Book Review: ELEMENTS OF HORROR: AN ANTHOLOGY BOOK TWO – AIR
The Elements of Horror anthology is a collection of horror tales which all revolve around a particular element. Book two features the element of air, and each story’s author takes advantage of the element that is crucial to sustain life and the human, viral, or otherworldly villains which threaten to rob their victims of it. Such situations include a woman with a family curse who flees from a deadly storm only to fall into the clutches of a serial killer, a man in space who awakens to find that an escaped prisoner has been playing a deadly game with those onboard the ship, and a woman diagnosed with emphysema who finds that her oxygen tank has spared her from a far worse fate in the form of a deadly, airborne virus which causes cannibalism.
Book 2 proved to a shorter but overall well written collection of stories in the Elements of Horror series. Many of the stories’ villains revolve around a killer obsessed with sucking the life (sometimes literally) out of their victims and the power that that act brings them. Deadly, airborne viruses were the second most popular trope used, one that feels very real and relatable in today’s climate. None of the stories really offer a stay-with-you after the pages are turned scare factor, but they are well crafted and memorable tales that are worth the read. Only one of the stories felt longer than it should have, and the book itself is compact enough that the theme doesn’t wear out its welcome.
Review by Laura Smith
ELEMENTS OF HORROR: AN ANTHOLOGY BOOK TWO – AIR is available on Kindle Audiobook and Paperback