#josh malerman

1) Dune by Frank Herbert (4⭐)

Yes, I finished it. Yes, I had a fun time. No, I couldn't explain a single thing that happened. 

I’m not usually a full on sci fi girl, in the same way I’m not really a high fantasy girl, because I like to be able to switch my brain off a little bit when I’m reading and books like this simply don’t allow that. A lot of the book went over my head but I’m brave enough to admit that that’s on me. The book had appendices and with peace and love, I did not read them. 

Anyway, I only really read this because it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for about two years and it was taking up a lot of space. I had a good time overall, but if I see another sentence that begins with “presently” I’m going to hurt somebody. 

2) Carmilla by Sheriden Le Fanu (5⭐)

Had to cleanse my mind by going back to my roots. Toxic sapphic vampires yeehaw. If you ever feel compelled to read the work of Anne Rice but don’t hate yourself enough to go through with it you should read this instead because it’s better god bless.

3) The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister (5⭐)

Bought this based on the title alone and it did not disappoint. If I had a nickel for every fungus based horror I’d enjoyed I’d now have at least six nickels. 

The titular bog wife isn’t really the focus of the story, though. It’s about a family of five siblings who have grown up completely isolated from the outside world, now having to cope with a shift in dynamics when their father passes away and learning that everything they grew up believing might not be the whole truth. This is one of very few books that I think made good use of having multiple POVs. We get POVs from each of the five siblings throughout the book and none of them felt unnecessary. 

The story is slow paced, it’s very much focused on the setting and the characters rather than a particularly explosive plot which isn’t generally something I enjoy, but I just really loved the dynamics between all the different characters and the tension that was constantly building. 

4) A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock (5⭐)

Still my favourite book ever. My original review is here. 

5) Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman (3.5⭐)

A collection of short stories that were overall pretty average. The writing style and the content of the stories was very reminiscent of Stephen King to me so if you like his work you might like these, though, again, they were reminiscent of Stephen Kings average-slightly above average stories, not his best. 

HOWEVER 

I really enjoyed Jupiter Drop. That alone was a five star short story to me and if the others had been on the same level or even close I would have rated the collection higher. Unfortunately it kind of stuck out like a sore thumb to me as just being leagues better than the others. 

6) Wilder Girls by Rory Power (4.5⭐)

This was fun and perfect for recovering from the horrors of the vampire chronicles for a bit. Just some nice low stakes body horror with sapphic undertones (I don’t know what this says about me.)

The story is about a girl’s school on an island which has been kept in quarantine after the outbreak of a strange virus which causes unique and painful mutations in each of the girls. When Hetty’s best friend suddenly goes missing she has no option but to break quarantine to find her, and starts to realise that there’s a lot the teachers in charge at the school have been hiding from them. 

It’s fun, the body horror and gore was really cool and a lot more intense than I expected from a young adult book. Sometimes the writing was a little clunky and over explanatory, even for YA it felt a little patronising at times, but other than that I enjoyed it. 

Honourable mentions: 

Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice: One of the most racist books I’ve ever read but apart from that it was decent

Tale of the Body Thief & Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice: Shit

The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice: PAIN