There were several things about the book that surprised me, some pleasant and some not as much. I’m going to get the negatives out of the way first before following up with the positives, because I do not want to seem too pessimistic. I did enjoy this book overall but ended up feeling like somethings was left to be desired.

I did not know going into this book that it was going to be a middle grade novel; this may have been an error on my part, but I still felt like most of the stories were very juvenile in their execution, plot, and the writing style. Every single story ended in the exact same way, and no, I don’t mean that figuratively: I quite literally mean that every single story had an identical final sentence, with maybe a single word being changed. The illustrations also did not feel like they belong in the in the book as they never seem to serve a purpose beyond looking nice.

On the topic of said illustrations, I cannot deny that they did not look good because they did - the art in this book is phenomenal, but it’s spread so far in between that it takes a lot of energy to actually try to enjoy it. The character of the titular Horror Collector himself was also a welcome addition, as he serves as a nice connection between the stories, even if [spoilers], the cliffhanger related to the story was definitely not needed, and did not feel like anything is ever at stake; mostly, because none of the characters, except for the Collector, ever felt like they needed to interact with each other.

While I wouldn’t recommend this book to any teenagers or adults, I would recommend it to parents who are looking to get their child in either elementary or possibly middle school into the world of horror. This is certainly a enjoyable book for their reading level but unfortunately, the enjoyment doesn’t stay with age, unlike other horror anthologies as Goosebumps or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

3 stars overall - nothing special but perfectly serviceable.

Thank you Yen Press and NetGalley, for providing me with an arc of this light novel, in exchange for my honest review.

This was great!! I read it in one go and really enjoyed all these creepy stories.

6 different stories, in 6 different towns but in every story there’s this mysterious hooded boy who sometimes tries to warn or help people but is mostly there to collect urban legends and look for someone very intriguing!

The first story was a bit disappointing if I’m honest, mostly because of the sudden easy ending. But I’m glad I kept reading. The more I read, the harder it was to stop. And I caught myself chatting about the stories with my friends, who urged me to keep reading so I could tell them more!

I’m glad there’s going to be a sequel!

Because if the cover of this, I thought that it was going to be a manga but it turned out to be a light novel instead. Despite that, I went ahead and read this. I thought most of the stories were pretty good, specifically the Little Nanoka story that is similar to our Slederman story here in the US. Other stories were pretty boring in comparison, the love spell one was particularly slow and there seemed to not be much of a consequence for the main character. Overall, I think that this is a good collection for middle schoolers which is what it's aimed towards, but if you're a big horror fan these stories will probably be a little tame for you.

I was happy to receive the eARC of Horror Collector vol 1 as it sounded like a fun creepypasta manga. Unfortunately its not technically a manga but a lightly illustrated novel. I still kept reading but found the storytelling to not be particularly creepy (even for the age range) and the stories themselves felt disjointed with a lack of a commitment to the telling.
I also think that the translation could use some edits as many of the sentences were not well structured.
The art was nice and I would have liked to have seen more of it as it was the best part of the book.

This is a collection of interconnected short stories, with each chapter focusing on a different urban legend. What connects them all is a mysterious boy who shows up in each story that seems to be hunting down all the local urban legends sightings. The legends are fairly standard and each chapter tends to end pretty vaguely. While there is definitely an overarching plot, it's not made very clear beyond I think the boy is looking for someone. This is written for a younger audience, so it's not particularly scary, despite the name. It was a quick read, but i'm not sure it was engaging enough for me to want to read more of the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

‘Horror Collector’ Volume 1 is a nice middle grade light novel nice and simple easy read with cute artwork.

Rating 4 1/2 stars