Biscuits full of yummy choco

Inktober 2019 / 18. Misfit

The beginning and middle intrigued me but the ending was just... okay. Beautifully written and evocative but didn't fill me with the sense of dread/horror I was expecting.

(Also, the whole thing in the beginning about how Anatema wanted to see if there was a second theft because otherwise she would devour the new key keeper...I mean, Anatema's logic and reasoning isn't human but it was still a headscratcher for setting up the entire premise.)

Less horror, more monster romance. Unanswered questions (especially around the third act relationship with the majordomo) and others that felt unsatisfying rather than beautiful mysteries.

I think I will like this story but it's a very uncomfortable read in a way that But Not Too Bold wasn't. And without disparaging either book, I think that's a matter of intention: Pueyo's work was technically horror (I mean, there is a monstrous spider woman who eats people) but is more about the sumptuous aesthetics and seductive artistry of the Gothic and being fascinated/drawn in by that which others take warning from. The Woods All Black and Feed Them Silence also have elements of beauty and strong emotional cores, but the beauty is less a comfort and more a contrast; sure it's beautiful and calm now but it's fragile. There's still an undercurrent of tension.

If anything it makes me think about Halloween as "spooky aesthetics" (pumpkins and cute witches and dancing skeletons!) vs "we will now scare you as much as possible."

This is easily my favorite fiction book I've read so far this year (nonfiction is Killers of the Flower Moon) and just!!! The way it fully embraces the "when they call you a monster, show them your fangs" and historical queerness and religious trauma and the way both the trans main characters have constructed their identities and the way it's such a fucking catharsis when after being brutalized by the town (the town that Leslie was trying to HELP!!! that specifically called for him as a frontier nurse!!!) that they both wreak a righteous vengeance!!!!

And there is indeed MONSTERFUCKING!!!

The beginning and middle intrigued me but the ending was just... okay. Beautifully written and evocative but didn't fill me with the sense of dread/horror I was expecting.

(Also, the whole thing in the beginning about how Anatema wanted to see if there was a second theft because otherwise she would devour the new key keeper...I mean, Anatema's logic and reasoning isn't human but it was still a headscratcher for setting up the entire premise.)

Less horror, more monster romance. Unanswered questions (especially around the third act relationship with the majordomo) and others that felt unsatisfying rather than beautiful mysteries.

I think I will like this story but it's a very uncomfortable read in a way that But Not Too Bold wasn't. And without disparaging either book, I think that's a matter of intention: Pueyo's work was technically horror (I mean, there is a monstrous spider woman who eats people) but is more about the sumptuous aesthetics and seductive artistry of the Gothic and being fascinated/drawn in by that which others take warning from. The Woods All Black and Feed Them Silence also have elements of beauty and strong emotional cores, but the beauty is less a comfort and more a contrast; sure it's beautiful and calm now but it's fragile. There's still an undercurrent of tension.

If anything it makes me think about Halloween as "spooky aesthetics" (pumpkins and cute witches and dancing skeletons!) vs "we will now scare you as much as possible."

The beginning and middle intrigued me but the ending was just... okay. Beautifully written and evocative but didn't fill me with the sense of dread/horror I was expecting.

(Also, the whole thing in the beginning about how Anatema wanted to see if there was a second theft because otherwise she would devour the new key keeper...I mean, Anatema's logic and reasoning isn't human but it was still a headscratcher for setting up the entire premise.)

Less horror, more monster romance. Unanswered questions (especially around the third act relationship with the majordomo) and others that felt unsatisfying rather than beautiful mysteries.

I think I will like this story but it's a very uncomfortable read in a way that But Not Too Bold wasn't. And without disparaging either book, I think that's a matter of intention: Pueyo's work was technically horror (I mean, there is a monstrous spider woman who eats people) but is more about the sumptuous aesthetics and seductive artistry of the Gothic and being fascinated/drawn in by that which others take warning from. The Woods All Black and Feed Them Silence also have elements of beauty and strong emotional cores, but the beauty is less a comfort and more a contrast; sure it's beautiful and calm now but it's fragile. There's still an undercurrent of tension.

If anything it makes me think about Halloween as "spooky aesthetics" (pumpkins and cute witches and dancing skeletons!) vs "we will now scare you as much as possible."

Equiping an armor tutorial

THE SCIENCE WIFE!!!!

The beginning and middle intrigued me but the ending was just... okay. Beautifully written and evocative but didn't fill me with the sense of dread/horror I was expecting.

(Also, the whole thing in the beginning about how Anatema wanted to see if there was a second theft because otherwise she would devour the new key keeper...I mean, Anatema's logic and reasoning isn't human but it was still a headscratcher for setting up the entire premise.)

Less horror, more monster romance. Unanswered questions (especially around the third act relationship with the majordomo) and others that felt unsatisfying rather than beautiful mysteries.