porgyreads's review
challenging
dark
tense
4.5
I was following and then I was very lost. The labyrinth of the plot was not nearly as appealing as that of the language used. Kind of leaves you feeling like you’ve been shocked with ridiculous amount of electricity and then lived to tell the tale.
So cool. So so cool.
So cool. So so cool.
raincorbyn's review
5.0
Truly a singular story, told with beautiful, grotesque baroque images and hazy dreamscapes. Cosmic horror brought to the mobile home, with science fiction, family reunions of a sort, and unforgettable sensuous description. Don't miss it.
lenks's review
Drank this down in one big gulp. A tale of cosmic madness and dread, decaying dreamscapes and blooming subliminalities. The world creates, destroys, changes, and so do we, in all our unknowable ways.
luck13rabbit's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
beautiful, terrible words. the reading equivalent of listening to darkwave.
spo0kyayden's review
4.0
The prose was something otherworldly. Such a horrific dream, ... Hallucination, ... reality?
I don't know, but I loved every minute of this.
I don't know, but I loved every minute of this.
bitters's review
4.0
Put me in mind of something like the Doom games, but from the perspective of the time-and-space defying cosmic nightmare being grown in the lab, or that which is breaking through the portal from the Other Side. Abstracted, refracted, poetic narrative, overlaying itself like a film negative rewound and exposed multiple times. Throw in the crux of lingering trauma and you have a recipe for a powerhouse novella.
ohnoitsaghost's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
evanstjones's review
5.0
Shock and awe. Beautiful and grotesque. These are just a few of the words I could use to describe Joanna Koch’s The Wingspan of Severed Hands.
The story takes the insidious concept of the yellow sign from Robert W. Chamber’s mythos he created for his short story collection The King in Yellow. The author uses such vivid imagery and lyrical prose to describe the most depraved and macabre scenes. I’m really into Koch’s writing style, and I learned several beautiful new words (fascia, instar, puerile) to add to my vocabulary.
It seems almost unnecessary to summarize the plot here, as the synopsis from the back of the book does that fine justice. What cannot be synopsized is the feeling and atmosphere created by the wordcraft employed here. There’s really not enough I can say about the fucking poetry in Wingspan. Please do yourself a goddamn favor and pick up this book. If you’re a fan of Robert W. Chambers, cosmic horror, body horror not unlike what you might find in the Saw franchise (but even saying that feels like a real disservice to the author—their prose is so much more amazing than any of the writing in any of those movies, but I couldn’t think of anything better to describe some of the more visceral scenes in the book, and goddamn it’s good), and just quality weird fiction, readdddd it. Now. It’s unlike anything else you’ll ever read. Also look at that cover art!
The story takes the insidious concept of the yellow sign from Robert W. Chamber’s mythos he created for his short story collection The King in Yellow. The author uses such vivid imagery and lyrical prose to describe the most depraved and macabre scenes. I’m really into Koch’s writing style, and I learned several beautiful new words (fascia, instar, puerile) to add to my vocabulary.
It seems almost unnecessary to summarize the plot here, as the synopsis from the back of the book does that fine justice. What cannot be synopsized is the feeling and atmosphere created by the wordcraft employed here. There’s really not enough I can say about the fucking poetry in Wingspan. Please do yourself a goddamn favor and pick up this book. If you’re a fan of Robert W. Chambers, cosmic horror, body horror not unlike what you might find in the Saw franchise (but even saying that feels like a real disservice to the author—their prose is so much more amazing than any of the writing in any of those movies, but I couldn’t think of anything better to describe some of the more visceral scenes in the book, and goddamn it’s good), and just quality weird fiction, readdddd it. Now. It’s unlike anything else you’ll ever read. Also look at that cover art!
sunnybopeep's review
4.75
Sometimes you read a book so brilliant, beautiful, and brutal that you don’t know what to say about it.