Fair warning, I am incredibly biased in Mahnke's favor, so don't be surprised that I gave his "Wicked Mortals" 5 stars. I love the Lore Podcast and Mahnke's narrative voice.

The book itself is an collection of dark and historical vignettes into the lives of killers and their victims. Some stories may be familiar to you, some more obscure. Mahnke is known for captivating his audience with variety.

Only a couple of thoughts:
- I think Mahnke should've combined "The Castle" and "Homecoming" these two chapters into one, just so the reader doesn't have to come back to H.H. Holmes and instead get the whole story all in one go.
- I appreciate how Mahnke always manages to successfully explore the motive of a killer without blaming the victim.
- Like Jack the Ripper, Burke and Hare have been in movies, skits and ghost tours, but Mahnke treats them like the violent opportunists they were. Mahnke doesn't like to glamorize the killers he features.

It's like walking through a gallery and Mahnke is your tour guide. It's quick reading but he doesn't skip the crucial details. These stories are already chilling, but you will find the finer details in the podcast. ( )

A "best of" of Aaron Mahnkes podcast, Lore. Very spooky ( )

Loved it! I’ve been a HUGE fan of Lore since the very beginning, and I’m so glad we get to have all these awesome things, like books and TV show, on top of a stellar podcast.

Wicked Mortals is a fantastic book, chock-full of incredibly creepy and fascinating stories, both familiar from the podcast, and some new ones. I liked it even a tiny bit better, than Monstrous Creatures, since I always find people’s capacity for being dangerous, smart, and incredibly evil is by far greater than any monster. ( )

A good companion book to the podcast, and a nice sequel to The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures. I'm inclined to think "Wicked Mortals" are even more "Monstrous Creatures" than the non-human focus of the first book.

The audiobook is narrated by the author again, and it's like listening to an extended version of podcast - very enjoyable and very interesting. ( )

‘’ “I was born with the Devil in me’’, he wrote. “I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing. I was born with the ‘’Evil One’’ standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.’’

Such a promising start, is it not? The words of a monster in human form, such a chilling quote… Having enjoyed Mahnke’s first book in The World of Lore series, I was looking forward to reading the 2nd volume. The subject is fascinating. Human beings so vile and evil that seem to wander between the very edges of the human nature and the satanic impulses we all hide inside. The problem is that I found this effort to be an absolute mess. Wicked or not, the stories of the people included were reduced to an opportunity for a confused, illogical moral lecture and I was not amused.

The structure throughout the book follows a combination of the short story form and the biographical style which is fine when the writer has the chops to make it work. This wasn’t a problem here, Mahnke is - technically- a good writer. However, during the second half, he changes direction and writes mainly about people who were wrongly accused by the wicked mob. It didn’t bother me, I can understand the writer’s logic in doing that. What disturbed my personal principles as a reader was his attitude towards the readers and the world culture in general.

I can see that he has done his History homework but this is not that difficult. Most of the facts he presents can be found in any old (and new) Wikipedia article. While this is hardly an encyclopedia -and I must stress the fact that I haven’t listened to his podcast, nor I intend to- I could do without Mahnke’s remarks that were an irritating mixture of sarcasm, ill-researched attitude, and dogmatic lecture. By all means, share your opinion, I want to read it but do it in a polite, educated and considerate manner. The part which first made me think that he might have dropped the ball altogether was the chapter dedicated to the famous (or infamous) Erzsébet Báthory. We all know the stories attached to her name and we all that in the end no concrete proof was provided. While Mahnke condemns patriarchy and misogyny in other parts of his book, here he commits the crimes he speaks against. The odds learn towards Báthory’s demonization because of her status as a woman in power, challenging the men’s ideas of superiority. The majority of modern historians supports this attitude. While Mahnke claims there are no witches (more on that later), he is all too eager to accept Erzsébet’s companion as an ‘’evil witch’’. This is not the proper attitude for a writer, at least according to my personal standards. His certainty made him look inadequate as a researcher. IF he is a researcher…

I’ve always believed that there are people who share a special connection to nature, graced with powers unusual to the rest of us. Call them ‘’witches’’ or ‘’healers’’ or anything you like but I do believe in them. This is my personal opinion. Mahnke fell in the trap of forgetting to use the golden expression ‘’In my opinion’’. Many people in Goodreads do the same, unfortunately. Really, it isn’t so difficult. Mahnke’s attitude towards witchcraft and the supernatural in general seems highly dogmatic and patronizing, leaving no room for doubt, a trait that was not evident in the 1st book of the series. Furthermore, his views on Folklore and what he deems as ‘’superstitions of the uneducated crowd’’ are sickeningly rude. If you don’t approve of Folklore and traditions, if you feel the need to be sarcastic about it, why decide to create a series on the subject in the first place?

In addition, I wasn’t fond of his tendency to use ‘’humorous’’ expression when referring to serious, morbid events. There is a time and place for black humor and this is not it, in my opinion. Respect is the golden word. I didn’t find it here. Too much American slang and pseudo-conversational style mixed with semi-philosophical remarks isn’t what I’d call ‘’good writing’’. I am sorry, dear writer, I don’t read your books to be convinced of the stupidity of the human nature and the naivety of our ancestors who developed Folklore. Nor am I persuaded to believe that everyone is gullible except yourself and your enlightened mind. I read your books to learn and appreciate your views on a certain subject without the need for smart ass comments. Try and contemplate the fact that if it weren’t for Lore and tradition, you’d have no subject to write about.

‘’It was just as true then as it is today.’’

And who are you, dear writer, to tell us what is true and what is not? Mahnke’s interpretation of historical events seemed naive, frankly. In my opinion, one cannot look into bygone eras under a modern light. This is a major rule for anyone dealing with History and the writer probably forgot it. In any case, I will read the 3rd book in the series, even if this one was an ordeal. I will try to finish Dreadful Places just to see whether his views on Folklore are firmly negative or if he just doesn’t like human beings. Wicked Mortals was, in my opinion, terribly disappointing.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com ( )