A tale about two guys being stranded on a willowy sandbank in the midst of the Danube. A very atmospheric and creepy story.

I really liked this story and since I have a whole collection of Blackwoods short stories, I have to check out some of them out in the very near future.

Maybe it says something about me, but the older classic horror novels I am always shocked at how quaint they seem in comparison to works like "It." "It" gave me nightmares for weeks on end as a kid, this book, though scary in tone, is more mental than anything, your brain can turn what the unnamed narrator is describing into something worse. 

The main plot of "The Willows" is about two long time friends who are taking a canoe trip down the Danube River. We have the narrator and his friend called "The Swede."

Though both have been out in nature it seems based on previous comments, they come across a place that ends up unnerving them both. They start to fear the wind, the rising river, the willows, and anything else that seems like it is staring and mocking them. 

They eventually come across a man who seems to try to warn them away from where they end up camping, but since the narrator is doing what he can to try to laugh off his increasing fears, they both camp and witness something terrible.

I thought this was quite good and liked the writing. I think the main reason why I couldn't give it five stars though was that I wanted more menace. I thought they got off quite easily in the end (have i mentioned that I am way too blood thirsty?) and that I wanted it pushed a bit more. 

I did like the surprise at the end though when both men realize that what they thought they saw when they first landed (no spoilers) was something else entirely. 

This is only 60 pages, so it won't take a lot of your time to read. I mentioned in my update this would be a perfect story told by flashlight or candle light. You want this read during a thunderstorm or a night you lose the power. I think if I could read it then, I would have be more afraid than what I was. 

I read this for the classic horror square and really enjoyed it. 

It definitely reads like a book that I would enjoy more via audio while there was a thunderstorm going on. Having our nameless narrator and his friend (the Swede) canoeing the Danube and coming across a pagan place was great. I was on pins and needles the whole time while reading this. 

FYI this is free via Amazon just in case you don't feel like spending any money or your library holds are mocking you :-)

This one took a bit longer than I expected to finish.  Like any collection of stories, some were hits, some were misses and some were out of the park great.  With authors like G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, and Edith Wharton, it was at least weighted towards being better than average.

The stories I didn't care for:

Mrs. Lunt by Hugh Walpole: this could have been good but somehow lacked the suspense it needed to really grip me.

The Story of a Disappearance and a Reappearance by M.R. James.  Puppets.  I don't like puppets in my stories.  Plus, the story was just weird.

My First Happy Christmas by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.  This one started out good: funny in its way as the first part of it is a first person recounting of a 13 year old getting drunk (when apparently 13 year olds drinking Madeira and Port was considered normal).  Then the story went off the rails, almost like the author stuck a scene from a totally different book in, and the ending was massively anti-climatic.

The stories that were good:

The Kit-Bag by Algernon Blackwood.  Creepy with a capital "C", right down to the serial killer.

The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens.  Dickens loves his stories of redemption doesn't he?  This one wasn't too bad; it wasn't too verbose and very readable.

Earthbound by Mrs. Oliphant.  This was good; a ghost story that isn't scary but tragic and very well written.

The Headstone by C.J.A. Boorman.  Another creepy one in the same vein as The Kit-Bag.

My absolute favourites:

When Satan Goes Home for Christmas by Roberston Davies.  So, SO good.  It was amusing and it was intelligent and it almost does the impossible.  Sympathy for the Devil indeed.

The Shop of Ghosts by G.K. Chesterton.  Bittersweet, timeless and hopeful.  This one made my heart ache just a little, even as I was smiling.

Saviourgate by Russell Kirk.  This one stuck with me for quite some time, and likely will continue to stick with me.  Another intelligent, philosophical but gripping short story.  While I purely loved the other two stories, this one was also just beautiful, from beginning to end.

There are quite a few of these I'll re-read over the years, although it won't be the book I pull of the shelf when I'm looking to get into the Christmas spirit.  This was an impulse buy, but it was a definite winner.