I had never heard of or read Algernon Blackwood before this collection, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon this book because I thoroughly enjoyed his writing. I did think certain stories were much better than others, but overall it was a great reading experience.

Here are my thoughts about the individual stories:

1. Ancient Sorceries: This was by far my favorite of the collection. It really just had everything I enjoy in a classic short horror story - wonderful writing and atmosphere, mystery and foreboding, and certain supernatural elements that I love (but I won’t spoil it by saying what they are.) This was a 10/10 story for me.

2. The Listener: This one had a very strong start, but the ending was abrupt and rather disturbing, and not in a fun way. I was left just feeling a bit confused and unsatisfied.

3. The Sea Fit: This was my least favorite of the bunch. It was very short, at least, but I found it to be boring and unmemorable.

4. The Willows: This was probably my second favorite. The set-up at the beginning was quite slow, but once it reached the climax at the end I was really caught up in the claustrophobic and menacing atmosphere. I only wish we had gotten more of that, and less of the clunky build-up.

Finally, my thoughts on this edition in particular. I really like the cover. The fonts (especially the title fonts) are really beautiful and pleasing to the eye. There was a handful of obvious errors/typos in my ARC edition that hopefully will be caught and corrected before the official publication. Other than that, I think it was really lovely.

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

A great collection of stories that most I had read before. Great to see them brought back to life again.

Story 1: Oh yeah this is awesome. Weird small French village full of pleasant (but somehow sinister and strangely feline) people? A Satan-worshipping cat princess??? A middle-aged man hopelessly in love with her?!!? Hell yeah!

Story 2: WTF WAS THAT?? It started off as a normal gothic haunted house story, but then… then it got so… so… agh. The ending honestly confused and disturbed me so much?

Story 3: Not really my thing. It was short but confusing and a little bit boring.

Story 4: The buildup for this one was really slow, but it was sufficiently creepy and very mysterious. It was probably the second best story in this collection.

I had never heard of this author before. What's original here is the consistent disembodiment of his "monsters" and the extent to which the reader has to decide whether to believe the heretofore sensible narrators anymore, as they become increasingly persuaded of fanciful ideas. I'll return to this author, like I return to Poe and Lovecraft.

a reissue of the classic, giving new readers a chance to experience the author who greatly influenced the genre of horror, including HP Lovecraft

This is a traditional piece of publishing, the rebinding, and selling of classic stories by a sought-after author that has not been given a fresh reprint for too long. I was glad to see some Algernon Blackwood getting this treatment, not so much out of a love for the works themselves as it was an awareness of his works being asked after over the years. I will still keep an eye out for this physical edition, but I hope some more care is placed into the internal formatting for both that and the ebook before the final release. I can see this being a piece that sells on the cover alone, and while I know it is just good to have a reprint of this material for some, a better reading experience would have left me more space to ruminate on the dated writing itself.

I love a good a good story telling & HP Lovecraft is one of my fav story tellers, Blackwoods writing was similar and edge of my seat captivating. I especially enjoyed Ancient Sorceries as I love witchy themes!

A fine introduction to the master of supernatural horror.

Fans of supernatural horror in general and Algernon Blackwood in particular always look forward to a new version of their favourite tales. Although the stories have been re-printed time after time, and fans will almost certainly own multiple copies of his works, some versions are often worth the having, just for the presentation. Sadly I'm not able to comment on this aspect of this latest publication, as the Netgalley review copy was an electronic one.

What I can say is fans should not mistake this version for the full edition of "Ancient Sorceries and Other Tales" published in 1927. This copy contain only four stories, albeit excellent examples of his work.

This edition would serve as the perfect introduction to Blackwood, but I suspect might leave hardcore fans a little disappointed.

Ancient Sorceries is a collection of classic horror short stories from the acclaimed author Algernon Blackwood. All originally published in the early 1900s, these stories still hold up to the test of time.

The collection kicks off with Blackwood's Ancient Sorceries, a haunting tale about a "quaint" French village where everything isn't quite as it seems. The Sea Fit and the Willows are the two shorter stories in this collection, but they each hold their own weight with Ancient Sorceries and The Listener. Each story in this collection does an incredible job at instilling a sense of dread in the reader, and it was interesting to read about ghosts, spirits, aliens, and more from a historical perspective.

This is a fantastic book to find four of Blackwood's bests, but I do wish there had been an introduction by another horror author for the collection as a whole, or a letter to introduce each piece. It would have helped the reader get more acquainted before being thrown into each story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with a copy for an honest review.