The nitty-gritty: An uneven story with top notch body horror, Bestiary gets an A+ for the horror elements, but a C- for execution. Bestiary has some great ideas and plenty of gruesome body horror, and in that respect it worked well for me. Patrick Rutigliano is a solid writer (despite some awkward phrasing here and […]
The nitty-gritty: A vampire decides to vacation in Italy but runs into a heap of trouble in Be Still My Unbeating Heart, an uneven story with some great ideas. Be Still My Unbeating Heart is another case of “the cover is better than the book,” unfortunately. I so wanted to love this more, but it […]
The nitty-gritty: A promising, fast paced debut, Morsel is big on folk horror atmosphere but tried to do too much to be completely successful. Morsel is a strange little book that started out very strong, but at some point it took a weird turn and ended up in a place I wasn’t expecting. And I’m […]
The nitty-gritty: Social media, cancel culture and a ghostly stalker merge in this interesting but uneven thriller. “Some secrets don’t live on the tongue, but the back of the throat, where they have to be swallowed again and again, a hundred times a day.” You Watched In Silence is a queer mystery/thriller with just a […]
The nitty-gritty: A powerful family grapples with tradition, loyalty and a powerful demon in Alma Katsu’s latest, a horror story heavy on family drama and light on the supernatural elements. Demons seem to be having their day lately, and Fiend is yet another take on the subgenre. Alma Katsu veers away from historical fiction to […]
The nitty-gritty: A spell gone wrong turns a prince into a horse in this funny (at times) fantasy where the horsey antics are the best part of the story. “Virtue of Mercy. I was married to a horse.” Behooved is a fun and silly romantasy that offers a lot of laughs and some feel good […]
The nitty-gritty: I loved the magical worldbuilding and stellar writing, but the plot felt scattered and confusing, resulting in a story with mixed results. Don’t Sleep With the Dead is a companion novella to Nghi Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful, a magical retelling of The Great Gatsby which I read almost four years ago […]
The nitty-gritty: I enjoyed parts of this bizarre fantasy/horror novella, but some elements were a little too bizarre. But Not Too Bold is a very weird piece of fiction that didn’t completely work for me, but I do appreciate some of the things the author did with worldbuilding. I also loved the Latin American flavor […]
The nitty-gritty: A trio of ghosts seek their revenge in this atmospheric but uneven story. At the Bottom of the Garden was just OK for me. I loved some of the ghostly elements, and the overall story idea was intriguing, but the execution didn’t quite work. What appears to be a more serious plot—two orphans […]
The nitty-gritty: A high-stakes space opera with political intrigue, Dark Space succeeded in the first half, but lost me in the second. I had very high expectations for Dark Space, simply because Rob Hart co-wrote the book. So it pains me to say this was a mixed bag for me and didn’t even come close […]