whimsydearest

Nick Grevers wakes up from a coma to find that his climbing buddy is missing and presumed dead. His own injuries are horrific and he’s left unable to speak, but he remembers everything. He remembers that he was mysteriously drawn to a remote peak in the Swiss Alps, and what he found there has irrevocably changed him. Now there’s a force inside of him that threatens to endanger the lives of everyone around him—including his boyfriend, Sam. Echo  by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is a transcendent, sublime piece of cosmic horror that’ll plunge you into the vast abyss and leave you falling for days. Does the story drag in parts? Yes, but the peaks of this novel are so dang jaw-dropping that I’m willing to overlook its pacing issues. Heuvelt does an incredible job at establishing a scene and building up to genuinely creepy moments, and there are scenes of cosmic horror in here that are truly awe inducing. However, I do want to be up front about what to expect from this book. While there are some ...

In a flooded world, Iraxi is ostracized and pregnant aboard a ship, but the baby she is carrying may not be human and once it’s unleashed onto the world, there’s no telling what will happen. Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn is an engrossing and unsettling Lovecraftian pregnancy horror novella. First off, I really loved how visceral the writing in this novella was. The author managed to create a fantastic sense of atmosphere and claustrophobia, and their vivid descriptions of body horror left me squirming in my seat. Lastly, I do want to point out that this story is weird—wonderfully weird, so if you’re looking for a story about an eldritch baby like in Bloodborne , this one’s for you. Thank you, NetGalley and Tordotcom, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review . Book Details: Publication Date : October 19, 2021 Publisher : Tordotcom IBSN : 1250804035 Pages : 108

I n the distant future, the whole universe is faced with a threat called the Architects--mysterious beings aptly named because they like to rearrange planets into aesthetically pleasing shapes ... to the detriment of all life on it. In order to combat them, humanity engineers superhumans known as Intermediaries who are able to telepathically communicate with them at the risk of their own insanity. When an Architect approaches Berlenhof—the heart of humanity’s colonies—an Intermediary named Idris somehow manages to destroy it. The war is over. Decades pass without an Architect sighting, but when one is rumored to have reappeared, Idris becomes a prized pawn as opposing factions seek to use him. Shards of Earth  by Adrian Tchaikovsky paints a richly imaginative and sweepingly ambitious space opera with splash of cosmic horror. There’s a plethora of unique alien races and warring factions, so there are a lot of pieces on the board here. This makes for a denser read, but thankfully, th...

When psychologist Grace Park is sent aboard the survey ship Deucalion to observe her crew members' mental wellbeing as they explore an icy new planet, she gets more than she bargained for. One by one, crew members start having the same paralyzing nightmare, the ship’s layout appears to be rearranging itself, and the androids aboard the ship begin to act all-too-human. In a race against time, Park must find the source of the madness before she succumbs to it too.   Mind-bending and awe-inspiring, We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen is a haunting psychological space thriller that perfectly encapsulates the horror and desolation of space and the unknown.   Think of it as almost like a blend of Prometheus and Annihilation . It’s exactly my cup of tea—veering into cosmic horror territory and lingering with me even after I finished its final pages.  Thank you, Netgalley and DAW, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book Details: P...