More exhausting than exhaustive.
For one, the ARC I received had some very weird formatting, like some kind of watermark, I guess; unfortunately this took away much from the experience of reading the text, as it seriously messed with my ability to focus. Then, for some reason the editor decided to list the stories not chronologically, not by country or subject or historical period, but BY AUTHOR. I'm sorry, but that is just crazy. Especially in a book this size.
I so wanted to love this book, but in the end I felt like a mess to me. IMO this is a "less would have been more" kind of deal, as some of the (newer) stories just weren't all that great.

This was a fun collection of stories that varied from military to homelife and just about everything in between. As a collection of short stories, it was an excellent read to have before bedtime or whenever I had a few moments to spare, it would almost be guaranteed to get through a few stories.
Short story collections are wonderful to have on hand to read and ghost stories are honestly a personal favorite of mine.
4.5 out of 5 since a few of them didn't either translate well or didn't work for how I understood and saw the world.

I received this book for review and would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley.

I do not know what compelled me to give this a shot, but I am glad I did. I have mentioned often that I am not a big horror fan, and this book was more than just the stories themselves.
I foolishly tried to track the chapters and give individual reviews like I do for other short stories until I realised the futility of such an endeavour. The stories range from a page to multiple pages long, and there are almost more than a hundred of them! The range of the collection is vast, the authors are both local and foreign, and the stories are from a variety of years. The style and content give some hints as to when and where the authors were based, but the book comes with a little bit of detail regarding the individual authors if the reader wanted to go down that rabbit hole.
A couple of stories were familiar, but the majority of them were not. I think I enjoyed the foundation of the folklore and societies of the time and place more fascinating than the actual 'ghosts' (although they were there in every chapter).
I may not be rating this very highly, but it is a unique collection. For the historical horror aficionado (or someone who thinks they might be), this is a good place to start.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

What a cool collection of ghost stories! I'm interested in Asian culture and this books was so beautiful *in a terrific way* for me! I also have to say that I like the collection in which this book is published. Check every one of it, they're the best!

I enjoy short story collections. This one was no exception. As with others I had favorite stories and stories that didn’t sit so well.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Asian Ghost Stories is a collection of short horror stories translated from some famous works all over Asia. I had hopes for the book, but somewhere it lacks the basic thing. The stories are translated from their original language and that is where the problem starts. The translation is not so good, due to which the essence of the story got lost. Although, some of the stories are really good, but, the other stories are totally disappointing.

I could only give 3 stars to the book. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

I have enjoyed reading other Gothic Fantasy short stories books from the publisher before. I enjoyed reading these Asian Ghost short stories. It is a great collection by various authors. All the short stories in the book are interesting and if you are a horror fan you should definitely check it out!

This is a substantial collection of stories, with an often very different depiction of what a ghost is compared to the Western literature that has tended to dominate the theme. I mostly found them intriguing rather than scary, but overall I enjoyed it.

Interesting collection. The forward was very helpful and set the tone for the book. Mostly beautifully written but not the horror I was expecting/hoping for. Could have used some editing as this collection is a bit long.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

I'm so sorry, i could not finish this book. I was SO hoping for some shivers and scares, for looking over my shoulder while reading it at night, but the stories read like silly urban legends found in a 2011 forum in a dark corner of the internet. If im reading ghost stories, I want to feel afraid, or at least a little bit unnerved, but I didn't. The tales I read felt like a recopilation of legends that the author had really no interest on, they were told without any feeling or intention at all. I appreciate that it tries to showcase the entirety of Asia and the diversity of lore is great, but it didn't /reach/ me. It was a cold, analytical read for me, and I got bored. I didn't want to study, I wanted to have fun and be scared. Sorry,

Such a great collection of Asian ghost stories this is by Flame Tree Publishing. Perhaps the only one of its kind. sprawling collection of stories, myths and folk tales from across Asia dating back to more than a century ago.
Great job at compiling not just the stories but also the histories of their origins as they were told.
A personal collection worthy.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I live for spooky and creepy stories. When I saw that I got this book approved, I was beyond hyped. This was so fun to read. It is very interesting reading about the different types of "ghost stories" that are passed down in different cultures.

I love ghost stories so I was really looking forward to reading this anthology. Including a blend of old and new stories from East, South and Southwest Asia, this should have been right up my alley.

The introduction had me hooked but the stories themselves didn’t give me the scares I was looking for. For me, part of the problem was the order the stories were told in.

While it seems logical to order an anthology alphabetically by author, it meant I was sometimes reading multiple stories by one author, one after another; some began to feel repetitive. I think I would have gotten much more out of the stories if they’d been grouped by country, with introductions exploring the cultural and religious significance of the particular types of ghosts I’d be meeting in each section.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read this anthology.

Another great collection of stories by Flame Tree Publishing.
This massive collection features over two hundred gothic stories from different parts of Asia.
The stories in this collection explore Asian myths and folklore from East, South and Southeast Asia.
I really appreciated the foreword which included a lot of history on the origins of many Asian traditions, myths and legends. It gives the reader a lot more insight before diving into this collection of stories.

#Asian Ghost Short Stories is a wonderful collection by various authors. Stories that can be both fun, comfort and terrifying. By strong cultural beliefs and ancestor worship, Asian spirits differs from that of their counterparts in the other areas of the world. The possibility is more accepted ghosts remain with us......
This is a wonderful novel to buy ahead of time for October. Or sometimes I will lend out one of my novels and pass it around. In the end it's fun to see how many will sign in the front. 💜🐾🐾
Thank you for the advance copy,
# Netgalley and # Flame Tree Press❣️🐾🐾

I’ve always enjoyed the anthologies from Flame Tree Press and I own several of the hard cover editions. This one intrigued me as I’ve also been a huge fan of Asian horror in book form and film.

This was a monster of a book with so many stories. Lots of little fables and folklore. Then some larger sized stories as well. Took me a while to get through it. I would put it down, pick it back up and read a few. I enjoyed all the different types of stories, from modern day to classics.

The formatting was off, which took me out of the story. Every few pages there would be some text that didn’t belong. But I was able to read past it.

unfortunately i didn't have time to finish reading this before it got archived; but what i did read was quite fun and it was very interesting to read stories from another culture than my own. however, i feel like the format this was in wasn't good for an e-book; the text was super tiny! it's a gorgeous edition though and i really wish i'd manage to read more of it

Asian Ghost Story is another winner for Flame Tree Press. Collecting another excellent short story collection is another feather in their well-rounded literary hat.

There are over 200 stories that deal with original, folklore and some interesting takes on the ghost story from another culture. There is some repetitiveness but with all ghost story collection this is to be expected. Personally, I love this collection and great to have a collection that lends itself to ‘J’ Horror that I come to love since the 90’s.

There is a series of dread and like all great stories from this land, they haunt and pick at your cerebral vortex long after you read each story. The book is not one to be read in one sitting but to read a story a night before bedtime will fully give you the haunts and scares that will crawl beneath your skin and haunt you to morning.

I loved everyone and cherished each and every story and although it has taken me some time to get through this collection, I will read and re-read again and again. This is a great collection to add to any horror collection and to any reader of great fiction. This is a prize-winning selection.

I requested for this based off the fact that it covers Asian Horror stories that I love. What I didn't expect was the two hundred stories that were in there. This is not a book that you can finish in one sitting. I had to read this gradually cause some of the stories tend to be quite repetitive.

This is collection of stories and folk tales from across Asia dating back to more than a century ago. It is filled with cultures, traditions and values from the past and how they came to be perceived by us today. It is also interesting to see some overlapping of stories between different cultures.

I didn't really fancy the format I received on Netgalley which hindered a little of my reading experience but overall, I really enjoyed reading some of the stories and could resonate them with some of the stories I heard growing up.

Thank you Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for the arc.