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Book Review | Graveyard Shift

From the author of If We Were Villains comes Graveyard Shift , a new horror mystery novella. The story centers around an insomniatic group of night workers who stumble across a freshly dug grave, and, over the span of a single night, they try to uncover its secrets. I found the characters themselves to be fun and engaging and we get some crumbs of fantastic body horror, but the plot itself is threadbare. Granted, novellas can be a tricky length to tackle, and, clocking at only 144 pages, this book feels more like the barebones of a plot idea than a proper story. It feels incomplete. I wish it had been fleshed out and developed further because, as it stands, many questions go half-answered and the abrupt ending may leave readers unsatisfied. Thank you, Netgalley and ‎Flatiron Books, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review | A Dark and Drowning Tide

Lorelei Kaskel is a surly folklorist who is sent as a part of an expedition team to find the fabled source of all magic. However, when her mentor is mysteriously murdered aboard their ship, Lorelei must reluctantly team up with the beautiful naturalist Sylvia von Wolff to find the killer before they strike again. I was really looking forward to A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft. It was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, so I’m sad to say that this book turned out to be yet another milquetoast disappointment. This book was pitched a story as a sapphic rivals-to-lovers dark academia, but there isn’t any rivalry to be found. What I got instead was Lorelei throwing petty, high-school grade insults at Sylvia because she doesn't approve of her hand-own research approach. There are no compelling reasons and personal history of bad blood to justify Lorelai's animosity toward Sylvia, so their initial dynamics feel juvenile and shallow to me. There’s also a weird

Book Review | Alien Clay

Professor Arton Daghdev is a xenobiologist who is shipped out (along with other political dissenters) on an expedition mission to the strange and deadly planet of Kiln. There he’s tasked with investigating the ruins of an alien civilization whose inhabitants mysteriously vanished without a trace. Alien Clay is Adrian Tchaikovsky’s newest and mind-blowingly brilliant sci-fi novel that further solidifies him as a titan of the genre. In line with his previous works, the worldbuilding is extensive and well-thought out, which comes as a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, Tchaikovsky excels at creating believable planets and complex politics. On the other hand, the info-dumping does break up the story's momentum at times. As a result, the story gets off to a slower start. It's not until roughly a quarter in that we get a terrifying glimpse of the body horror and cosmic horror of the planet. Then it takes around half of the novel to finally get to the exploration of the ruins.

Book Review | The Mystery of the Pale King

The Mystery of the Pale King by Sam Flynn paints a dread-inducing flintlock fantasy novella. It centers around Faron, a page who recounts a mission gone awry. He was sent with a church retinue to the city of Hathur—where a heretic had been holding performances for a bizarre play. However, upon their arrival, they discovered that children were going mysteriously missing and a sinister force may be at work. The story weaves an undercurrent of faith, politics, and gothic and cosmic horror and takes place in a decaying world reminiscent of Bloodborne or The Gutter Prayer . The atmosphere is fantastic and we get some lyrically lovely descriptive passages like the following: ".... I too beheld a city in the sky. Did I gaze upon heaven, I wondered? But I saw no beauty in the crumbling temples and desecrated tombs, the detritus of a thousand civilizations, devoid of life, howling and empty, save for milk-white shadows masked in cloud and fog, the residents of an ersatz realm that rese

Book Review | Lucy Undying

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White introduces a Dracula reimagining where Lucy does not die but instead spends a century trying to find a way to kill her maker. Since gothic literature holds a place near and dear to my heart, this was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year. But oh, boy! This book suffers from inconsistent writing—both in terms of quality and characters' voices. It felt almost like I was reading two different novels that were haphazardly stitched together, and the tonal whiplash kept throwing me off. It vacillates between gorgeous, biting prose and some of the most juvenile, cringe-inducing dialogue scenes I've had the misfortune to read (like who on Earth calls their partner "my little butter chicken")? It's a shame because the book's cover is a breathtaking masterpiece. I just wished that the interior reflected that. Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey, for providing with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review | The Girl with No Reflection

The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow spins a surreal Chinese-inspired fantasy about a new bride who switches places with her reflection in order to escape her cruel husband. Conceptually, I love the idea of mirror worlds and sentient reflections, and I loved the moments of dreamy, creepy gothic-like atmosphere. Those parts were wonderful! However, I feel like the story is so focused on moving its plot forward that it neglects to stop to establish its characters first. For instance, Ying and the Mirror prince's relationship felt incredibly rushed. They're googly eyed and fawning over after only knowing each other a day, and I wish they had more time to grow feelings for one another because their romance doesn't feel genuine or earned within the story. On a similar note, the betrayals and plot twists that occur in the story don't hit as hard since relationships were hardly developed in the first place. All in all, I think the story suffers from its fast pacing and I

Book Review | Crypt of the Moon Spider

Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud weaves a unique lunar space gothic that's like nothing I've ever read. The story takes place at a mental asylum on the moon during a retro-futuristic version of the 1920's. It follows Veronica, a new patient there, who’s promised that an experimental surgery involving removing parts of her brain and replacing them with spider silk will cure her melancholy. Now, I typically love bizarre medical horror along the lines of A Cure for Wellness . However, this novella suffers from serious pacing and structural issues. The first half feels incredibly rushed and disjointed. It's riddled with so many scene breaks to the point that I feel like scenes weren't properly built up to create suspense. Then there’s an abrupt POV switch in the second half. Here we finally get necessary background context for the story that I really wish had been foreshadowed in the first half so that the later plot twists feel earned within the story. It&