You really can't go wrong with any collection of Poe's works. This one includes most of the biggest and best stories by Poe. A solid choice if you want to read a curated collection that doesn't get too far into the b-sides and science fiction pieces that Poe wrote.

Some reviews of a few of the stories:
The Pit and the Pendulum by Poe
Just wow. I’m slightly shivering after reading this. In my house, safe, my husband and 80lb pit-bull terrier in the room with me, it’s night which might add a bit of creep factor. It’s only as I finish this story I realize how rapt it had my attention.
Certainly as a teen I did not understand the true impossibility of the decision between the pit and the pendulum. I thought that the pit was always the better choice back then. Today I would merely say that both suck equally and as they both end in death then what real difference is there?

The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe
One Poe’s most famous short stories. In a mere 7 pages Poe manages to convince you that the killer was right. Perhaps I’m too jaded by todays media consumption but this feels tame compared with shows like GoT, Witcher, and other fantasy gothic movies like ‘Crimson Peak’.

Cask of Amontillo by Poe
I’m confident I’m going to hell. As I took great pleasure (and even kind of laughed) at the cleverness of each character that walls in the other in each story.
I enjoyed this story immensely. After reading all of the Poe stories in this anthology I can confidently say this is the best set of stories of them all. I love the revenge being so dark and dispicable; while also clever and concise.

The Oval Portrait by Poe
Feels like a bit of a Dorian Grey homage with the use of the painting. I don’t even know which came first! How embarrassing. Lol. I gotta say paintings can be both beautiful and haunting. Really liked this one.

The Masque of Red Death by Poe
A bit too flowery and lengthy in its descriptions for me; but the overall message to avoid greed is powerful.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe
A little bit anticlimactic as I’ve read many retellings including Silvia Morena-Garcia’s amazing novel, Mexican Gothic. That said, it is a clever story and adaptable in many ways. I love the biology used. Be it the mess incest makes of lineage, or the fungus that ultimately shadows everyone and thing in the House of Usher. I’m glad to have finally read the original.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Poe
Poe wrote an entire story basically about statistical probability with large numbers (aka: mathematical/scientific proof coincidences don’t exist).
The beginning was painful but the last half flew by as the murders motive, perpetrator, etc. were being revealed. It’s absurd and yet falls into place eloquently. Poe really was a very sharp, astute man.

I think this was just not for me. I found it hard to understand. I also think that this isn't really geared towards children. I feel like some of the stories were a bit much, especially the last one.

I absolutely loved this creepy collection of Edgar Allen Poe's work. I think that anyone who knows Poe definerly enjoys his darker or more morbid outlook on life. This compilation is perhaps the darkest of his dark works. The descriptions he uses when describing the compulsion to murder are like no other. If you enjoy dark tales this one is definetly for you.

It's always pleasant to revisit the unpleasantness of Poe, and this collection will be a reasonable sampler for the newcomer wishing to see what the fuss was about. Although, she should be aware that many digital Complete Poes exist, and this does spend a third of its running time on the first and best, and third and mediocre, Dupin detective stories. I certainly would not have included 'The Purloined Letter' in any best of – especially when things like 'The Raven' are absent.

Still what is it that we do get? Well we're bookended by two tales of evil men doing evil deeds, but each time facing a brilliant sting in the tail for the narrator. ' The Black Cat' is the better of the two, the title piece the more economical. 'A Cask of Amontillado' is similar to some extent, but without the comeuppance some people will need. That one also begins with some very high-falutin' vocabulary, which is the only thing that might put the modern reader off these works. We get the three main pieces whose titles are certainly familiar – 'The Masque of the Red Death' (fine), 'The Pit and the Pendulum' (just torture porn, but good torture porn) and 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. We also get the only one whose name I didn't recognise before starting it, 'William Wilson', where we see another strange house – not that which the Usher siblings lived in, but a labyrinthine school where our hero finds a devilish doppelganger counterpart.

So it's a great shame the only verse in this book is the solitary page of rhymes in 'Ligeia', and that of Roderick Usher. I don't count this as a perfect Poe sampler without the verse – if not 'The Raven', then any one of the other weird bits of doggerel he put out. But it is a great little read. The only final thing to say, however, is that in no way should this be in this Dover Evergreen imprint – it's one that's supposed to be for children, I read. It's not just the antiquated style and vocab that will make this hard work for the modern young reader, it's also entirely inappropriate – people shoved into pitch-black oubliettes, waiting to be sliced in two, and a bloke gouging his cat's eyeball out? This is at least certificate 15 stuff. Which is the unpleasantness I spoke of, but which is classic unpleasantness because of how vivid it remains to this day. Buyer beware.

This is a good collection of Poe's work. It includes a combination of his popular and lesser known works.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

A wonderful collection of Edgar Allan Poe's work! I absolutely had such a fun time reading these selections from his work. I really enjoyed them and would recommend it for anyone who loves to read a little horror and mystery from the great Poe himself.