Most of the stories in this collection ranged from just fine to really good, with a few falling into the range of being downright boring or unenjoyable. There were three stories that stood out to me - I wouldn’t say I liked them completely but they were more than just “whacky horror cliche blood arrgh” which makes up the others.

This collection is interesting as insight into the early work of Ito, but displays the flaws of a developing manga artist. Full details of your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations are available in the UK from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or your Local Authority's Trading Standards Office. While you can see how he’s improved over time, the essence of his horror work is still here, and this is still definitely a worthy read. The images of the dream self doing this are visceral, imaginative, and downright amazing, making this a particularly creepy story.Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1963, he was inspired from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's comics and thus took an interest in drawing horror comics himself. For the most part, these stories contain many elements of the horror genre: body horror, blood, guts, weird, psyche, dark magic, demons, dread, ominous, and a touch of obsession. Village of the Siren” gets into some Western mythology, and a Japanese man claims to be the reincarnation of a magician from Europe. It allows the author to explore a lot of weird ideas like he always has and develop them in short but highly efficient stories.

For example, the artwork is a lot rougher and feels more rushed in the earlier stories in the collection. Our team is made up of book lovers who are dedicated to sourcing and providing the best books for kids. I sort of wanted to pick it for my Fantastic Strangelings Book Club for December but I figured 25% of the people would be like, "YOU LIKE JUNJI ITO TOO? At their worst, they’re just plain boring like the woman scorned in Scripted Love or the guy who brings the dead back to life in The Reanimator’s Sword. The last book that came out was one of his newer works, which I was unfortunately dissatisfied with as I have been with other newer work, but this information about Deserter gave me something to anticipate.

For a complete list of books Kris has read, as well as shorter less eloquent reviews, check Kris’ goodreads out. This anticipation was not misplaced, as I am happy to report that this was a very solid collection of strange and unsettling tales. Ito’s influences include classic horror manga artists Kazuo Umezz and Hideshi Hino, as well as authors Yasutaka Tsutsui and H.

That said, the two final tales in the volume, both of which deal with forms of bullying, were a bit too on the nose with their casual cruelty. Village of the Siren” highlights Ito’s forest and mountain motif which he uses frequently to isolate the characters from the rest of the world. There are a few stand-outs in the collection like “Where the Sandman Lives”’ a story about a man’s inner shadow self literally turning him inside out. Some current favorites include: Chucky on NBC, God of War for PC, and yet another playthrough the of Kingdom Hearts franchise. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed with Ito’s books: his stories start well but always descend into hysterical horror cliches that rarely make sense and often give the stories an unintentional comedic aspect.

I’d like to know when, and in what context, they were first published; what, for example, is the background of ‘The Reanimator’s Sword’, which leans more towards fantasy than horror and seems like an outlier here? Instead, it grapples with the dilemma of having to deal with such a person and whether the retribution doled out by the other students is going too far, punctuated by a perfectly unsettling moment at the end that leaves things in suspense without feeling unresolved. It is not included in promotions available to our main range products, as stated in our terms of service. At Books2Door, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill that every child should have to help improve their vocabulary, grammar, and critical thinking skills. In “Face Thief” there’s some difficulty telling characters apart, but then it becomes clear this is the point of the plot, as a character is literally able to steal other people’s faces.

We work closely with publishers and authors to ensure that we offer the best books on the market for your child.With a town festival coming up, the family plans to trick Furukawa into thinking that the fireworks are a bombing raid. They find a note written by Furukawa two days after Kimie's death; he had committed suicide because he could not live with the knowledge he was responsible for her demise. Apart from the ghastly, convincingly-drawn deaths, the book projects an effective atmosphere of creeping fear as the town's inhabitants become less and less human, and more and more bizarre things begin to happen.