A Collection of all the ways humans are absolute sh*t.
Human Beings: A Collection by Rachael Llewellyn
Published August 17, 2021 by Foul Fantasy Fiction
Book Length: 256 Pages
Average Rating: 2.5 Stars
Tagging this book as short stories, horror, read for review.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. .
"Cruelty always came easiest to you. You know that, don't you? It has always been so much easier for you to be cruel than kind."
The Love of the Red Beetle (1/5 Stars)
This felt very short. Like I guess I see the creepy right, but it needed to be drawn out more. There was so much detail put into the characterization that would have served better at the end of the story were it was it’s creepiest. Also I’m not sure what the Red Beetle is? Too short… needed to be longer on order to make the story make more sense (more explanation to how dude got trapped = more creepy and impactful).
An Interested Party (4/5 stars)
This one was so much better! It was creepy enough that I have the urge to check all around my room for cameras, but not creepy enough that I’m traumatized and won’t be able to sleep for three weeks. It had a really nice balance. The story was longer than the first allowing for more details and showing instead of telling, which made for a great short story.
Night shift (2.5/5 Stars)
I had really mixed feelings about this story. I really disliked the writing. It once again felt very tell instead of show, and at times was just plain basic. There was a long intro, but it was so worth it because once the action picked up the story was so scary and good. I was literally laying in bed glued to my kindle scared. However it felt like the author rushed the ending. I could mark the exact place where the story could have ended really well if the author didn’t continue. But that last bit completely snapped me out of the engrossed head space I was in. I went from completely engrossed to “oh, that’s it?” Lots of potential, but not executed to a high enough standard.
Such Strong Hands (3/5) STRONG TW FOR MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, SEXUAL, AND PHYSICAL ABUSE
This is another story I had really mixed feelings with. I think that so far this has been the vest written story in the book, and it utilized a different type of horror which was nice. This didn’t rely on shock, and instead was like watching a bus full of people slowly drive off a cliff, falling to their doom. Which is just as scary. But this story wasn’t a fun read for me just cause it hit a little too close to home. It wasn’t like Night Shift where I was scared but it was a good scared, this story had me laying in bed like “okay, am I going to have an anxiety attack because of this?” This was a sad story, and felt like watching a train wreck. A great story writing wise, but might have just hit a bit too close to home for me.
Date Night (3/5 Stars)
This one was creepy, and it actually felt like a pretty good length! The writing was still a little clunky, but the story had a nice flow. There was just the same problem that I've been noticing in a lot of the stories, the endings make the story feel too predictable/stereotypical. It's like with The Night Shift, if the author had ended it just a little sooner, or in a slightly different way I feel like the story would have ended even creepier instead of it ending with me thinking "is this it?"
Thirteen (1/5 Stars) TW: suicide
This story made very little sense. I feel like I missed an important piece that would have helped the whole thing make more sense, because I am lost. Like it all made sense in the beginning, but it felt like things were alluded to and I got the memo but then we switched POVs and suddenly I was like "wait did I misread the memo?" and then the ending was like "wait I'm so confused how did we get here?" and I think you all can get the picture. The story needed to be more clear about what happened, and also add more transitions so that we didn't just randomly cut to a new scene with a completely different vibe and be very confused. Also this wasn't very scary. Just confusing.
Crocodile Tears (1/5 Stars)
You know... this may sound harsh but I just didn't care. I really didn't. This story really relied on readers really liking one character and really hating the other, and I thought that the one I was supposed to like had absolutely zero personality (I could not describe her if I tried), and the one I was supposed to hate I just thought was annoying. And when the story is based very heavily on them, it goes from what you were hoping to be a scary story to one that is just boring and slightly irritating.
There's Something Wrong with Rosa (3/5 stars) TW: abusive relationship
This felt like a much more balanced version of Such Strong Hands. It had the very realistic, saddening, lowkey triggering relational abuse aspects of the story, but the added gore/horror made it feel more balanced and less overwhelming. I thought the the characterization in this story was a big improvement from Crocodile Tears. This was overall a very nice, scary little read!
A Mundane Rebellion (5/5 stars)
What a fun little story! This has definitely been my favorite story in the collection so far. It was short and quick and humorous and surprisingly relatable?
Sleeplessly Sleep Walking (2.5/5 Stars)
You see this one had a really good plot, a nice pace, and really good twists; however it was really confusing. The story is about identical twins, with both of them talking, identified by writing from one girl on the left side of the page and writing from the other on the right side. But this wasn't made very clear until the very end of the story (I thought it was past/present, but apparently it was past/present and different people? very confusing). Along with that there it was really hard to distinguish who was who even just in the story. So it was a really great plot, I just couldn't tell the twins apart lol and that took away from the ending.
But the Mouth Kept Screaming (1.5/5 stars)
I have this bad habit with horror where if the main character we’re following is a shitty then it isn’t really scary anymore and I start to root for whatever horror trope is after the main character. So I spent most of this story despising the main character and shouting “YES GIRL! GET HIM GIRL! CHOP HIS DICK OFF!” In my head.
Monochrome Dancers (5/5 Stars) TW for childhood abuse & physical abuse
Yes. This is definitely another favorite or mine from this anthology! While at times it did feel like it dragged on, it was so worth it for that ending. The unraveling of our main character (with background explanation) was just so heartbreaking and freaky. I loved it.
Who Is Your Daddy and What Does He Do? (2/5 stars )
This story was okay, but it just wasn’t long enough. To put it in perspective my kindle said the average read time was around 4 min. This story was a really good set up to what could have been a wonderful longer story, but as it is it is just a set up. It asked lots of questions but never answered them, and while it was a little creepy, it simply was not long enough to fully harness that feeling within me as a reader. I do wish that monochrome dancers had been the final story in the book instead of this one, just because I felt it was a better story overall and has a better ending for the overall theme of the book.
This review in a gif:
About the Book: This disturbing collection of short stories lays bare the horrors of the human experience. Llewellyn brilliantly details the damage that we enact upon ourselves and others with an aim to tell stories without compromise that explore the violent and vile through portraits of seemingly normal individuals. The kind you meet every day.
The world appears an increasingly scary place, from pandemics to political upheaval, and Human Beings reminds us that the biggest threats are not coming at us from afar but are close by or even inside us.
Twisting between the disturbing, the humorous, and the heartbreaking, Human Beings will forever change the way you look at your neighbour, how you treat your coworker, and even have you second-guessing the person lying next to you in bed.
