Book Review: Menagerie in the Dark
Menagerie in the Dark. Chris Kauzlarich, Phantom Quill Press, August 2025, e-book, 222 pages.
Reviewed by Brian Foster.
Menagerie in the Dark: Stories, by Chris Kauzlarich is a collection of short horror pieces that feature many unique and interesting characters having experiences that, on average, constitute the worst day of their lives. It is not for the faint of heart, or suitable for readers under the age of eighteen. That said, adults looking for a solid and engaging horror anthology need look no further.
The anthology does a good job keeping readers invested by striking a balance between telling stories that are deep and detailed, and ensuring that a single piece never overstays its welcome.
The stories in the second half of the anthology are especially quick reads, in the best possible way. This works especially well with the overall theme of the anthology, which, somewhat surprisingly for a work of horror, is hope. Not hope that the dark times will not come, or that they will pass us by, or that they serve some greater purpose, not even the hope that our agonies have something meaningful to teach us. The only hope Menagerie in the Dark has to offer is that the dark times will pass. That we may survive them, and understand them, and move on from them.
That does not mean that these stories end happily. In fact, some of them do, in fact, end with the monster killing the protagonist and getting away scot-free, which doesn’t really help support the hope theme. And some of the monsters in this anthology are genuinely awful in deep and profound ways, and that they don’t get caught is sure to infuriate some readers. With that said, the stories where this happens are easily in the minority, and the ones where this doesn’t happen do all end in satisfying ways that I would describe, for horror stories, as uplifting.
All the works in the anthology are genuinely well written and imaginative, and stand out as unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of dark fiction and horror. This alone makes the anthology worth reading, and I can confidently say I enjoyed my time with it overall. One in particular involving an eclipse stood out to me as being the most fun, thrilling, and on theme. And when Menagerie in the Dark stays strongly on its hope theme, it’s at its best, and when it’s at its best, it is really quite good. Pick it up yourself, if you’re in the mood to see some light at the end of deep darkness.
