entazis's reviews
744 reviews
Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
I would say this book is about profound loneliness and isolation, and how it can turn people into perfect prey for certain types of monsters. We have lonely old people disappearing without a trace, we have a lonely man suffocating in his grief, and a gay couple terribly isolated in a bigoted suburbia. The novel starts deeply sad, then gets brutal, but surprisingly, ends on a hopeful note. Ironically, I feel that one part of the ending, even when seemingly happy, wasn't really cathartic for me. I guess I'm not very forgiving and would like it if it ended more in flames than in bittersweet solace (don't want to spoil anything so I need to stay vague). But I love LaRocca's writing and it was so very easy to let their words take hold of my brain for a few hours and to be let to feel all the loneliness, grief and despair.
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I blinked and was finished with this book. It was an easy and fast read. It's a character-based horror novel in which we follow three different women with three different roles in a... strange... pandemic. The first part of the book follows Erin who gets the virus even though she was very careful. So, alongside her, we learn about this new pandemic, how the virus transforms people and the changes in American society while the US government tries to keep it under control. That part is a funny social commentary, especially with the obvious parallels and references to the covid-19 pandemic.
At the end of the first part and going into Savannah the story changes from the dystopian satire to the eldritch horror and the last part is full blown lovecraftian cosmic horror with Mareva having the worst time out of the three main characters. All in all, the book is filled with dark humor, morbid charm, horrific body horror, and kinky sex. My only complaint is the ending. It ends abruptly and I feel like Mareva's story was a bit rushed. Since I was reading it in audiobook form and I wasn't really paying attention to the time left, the ending literally jumped at me unexpectedly. I was expecting, like, at least two more chapters and was surprised when the end credits started instead. But otherwise, I had a lot of fun with this one.
At the end of the first part and going into Savannah the story changes from the dystopian satire to the eldritch horror and the last part is full blown lovecraftian cosmic horror with Mareva having the worst time out of the three main characters. All in all, the book is filled with dark humor, morbid charm, horrific body horror, and kinky sex. My only complaint is the ending. It ends abruptly and I feel like Mareva's story was a bit rushed. Since I was reading it in audiobook form and I wasn't really paying attention to the time left, the ending literally jumped at me unexpectedly. I was expecting, like, at least two more chapters and was surprised when the end credits started instead. But otherwise, I had a lot of fun with this one.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I unintentionally binged through the entire book in one day. I can't say why Igor did it, but for me, it was because the book hooked me from the first chapter and I found it so sunspensful, it was hard to put it down. The other reason is that it was Thursday before Liburnicon weekend (local scifi convention) and I had both Petra and another friend coming over early on Friday and I wanted to finish the big 1000 piece puzzle whose fragment you can see in the background of this image. Turns out, the amount of time that I was left on the puzzle was just the right amount for the audiobook length, so I binged through Camp Damascus and finished the puzzle!
Anyway, this book is scary and uncomfortable, but not because of the demons or the supernatural. It's about the horrors of conversion therapy. It depicts how religious institutions can use faith to wield it as a tool of oppression, choosing which behaviors are considered normal and which are abnormal and as such, need to be "fixed". We go straight (hah!) to the head of the young, autistic, religious woman who lives in an insular small town religious community and who is starting to notice some strange things. When the strangeness turns deadly, she starts investigating her community and learns some truly disturbing things that are happening. I was anxiously reading her investigation, knowing where the plot was going, and dreading the answers to the mystery. Also, this book hits way too close. Without going into details, some of the things that I read here were very familiar to my own experiences, which made the horrors illustrated here all the more personal. I literally felt nauseous at some scenes with her family.
But, there's also humor that lightens up the plot, the main character was so delightful, Mara Wilson's audio narration was great and engaging, and the discussion about faith, religion and queerness was poignant. The ending was also very cathartic. All in all, great book, great read, absolutely recommend it.
Anyway, this book is scary and uncomfortable, but not because of the demons or the supernatural. It's about the horrors of conversion therapy. It depicts how religious institutions can use faith to wield it as a tool of oppression, choosing which behaviors are considered normal and which are abnormal and as such, need to be "fixed". We go straight (hah!) to the head of the young, autistic, religious woman who lives in an insular small town religious community and who is starting to notice some strange things. When the strangeness turns deadly, she starts investigating her community and learns some truly disturbing things that are happening. I was anxiously reading her investigation, knowing where the plot was going, and dreading the answers to the mystery. Also, this book hits way too close. Without going into details, some of the things that I read here were very familiar to my own experiences, which made the horrors illustrated here all the more personal. I literally felt nauseous at some scenes with her family.
But, there's also humor that lightens up the plot, the main character was so delightful, Mara Wilson's audio narration was great and engaging, and the discussion about faith, religion and queerness was poignant. The ending was also very cathartic. All in all, great book, great read, absolutely recommend it.
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A bit too long, some of the flashbacks should've been shorter because it dragged a bit on and on. But it was very tense with an engaging mystery.
The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
There was too much going on for such a short book. It should've been longer. The tension wasn't properly build up, and they handled aliens too fast. But it's an enjoyable and fun book.
Black Tide by K.C. Jones
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Black Tide by KC Jones is such an entertaining book! I had so much fun with these characters and the disastrous way they navigated through an apocalyptic event.
This is a character-based short horror novel set on a beach where our protagonists, Beth and Mike, with the dog Beth was supposed to be taking care of, got stuck on a beach during some kind of alien invasion. Beth is young and irresponsible, Mike is an older movie producer who is completely done with everything when Beth comes barreling into his life by accident. And when the two end up in a disaster, what follows is a series of unfortunate events set up by their bad decision-making.
Favorite moment: honestly, hard to choose just one, but to me as a Croatian, it has to be when Mike sees a manual car and goes '🤷♂️ well, we're dead, I don't know how to drive a stick, so let's just lie down here and wait to die'. Because aliens and a rising tide are somehow not as scary to an American as a manual.
These two are pure comedy, but the novel also goes into some dark and emotional topics, so it's not all fun and games. It's all balanced out really well, showing us how life can sometimes be unfair, tragic and hard, but also it's worth living it, to fight for it.
The novel is a short, fast read, perfect for the beach.
This is a character-based short horror novel set on a beach where our protagonists, Beth and Mike, with the dog Beth was supposed to be taking care of, got stuck on a beach during some kind of alien invasion. Beth is young and irresponsible, Mike is an older movie producer who is completely done with everything when Beth comes barreling into his life by accident. And when the two end up in a disaster, what follows is a series of unfortunate events set up by their bad decision-making.
Favorite moment: honestly, hard to choose just one, but to me as a Croatian, it has to be when Mike sees a manual car and goes '🤷♂️ well, we're dead, I don't know how to drive a stick, so let's just lie down here and wait to die'. Because aliens and a rising tide are somehow not as scary to an American as a manual.
These two are pure comedy, but the novel also goes into some dark and emotional topics, so it's not all fun and games. It's all balanced out really well, showing us how life can sometimes be unfair, tragic and hard, but also it's worth living it, to fight for it.
The novel is a short, fast read, perfect for the beach.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This novella explores this mythos even further, illustrating the relationship between this underwater society with their collective memory. It's a story about multigenerational trauma and cultural memory, about healing as a community, the importance of remembrance, but also, the pain that the past can hold. It obviously deals with heavy topics and, while dark, it also shares a lot of hope and comfort. Rivers Solomon also gets to explore queer love and queer bodies, so there's also an element of that in the novella.
Beautifully written, this short novella almost made me cry with the ending, with how utterly hopeful it was after showing us very real horrors people are capable of doing, and it's hard to get it out of my head. Just like Sorrowland.
Beautifully written, this short novella almost made me cry with the ending, with how utterly hopeful it was after showing us very real horrors people are capable of doing, and it's hard to get it out of my head. Just like Sorrowland.
The Deep by Nick Cutter
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
This one was a mixed bag for me. The Deep by Nick Cutter starts with the world where a strange illness ravages humanity and the apparent salvation lies on the bottom of the ocean. In an underwater facility, a group of scientists experiment on a newly discovered marine life form that seems like a magical cure-all. But something went wrong, and now our main character needs to take a deep dive (sorry for the pun) to the facility and learn wtf happened to his brother (one of the scientists) and others.
There are some very interesting and disturbing scenes that I quite liked, especially since the bottom of the ocean is a great setting for isolation and claustrophobia. However, there were a lot that I just wasn't interested in. Mainly the backstory of the main character. There was too much going on, and at times, it seemed like two stories (the past, the child abuse and the mystery of the lost son; and the present, the strange, new life form and medical experimentations in an underwater facility) mashed together with a very flimsy connection. The mystery of life form was engaging until the resolution which I felt was lazy. Too many cliches a la King for my liking, sprinkled with fatphobia, which distracted from the more interesting story that was unfurling with the underwater research.
Also, if you are a dog owner, a dog lover, or someone who has issues with animal cruelty in the media, be careful. The book depicts gruesome tests on animals, and one of the scenes is very graphic and looong, it goes on and on (I personally have no problems with impossible stuff happening to dogs because a monster is never going to eat my dog, so I can handle this sort of things in horror. However, the main character is a veterinarian and during that particular scene he flashes back to his experience with euthanasia and that part was emotionally wrecking to me. So be wary.)
There are some very interesting and disturbing scenes that I quite liked, especially since the bottom of the ocean is a great setting for isolation and claustrophobia. However, there were a lot that I just wasn't interested in. Mainly the backstory of the main character. There was too much going on, and at times, it seemed like two stories (the past, the child abuse and the mystery of the lost son; and the present, the strange, new life form and medical experimentations in an underwater facility) mashed together with a very flimsy connection. The mystery of life form was engaging until the resolution which I felt was lazy. Too many cliches a la King for my liking, sprinkled with fatphobia, which distracted from the more interesting story that was unfurling with the underwater research.
Also, if you are a dog owner, a dog lover, or someone who has issues with animal cruelty in the media, be careful. The book depicts gruesome tests on animals, and one of the scenes is very graphic and looong, it goes on and on (I personally have no problems with impossible stuff happening to dogs because a monster is never going to eat my dog, so I can handle this sort of things in horror. However, the main character is a veterinarian and during that particular scene he flashes back to his experience with euthanasia and that part was emotionally wrecking to me. So be wary.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Silver Nitrate was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint. It was hard to put it down, so I binged it.
We follow Montserrat, a rare woman sound editor, and her friend Tristán, former soap actor turned voice actor, in the '90s Mexico. They're not having a good time when they meet an old and obscure movie director whose horror movies Montserrat loved to watch. His career took a hit after the last horror movie he produced that was never finished nor released, and the movie is considered ✨️cursed ✨️. The old director is lonely and nostalgic for his glory days so he starts to talk about the cursed movie production and its writer--a Nazi German occultist believing himself special.
Montserrat becomes interested in the cursed movie and the occultist very fast, and she starts digging more into his magic systems and past. Things, of course, turn dark and messed up.
I was, just like Montserrat, hooked to the mystery surrounding the cursed movie and the occult. But it's the protagonists that made this book so fun! Montserrat and Tristán are both flawed in an entertaining way to read about, and their dynamic was so funny. I also find Montserrat very relatable, when she says that she scared off a date with Videodrome I had an instant flashback to my college days. 😆 And there was such a tangible melancholy mood with Tristán that it made him very dear to me, even though he can act like an egotistical asshole.
The portrayal of Mexican movie industry and the old horror movies were the cherry on top.
We follow Montserrat, a rare woman sound editor, and her friend Tristán, former soap actor turned voice actor, in the '90s Mexico. They're not having a good time when they meet an old and obscure movie director whose horror movies Montserrat loved to watch. His career took a hit after the last horror movie he produced that was never finished nor released, and the movie is considered ✨️cursed ✨️. The old director is lonely and nostalgic for his glory days so he starts to talk about the cursed movie production and its writer--a Nazi German occultist believing himself special.
Montserrat becomes interested in the cursed movie and the occultist very fast, and she starts digging more into his magic systems and past. Things, of course, turn dark and messed up.
I was, just like Montserrat, hooked to the mystery surrounding the cursed movie and the occult. But it's the protagonists that made this book so fun! Montserrat and Tristán are both flawed in an entertaining way to read about, and their dynamic was so funny. I also find Montserrat very relatable, when she says that she scared off a date with Videodrome I had an instant flashback to my college days. 😆 And there was such a tangible melancholy mood with Tristán that it made him very dear to me, even though he can act like an egotistical asshole.
The portrayal of Mexican movie industry and the old horror movies were the cherry on top.