It Calls from the Sea - Eerie River

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Another strong collection of dark tales from Eerie River. I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this collection, though to be honest, I enjoyed their other anthologies more. There are a lot of creepy, well-written stories. However, I think since I grew up near a forest and nowhere near the ocean, collections like It Calls from the Forest affected me more. Even so, all of the authors do an excellent job orienting the reader, whether it be sailing a ship, surfing, or in a submarine.

Normally I select three favourites, but this time I have five I really enjoyed:

Abyssal Horror - Trey Dowell - I love how this one started with the POV of a whale. It's a tense apocalyptic tale that gave me shivers.

The Ocean Sings Softly - Christopher Bond - A story about a woman and her grandchild coming together to face an ancient curse.

Dead Ships - Georgia Cook - Possibly the one that scared me the most. Dead Ships plague a small oceanside town. Their mysterious presence has unsettling implications that the townsfolk have to grapple with.

Heaven's Lake - Holley Cornetto - Russ is drawn back to his hometown and forced to face the source of the childhood trauma that he fled. I love stories about small towns, dark pasts, and confronting them.

Cry of the Hunger Fish - Lin Darrow - My favourite one in the whole book. A woman takes a strange job in a scientific lab. What I enjoyed most about this one was not just the dark, claustrophobia inspired by the lab, but also the pull of the grief that the main character has to face as she battles against madness. Also, some things are just better left in the ocean.

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