This collection was eerie, lyrical, and beautifully strange in all the right ways. Every story felt like a little ghostly shipwreck—haunting, mysterious, and soaked in atmosphere. The writing is gorgeous without being too precious, and there’s this quiet undercurrent of grief, transformation, and longing that ties everything together.

A few stories landed harder than others (as with most collections), but even the ones that didn’t totally hit still had something compelling—an image, a mood, a turn of phrase that stuck with me. It’s the kind of book that lingers after you finish, like sea mist you can’t quite shake off.

Definitely recommended if you’re into literary fiction with a touch of the uncanny and a deep, briny heart.

"The Sea Gives Up the Dead" is a collection of twelve stories including: a lovesick nanny who slays a dragon, the devil who tries to save her and three kids plot to blow up their dad. All of the stories are different and mix fairy tales with horror. This creates stories about love, grief, and yearning.

The title of this audiobook is the reason I was encouraged to listen. I believe it is a reference to "Revelation 20:13" in the Bible. I am not religious but I always find the concept of death fascinating. I was hoping the stories would peak my interest, however I was left feeling a bit confused and lost to be honest. (Explained further below).

A second reason I wanted to listen was due to each chapter being a different short story. This reminded me of "Before the Coffee gets Cold". This is a book I really enjoyed and have read several times. However, the chapters were very short (around 30-45 minutes). This meant I never felt like I could connect to the characters or their stories. The chapters felt too brief and could have done with being longer and in more depth.

I also got a bit confused when the chapters changed as it wasn't always clear that a new story was starting. Announcing the chapter number would improve this.

Although, I did not finish this audiobook, I did enjoy the narrators voice. They made the audiobook easy to listen too and the voice actor made it engaging. I think this was too far outside of my usual genre (thriller, romance and fantasy) which is probably a big contributing factor as to why I did not enjoy/finish the book. If this is your kind of audio book, I would recommend as it was easy to listen too. I just wasn't engaged enough to finish it. 2/5 stars.

I normally love short story collections, and I love magical realism, and these were well written, and there seemed to be a neat understated overarching connection with a specific family (or recycled names? it felt like the same family though). But I had a really hard time bringing myself to care about these people. I cared about the puppies, which... I mean, they were puppies. And then there was how that played out.) Oh and I cared about Eddie. Everyone else was just kinda there. Fully realized as characters, just not people I would feel inclined to voluntarily interact with. There are lots of fully realized actual people I don't feel inclined to voluntarily interact with. Anyway, well written, I think people will absolutely love this book, I was just disinterested in most of the humans.

The Sea Gives Up the Dead was an amazing collection of stories. I genuinely enjoyed all of them, and two of them completely won me over. There's a wonderful strangeness woven throughout, unsettling in the best way, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many of these tales left me wishing they were full-length novels. Some stories lingered long after I finished reading, and that’s always a good sign.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the chance to listen to this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

I can recognize these are well written stories but the style is not for me. If you’re into lyrical writing this might be more up your alley.

I absolutely loved this collection of stories. The narrator did an amazing job and I really enjoyed all the stories.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Sea Gives Up the Dead is an interesting collection of short stories that blends fantasy, historical fiction, and horror.

I enjoyed many of the stories in this collection. A few were not for me, but overall, each was creative and vivid with a powerful heart. The incorporation of multiple genres, queer love stories, and Molly Olguín’s culture was beautiful, and I enjoyed the emotion and lovely prose. The characters were interesting, although I felt some lacked depth and development. It was entertaining to explore a variety of settings and plots in this collection, and the pacing was nice. This collection will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was fun and fascinating.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the audiobook. Although the narrator’s voice was beautiful, her performance lacked depth and emotion, presenting a largely monotone reading. I often found myself losing interest in the story. I would not recommend the audiobook, but I suggest reading the book if it has caught your eye!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ALC.

3.5/5 ⭐️

My initial impulse was to give it 3 stars flat for the incredibly dark tone most of these stories take, something I was expecting (that’s probably on me). However, given the heebie jeebies and emotional reactions I got in a couple of these that really isn’t fair. We read to feel, even if I didn’t want those feelings this book made me feel them. If you’re searching for dark fairy tails and short stories this may just be for you.

I love a good retelling, especially ones that incorporate inclusivity. However, while there are inclusive characters, there is not inclusive descriptive language Especially when there are lines to the effect of 'he screamed high like a girl' and fat-phobic dialogue. The prose may be written like a YA story, the content is definitely not. I could totally be missing something here, but while the characters and situation have been made contemporary, the sentiments don't seem to be as progressive (like blaming kids for the death of their sister while the mom is the one that left the kids alone at the house).

DNF @ the second story - I might come back and give the rest of the stories another go, but at this point I'm having a hard time wanting to continue.

📖 Bookish Thoughts
This collection is marketed as a fairy tale-adjacent anthology, but it read more like a blend of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. I normally enjoy speculative and weird stories but these didn’t land.
The audiobook narration didn’t work for me. It felt more like a flat reading, which made it hard to stay engaged.

💭 Final Thoughts
Some stories stood out more than others, but overall, fell flat. The narration unfortunately pulled the experience down even more. This isn’t a collection I’d revisit.

📖 Book Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Audiobook Score: ⭐️⭐️✨ (2.5)
🎙️ Narration Style: Solo

ARC Note: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy for review. All thoughts are my own.