Slasher Girls and Monster Boys… Oh My!

The end of October is upon us.  I’m not into scary stories or spooky things, but I figured that I’d read Slasher Girls & Monster Boys for the season anyway.  I’m not really big into short stories, but thanks to a Top Ten Tuesday topic from earlier this year, I’ve discovered that some of them are pretty cool.

This anthology has stories from several authors that I wasn’t familiar with, as well as some that I’ve heard of but haven’t read yet (like Kendare Blake) and some that I’ve read before (including my favorite author, Marie Lu).  They all have their own styles that they bring to this genre, and some of the stories I liked much better than the others.

Each of the short stories in Slasher Girls & Monster Boys was based on a classic movie or story.  I don’t really think that knowing the original story really gave away anything in the ending.  For example, “In the Forest Dark and Deep” was based on Alice in Wonderland.  Knowing the Alice story didn’t really give away what was going to happen in the story.

I didn’t really find these stories to be scary.  They did seem to have a lot of stories of the supernatural and of revenge, however.  I did like that about these stories.

Some of these stories I was just okay with.  There were a couple with bizarre endings that I would have liked to have been explained more.  I think that it’s normal in an anthology that you won’t like all the stories equally well though.

Here were some of my favorites:

“The Girl Without a Face” ~ Marie Lu.  Well, duh!  I’ve never read anything in the “horror” genre by Marie Lu before, but this story definitely has a lot of Lu-like elements to it.  The voice is familiar, as is the overall message of this story.  Sorry, I can’t give away what that message is, because then I’d pretty much spoil it!

“On the I-5” ~ Kendare Blake.  I bought Three Dark Crowns earlier this year but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.  “On the I-5” is a story of a girl who meets someone at a truck stop on the I-5 (which runs from Washington State to Southern California).  Again, I can’t really tell you much more than that without spoiling the story, but it was pretty good.

“The Birds of Azalea Street” ~ Nova Ren Suma.  I’ve seen the Hitchcock movie The Birds more than once in my lifetime, and although I did have a guess as to what was happening in this one, I thought it was a sweet story about justice.  If sweetness can be a little dark and creepy and involve death.

“In the Forest Dark and Deep” ~ Carrie Ryan.  This was another tale of jerks seeing justice.  I think there’s a theme to my favorite stories here, because all the stories that I’ve pointed out here include some form of justice for somebody.  This story has a tea party/Alice in Wonderland influence to it.

If you’re looking for something to read this year with just a little bit of the creep factor, but you don’t want to commit to a full length novel or two, you might want to check out Slasher Girls & Monster Boys.  Chances are you’ll recognize a few of the authors, and you might find a new author you want to read more of!