Broken Mirror and Other Morbid Tales

4.5 stars
This is an absorbing and morbid short story compilation from horror/fantasy author Carmilla Voiez. Please note, it doesn't shy away from exploring dark themes. The disturbing nature of this collection is not for the faint-hearted. I appreciated the way in which the author Voiez included trigger warnings for some of the stories which delved into disturbing/triggering topics such as self harm, death of an infant, sexual assault, etc. The stories within show a wide breath, some I enjoyed more than others.- my favourite was the introductory story: basement beauty.

It's not like anything I have ever read before and I say that in the most curious sense. I must admit I have read horror before, but not widely, so this was a bit like show more crawling into the horror pit with my eyes peeled open.

I couldn't put it down and yet at the same time I felt maybe I should!

On a personal level I write in various styles including dark fantasy so I suppose the leap into an appreciation of horror is a fairly easy one to make. I won a paperback copy of this collection after choosing it myself. By the way, the paperback is beautiful, and the cover feels like silk! My interest in this book was prompted by my first taste of horror myself! I'd been asked to write a horror story in the bestselling anthology: Nightmareland. Prior to this, I'd never written horror before. But I had written about self harm, (in a mirror,) in my YA fantasy The Curse of Time. So, you see how this came about...

This weird collection scattered with aspects of the human psyche fascinated me on so many levels. I'd recommend it for horror enthusiasts and I would read from this author again. show less