3 and 1 / 2 Stars

This is an interesting book of Icelandic tales and folklore. I found the stories interesting and learned quite a bit. I had never looked into Icelandic tales. It made me want to go to search for more stories and to learn more about the stories’ origins.

I enjoyed the book. I will be looking into more of this author’s writings.

I want to thank NetGalley and Brigid’s Gate Press for forwarding to me a copy of this interesting book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Brigids Gate Press Press for the ARC.

I love Icelandic fiction, add vampires, cryptids, and mythical creatures, what more could I ask for?

When I read this book, I simply started reading and did not notice that it was a single author. Each story was truly unique in content and style, I felt like I was reading a collection of multiple authors. The writing is excellent and the writer’s skill with having different tone is exemplary.

What Protects Our Heritage is the longest story in the book and an excellent one. The Other Aberrations stories were mixed, some were haunting leaving you with a feeling of dread and provoking deep thought. One or two, to me, were over the top with violence/gore/disturbing themes and I liked these the least. I appreciate the fact that a warning regarding content is at the front of the book pointing to a list of trigger warnings in the back of the book.

The Icelandic folklore and heritage included in each story tie it all together for a nice volume. I liked the artwork on the front cover as well. There was only one story that to me did not fit and was my least favorite. The author also at the end gave some history behind the writing of each story, I found this very interesting. As far as short story collections go, this is a favorite.

What Protects Our Heritage and Other Aberrations is a collection of short horror stories rooted in Icelandic folklore. It's eerie, it's gory, and at times, gave me visceral reactions. Its stories span from vampires and cryptids to Tupperware. But as with most short story collections, this was a mixed bag for me.

My favourites from the collection were:

They Came From the Rocks was an eerie email exchange between a corporation and its workers on a drilling operation. As the author aptly puts it: “you should never fuck with nature.”

Tupperware Party was exactly as it sounds–but make it a campy slasher. I can tell the author had a fun time writing this and I had a fun time reading it.

Unfortunately, most stories fell flat for me. Some felt lacklustre, with long build-ups that didn’t quite match the payoff. The potential in the subject matter was definitely there, and I was interested to learn more about Icelandic folklore, however the execution left room for improvement.

I did, however, really enjoy the author’s note at the end. Reading the author's thoughts and inspirations behind the stories enhanced the experience for me.

Overall, I'm giving this collection 2 stars–a couple of wins but at times a struggle to stay engaged.

You might enjoy What Protects Our Heritage and Other Aberrations if you're a fan of short sorry collections and have a taste for folklore with a dark and gory twist.

Thank you to Netgalley and Brigids Gate Press for providing me with an ARC of this book. All views are my own.

What Protects Our Heritage and Other Aberrations by Villimey Mist is a twisted collection of Icelandic horror stories. From the opening story, The Girl with the Hooves which was a classic old school dark fairy tale, I was hooked. Even though I’ve loved horror all my life it wasn’t until recently that I began to branch out of what I’d consider mainstream horror and been wowed by a diversity I never knew existed. Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed Hispanic, Japanese, Native America, and now Icelandic horror. If you’re like me and have only been reading mainstream you really don’t know what you’ve been missing. There are so many incredible horror writers out there. I enjoyed the heck out these stories and can’t wait to check out more of Villimey’s work. I’d like to thank Brigids Gate Press, LLC and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of What Protects Our Heritage and Other Aberrations.

Oh... I liked this collection very much!

How have I missed this author before? This needs to be rectified immediately!

For those who love Icelandic/Nordic Noir, dark tales, folk horror, living landscapes, and the creatures that dwell in these spaces... then this book is for you!

I enjoyed all of the stories, their twists, and the horrors that awaited within. From tupperware to trolls, from the apocalyptic to the apathetic, each tale has something to take away.

Whilst I enjoyed 'Survival of the Fittest', my absolute favourite story was 'The Girl With The Hooves'. It's just so good!

If that wasn't enough, there's a whole Icelandic Cryptid novella included at the end!

Villimey Mist is definitely an author to follow and watch out for.


*I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review*

These were great horror stories and enjoyed the overall concept of the story being told. Each story had that feel that I was looking for from a horror genre and thought everything worked together. I enjoyed the way Villimey Mist wrote this and can’t wait for more.

This was another ARC I snagged off Netgalley, so thank you for that.

I really liked this collection, I had not read from this author before but I have went to check their other work out now and will be reading more.

My favorite was Survival of the Fittest
I want to tell you so much but what I will say is, you might see the ending coming, I did, but I still couldn't stop my reaction to it, even when I thought I was prepared.
That story was amazing.

My second was All You Can Eat Buffet.
What the fuck, but absolutely worth every second.

As a runner up, because I liked it and have to say something is Tupperware Party, and I will NOT elaborate, you just have to read it, with a title like that, how can you pass it up?

A collection of snowy nightmares, and bittersweet folklore that invites you into tales of Iceland.
I really liked this collection, it was filled with lots of variety.

My favorites stories:

The Girl with the Hooves: As the title suggests, this story is about a girl who does not fit in with the rest of the people. Very emotional, and in my opinion one of the best in the collection.

Survival of the Fittest: My favorite story. Our murderous protagonist tries to find food in a radioactive, post-apocalyptic world. Everything changes when instead of nourishment, she finds a friend. Another emotional story, one that has a very sad outcome. You know it will happen, that's what makes it hit harder.

They Came from the Rocks: A drill operation gone wrong. Workers start to show signs of weird behavior, some go missing, others lose their mind. Really enjoyed this one.

All You Can Drink Buffet: An american works at a companies office in japan. After doing overtime, his colleagues invite him to get drinks after work. After waking up with weird puncture wounds over his body, he finds his colleagues at work a little...different than usual. The author mentioned being a fan of Junji Ito's stories. This becomes very obvious in this story. Until now, I've never seen an author absolutely nail the vibe of Ito's manga as a book. Loved it.


Despite loving my time reading this collection, I gave it four stars, because three stories were not for me.

Tupperware Party, The Hag's Gift and The Perfect Time: I thought the pacing in those was too fast for me, I could not get into it. As a comparison, The Girl with the Hooves had the perfect length, it managed to include a lot, without feeling too short or too long. The concepts of those stories itself were good though.

Overall, I could always tell, that the author put love into this collection, especially after reading the notes from the author, found at the end of the book. Looking forward to reading the authors other collection, such as Visceral Discoveries and As the Night Devours Us.