This is a fine anthology of short stories that run the gamut from the ghostly to the grisly. Editor Rachel Brune has a fine eye for what makes a compelling tale. The writing is strong throughout and although some of the tales will seem a bit derivative there is enough originality to make this worth your while.

A horrifyingly great set of stories, Tangle & Fen is an anthology book filled with scares. A set of wildly differing stories ensures that everyone will find something that absolutely scares the living daylights out of them. My personal favourites include a family’s winter tradition of cannibalism, a Bengali monster from legend, and two ghostly hitchhikers. In addition, this book does what all great horror stories do - invent new fears in its reader. One story, for example, reawakened the same fear of radiation originally put into me by HBO’s Chernobyl.

Some stories are bound to be less interesting to certain people than others. However, this shift is not so much due to a drop in quality, but more because of varying personal tastes. Some readers may not be as interested in a story centred on worms, while others would be spellbound. Some may think an apocalyptic setting is tired, while others revel in it. Overall, the shifting nature of the stories is a blessing in disguise - while readers may not love all stories the same, they are practically guaranteed to find a story they love.

A solid 3.5 - 4 stars, leaning more towards a 4. While the weaker stories do drag the anthology down a bit, the strongest tales left me with strong emotions - horror, sadness, visceral disgust, claustrophobia. I very much recommend this to all looking for their next scary read.