emray14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
felt muddy like dreaming
seemed as if I started in the middle of a book and had to try and find my way around
seemed as if I started in the middle of a book and had to try and find my way around
baccou's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
nicolemhill's review against another edition
4.0
What a strange little book. Like if Shirley Jackson wrote a series of interconnected fairy tales on the outskirts of the Australian bush. The story is deliberately confusing (and sometimes frustrating), but it's gorgeously written and entirely unique. I enjoy reading about magic and folk tales I haven't seen in fantasy before. I read it in 24 hours.
nicoledwenger's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
caitatoes's review against another edition
5.0
Truly an impeccable vibe. Didn't go where i was expecting, in a very good way.
deservingporcupine's review against another edition
4.0
So deliciously creepy! I absolutely loved the way the mystery unfolded through stories characters told to each other. Lush prose, beautifully rendered setting, unsettling in all the right ways. I did feel like the end was a little too satisfying, but that might just be my frustration with yet another novella I wished had been longer.
indulgentreads's review against another edition
While I loved that this was set in Australia, and the monstrous horror elements were effective, I struggled to keep my attention with the story, and felt it needed a little more cohesion. I had hoped there would be more engagement with the mother directly, earlier on, since that element of her control through politeness was the most provocative part of the story for me.
sheeprustler's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“These stories of Inglewell, like the tellers, are hybrids of tales from distant woods and forests. I cannot believe our silky oaks, our ironbarks, the shimmering brigalow are less handsome than those fabled groves, but the stories (even those, like us, half-made here) fit them uneasily.”
TITLE—Flyaway
AUTHOR—Kathleen Jennings
PUBLISHED—2020
PUBLISHER—tor dot com
GENRE—literary horror speculative fiction novella; modern fairy-/folk- tale
SETTING—Australia
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—awkward loner MC, unsettling mother-daughter dynamic, Little Red Riding Hood, stories & memory as legacy, shapeshifters, The Seven Ravens/The Wild Swans vibes, the bush, alchemy & arcane arts, loss of cultural knowledge via settler-colonialist displacement, dark family secrets, eldritch horror, the stark contrast between a settler colonialist *presence* on the land vs an indigenous *connection* to the land
“Once there was a boy called. . . Let’s say he was called Jack. Boys in fairy tales always are. Twelve years old and too small for it. Certain the world was withholding something. …and if he’d paid more attention to the stories he’d heard, he’d have known better.”
Summary:
“A beguiling story that proves that gothic delights and uncanny family horror can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun…”
"I feel as if a very new voice has whispered a very old secret in my ear, and l'lI never be able to unhear it. Nor will I ever want to." — C. S. E. COONEY
My thoughts:
This book begins in a haze, the heat of an antipodean sun lulling you into a sense of mild interest and wait-and-see. At some point, certain things that had been previously obscured or out of focus blink into sharp relief, catch your eye and make you start to pay a little more attention. Then it comes—the first moment you realize that Jennings is doing something special here.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy their eldritch horror novellas with an atmosphere of dusty swelter and more substance than is typically seen in this genre. This book is best read not too casually—you don’t want to miss that moment you “get it”. 😉
Final note: Excited to find more books that explore these themes from a similarly humble, honest, and fearless perspective.
“They set off to catch the bone horse. Botched it, of course: only caught a part—the ghost, the power of it. Something like a soul. Where the horse scavenged that, I don't know—from a deathbed or graveyard; half Inglewell is built on blood. The bone horse wore it loosely. Once, if you saw it, it used to trail a bit of a shine.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Season: ☀️ Late Summer / Early Fall 🍂
CW // body horror, gore (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
Recs:
- Shirley Jackson
- Helen Oyeyemi
TBR:
- Alexis Wright
- Ellen van Neerven
- Ambelin Kwaymullina
- Claire G. Coleman
- Kim Scott
- Joan Lindsay
- Rosalie Ham
- Shaun Tan