked this one for my POPSUGAR Reading Challenge for the category, ‘A Book by a Local Author’. 

TITLE: Demons of the New Year 

BY: Various Authors

GENRE: Horror Fiction, Anthology, Short Stories

PUBLICATION: 2013 by University of the Philippines Press

RATING:

Not for me, I guess. Maybe short stories aren’t really for me. Honestly I seldom read them but late last year, I read a fantastic collections of short retelling stories by Jane Yolen and really loved the whole book, so I thought maybe I’d like this one as well. This is filled horror stories anyway which I liked. In addition to that, the stories are based on the horror stories popularized here in my own country.

But the collection fell short. I must say the writing is okay, thus the two stars. Out of ten short stories, I loved only two. Maybe that’s really the reason for two-stars. They are THE Kambubulag and Little hands, Little Feet. The others though some people might like it, I don’t. It’s not that the writing is that bad, I just don’t see anything special or interesting in them.

And most importantly, THERE IS NO SINGLE THING THAT MADE ME SCARED, TERRIFIED, HORRIFIED, or any FEELING suggesting fear or horror. Even those two stories I liked weren’t really scary or horrific. They’re fine, though. As stories, they’re okay but as Horror Stories, no they’re not. Also some are so corny.

It’s disappointing because Philippines really has horrifying tales. No kidding. But anyway, I still suggest you guys to read it. Because like I said, maybe it’s just me who doesn’t know how to appreciate a good book, or an art.

Happy Reading guys.