Przeklęty królik

This book is composed of 10 short horror stories:

The Head: this one follows a woman who suddenly witnesses a head pop up out of her toilet that starts calling her “mom”. This woman has no idea who this head belongs to and what they want. She then goes on a mission to remove this head from her life, but things don't really go to plan. It is a very gross story, so definitely not one to read while eating. It was in my opinion, very unique and such a strong story to start off with.

The Embodiment: in this story we follow a woman who somehow gets pregnant while being on birth control and the doctors tell her it's because she was on it for “too long”. In order for her baby to be born normal she needs to find a man who will be willing to give her his sperm. This one was very bizarre, and to be honest didn't really understand it (this will be a reoccurring thought...)

Cursed Bunny: there's a family who get paid to create cursed objects. There's a set of rules they have to follow to avoid disaster. The reasoning behind these rules is revealed through the main character's reminiscing grandfather. I really enjoyed this one, loved the message about revenge and how it doesn't just affect the targeted person but innocent people as well.

The Frozen Finger: a woman has woken up in a car that's about to drown, she has no idea where she is and what is happening. The only person there with her is this other woman who tries to help her. But nothing is what it seems. This one was chilling, I think I understood it all but there's a part of me who is still just as confused as this main character. The best part of this one is how atmospheric it is.

Snare: a man find a rabbit wounded in the woods, it isn't the fact that she can talk that drew this mans interest, it's the fact that her blood is made out of gold. How far is this man willing to go in order to maintain his new found riches? Extremely far I'll tell you that. This one is the darkest story of all of them and very fairy tale like. I would have thought this one belonged to the Grim Brother's fairy tale collection if I didn't know any better. By far my favorite of the bunch, even had a nightmare after reading this one.

Goodbye, My Love: ah, now we are getting into what I refer to “the shift” of this short story collection. Our main character work for this robot company and is responsable with turning them on and making sure they work properly. These robots you ask? they are suppose to be human like and basically help their owners. But we all know how these types of stories turn out... very black mirror but without the horror.

Scars: this one I don't even think I can explain, as I didn't quite understand it. A man lives a cave where this things he refers to as “it” comes feed from his body whenever it feels like. He doesn't remember life before the cave, how he got there or what this thing is. It is creepy, but personally I was quite confused. This is the longest story out of all of them and I got bored a bit.

Home Sweet Home: a woman and her family moves into a new building, and are tasked to renovate it. But creepy things keep happening. Another one that I didn't really get, which is why my description of the book is very basic. Not very scary and the story flew over my head. This one was my least favorite.

Ruler of the Winds and Sands: a blind prince is born due to a curse that was placed upon his family. When he becomes of age to marry, his father sets him up with a princess from another kingdom. She falls in love with him and decides to go to the person who was responsable for this cursed to ask him to lift it. This one was more fantasy than horror, as there was 0 horror elements to it. Quite enjoyable though, just wanted more of it as I felt like it ended right when things where getting interesting.

Reunion: I had to go back and check if I had read this one because I couldn't remember what it was about...I think this speaks for itself. A Korean woman moves to Poland where she meets this man who is very troubled. They bond over the fact they can see ghosts and eventually fall for one another. Again, not scary and is heavily focused on trauma. Personally wasn't a huge fan of this one either as it didn't really keep my interest.

As you can see, I really enjoyed the first 5 stories, but from story 6 onwards I felt like the mood of the book shifts from dark, horror, gruesome stories to a sci-fi, fantasy ball of confusion. Maybe I'm too dumb to understand some of the ones from the second half, but I just didn't enjoy them and they put me in a reading slump. I still recommend reading the first 5 stories especially “snare” because my god chef's kiss. If you like fantasy with a bit of horror, you may like the second half, but if you're looking for pure horror, you may be disappointed.