It Calls From The Forest: Volume Two - More Terrifying Tales From The Woods

This compilation of stories had a plethora of otherworldly creatures. Some encounters are fatal. Venture into the unknown with these short stories which had me hooked. Love all the books from Eerie Publishing.

I read Volume I when it came out in April (a relative's story was published in that one, so I checked it out to show support), and couldn't put it down. In fact, I finished most of it in a single weekend, and of the 24 or so stories, I only disliked 2 of them. So when I heard Volume II was coming out, I couldn't wait!I was severely disappointed. This collection of stories feels more like a b-side of Volume I than the next entry in the series. It's as if most of these stories weren't quite good enough to make the cut for Volume I, but the publisher decided to release this 2nd volume to snag some extra cash after the success of the first.It took me over 2 months to finally finish this volume, compared to about a week for Volume I. It started off strong with "I Speak for the Trees," and the next story, "The Thousand-Eye Stag" did a great job building up suspense and terror. By the end however, that story felt like a blatant rip-off of a very well known horror film, and thus, it ruined what was otherwise a great story."The Bog Feeders" gave me hope that the collection might pick up again, but unfortunately it was just hit and miss after that. Some of the biggest issues I had were that many of these stories weren't well written, too-closely resembled other well-known works or common themes, or were just downright cheesy. Furthermore, 2 of the most entertaining stories barely qualified as horror in my opinion, one because of the story's twist, and the other because the characters themselves didn't seem to be scared by what was happening.Two stories in particular I want to highlight are "Between the Trees" and "When Called." When it comes to horror, it takes a lot to get under my skin, and out of the near-50 stories in both volumes, these 2 stories were the only ones to genuinely disturb me. Kudos to their authors!Again, I was overall very disappointed in this collection compared to the first (which you should DEFINITELY check out if you haven't already). That said, there were still some great stories peppered throughout. My favorites were:"I Speak for the Trees""The Bog Feeders""Atchafalaya""Between the Trees""Moonshadow Monster""Spirit of the Forest""When Called""The Heralding"There were 2 other stories that I enjoyed but, as I mentioned before, were barely horror. I won't name them though because I don't want to spoil anything. The rest of the stories that I didn't mention were pretty weak and forgettable.

This is a great anthology. The stories are quick reads. They're engaging and have a lot of atmosphere. There also isn't a really weak story in the mix.

It was okay. I thought the first one was awesome, which gave me high hopes for this second installment. Unfortunately it did not even come close to my expectations.

Really enjoyed the tension of the forests filled stories of horror and suspense.

OK, but it really didn’t capture my interest..