Pacific Monsters (Fox Spirit Books of Monsters, #4) by Margrét Helgadóttir

Pacific Monsters (Fox Spirit Books of Monsters, #4) Reviews

• 
  Joanne Hall

  Pacific Monsters is the fourth in Fox Spirit's ongoing series of monster stories collected from all around the world, and with this edition put together from across the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, it's no surprise that the sea features heavily in a lot of the stories here. It should be noted that Pacific Monsters also takes in monsters from Australia and New Zealand in this case, drawing on both Maori ( "Children of the Mist" by Tihema Baker, A J Fitzwater's excellently-titled "From the Womb of the Land, our Bones Entwined" )and Aboriginal ("The Legend of Georgie" by Raymond Gates deals with a bunyip and a trio of very dumb students) mythology.
  
  All of the Monsters books have been very strong collections, and Pacific Monsters continues that trend. When reviewing collections I always like to pick out a few highlights, and in this particular volume these are the stories that stood out for me.
  
  "All My Relations" by Bryan Kamdoli Kuwada is a powerful story set in the seas around Hawaii and features as its narrator a kupua, a powerful shapeshifter who can take the form of a shark. The narrator is held by an ancient vow not to eat human flesh, but his resolve is tested when he begins to teach a young boy who has little respect for the sea.
  
  Anthology closer "Into the Sickly Light" by AC Buchanan, which takes place in New Zealand, is based on a local event that occurred in 1965 when a mass later identified as a whale carcass washed up on a New Zealand beach. The "globster" of the story exerts a powerful influence over the local population, and it's up to young outsider Colleen to save them.
  
  On a lighter note, Simon Dewar's "Above the Peppermint Trail" is the story of a family and their French nanny who foolishly wander off the trail in a nature reserve and come face to face with Australia's most savage and feared predator, the deadly and terrifying drop bear...
  
  As always with the Monsters series there's a graphic element, with two comic strip stories, "I Sindalu" by Gaum-based author Michael Lujan Bevacqua, and the moving "Dinornis" by Octavia Cade, both illustrated by Dave Johnson, and all of the stories have art to accompany them (The large format paperbacks of the series are splendid coffee-table books).
  
  Editor Margret Helgadottir (a fine SF author as well as an editor) speaks in the introduction about how challenging it was to find authors from the Pacific islands who were able and willing to contribute to the anthology, and although it means the stories incline towards Australia and New Zealand, it's to Margret's credit that she's still managed to pull together such a wide-ranging collection of scary monsters and super creeps. It's a reminder that no one is safe from the supernatural, even at the furthest edges of the world...
  
  
  Asian Monsters
  
  
  African Monsters
  
  
  European Monsters
  
  
  The Stars Seem so Far Away
  
• 
  Alex (Spells & Spaceships)

  Pacific Monsters was a really interesting and enjoyable collection of stories that the editor has expertly put together to really capture the personality, history and cultures of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands (there is a story set in Antarctica too!) and all written by ‘authors who are from, have lived in or have a strong connection to the region.’
  
  One reason I chose Pacific Monsters as my first in the series is that I know very little about the region – perhaps the least out of any continent or region on Earth and hadn’t really heard much about the folklore or history. Margrét herself actually writes in her introduction of the difficulties she faced in accumulating many stories for this volume and I suspect the folklore is not as widely known in Western culture as European or Asian folklore. Margrét also writes about getting the feeling she was “at the end of the world…surrounded by the vast ocean” and that’s also something I felt and was my other predominant reason for being intrigued by this book, having a fascination with the undiscovered oceans and what resides within.
  
  
  Perhaps for these reasons noted above, many of the stories had a surreal sort of vibe that diverged from what you might call a traditional monster story; some even where you might be unsure if the physical monster exists; if it is a metaphor or something psychological.
  
  A couple of the stories I had to re-read and admittedly I did get the feeling a couple of times of not quite understanding what was going on – this isn’t a criticism, it is due to my own approach to the book and ignorance of the folklore and culture. Western readers will need to adapt somewhat and accept that you are entering a world that belongs to other people, experiencing their stories that may be based on things you are unfamiliar with.
  
  
  Because of this, the book was actually much more of an educational and thoughtful read than the light entertainment you might expect from a collection of monster stories; it’s a lot more in depth and enlightening than that. On doing a bit of research past my own reading for example, I discovered that The Hand Walker actually touches on themes of how white Australians treated the Aboriginal population. When first reading because of the light entertainment approach I took, I didn’t pick up on all the nuances and metaphors but you definitely get a lot more out of it if you start the book with the impression that this isn’t just a monster book, it’s an exploration of culture and folklore in which you will learn and be taken into a world in which you might be unfamiliar.
  
  Of course, important themes or clever metaphors don’t necessarily always make a good story – some are better than others, which you will get with any collection – several stories I enjoyed a lot and others weren’t for me.
  
  However I would say as a collection, the quality is of an objectively high standard that everyone will be able to appreciate to some extent.
  
  
  One highlight was All My Relations by Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada. It has a lot of folklore references and follows a Shark spirit who has taken the form of a man in order to subdue his man-eating tendencies during a 200 year long agreement amongst his kind not to harm humans in the seas around O’ahu, Hawaii – where the story takes place. When a young boy tries to befriend him and they enter the ocean together, he has to make a decision on his stance when the boy is shown to be lacking a bit of respect for the ocean life.
  
  Another highlight was The Weight of Silence by Jeremy Szal, author of the recently released and highly acclaimed Stormblood. Arachnophobes may want to skip this one which features giant spiders that have taken over Sydney!
  
  
  A final point I wanted to mention is how well illustrated it is – there are illustrations for each story and some of them are beautiful, or horrifying – or both!
  
  I’m really glad I got the opportunity to read my first book in this series and am looking forward to starting American Monsters (the South American one) soon! The whole collection would look amazing on the shelf as well as to read of course, with the covers going together so nicely.
• 
  Rachel Noel

  This was a solid collection of thrilling stories of monsters that really do need to be more represented. Each story was engaging and very representative of the different ways you can tell a monster story.
• 
  Maree Kimberley

  Pacific Monsters is a fantastic collection of short stories from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and more. It's great to read an anthology with diverse voices and stories from parts of the world that are often overlooked. But I do have a favourite in the collection: All My Relations by Brian Kamaoli Kuwada. It's not just the shape-shifting shark that I love (although that is something that has fascinated me for years) but the core relationship between the young diver and the shape-shifter, and how the writer raised the tension bit by bit until the story's climax.
  
  Other favourites for me included The Weight of Silence by Jeremy Szal, set in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by spiders, and Mudgerwokee by Kirsty Olley where wishes, secrets and sacrifices combine in a subtly crafted tale.
  
  Along with illustrations by various artists there are a couple of graphic stories included in the collection, and the beautiful cover by Daniele Serra makes this an object of beauty as well as an anthology you'll want to dip into again and again.
  
  
• 
  Octavia Cade

  I've a story in this, and I've got a couple of mates with stories in here as well so I am Biased with a capital B. That being said, I've just finished reading this and I'm so happy I didn't just leave it looking pretty on my bookshelf, because so many of the stories in here are awesome. Each time I thought I'd found my favourite I kept reading, and found another one that I liked even more. The editor has done a fantastic job with her selections, and while I agree with her introductory regrets about the lack of Pacific Island authors, New Zealand in particular is very well represented here and I'm always up for that.
  
  There are a lot of ocean stories here, as is to be expected. Nature and ecology also has a strong influence, and I particularly enjoy these things in my horror so this anthology is perfect for me. Highlights include the truly repulsive globster from A.C. Buchanan's "Into the Sickly Light" and Rue Karney's creepy, vicious creation "The Hand Monster". I think my favourite of the bunch, however, is Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada's "All My Relations", which has the most gloriously perfect ending I can imagine. Go read it, you won't be sorry.
• 
  Ash Hartwell

  This was poor. I found the stories overlong and not very engaging. If you like folklore then you might enjoy this but I didn't. Sorry.
• 
  Runalong

  Excellent anthology exploring myths and social issues around the Pacific
  
  Full review
  ‪Pacific Monsters edited by Margret Helgadottir
  https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...‬