Genre: Horror

Review – What Feasts at Night

Posted December 21, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – What Feasts at Night

What Feasts At Night

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 151
Series: Sworn Soldier #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Alex Easton, retired soldier, returns in this novella-length sequel to the bestselling What Moves The Dead.

When Easton travels to Gallacia as a favor to Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence.

The locals whisper of a strange breath-stealing being from Gallacian folklore that has taken up residence in Easton’s home . . . and in their dreams.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

T. Kingfisher’s What Feasts At Night is a follow-up to her retelling of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, this one as far as I can tell an original story (though based on folklore, it’s not as strongly tied to a specific story). It was nice to see more of Alex Easton, and to explore ka’s experience as a soldier, along with the fallout of the events of What Moves The Dead (unsurprisingly, Easton is not even slightly a fan of fungi).

The book actually takes us to Gallacia, to the hunting lodge that Easton briefly mentioned in the previous book, in order for Miss Potter (also returning, hurrah!) to stay there and do some exploration for fungi. But when ka arrives, there’s a curious heavy atmosphere, the man he used to pay to keep the place up is gone, and the villagers don’t want to explain what happened.

I found it interesting that Easton points out at one stage that the events in What Moves The Dead are in fact all natural, not supernatural: freaky as heck, but it’s driven by fungi, growing and surviving. In What Feasts at Night, the threat is definitely supernatural. Which probably explains why I found it rather less unsettling than What Moves The Dead: infection and contagion frighten me for legitimate reasons, while ghosts and spirits and “other families” are more solidly in the realm of fiction. I’m not immune to getting creeped out at random, of course, but this book just didn’t play on my fears as well. I just enjoyed Alex’s character, the world-building of the Ruritanian romance stuff, and the typically witty narration of a T. Kingfisher book.

In a way, I enjoyed it more than the first book, and certainly read it faster. I don’t think that makes it better — I think What Moves The Dead is quite possibly the better book.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Feeding the Monster

Posted November 25, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Feeding the Monster

Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold On Us

by Anna Bogutskaya

Genres: Horror, Non-fiction
Pages: 288
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Zombies want brains. Vampires want blood. Cannibals want human flesh. All monsters need feeding.

Horror has been embraced by mainstream pop culture more than ever before, with horror characters and aesthetics infecting TV, music videos and even TikTok trends. Yet even with the commercial and critical success of The Babadook, Hereditary, Get Out, The Haunting of Hill House, Yellowjackets and countless other horror films and TV series over the last few years, loving the genre still prompts the question: what’s wrong with you? Implying, of course, that there is something not quite right about the people who make and consume it. In Feeding the Monster, Anna Bogutskaya dispels this notion once and for all by examining how horror responds to and fuels our feelings of fear, anxiety, pain, hunger and power.

I’m not a horror fan, myself, but four years studying English literature plus a lot of innate curiosity means I was interested to read reflections on horror as a genre anyway, when I spotted Anna Bogutskaya’s Feeding the Monster in the library.

I was a little worried it would reference a lot of horror films that I know nothing about and thus be impossible to follow; though it does reference a lot of horror films, it usually gives enough context to follow the point. It’s not just a list of horror films that fit a certain theme, but a dissection of why certain themes are attractive (and horrifying, of course, at the same time): the chapter on cannibalism in particular, and the way it discussed the potential romanticism and eroticism of cannibalism, was very good.

There’s a lot of focus on women in horror: it’s fairly common to consider horror inherently misogynistic, but it’s rarely that simple, and Bogutskaya discusses that quite a bit — along with Black, queer and trans horror, too, though there’s less space devoted to this.

It probably is a better read if you’re more of a horror fan than I am, and know a bit more about the horror films being referenced. It gives you more of a chance to come up with counterpoints or enhance the argument for yourself with your own examples. Still, I found it an interesting read all the same.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Cold Snap

Posted November 22, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Cold Snap

Cold Snap

by Lindy Ryan

Genres: Horror
Pages: 144
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

A grieving mother and son hope to survive Christmas in a remote mountain cabin, in this chilling novella of dread, isolation and sinister spirits lurking in the frozen woods. Perfect for fans of The Only Good Indians, The Shining and The Babadook.

Two weeks ago, Christine Sinclaire’s husband slipped off the roof while hanging Christmas lights and fell to his death on the front lawn. Desperate to escape her guilt and her grief, Christine packs up her fifteen-year-old son and the family cat and flees to the cabin they’d reserved deep in the remote Pennsylvania Wilds to wait out the holidays.

It isn’t long before Christine begins to hear strange noises coming from the forest. When she spots a horned figure watching from between frozen branches, Christine assumes it’s just a forest animal—a moose, maybe, since the property manager warned her about them, said they’d stomp a body so deep into the snow nobody’d find it ’til spring. But moose don’t walk upright like the shadowy figure does. They don’t call Christine’s name with her dead husband’s voice.

A haunting examination of the horrors of grief and the hunger of guilt, perfect for readers of Stephen King, Christina Henry, and Chuck Wendig.

Lindy Ryan’s Cold Snap is a horror novella that doesn’t really give many answers, revolving around a shocked and grieving mother (Christine) and her attempt to connect with her equally shocked son (Billy) after her husband’s death. They go away to a remote cabin for Christmas, as her husband (Derek) had originally planned, but Christine is hearing voices, seeing constant intrusive visions of Derek’s death.

There is a creepy atmosphere to the story, helped along by the sense of unreality Christine falls. As a portrayal of PTSD and its repetitive patterns is really well done, in my opinion, and that might be the best part.

The reason I didn’t rate it higher is that I didn’t really feel the creepiness of the actual spirit/monster/whatever it is. I rather liked the final page, though it leaves things very ambiguous, but I think Christine’s fragmented experiences actually sapped the sense of threat. It’s hard to tell what’s supposed to be real; sometimes that can enhance the weirdness, but here it was just hard to tell what was happening.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – What Moves The Dead

Posted November 8, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – What Moves The Dead

What Moves The Dead

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Horror
Pages: 165
Series: Sworn Soldier #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

T. Kingfisher’s What Moves The Dead is a retelling and fleshing out of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, with some added complexity through the introduction of elements of Ruritanian romance in the form of the character of Easton and the Gallacian customs kan adheres to (a heritage shared with Roderick and Madeline).

The story definitely had me tiptoeing a bit around things that trigger my anxiety (contagion, contamination), because it focuses in heavily on fungal infections: local hares and fish are rife with it, and the whole story oozes spores. I’ve no objection to fungi in general, which helps, but the idea of hyphae tangling around my brainstem — no, thank you. Easton’s fears around kan being potentially infected by it as well were juuust tiptoeing up to the edge of my tolerance, being entirely too recognisable.

(That said, it’s good for me at this moment to push at that boundary; it’s not a complaint. It’s just context, for anyone else with similar issues.)

I very much enjoyed Easton’s character and the invented Gallacian customs, kan interactions with Angus and Miss Potter, and indeed the hint of romance developing between the latter two (though it’s just a hint and not a serious thread of plot). The story breathes unease beautifully, and adds to the story of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ rather than just retreading it.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Haunt Sweet Home

Posted November 3, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Haunt Sweet Home

Haunt Sweet Home

by Sarah Pinsker

Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 163
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sarah Pinsker’s Haunt Sweet Home takes a while to unfold and show you the SF/F side: at first it feels like a coming of age story, albeit one which occurs on the set of a show that tries to renovate people’s houses while convincing them that they’re haunted. The main character, Mara, hasn’t yet managed to achieve anything she set out to do, and her family view her as a bit of a loser — but her cousin manages to give her a spot in the show, and an opportunity to prove herself.

The rest develops a bit more slowly, but give it time; I found it pretty satisfying, and at novella length, it doesn’t take that long to reveal the real haunting. Meanwhile, Mara’s well written; I feel like a lot of us know her type, and instantly find her familiar.

There are some lovely descriptions of Mara’s grandmother’s carving, and the process of creativity around woodworking, etc, too, which will stick with me.

I did find one particular thing a little obvious, but it was still fun to stick around and watch it properly unfold.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 6

Posted October 30, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 6

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng XiÚ

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 403
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #6
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

BODY IN ABYSS, HEART IN PARADISE

White No-Face, Xie Lian’s greatest fear and most hated enemy, has arrived…or so it seems. While the ghost with the half-crying, half-smiling mask is somewhere nearby, the creature is elusive as always, taunting Xie Lian from just out of reach and promising the total destruction of everything he holds dear.

As Xie Lian confronts the trauma of his last encounter with the terrifying ghost, Hua Cheng will do anything in his power to protect him. But White No-Face’s identity and purpose are not the only mysteries to unravel, as Hua Cheng also has a history in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath Mount Tonglu. Will Xie Lian finally discover the full connection they share—and learn the true depths of Hua Cheng’s devotion?

The sixth volume of MXTX’s Heaven Official’s Blessing is certainly full of ups and downs. The first section, in the “present” of the narrative, answers a few mysteries and gives us a moment we’ve been waiting for since the first book: Xie Lian acknowledges Hua Cheng’s feelings for him, and indicates that he returns them. It’s a lovely, lovely scene…

And then we slip off into a flashback even darker and sadder than the first. It’s better-paced, in my opinion, but it’s an extremely rough read, as Xie Lian is manipulated and cast down by his people. He loses his way severely, and it doesn’t really help to know that he ends up being true to himself again — you still have to read about him going through it.

Reading it with an eye for metaphor, and remembering how important Xie Lian’s virginity is as a theme, it’s hard to avoid drawing parallels with the incidents on Beizi Hill in the first flashback, and reading the mass-stabbing as a literal and metaphorical violation, so it’s all a bit dark.

There’s important stuff in this volume, but the flashback is a really rough read. It’s hard to decide quite how to rate it — but the scene from the cover is so good it has to be a 4/5, even with all the misery of the flashback.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – But Not Too Bold

Posted October 28, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – But Not Too Bold

But Not Too Bold

by Hache Pueyo

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 160
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

The Shape of Water meets Mexican Gothic in this sapphic monster romance novella wrapped in gothic fantasy trappings

The old keeper of the keys is dead, and the creature who ate her is the volatile Lady of the Capricious House⁠—Anatema, an enormous humanoid spider with a taste for laudanum and human brides.

Dália, the old keeper’s protégée, must take up her duties, locking and unlocking the little drawers in which Anatema keeps her memories. And if she can unravel the crime that led to her predecessor's death, Dália might just be able to survive long enough to grow into her new role.

But there’s a gaping hole in Dália’s plan that she refuses to see: Anatema cannot resist a beautiful woman, and she eventually devours every single bride that crosses her path.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hache Pueyo’s But Not Too Bold is sort of a Bluebeard retelling, where “Bluebeard” is in fact a massive, ancient spider-like being called Anatema. The background to the story is mostly sketched in: there are Archaic Ones like Anatema in various places around the world, though each of them is monstrous in a different way, and their works are clearly desired by others for some reason — but other than that the details are thin on the ground. Which is fine, because what matters is the setting of the Capricious House, Anatema’s home, and DĂĄlia’s role within it as she takes over from her mentor, the old keeper of the keys, whom Anatema has eaten for stealing something.

There’s a genuinely creepy, claustrophobic feeling about it all, even as DĂĄlia sails through it all. In all of it, she’s happy where she is, happy serving Anatema, and that adds a sort of “Beauty and the Beast” feel in some ways, though it’s very much not the same story, as there is no transformation or any hint of one — we’re talking “romance with a monster”, not “redemption and transformation of the monster”.

I was completely riveted, and a little creeped out, all at once. It was a lovely read.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Out of the Drowning Deep

Posted October 21, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Out of the Drowning Deep

Out of the Drowning Deep

by A.C. Wise

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction
Pages: 176
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

In the distant future, when mortals mingle with the gods in deep space, an out-of-date automaton, a recovering addict, and an angel race to solve the Pope’s murder in an abandoned corner of the galaxy.

Dreamy, beautifully written queer science-fantasy novella, for fans of Becky Chambers and This is How You Lose the Time War.

Scribe IV is an obsolete automaton living on the Bastion, a secluded monastery in an abandoned corner of the galaxy. When the visiting Pope is found murdered, Scribe IV knows he has very little time before the terrifying Sisters of the Drowned Deep rise up to punish all the Bastion’s residents for their supposed crime.

Quin, a recovering drug addict turned private investigator, agrees to take the case. Traumatized by a
bizarre experience in his childhood, Quin repeatedly feeds his memories to his lover, the angel Murmuration. But fragmented glimpses of an otherworldly horror he calls the crawling dark continue to haunt his dreams.

Meanwhile in heaven, an angel named Angel hears Scribe IV’s prayer. Intrigued by the idea of solving a crime with mortals, xe descends to offer xyr divine assistance.

With the Drowned Sisters closing in, Scribe IV, Quin, and Angel race to find out who really murdered the Pope, and why. Quin’s missing memories may hold the key to the case - but is remembering worth what it will cost him?

I had to sit with A.C. Wise’s Out of the Drowning Deep for a while to digest it, because I didn’t have any immediate coherent thoughts. I liked it a lot: the science-fantasy setting, the mystery, the idea of Scribe IV, and the complex darkness of the relationship between Quin and Murmuration. It felt like there was so much more going on around the edges of the story that the characters operated within: the way faith could make gods, and what gods are then, and what the Bastion is for, what the Bastion is like from other eyes… Fascinating.

For those looking for a murder mystery set within a science-fantasy setting, I can see it being pretty unsatisfying, though, because the mystery itself is more of a backdrop to the exploration of faith and addiction, to exploring the dynamic between Quin and Murmuration, and what Angel might want and decide to do. The mystery’s a fairly simple one, and there’s not a lot of time spent on unravelling it, even though it’s the cause for some of the movements of the plot.

I went into it fairly blind, just knowing I’d come across a review by someone who’d liked it, that it was a novella, and the library had stocked it, so I just took a chance, and found it fascinating. I’d love to have dug a bit deeper into Scribe IV’s evolving purpose, because it felt like he was left rather static at the end… but that’s a small point that isn’t even really a complaint.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 5

Posted October 3, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 5

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng XiÚ

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 465
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #5
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

LAST GHOST STANDING, FIRST LOVE BLOSSOMS

Ghosts are converging on the cursed Mount Tonglu for a massive battle royale, the sole survivor of which may become a Ghost King, a being of unimaginable power. Xie Lian is sent to secretly infiltrate and try to prevent this--by destroying any ghosts strong enough to stand a chance. His heavenly powers are weakened near the cursed mountain, but he has one trump card on his side--Hua Cheng, who has survived Mount Tonglu before. As they struggle against murderous ghosts and the mountain's strange defenses, Hua Cheng's knowledge of the area may prove invaluable. But can they even begin to unravel the cursed peak's secrets?

There are parts of the fifth volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing that just cry out for the soundtrack to be “Yakety Sax”. It’s amazing that I get along with MXTX’s books so well, given that isn’t an uncommon element, but somehow it just fits (at least, now that I’m used to it).

It’s hard to review each volume separately, to be honest; because they were designed to follow continuously from each other, and I’ve started reading volume six. So many little things are starting to add up, and there’s the whole mystery of Wuyong and why there are so many similarities between the story of its prince and that of Xie Lian.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the internal art yet, but I do love it — and especially the image of Hua Cheng as a puppetmaster, looking tiny and evil while Xie Lian just smiles.

Of course, there are quite a lot of coincidences here, with certain other characters showing up, and I’m also crying out to know what happened to Shi Qingxuan. I trust that that plotline hasn’t been dropped entirely, but I want to know what’s happened now! So, as ever, I’m impatient to read on, and I don’t suggest you read volume five without volume six to hand.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Pharos

Posted September 29, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Pharos

Pharos

by Alice Thompson

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror
Pages: 160
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Set in the early nineteenth century, Pharos is a dazzling ghost story from an award-winning author.

A young woman is washed up on the shores of Jacob's Rock, a remote lighthouse island off the coast of Scotland. She does not know who she is or how she got there. She has no memory. The keeper of the lighthouse and his assistant take her in and feed and clothe her. But this mysterious woman is not all that she seems, and neither is the remote and wind-swept island.

Eerily reminiscent of Turn of the Screw and The Others, Pharos is a breathless tale of the supernatural.

Alice Thompson’s Pharos is more or less a novella in length, and it’s a ghost story. It’s a bit of a weird one to classify. It creates a sense of unease and wrongness without being exactly creepy, and I’m not sure it entirely works as a whole. The sexual current between two of the characters comes out of nowhere (though it’s unclear if one of them wants it at all), and the narration and lack of proper dialogue just… don’t quite manage to pull things together. There’s not much to care about.

I’m also not sure about the use of voodoo and the history of slavery as a backdrop to the story, which is written by a Scottish author. The use of voodoo and the tragic lives of enslaved people to create a story of a vengeful ghost just feels rather overdone and tired. Many strange things can haunt a lighthouse — why this?

Some of the atmosphere created is admittedly really good, though, the claustrophobic chokingness of a group of four people who are ultimately trapped together, no matter how crazy things get.

Rating: 2/5

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