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A review by inkedwxtchreads
Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi
5.0
I’m not crying… you’re crying. For real though. A book hasn’t brought the tears out of me like this in such a long time. By far my favorite read of the year so far. (Sorry Hex, you were bested). This book just was beautiful in every single way.
Yes this was a work of cosmic horror. I loved it for that. The entire idea of the magician, and what he may have been, really really fascinated me. I loved that the author made you doubt that he was anything “other” than a man, Just to then reveal things that make you think “nah there’s something creepy going on there”. It does this all the way throughout the book, and even though it kinda lets you wonder, it also does in a lot of ways give you an answer as to what it wants you to believe happened at the end.
This book wasn’t horrifying, but it was a creeping sense of dread and horror. Both of the supernatural kind, and the kind that is a lot more human. Aside from the cosmic feel, there is another character in here that you meet about halfway through that has his own history with “the magician” and this character has turned out to be a horrifying person themselves. It was unexpected but I surprisingly enjoyed this storyline.
It’s also a very diverse book, and there is good representation in it, at least in my opinion. We have a character with vitiligo, lgbt+ rep, autism (I believe, if not something like it), and so on!
I know a lot of people compare this to IT by Stephen king, and while I don’t like comparing I will say, to me this story was just so much more my thing, while still somewhat having the same feel as the other book. I also loved the magician in this a bit more than penny wise. The way he worked was just more interesting to me. It’s also a coming of age story without all of the inappropriate bits, which I appreciate. It does also keep that carnival sort of feel to it which was cool. All in all, I just liked it a lot more, both literally and just in the general concepts of these stories.
But man what I loved most of it was the characters in general. Mia, Clay, Jamie, were all damaged but I could see things to like in all of them, and by the end I was rooting for them. I do think clay could have had more development but he still had enough to where that doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book. Mia annoyed me sometimes but at the same time I get her. And Jamie I liked pretty much the entire time, because he was real, and I related to alot of his thoughts and feelings (this is an unpopular opinion probably).
BUT THEN THERES DENNIS. Oh man this character just won my heart immediately and he was very intentionally the true star of this story. Like it’s impossible not to love him, and if you say you didn’t I might side eye you a bit. Oh man probably my favorite character of all time. He won and broke my heart so fast. He made me smile and sob, and feel pretty much every emotion.
The ending in general had me an emotional wreck. It was just so good. The cosmic parts were so entertaining and satisfying. But at it’s core, this story simply had heart, and lots of it.
TW/CW: alcoholism (the author put a helpline at the back of the book for substance abuse and I really love that), abuse, animal death (there is reasoning for it), suicide attempt mention, self harm, and possibly some things I’m forgetting. Just be careful.
Yes this was a work of cosmic horror. I loved it for that. The entire idea of the magician, and what he may have been, really really fascinated me. I loved that the author made you doubt that he was anything “other” than a man, Just to then reveal things that make you think “nah there’s something creepy going on there”. It does this all the way throughout the book, and even though it kinda lets you wonder, it also does in a lot of ways give you an answer as to what it wants you to believe happened at the end.
This book wasn’t horrifying, but it was a creeping sense of dread and horror. Both of the supernatural kind, and the kind that is a lot more human. Aside from the cosmic feel, there is another character in here that you meet about halfway through that has his own history with “the magician” and this character has turned out to be a horrifying person themselves. It was unexpected but I surprisingly enjoyed this storyline.
It’s also a very diverse book, and there is good representation in it, at least in my opinion. We have a character with vitiligo, lgbt+ rep, autism (I believe, if not something like it), and so on!
I know a lot of people compare this to IT by Stephen king, and while I don’t like comparing I will say, to me this story was just so much more my thing, while still somewhat having the same feel as the other book. I also loved the magician in this a bit more than penny wise. The way he worked was just more interesting to me. It’s also a coming of age story without all of the inappropriate bits, which I appreciate. It does also keep that carnival sort of feel to it which was cool. All in all, I just liked it a lot more, both literally and just in the general concepts of these stories.
But man what I loved most of it was the characters in general. Mia, Clay, Jamie, were all damaged but I could see things to like in all of them, and by the end I was rooting for them. I do think clay could have had more development but he still had enough to where that doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book. Mia annoyed me sometimes but at the same time I get her. And Jamie I liked pretty much the entire time, because he was real, and I related to alot of his thoughts and feelings (this is an unpopular opinion probably).
BUT THEN THERES DENNIS. Oh man this character just won my heart immediately and he was very intentionally the true star of this story. Like it’s impossible not to love him, and if you say you didn’t I might side eye you a bit. Oh man probably my favorite character of all time. He won and broke my heart so fast. He made me smile and sob, and feel pretty much every emotion.
The ending in general had me an emotional wreck. It was just so good. The cosmic parts were so entertaining and satisfying. But at it’s core, this story simply had heart, and lots of it.
TW/CW: alcoholism (the author put a helpline at the back of the book for substance abuse and I really love that), abuse, animal death (there is reasoning for it), suicide attempt mention, self harm, and possibly some things I’m forgetting. Just be careful.