Dubbed as “horror”, I went in hopeful that this would frighten me enough to send me hiding like a bridge troll…🫣🥴
But unfortunately, it did not.
These stories induced no fear or excitement or any real emotion for me, if I’m honest.
And as a fan of A Head Full of Ghosts, it pains me to say it, but I was definitely underwhelmed for the duration of this book.
Big thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review!

There's something about Tremblay that I'm always excited to read his works, even though I've mostly been disappointed. He's got style and can create characters, but the execution can be rough.

This is coming three years after his previous stories collection and the fact that this is getting a wide release is kind of a shocker. Because this is more what you'd expect from a small press. It's more of a "here's some things I don't have anywhere else to put these" release. In fact a few of these are pretty old, so the fact they got skipped in "Growing Things," is probably an indicator of how much even the author views their quality.

The novella that takes up half the page count and is the namesake is positioned at the end of the collection. It's an interesting read and the only reason I gave the entire collection two stars. While I appreciated the try, it was a pretty big miss for me. It's both too long and too vague. The characters are various animals living like humans, taking part in a Battle Royale style tradition, and the writing style is free form. Again, interesting, but it feels like a writing exercise more than a finished work. (It sucks to always compare genre authors to Stephen King, but this coming out so close to "Fairytale" just weakens the impact even more).

While Tremblay is labeled "horror," there is little horror here. The large portion of it is closer to fantasy and sci-fi. Think Ray Bradbury or Shirley Jackson (one of the shorts is from a tribute to the latter). Tremblay often gets criticized for not landing the endings and I've never had that problem as much as others; but here it's a big problem. In fact, a few of these don't even manage a takeoff.

Rarely do I say skip a book, but this maybe is one to avoid. There wasn't a single story I would want to read again. And while I'll happily read the next thing he puts out, I think Tremblay has enough stuff out there you should check out first. If you really like everything else, give this a shot, but it's more of an author experimenting than something to make fans happy. As an artist more power to him, but it wasn't for me.

I wanted to like this but the places the plot is going to go are not something I find appealing and also just overall something we have seen time and time again,

Paul Tremblay has written a highly disturbing, unsettling assortment of atypical horror stories. Be sure not to miss the enlightening and entertaining “story notes.”

This book was not exactly the best Tremblay book- a bit disjointed and not what my patrons will be expecting. I will order it for the library, but it will likely get weeded when it’s time to question space in the branch.

I've read a few books by Paul Tremblay, and I just feel like his writing style and subject area are not my favorite.

"The Beast You Are" is full of fascinating short stories, some gory, all mysterious and captivating. What I didn't enjoy, and what I think is actually a prominent feature of Tremblay's storytelling, is that there is no clear ending. I am not a fan of the ambiguous ending where readers determine for themselves the stories' conclusions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This felt slightly disjointed for Tremlbay's usual work. I remember feeling so much more immersed in his earlier works, this just felt a little all over the place. Granted, this was a short story collection so it was obviously a different format, but it really didn't stick with me, or immerse me in the way his earlier work has. May try to read again at a later date.