The thing about Middle Ages is that it was already horrific enough. Most things about it – hence the dark ages. Ages away from the Enlightenment in so many ways. So as far as lending itself to genre fiction, it’s pretty much a gimmie. Still, to their credit, the authors in this anthology did a great job – the went far and wide, spanning continents and cultures, upturning conventions and making the build-in darkness shine with a new gleam.
Did I love it? Not quite. I did appreciate it, though.
I’ve been in a strange mood lately where it’s difficult to gauge my reading desires precisely. I figured this might do the trick and it didn’t. Trying to stay objective enough to separate it into what is and what isn’t the books’ direct fault.
The stories took me a while to get into, not until number four, in fact, did it pique my interest properly. The overall quality was solid, with a few gems here and there, the titles of which promptly left my mind as these things are wont to do.
Mostly unknown authors from what sounds like a really fun publishing collective. Out of the knowns, there was Goodfellow, Evenson. Buehlman (the man who needs no introduction) provides the introduction.
It stands to mention that as far as anthologies go, this one is put together awesomely. It’s lovingly curated like a museum exhibit with a brief wink-wink-nudge-nudge intro and an artwork preceding each entry. Even every contributor gets drawn for the author’s bio section. Very cute.
So, didn’t quite sing for me. Maybe not the right era, Maybe not the right mood. But interesting and entertaining in its own right. Won’t send you howling with joy, but won’t send the villagers with pitchforks after it either. Thanks Netgalley.

HOWL Society, located on Discord, is the most active horror book club on the web. With hundreds of members, the club offers readers the chance to join a supportive community where they can enjoy books alongside other horror-lovers while engaging in meaningful discussions and forming long-lasting friendships. Aside from serving as an organized platform for discussing books, HOWL Society is also home to a tight-knit group of horror writers. Additionally, members can participate in tangential conversations about horror films, horror games, and much more. Because the club aims to provide equal access to all readers and writers around the world, membership is 100% free. Occasionally, HOWL Society publishes anthologies, and their most recent is Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror.
In his introduction, Christopher Buehlman speaks to research and authenticity in horror novels. He speaks of writing a novel in 14th century Paris and researching and translating maps to add authenticity and casual authority to a story, details that make for a more engaging and developed tale for the readers. This sort of authenticity permeates this anthology and it’s clear that the authors have done their due diligence when writing their tales. For example, “Brother Cornelius” by Peter Ong Cook contains not just medieval Latin, but other medieval languages, seamlessly woven into a tale about alcohol, secrets hidden in a monastery, and the horrors of writing unholy secrets. It’s a really compelling tale, but the depth of language and research makes it so much more believable.
Other tales challenge and subvert medieval belief systems even while working within that world. “The Final Book of Saint Foy’s Miracles,” for examples, takes the medieval ideas of hagiography and reliquaries and turns them into a haunting ghost story. Instead of simply making a ghost story set in the Middle Ages, author M. E. Bronstein investigates the belief systems that helped to support and sustain medieval life and topples them, all while terrifying the reader in the process.
Overall, Howls from the Dark Ages is an exciting anthology of historical horror. A majority of the tales center around themes of religion but are not overly or numbingly didactic. Furthermore, anyone familiar with the Middle Ages will expect such tales to permeate this sort of collection. However, these are not the only tales in this anthology, and the breadth of stories as well as the wide scope of the tales. This is an impressively strong collection of stories centered around a cool, historical theme, and any fan of horror fiction will really enjoy reading it.

As with most collections of stories, there were some that I loved, some that I didn't and some somewhere in between. This curated collection of stories gathers a varying array of stories, each as horror filled and gory as the last. Usually I am not a massive fan of books that I deem to gory, but this book was definitely contained some of the better horror stories I have read (and unfortunately also some of the worst). The stories I did enjoy contained rich, interesting writing that flowed from the page, however I found some of the stories to be lacking in some things, and some of them felt rushed, as though they would be better if they were fleshed out into a longer story or even a book. Overall, this book is worth reading for fans of history and horror, but not exactly my cup of tea.

What an interesting read! We (the readers) are put in the shoes of guests visiting mysterious museum of various different objects. Our docent shows us each piece (those being the pictures for the artifacts in question) and introduces us to them. He's slightly peculiar but we listen to him carefully before the artifact pulls us into its story. The stories were good. Some of them were a bit confusing as to what was happening and why but i didn't have that problem with most of them. I like how each tale has a dark element to it and never fails to deliver the horror and the evil.

I enjoy reading a good short story collection, so I was really intrigued by this. Glad to say that it lived up to my expectations. Most of the time with anthologies it's really hard to keep the atmosphere and quality throughout the whole book, especially if it has multiple authors. But I hardly see that problem here, so I was both surprised and glad. A generous 5 star.