Devil's Ways was not what I expected. This anthology is phenomenal.

Each author presents their own perception of what and/or who the devil is. Some stories are steeped in folklore, while others mesmerize you into believing it to be quiet when it ends with a shake and a scream. These are not run of the mill stories of the demon with horns. The devil can come in any shape and size, in any form. He does not play by the rules. Even when dealing with his own family.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dragonwell Publishing for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is another one where I didn’t click and wished there was a preview function on Netgalley to allow me to make better decisions. Admittedly, this is also on me. I’ve got to accept I’m too damn picky for anthologies. But none of the ones I tried fitted what I was looking for when I clicked on an anthology full of devil stories. Hopefully someone out there looking for some short stories about dark gods will get on with this; it’s got a good cast of authors and it is an interesting topic.

This was such a fun anthology of all the ways that the devil makes an appearance in major world literature. Often, the devil is the most lively or realized character within the story he finds himself, and this anthology is no exception to that rule. A gratifying world tour of the devil's greatest hits, this book will find itself on my shelf for years to come.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The stories were interesting and some of them can linger with you. The different interpretations of the Devil and what he/she/it may be is fascinating. Different cultures have different views. It is not something I would usually read and of the stories in this anthology, I only really liked two of them. Some take a while to figure out and it makes reading it again necessary to better grasp the concept.

Various stories of deviltry from various cultures, including two—two!—Jewish variants as well as others drawing on African and Chinese backgrounds. Nancy Kress contributes a small biblical story; Michael Swanwick and Avram Davidson were the other two names I recognized.

In all, I like it more than expected. Kress and Swanwick prove they're professionals and masters of the craft. Happily, stories by other authors entertain as well.

What a fantastic melange of new and established authors, time periods and cultural traditions all centered around the devil. Whatever your pleasure when it comes to the darkness, you're positive to find stories that resonate with you. Recommended.

This was actually goo. Really good. If it sounds like I’m saying it with an element of surprise, it’s merely because I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from an anthology by an unknown publishers featuring only two names I recognized. But a good thematical anthology is tough to find (on Netgalley anyway) and this one was really well done. Ok, to be honest, the first story wasn’t a good introduction, in fact it kind of read like a demented peado nightmare, but the next one was an improvement, then it alternated, one on, one off and then it was all on. The stories improved progressively and geometrically. Each story stuck closely to the main theme, but featured a fascinating multicultured approach from a vary varied bunch of authors. The quality was overall quite excellent, every story irrespective of how much I personally liked them was original and imaginative, so major kudos there. I also really liked that these were mostly a collection of long short stories, meaning each one had enough pages to properly unravel and draw you in, three acts and all. No skimping on plot or character development, just good creative storytelling. So yeah, very good. Genre fans should very much enjoy this collection of short stories. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.