I received this as a digital ARC through NetGalley.

This is a great anthology of simple horror stories, released by the HOWL (Horror Obsessed Writing and Literature) Society. They are mainly a discord based horror genre book club. If you want to check them out do so here: howlsociety.com

I'm very much a novice reader of the horror genre. We all judge a book by its cover and title and this is no different. My first impression was that this is going to be a collection of stories about dark horror and folk stories. When people say Dark Ages, they usually refer to the Early Medieval Period after all. However, I was wrong, as many of the stories take inspiration from later periods. In this case the title seems to be referring to the theme of the stories rather than the period of history.

I think the downfall of this anthology is its lack of diversity in setting. Many of the stories are western Eurocentric in their subject matter, with many of the stories focusing on churches as their setting or religious figures as the main characters. Priests completing some dark ritual, crusaders returning, nuns whose prayer goes awry seems to be the common theme in this book. This is fine for the first couple of stories, like “Angelus” and “The Crowning”, but can get weary by the end.

It's when it deviates from its established formula are the stronger stories if not the strongest, such as in the story “The White Owl” which seemingly moves closer to Central Europe for its setting. Though my personal favourite short story was “In Every Drop”, beautifully written short story about a mother's love in a growing dangerous world with a twist at the end.

Another feature I liked was the framing device used in the book. The anthology begins with a curator beginning to take you around as a visitor showing you magical artefacts that introduce each of the short stories along with artistic renditions of the central item in question. If you are familiar with video games, this was very reminiscent of the Dark Anthology video game franchise, or the last episode of Season 2 of Black Mirror. I though this was neat.

Overall, I thought the collection was mediocre. It's a commendable effort from a book club to release its curated short stories and I do look forward to future releases. I enjoyed some of the stories, but a majority of the stories felt very one similar to one another, sometimes too similar. If you like any of the above named franchises, or are a fan of the genre, then you may want to keep an eye on the discord group at the very least.

Howls from the Dark Ages is an exciting anthology of historical horror. Some I loved some I wasn’t so keen on. Overall 3 star.

This collection isn’t something I normally would have chosen, but the Howl society is so full of talent I decided to take a chance on it. Overall a strong collection, with a very niche theme. I recommend reading with a glass of mead for the full medieval effect.

I requested this arc because I like Christopher Buehlman's stories and I'm fascinated by the Dark Ages, a good time for any type of horror.
This is an excellent anthology, each story introduced by a sort of museum artefact. It's hard to tell which was my favorite story, I like them all and read them over a couple of week enjoying them.
There's a lot of different type of horror stories: some are on the "not for the faint of heart" side, other are about religion or historical moments.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

What a well-researched collection! I portioned this out a morsel at a time to make it last longer. If you’re a fan of history / the dark ages, you’ll likely enjoy this anthology. It’s not horror, more dark and strange paranormal/supernatural fiction.


FAVOURITE STORIES:
- The Crowing by Caleb Stephens – I want an entire series of this. Please.
- In Every Drop by Lindsey Ragsdale – the things we do for family are at once surprising and never a surprise.
- The Final Book of Sainte Foy’s Miracles by M.E. Bronstein – I simply loved this. I loved Sainte Foy, her ‘jokes’, her games, her childishness, her protectiveness. I loved the narrator, and how he came about understanding her.

Howls from the Dark Ages (edited by P.L. McMillan and Solomon Forse) presents a horror anthology of sordid and haunting medieval tales.

Instead of a typical foreword, each short story is introduced as a museum piece by a fictitious “curator,” which I think adds a degree of charm and creates a nice cohesive thread throughout the anthology.

Some of my personal favorites from this collection include:

“Deus Vult” by Ethan Yoder - A weary knight who fought in the Crusades stumbles upon a mysterious bishop's castle. This one is an excellent piece of body and psychological horror that exams the effects of trauma--perfect for fans of Silent Hill or Jacob's Ladder.

“A Dowry for Your Hand” by Michelle Tang - Set in medieval China, an expectant groom receives a bracelet made of hair from his future bride, but her gift has sinister consequences. The prose in this one is so lush and grotesque and the chilling end is just chef's kiss.

“The Mouth of Hell” by Cody Goodfellow - A pious squire attempts to rescue his master from a village that's rumored to guard the entrance to Hell. However, what he finds there makes him question his faith. This one is a really satisfyingly creepy work of religious horror.

Overall, this anthology taps into a period of time that’s often overlooked with the horror genre. It’s a treasure trove of Hellfire, the plague, and overall high mortality rates, so if you’re looking to go medieval, this is a wonderful collection get your hands on.

As always, anthologies are always a mixed bag, but I thought I would give this one a shot because I haven't read medieval horror before and thought it would be interesting to dip my toes into it with this. And, while there were some interesting short stories in this collection, as a whole it was a bit underwhelming.

Out of 18 stories, there were 6 that stood out to me. Those stories are:

- Schizzare by Bridget D. Brave
- The Crowing by Caleb Stephens
- Palette by J.L. Kiefer
- Brother Cornelius by Peter Ong Cook
- In Every Drop by Lindsey Ragsdale
- A Dark Quadrivium by David Worn

Thank NetGalley and HOWL Society Press for giving me the opportunity to review this in advance.

I loved Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires and so I was thrilled to see this anthology of Medieval Horror on Netgalley not long after I'd finished it. It is a dark, macabre book - each story introduced as an artefact found in a museum - and features truly gruesome body horror, religious mania, fantasy and arch black humour. Get it and read it immediately.

Where to begin? Such a varied selection of tales touching on body horror, fear of religion, good and evil, Heaven and Hell. Eighteen tales all woven together by a narrator who leads us through this museum of the macabre. That touch, that, for me, was brilliant.

So which tales did I enjoy the most? The Crowing was an excellent way to start the anthology - full of fantasy and betrayal. I loved Palette, the mixture of beauty and body horror - superb. For horror, Brother Cornelius. The Final Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles - all about a mischievous saint. I think my favourite was The Forgotten Valley - the legend of the spear and desire.

There was not one story that left me disappointed and to end with The Lai of the Danse Macabre, it was like that After Eight mint at the end of a meal - a perfect ending to a sumptuous feast.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Howl Society Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review

As always, it is very difficult to rate an anthology as there is so much variation in writing style and such varying strengths and weaknesses between each story and each author.

Overall, I found this collection to be very enjoyable and pretty grim (in the best possible way).
I love horror and also read a lot of medieval fantasy so this meshing of the two seemed right up my street.

Honestly, it's quite an obvious pairing when you think about it - after all, just an ordinary day in medieval times could be pretty horrific for most ordinary people, let alone with added supernatural elements!

Generally when I (and I expect many readers) think of medieval times, I imagine medieval Europe with knights and peasants, swords and sorcery - that kind of thing. While there is a fair share of this in Howls from the Dark Ages, there is also a refreshing number of stories set outside of Europe, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

As is to be expected, there are some stories I enjoyed more than others and there were a couple I feel like could have done with a smidge more editing. The vast majority were really great though.

Well done HOWL society!

Howls From the Dark Ages

[Blurb goes here]

Most anthologies give you a few good stories and a bunch of bad ones. Reading Howls From the Dark Ages, I was thrilled. Great short fiction from start to finish. I have to say that I enjoyed it to no end. This is one of those rare compendiums where the reader gets to savor each and every adventure, all different from each other.

I'm really glad I got this free copy. It was worth it, beginning to end.

This was a wonderfully done short story anthology! There was no point where I felt any of the pieces out of place, or a significant dip in quality. Instead every piece had something great to offer, and I really liked the framing device used throughout. Overall it was very cohesive and a morbid delight to read :)

Stunning anthology of horror stories. Each one is masterfully written and crawls under the skin. It hits on different types of horror; there's body horror, cosmic horror, fantasy horror, something in here for every type of horror fan. The narrator walking you through the museum of these stories was a nice touch, definitely makes you want to continue reading.

A great collection of stories.

I recently read Between Two fires by Buehlman, so seeing his name attached to this was an instant draw. Medieval horror is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres, and each of these stories is great addition to that. A great mix of religious themes, fantasy, gore, and lots of humor.

The stories that stood out to me were The Crowing (great worldbuilding in just a few pages!), A Dowry For Your Hand, and The Final Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles, though every story was enjoyable!

This is a great collection of medieval horror with a very interesting way to link all the stories together. Perhaps a bit samey if you're trying to read the stories back-to-back but enjoyable none-the-less. I definitely intend to pick up a paperback copy to keep in my reading nook when it releases.

this was a cool start to reading 'medieval horror', but most of the stories felt really flat to me. i find myself more drawn to the stories set in small medieval towns + religious horror, mainly because i found those to be super immersive because of the build-up of the atmosphere & setting, along with some truly eyebrow-raising moments of horror and shock. fair warning to those who want to pick up this book, there's a lot of body horror in this one so if you might be a bit squeamish, best to brace yourselves.

my favorite stories from the collection are as follows:

💀 The Final Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles by M.E. Bronstein: A boy accompanies his father to thank the child saint Foy for his release from prison, but soon finds himself entangled in the sinister nature of the saint's "miracles". Loved this one, reminded me of Erik Matti's horror film, Seklyuson (which tbh gave me nightmares for weeks sksksks). I also liked the writing style in this one, definitely very refreshing and super interesting concept about 'false saints' and all that jazz.

💀 A Dowry for your Hand by Michelle Tang: When Lu Xian meets with his bethrothed Ming Li and her parents to discuss the dowry and plans for their wedding, the night turns for the worse when he gets haunted by his past lover. Super creepy, and I always love a story about jilted lovers haunting the ones that left them behind. A very welcome read since most of the stories here are in set in majorly European settings

💀 White Owl by Stevie Edwards: A very Grimm Brothers' esque spooky fairytale about a witch who gets intertwined with the fate of two other women in the story. This was apparently based on the Perchta myth and I liked how this was reimagined in this story.

This anthology serves its readers with cold and grim, dark medieval horrors to hook them on the words and stories. As an anthology it does a very phenomenal job of keeping the atmosphere and vibes it guarantees because almost often the atmosphere is lost as stories of different authors could be quite off puting. Gladly enjoyed it!

As with every collection of stories, this anthology offers something for everyone. The downside to this is that the quality is not always consistent. "The Fourth Scene" by Brian Evenson was my favorite. "Deus Vult" by Ethan Yoder is the stuff of nightmares and "The Lai of the Danse Macabre" by Jessica Peter is written in verse. And, when they say the Dark Ages, it doesn’t always mean the European Middle Ages, because some of these stories are set in the Americas and the Far East. A few of the tales I didn’t like at all, but they were in the minority. None of them are for the faint of heart, but they are all immersive and full of detail.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#HOWL Society Press!

I received an eARC by HOWL Society Press edited by P.L. McMillan and Solomon Forse. Howls from the Dark Ages is a horror anthology of 18 medieval tales that includes a foreword by Christopher Buehlman that starts in an interesting manner. We are paraded around a mysterious museum as guests whilst our host shows us a piece of different artefacts. Our hose then drives us into a story about these which I found a really well-executed concept as we also have pictures of these individual pieces.

The stories themselves were able to transport us back to a times of witches, castles, horror and bewilderment. The detailed writing in these anthologies is strong and the illustrations only helped the visualisation. The work of all these authors was an easily drawn-in highlight and served as a great introduction.

Howls from the dark ages is an anthology that will take you back to the past. In a time where Abbots, castles, witches, knights and superstition reined supreme. It is edited by P.L McMillan and Solomon Forse. We are treated to a forward by Christopher Bvehlman.

It's a journey through some beautiful, detailed dark pages and compelling stories. In-between chapters we are treated to almost a guide, encouraging us and forwarning us about what is ahead, along with an illustration inspired by the story that awaits. It is such a great way to build excitement and tug on your curiosity as you go further into the anthology.

The stories are all so great at taking you back to the time they are particularly set through very detailed writing. All the stories I could vision strongly as I read them.

In here you will find angels, but are they the work of God? Knights who rely on their Armour to protect them - but will they work against unseen forces? Dark, deep underground rooms.

There are, so many favorites in here. It always amazes me how authors can write such rounded stories so quickly and throughly. I enjoyed all of these stories but will include three highlights. (These stories are awesome but so are the others!)

A few of my favourites were:

A dowry for your hand by Michelle Tang. Lu Xain is to be betrothed, and while his parents are discussing it, he is somewhat preoccupied by a former lover. The writing really takes you there and you can tell something is building. The ending was done so well and it includes some body horror.

Schizzare by Bridget D. Brave. When Pietro notices something strange in his tome, he questions his friend, Antoni. Ober the next few days and weeks the drawing turns into fungi with people in various stances. What follows is a creepy story but also one of great love.

The Fourth Scene by Brian Evenson. A mysterious tapestry, where the fourth scene is missing. A king who wants to find treasure and a guard who is made a knight discovers what this is all about. This was so easy to read and just got better and better with every line. I enjoyed how it was written to someone, giving such a devastating yet powerful feel to the story.

All of these stories have a strong element of horror, but there is romance in here too. Done so softly, it only adds to the story.

Thank you to Howl Society for giving me a ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.