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Thursday 9 July 2015

Unthology 7 edited by Ashley Stokes and Robin Jones

Review by The Mole

"Wonderful and frightening..." but also much, much more. The fear in this collection comes in many forms. The fear that comes of recognising the danger a character faces who, even in a short story, you have become attached to; the fear of the loss of anchors that made up your childhood; the fear that the responsibility for the loss of a life could be down to your own actions from many years ago; the fear that your actions, though legitimate and well intentioned could now place your own life in jeopardy.

Each of these authors has produced (or been selected for) a work of brilliance that sort of complements at least one more in the collection and they are ordered so that you can detect a thread joining each story. This technique makes this collection potentially the least eclectic collection of the Unthology series and while the eclecticism of the previous collections was their strength in this collection the lack of it is its even greater strength. Each one is a coffee time read that doesn't involve a huge mood swing in to the next - something that I can find means I need a pause between stories.

This collection reinforces the editors' strengths in selecting stories and compiling anthologies - this isn't Unthology 6 with new stories, this IS Unthology 7 - a new selection and a new experience for the Unthology reader. More than any other collection - this is one I will pick up again and reread.

Loved it, loved it, loved it. What can they possibly do to Unthology 8?

I have read the previous 4 books in the Unthology collection and you can read their reviews here:- Unthology 3, Unthology 4, Unthology 5, Unthology 6

Publisher - Unthank Books
Genre - Adult short story anthology


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