I didn't read enough of this to be able to give it an overall rating. The first story didn't do anything for me. Though, what annoyed me most was the use of "fiancée" twice in the first couple pages for the main character's husband-to-be. Bad enough that the author did it twice (at least), making it unlikely to be a typo, but, good grief, who edited this?

Fair warning: I went in with high expectations due to a recommendation and the fact it won the British Fantasy Award, and of course didn't get very far. So maybe the rest of the stories are supeb and do more than showcase the author's weak command of English and the publisher's crappy editing.

Bull Running for Girls is full of wonderful, frightening, moving ideas and images. Bird has a great mind for scene and situations, and great strong women characters. I look forward to seeing more of her later work, as I feel this collection was just missing polish. Great potential for future weird and horror writing.

Paranormal stories which sadly were a bit of a let down. ( )

Although I generally love fantasy, I was not a fan of it in this book of short stories. The way the stories flowed seemed stilted and awkward, and I sometimes lost track of what was happening. I couldn't relate to any of the characters and instead of being horrified I was simply bored. I had high hopes for this book and was disappointed with it.

* I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads. ( )

I knew going in that these would be creepy stories, not my favorite genre. And they were indeed spooky. Lots of death and desolation. Sometimes the time and place weren't clear, but most of the action seemed to occur in an older era, in bleak settings. One story that stuck with me: a modern school group tours Pompeii; what could possibly go wrong? ( )