Matt
Bunny by Mona Awad is a creative and compelling story about friendship, love, grad school, being a writer, and ultimately the stories we tell and inhabit. Samantha is an MFA candidate at Warren, but she isn't like the other women in her cohort. No, those women who call each other “Bunny” a clique to which Samantha does not belong. But in her final year of grad school she is invited to join the Bunny cult, and everything changes. My feelings about this book are mixed. On one hand there's a lot of important, compelling, and interesting ideas about friendship, creativity, gender, education, etc. There's also a lot of cool plot elements which seem to blend dark academia, psychological horror, and maybe even bits of other sub genres. On the other hand I found the book to be a bit confusing. Some parts of the logic and mechanics never seemed to be totally explained, probably intentionally, and Part 3 got really weird really fast. I'm not always the biggest fan of unreliable narrators or works that are intentionally unclear, and maybe that's simply my insecurity with the unpredictable and multifaceted complexity of the human experience...or something, but toward the end this book got a little muddy. The twists and turns and layers were thrilling, but at the end of the book I'm not completely sure I understand what actually happened. I guess that space of uncertainty and invitation to participate in writing my own interpretation of the novel is a valid takeaway, but at the same time I was also left with unsettling ambiguity and a longing for clarity. Maybe that was part of Awad's intention for the book? In any event, this is a good one even if somewhat confusing. Great especially for anyone who's gone through a creative graduate school program. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another fantastic Expeditionary Force book. If you thought things were going to calm down for the Merry Band of Pirates after the big reveal in the previous book, well...who am I kidding, nobody thought that! Filled with complications and some appearances by different alien species, I'm super excited to see where Alanson is taking the series.
Breakaway is another excellent entry into the Ex-Force series. Now that the status quo has changed, what will Joe, Skippy, the Pirates, and the Mavericks do?
I was lucky to get to read this book early because Nightfire sent me an ARC! Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi (Gothic, Beneath a Pale Sky, etc.) is a thrilling novel of coming-of-age amidst demonic possession. This Lord of the Flies meets The Exorcist story is set in St. Vincent's Orphanage, nestled in a 19th century Pennsylvania valley. Filled with daily human horrors, which truthfully may very well surpass the diabolical, as well as the infernal, Fracassi takes the reader on a rapidly-paced journey through the choices that shape the human soul. Through the powerful motif of fathers and sons, protagonist Peter must struggle against the chaos to find the light. It is worth noting this book contains very few women, both of whom are fairly minor characters, which might leave some readers disappointed. Yet, Boys in the Valley features a captivating plot, truly disturbing imagery, and generally strong character development on its mostly male cast of priests and orphans. Toward the end there were a couple details that didn't totally add up to me, but overall I found this to be a really compelling book. I have read Fracassi's short story collections and found his novel length work to be just as good, if not even better. An excellent book for fans of King, Cutter, and the like. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Bird Box is the hit I never saw coming. Even though I didn't go into it blind, having already caught the Bird Box madness when Netflix released their film adaptation, I nevertheless found reading the book to be a worthwhile experience. Malorie proved to be a compelling character who managed to overcome my initial unfavorable impression as the book progressed. There's something frightening about what is unseen and unknown. There's also some frustrating in reading a book about mysterious creatures and having those remain remain unknown and unexplained the whole time. I'm hoping to learn more about the creatures in the sequel. One of my complaints about the film was this lack of clarity about the creatures, and the book did little to clear it up. That's not to say that Malerman's book has no surprises for those who've seen the film, but in this particular respect no additional explanation was offered. I enjoyed the dark tone of the book, and found the idea of what people will do in order to survive to be especially relevant today. Highly recommend. Read the book and watch the movie.
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey is a fictional biography of a fictional woman who's life was so many fictions, but perhaps therein lies the truth. Set in an alternative version of the past, but maybe offering a chilling speculation about our present and future, the narrator sets out to write a biography of her late wife, the artist/writer known as X. Against the dystopian backdrop of a recently reunified US, the author goes on a quest citing numerous interviews and sources to unravel the complex and convoluted string of identities X had played throughout her life in an attempt to document her life...calling into question how well she had truly known her and even the nature of knowing another, and maybe even the self. This is a very literary book, much more so than my usual reading. I picked it up because of the dystopian elements found in the Southern Territories and Former Southern Territories, which reminded me of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. These were my favorite parts of the book, even if some aspects of the execution did seem a bit heavy-handed. Otherwise I found the cast of characters and numerous complicated ideas throughout the text to be a bit confusing, though Lacey generally did a good job of grounding the abstract in the human.
Wow! Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is a harrowing and poignant work of contemporary medieval horror. I first read Buehlman's writing in his forward for the anthology Howls from the Dark Ages (HOWL Society Press), which was perfectly fine but paled so far in comparison to this novel that I was able to plod along in ignorance of Buehlman's extraordinary literary skill, allowing this book, which I do not mind referring to as a masterpiece, to hibernate on my TBR for far too long. It was the release of Midworld Press' special edition which motivated me to finally read (listen) to this work, and it was truly outstanding. From the very beginning this story seemed to capture style and genre with authenticity and grace, and developed highly compelling characters. I found myself setting aside other, good, books I had already begun because I wanted to know what would happen. Between Two Fires seems to combine fantasy, horror, and religion together into something that reads as both fantastical and honest. Horrifying, but also beautiful. Probably my favorite book this year so far. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Axiom's End was an interesting first contact story. While the final act didn't seem as strong as the initial set-up, ultimately I still enjoyed it and began the sequel.
“Well Harold...they're lesbians”
A SPINDLE SPLINTERED is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty by Alix E. Harrow, author of The Once and Future Witches and other books I've yet to read. I really enjoyed this fresh take on Sleeping Beauty and it's critically creative take on fairy tales, heroines, and mortality. I loved the protagonist's voice and Harrow's overall writing style. There were a few parts I wanted more of and certain characters I wanted to play a larger role in the story. But, I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel, A Mirror Mended, soon. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Armageddon by Craig Alanson is another great installment in the Expeditionary Force series. The story continues as the Merry Band of Pirates begin scouting locations for a beta site, but of course things do not go as planned. Overall this was a really great book. I will say that Alanson has a tendency to repeat information a lot, but other than this redundancy I think Armageddon is a fine installment in the series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Anoka by Shane Hawk is a wonderful debut collection of Indigenous horror. This is a short volume, but each story really packs a punch. There are a lot of ideas contained in these few pages, and I think Shane Hawk is an author to watch. I was fascinated by elements that seemed to reoccur throughout the stories. More than most collections I've read, the stories of Anoka seemed to belong together, to exist in the same world (literally the town of Anoka, MN) and be pointing toward truths and experiences flowing from one story to another, even if there wasn't narrative ligament connecting the plots. I enjoyed all the stories but my favorites were Soilbourne, Transfigured, and Dead America. Those who enjoy both visual reading and listening should be advised that the Kindle edition and Audible edition have the stories in a different order. Apart from that editorial oddity I didn't find much to criticize about this work, except perhaps in wanting more. More words, more stories, and more books from Shane Hawk. I look forward to reading future horror stories from Hawk, and recommend Anoka. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars).
I FINALLY finished Anathem. I guess it was only kind of ok for me. There were parts I liked, but the barrier to entry into its world was very high. It took me awhile to really get into it, and there were several moments where I almost sang my own rendition of Anathem and DNF'd because I just didn't know what was going on. Reading it over a couple months was surely not the most enjoyable way to experience it, but Stephenson just didn't hold my interest the way a lot of other concurrent reads did so it ended up taking a long time to slog through. It wasn't all disappointing, I enjoyed much of the book in the middle, though I got a bit confused in parts 12 and 13.
A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow is a great follow-up to A Spindle Splintered. Continuing the fairytale retelling, this time using Snow White, Zinnia Gray once again traverses between worlds and discovers what it means to have agency and accept your own story. I really enjoyed this book. I don't know if Harrow plans to write more of these, but I found A Mirror Mended to pack a lot into a very short page count. As in Spindle, there were parts I might have enjoyed having more of, but overall this one is a winner! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel is an awesome sci-fi alternative history exploring first contact and the space race. Cloning aliens have walked among us for thousands of years with the singular mission: “take them to the stars.” Mothers and daughters working to advance the cause of human space exploration in tension with evading the cruelty of their mysterious adversaries and longing to live in the world they're trying to save. The book is loaded with real history and the author's afterward at the end of the audiobook does a great job highlighting the real inspirations of the plot. I really enjoyed Neuvel's Themis trilogy and I loved this book too. Probably will listen to the sequel soon.
A House at the Bottom of Lake...unfortunately it's mostly all in the title. At its best, this is a weird, mysterious, and creepy book about young love and coming of age. A less generous interpretation might see only a book about two teenagers who discover a (possibly haunted) house submerged in a lake and...not much else. The plot and premise just seemed a bit thin. I think this could have been an excellent short story, but as a novella I don't think there's enough here to justify the word count. I've read two other books by Josh Malerman and so far this is my least favorite, which is a real shame. Maybe there's more here. Maybe I could give the book another read, perhaps a visual read rather than listening to the audiobook (although the narrators did a great job)...but overall it's just kind of “meh+.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.25)
Just re-listened to All Systems Red, this time the Graphic Audio adaptation. I have previously listened to the unabridged production, twice, narrated by Kevin R. Free. Free's narration is top notch and I highly recommend that version to everyone, but I was surprised I enjoyed the Graphic Audio full-cast dramatization just as much. While this is technically an abridged version, the full-cast production brought new levels of characterization to the story and made for a throughly enjoyable listening experience. The sound effects were dynamic, rather than distracting, and though Fred's narration of Murderbot approaches perfection...so did David Cui Cui's. I would highly recommend this audiobook to readers and listeners who already love the series. Though I'd be hard pressed not to recommend the unabridged production to new readers, you will still be in for a treat if you start with this too.
All's Well by Mona Awad is a wonderfully bizarre, mysterious, magical, and horrifying novel from the author of Bunny exploring topics of chronic pain and theatre. Miranda is a theatre professor who lives with chronic pain in her leg and hip. Doctors and therapists either don't believe her or offer unhelpful advice. Her colleagues don't believe her, or have grown fatigued with caring. Her acting career derailed, now teaching in a small and underfunded theatre studies program, Miranda is fighting to direct her chosen play this semester, Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well...but everything changes when she meets three mysterious strangers. With frequent references to both All's Well and Macbeth, Awad weaves a story about pain, healing, temptation, magic, sacrifice, and mystery. Though at times esoteric, Awad presents both illusion and reality, reflecting the truth in artifice experienced in the theatre, as Miranda finds herself in a Shakespeare-esque “problem play” in her own life. This novel asks the reader to consider what they would do to heal themselves, and also perhaps to consider if happy endings are possible? As an actor and director I really enjoyed all the theatre references throughout the book. I also appreciated the hallucinatory vertigo Awad created for the reader as the novel progressed. In some ways I found this book less esoteric than Bunny, but still definitely in the same mind-bending style. I would recommend this book to fans of Shakespeare, fans of Bunny, and anyone who's interested in genre-defying speculative fiction about chronic pain.
I am grateful to have received an eARC of this title to review from @netgalley. A HAUNTING ON THE HILL by Elizabeth Hand is a spooky return to the world of Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. Hand's novel is nothing short of a triumph, creating a book for 2023 readers that propels many of the themes and ideas in Jackson's timeless original into the present century. The motif of theatre is woven into much of the narrative, with the idea that actors may be possessed by their characters a central concept of the novel. Yet, what if the character doing the possessing is no divine muse but rather Jackson's absolute reality under which no organism can remain sane? When Holly, Nisa, Stevie, and Amanda arrive at Hill House to rehearse Holly's new play, this is the question they will unwittingly explore. In many ways this book takes ideas and pieces of the original and twists or refreshes them for both fans of Jackson and new readers alike. Where Jackson wrote of spiritualism, Hand writes of Wicca and neopaganism. Hand allows a sapphic romance to live, breathe, and struggle on the page: combining both the subtle hints of a queer relationship between Eleanor and Theodora and the dysfunctional relationship of Eleanor and her sister. The theme of a demented place, a house that feeds upon its inhabitants and pulls at the strings binding their relationships and very sanity to the point of unraveling floats to the surface in Hand's books just as it did in Jackson's. In a major stylistic departure from Jackson, Hand has ramped up the scares, and presents a book that will please modern horror readers who might find Jackson too much of a slow-burn. Although a case could be made that every character in the book is unlikable, I somehow still enjoyed getting to spend time with each one. Some questions were left unanswered, but perhaps some mysteries in Hill House are best left to walk alone. Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay might be my favorite work of possession fiction. Tremblay tells the story of Merry, Marjorie, and their parents through a series of conversations, interview recollections, and blog posts. Each of these different types of chapter has its own voice and style, resulting in outstanding pacing and variety in this novel. The story never felt stagnant or repetitive, and was both highly entertaining, thought provoking, and heart breaking. On the surface this book seems akin to many other exorcism stories (with a LOT of meta references to other horror books and movies). Is teenaged Marjorie possessed, faking a possession, or is she mentally ill? However when told through the POV of her younger sister this volume takes on the postmodern mantle of the unknowable or even non-existent nature of absolute truth. On this, my second reading of this book, I came away with the sense that above all the various characters were possessed by stories and ideas. I do not know if Marjorie or her father or anyone else was actually possessed by a demon. I feel fairly confident that one or both were probably struggling with mental illness, but ultimately I found Merry, like her namesake, to be a somewhat unreliable narrator underscoring the ultimately mysterious and unknowable nature of what really happened. I can see why some readers might find this less satisfying or even less original than desired. I had not read Shirley Jackson the first time I read this book, and I can see why certain elements of this story may have felt predictable to readers
who had. Yet overall I found the combination of voice and style, meta references to other works, and themes to be a really brilliant read. Acting as both a homage to and critique of the possession and exorcism sun-genre of horror, A Head Full of Ghosts is one of my favorite books and one that is likely to haunt my thoughts long after finishing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
HARD REBOOT: Upon a second reading I have increased my rating by half a star. An excellent novella about finding love amidst giant fighting robots. Kas comes to Earth on a research trip to study old code, but quickly becomes entangled in a wager that becomes more than she bargained for. Overall it was a cute story with real stakes. I loved the mecha combat sequences! found myself wanting to know more about the universe of this book, and would love to read more set here. I found I got more from this story as an ebook than an audiobook, but that may be on me - not on the narrators.