Edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, The Devourer Below is part of Aconyte Books’ growing range of Arkham Horror fiction and features eight short stories from seven different authors all exploring a sinister presence rising in Arkham. Dangerous deals are being made, threats issued, lives devastated and plots hatched, monsters emerging and reluctant heroes standing up, all in the name of or in defiance of a darkness that few truly understand. From local landmarks to the dark countryside that borders the city, detectives and grieving widows to bootleggers and vagrant children, these stories explore Arkham and its inhabitants in dark, unsettling detail, united by a common theme – sometimes overt, other times implied – of a monstrous, corrupting power and the sinister servants it can call upon.
The first two stories set the tone for the anthology, with protagonists putting themselves into dangerous situations only to find that things are much worse than they realised. In Evan Dicken’s Running the Night Whiskey that takes the form of a bootlegger hoping for a big score, while Georgina Kamsika’s Shadows Dawning sees a grieving, vengeful widow searching for the men who murdered her husband – both interesting, engaging stories about regular people seeing Arkham’s true dangers for the first time. After that it’s a pair of excellent stories within stories which look beyond Arkham’s bounds to illustrate the darkness that lies at the heart of all these tales. Josh Reynolds’ The Hounds Below features a nervous writer venturing into the Sanatorium to interview a man about his awful experiences during the Great War, then Thomas Parrott’s Labyrinth – first in a two-part tale that concludes later on – draws upon myth and legend as a detective tries to understand what he’s about to get himself involved in.
Davide Mana’s All My Friends are Monsters focuses as much as anything on the monstrous behaviour of humans, moving as it does between the horrors of the mortuary and the illicit thrills of underground speakeasies, reminding the reader of some of the sad truths of 1920s America. Cath Lauria’s The Darkling Woods is similarly concerned with portraying humans as no less grotesque than the creatures seen elsewhere, in a tale of two street kids running from trouble in their usual neighbourhood and ending up in over their heads. Drawing the anthology to a close, David Annandale’s Professor Warren’s Investiture takes a deliberately ambiguous view on the dangers of pursuing secret knowledge in a cleverly observed tale of academic jealousy and obsession, before the second of Thomas Parrott’s stories – Sins in the Blood – picks up where Labyrinth left off and races into an action-packed finale. An ancient curse, mysterious enemies, shootouts in the streets and a dark ritual in the cemetery, it all comes together for one last climactic battle.
Each of these stories is, individually, a lot of fun to read, all rooted in that engaging blend of creepy occult horror and pulpy 20s Americana that typifies Arkham Horror. Personal preference aside, there’s no real standout story as they’re all engaging and entertaining, each one offering up a different angle on the setting and an interesting set of characters. Each author applies their own style and approach to their stories, providing an exciting sense of variety and inventiveness that keeps things fresh and avoids any sense of repetition, without ever losing sight of the fundamental Arkham Horror tone. As if the setting itself didn’t unify them enough though, the common theme running through every story – existing fans of the setting will recognise it from the title, but without spoiling too much we’re talking cults, horrible creatures and the looming presence of something really nasty – helps provide a strong sense of identity and tie the whole anthology together.
Overall it errs more on the side of the pulp adventure aspect of the setting, with lots of action that keeps the pace moving without ever dominating, but there’s more than enough creepy creatures, evil people and looming, ominous darkness to satisfy fans of the occult horror lurking at the heart of the setting. Anthologies inevitably offer something different to full-length novels, taking a broader view on the subject matter rather than digging deep into one set of characters and ideas, but by focusing on a single cohesive theme this manages to work as both a compelling and characterful overview of what Arkham Horror has to offer and a clever exploration of one aspect of the setting. As always with Aconyte’s impressive (and ever-growing) range, it also finds a satisfying balance between being detailed enough for existing fans of this IP and accessible enough for readers taking their first steps into Arkham Horror fiction. All told it’s fun, suitably creepy, wonderfully varied and consistently entertaining. What more could we ask for?
Many thanks to Aconyte Books for providing me with an advance copy of The Devourer Below in exchange for my honest review.
See also: all of the Arkham Horror-related reviews and author interviews on Track of Words.
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