Horror Collector Volumes 2-4 Light Novel Review

Fushigi, the faceless kid, continues his pilgrimage across Japan, searching for his sister Himitsu. Now accompanied by Jimmy, the human-faced dog, he seeks out strange stories and horrible happenings, trying to put a stop to Himitsu's misuse of urban legends. Be wary of buses, golden phone booths, chain letters, and even the gaps in your house…because if there's a dark space in your home, heart, or mind, something might find its way in…

Horror Collector is translated by Jan Cash.

Fushigi, the faceless kid, continues his pilgrimage across Japan, searching for his sister Himitsu. Now accompanied by Jimmy, the human-faced dog, he seeks out strange stories and horrible happenings, trying to put a stop to Himitsu's misuse of urban legends. Be wary of buses, golden phone booths, chain letters, and even the gaps in your house…because if there's a dark space in your home, heart, or mind, something might find its way in…

Horror Collector is translated by Jan Cash.

Middle grade horror is often some of the best the genre has to offer. That's not because children's stories are inherently scarier, but rather because authors need to bring all of their skill to bear to successfully craft a horror plot that's scary but not traumatizing. The best authors can create a story that lingers in your mind, haunting you without scarring you, while adult (and young adult) horror writers have more leeway to get truly disturbing. Stephen King is great, but it's Mary Downing Hahn who lives rent-free in my head without giving me nightmares.

Horror Collector, a collaboration between author Midori Satō and urban folklorist Norio Tsuruta, may not be the absolute best the genre can be, but it continues to do a credible job. Part of this comes down to the format – like the first novel, Horror Collector continues to be told in lightly interconnected short stories, each taking place in a different town somewhere in Japan. The connection is provided by Fushigi, the Faceless Kid of volume one, and by this point we know he's searching for his sister, Himitsu. Readers may recall that in volume one there was some debate as to whether the mysterious Kid wore a red or a black hoodie, and the truth turns out to be that there are two of them – Fushigi in red and Himitsu in black. They're essentially opposing each other, with Fushigi trying to save people from horrors and Himitsu setting those very horrors free to prey upon the unwary. Fushigi is accompanied by Jimmy, a photographer cursed to turn into the urban legend the human-faced dog, and later a mysterious man with a blue umbrella ups the adult character content.

What's important here is that the adult characters don't provide more of a safe experience for the children. That's part of what makes for successful children's horror fiction: not even the grown-ups can keep you safe. Parents, teachers, and other adults are all present in the various short stories, but their presence does not mean that the scary things don't happen, and sometimes, they're part of the problem. This is perhaps best seen in the bus story from volume three – the driver is, after all, an adult, similarly to the ghost village tale in volume one. But more importantly, he's an adult in a position of power: he is driving the bus. By boarding it, the child is putting themselves under his power, and it's supposed to be safe. The true fear here isn't just that the bus you get on may take you someplace you don't want to go (or shouldn't go), but that once on it, you have little to no control over your fate. It's a riff on the old stranger danger theme, and an effective one, because the “strangers” we're taught to fear aren't public transportation drivers. They're meant to be safe strangers, and if they're not…

Many of the stories across these volumes focus as much on this sort of approach to horror and fear as they do on urban legends like schoolyard games and mysterious chain letters. Most of the catalysts in the stories ought to be safe, and many are framed as games or entertainment. While kids may whisper about people who got into trouble with them, that's part of the thrill, and for most of the characters, it only drives them towards the danger. It's very relatable if you remember being in fifth or sixth grade, and for the most part, the plots use this device well. There is, however, a tendency to pull punches at times, likely in an effort not to make the books too scary. The body count across these volumes remains about the same as in the first novel – about half of the kids survive each book – but endings are not always satisfying. This is not, I should say, coming from a strictly adult perspective; children's literature shouldn't talk down to its readers, and Horror Collector does come dangerously close at times.

That means these books are on the lower end of middle grade. They're definitely not chapter book level reading, but plot resolutions tend to err on the side of younger readers. That's not necessarily a problem, but it doesn't quite work with the lack of cultural glosses and some of the more difficult concepts, although I daresay most kids can figure out what a pay phone is even without a handy adult to ask. These would be good transition books for a reader just moving out of chapter books, and even for a more advanced reader, they're good for a quick read or a budding light novel fan.

Horror Collector doesn't always respect its readers the way it ought to, but that doesn't stop it from being an engaging series. The interconnected short story format works well, and with each new volume, we learn a little bit more about Fushigi and Himitsu. Fans of horror for younger readers (and younger readers themselves) should give this series a chance – even when not at its best, middle grade horror is something to write home about.