Year's Best Hardcore Horror, Volume 3

GREAT ASSORTMENT!

I really enjoy horror stories. This book is so full of different scenarios that it is impossible not to find a few to your liking. The narration was good and kept you entertained. These authors did a great job with their characters considering they were all short stories. This was the third book and I can't wait to read the first 2 books in this series. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

More hits than misses in this collection

I know that when I read/listen to short story compilations, I won't enjoy every single story. I call it a win if I can pick out a half dozen that resonate. In this audiobook, I'm happy to have found several stories here that I really enjoyed: "Burnt", "Til Death", "Bernadette", "Reprising Her Role", "Treehuggers", "West of Matamoros, North of Hell", "Ultra", and "The Dogs" were the ones that stood out for me personally. Everyone has different preferences and thresholds when it comes to hardcore horror, and I"m not sure that I'd classify all of my favourites here as hardcore. Of my handful of favourites, I'd consider "Burnt" and "West of Matamoros, North of Hell" to definitely align with my internal definition of hardcore horror, and maybe also "The Dogs".

When I see a book titled "Volume 3", my subconscious grades the content as somehow inferior to the stories that would make the cut in "Volume 1" or "Volume 2". That's why I suppose I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of these stories were so compelling (in a hardcore horror sort of way).

I really enjoyed the narrator - I'm a fan of alto female voices for narrators and I liked her dispassionate tone as she was narrating. It seemed to fit well with this genre of audiobook because it shifted the focus to the stories and let the words speak for themselves. A hyper-emotional narration would have been overkill, I think. It occurred to me as I was listening to the audiobook that the narrator does good accented voices, too. I'm not sure how authentic they are to the specific regions where the stories took place, but I found them to be quite compelling. I didn't give five stars for narration because I felt that the pace was a bit too slow; once I increased the playback speed to 1.25x, I hit a sustainable comfort zone with the narration.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Angel Leigh McCoy

This collection of stories seemed short for some reason, But Angel Leigh McCoy is a great treat to listen to. Maybe that’s why this set seemed short; because I wanted to hear more from her!
Thank for getting away from the flash fiction which was too prevalent in the previous volume. Keep up the great work. Maybe doing audio versions of extreme novel-length stories could be in future plans as well ... with Angel?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A Great Horror Collection!

In this collection you'll find a story or several to make your skin crawl and your mind want to hide. I didn't care for all of the stories but enough of them to make it worth having. If you enjoy extreme horror stories then you really should add this collection to your library! Narration was well done and added to each story!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Horrifying

Disturbing, disgusting and delightful, I really enjoyed this collection.

Let me warn you before you run out and purchase this audiobook, it’s supplies what the title implies, hard-core horror. There are some extremely disturbing stories in here that contain violence, mutilation, pornography and a little beastiality thrown in for good measure. The easily triggered or offended should stay away.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author in exchange for my unbiased review.

Excuse me now, I need to search for volumes one and two.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

how do I return this? I hate it. <br /><br />

the narrator is far more suited to read children's books than horror with her sweet voice. I suffered through three stories, I'm done. can't listen to another word of this book.

Year's Best Hardcore Horror 3

A great collection of horror stories. There are numerous plots and characters in this collection that there is bound to be more than one story to your liking. This collection does Includes some very intense and graphic plot lines. I enjoyed them all but as with any anthology there were ones that I enjoyed more than others. These stories come in different lengths and different levels of angst and horror. Some stories come with an author’s note that gives you a little more insight into the story as well. Each author does a good job of bringing their world and characters to life. Narrator Angel Leigh McCoy does a wonderful job of keeping the narrative flowing and transporting the listener into each and every world. If you enjoy horror and well-developed plots and characters than you will be pleased with this collection.

I received this audiobook at my request and I voluntarily wrote a review.

Holy crap what a ride.

This book doesn't pull any punches that's for sure. Right from the start you are going to be assaulted by some of the creepiest, grossest, and most shocking things you've ever read. Unfortunately as with all body horror some of them cross over into the realm of trying too hard to shock you and kind of spoil the story a bit but other stories are really well written and thought provoking.

Nasty but Great Collection!

I’m always looking for new horror authors to listen to and this collection of stories have turned me on to a few more. The collection is bold and daring! Some of the stories have kind of a morbid moral to their story, which I found quite satisfying. All the them are especially gruesome and extremely gory, so they are definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart. Some of the tales are just a few minutes, where others go on for more than 30 minutes so no matter what, you have time for a quick listen or two. I personally enjoyed listening to one or two stories a night before bed.

If you love stories that make you cringe yet compel you to continue listening, I highly recommend this audio book. There is something in there for anyone that loves truly disturbing horror. There are a large variety of narrators too and over 15 hours of listening entertainment. For those reasons alone, I believe it’s worth a credit.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Some good ones.

I'm a fan of horror amongst other genres. I am familiar with this team, I listened to volume 1 and it was good. In This volume, the stories Burnt and Letter from Hell were interesting and of course, sinister.

I will say that those who don't like or can't handle hard core or deeply sinister horror shouldn't listen to or read this book.

With that said, some.of the stories seemed to stretch or reach for the hardcore horror aspect in that they just seemed pointless. I won't say which, I'll let you decide.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.