In Excess of Dark – Red Lagoe

Grief is a monster. A real-world monster that ravages the body and mind and spirit.

You know how you can never truly know what another person is thinking? It turns out that’s not entirely accurate. Karina’s deepest, darkest imaginings have the uncanny ability to come true.

She’s always had this ability, although it used to be much easier to put this down to correlation rather than causation. Recent events have changed that somewhat. It’s pretty safe to say you might want to stay on Karina’s good side now or you may no longer have a good side.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t want this to happen. I know … somehow … you did this.”

Grief can distort the way you see things but in Karina’s case, her desperate need to be with her loved ones will have her coming face to face with the darkness.

This book doesn’t shy away from the depths of despair that threaten to overwhelm you when you’re grieving. Looking straight into the rawness of the pain and the guilt that can accompany it, this is at times an uncomfortable read but that’s how you know it’s done its job.

I would have liked some of the characters to be more fleshed out (maybe literally). I wish I could have met Karina’s father and spent more time exploring her relationship with her husband and son.

Things get fairly splatty, much to my delight. While I absolutely loved the body horror, I was hoping for a larger body count. That says more about me than the book, though. Unless we’re in a slasher where the blood is practically dripping off the pages, I’m going to be wanting more insides to become outsides.

I finished this read in one sitting. I wish it had been longer, not because it was lacking but because I wanted to spend more time in the darkness with Karina. I’m keen to read more books by this author.

Think positive thoughts.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

What if every terrible thing imagined came true? Every fleeting, nightmarish thought a reality? For grief-stricken Karina, her newfound ability to turn her worst daydreams into palpable truths has sent her into a downward spiral of depression and guilt. Coupled with the appearance of an enigmatic shadow figure and visions of her dead family, she grapples to maintain her sanity while desperately attempting to harness her abilities and reunite with her loved ones.

Wayward Children #9: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known – Seanan McGuire

Illustrations – Rovina Cai

“I’m always sure.”

I read this book weeks ago and I’ve wanted to gush about it ever since, but life postponed me. Distance between reading a book and writing a review tells you if the book’s glow fades with time, though. If anything, I appreciate this book more now than when I finished it and that’s saying a lot.

Before I ramble about the book, I need to say something about me. It’s my review so I get to do that. When I first started writing book reviews, I fantasised about the future and what outrageously impossible things I might find there.

This book fulfilled a dream that I only shared with one person because I was so certain it wouldn’t happen: that I would be given the opportunity to read a Seanan McGuire book before the publication date. That it happened at all still makes me smile at random moments. That it’s a Wayward Children book, the series that introduced me to Seanan, that’s perfection right there.

“And we’re getting off topic, which is a neat trick when we haven’t managed to get on topic yet.”

I need to find someone in my world who I can get all spoilery with because they’ve read it too. Until then, I need to talk about some takeaways.

Dinosaurs. Yes, there’s a dinosaur on the cover. Yes, you will travel to a world with dinosaurs. No, this is not a dinosaur book.

The story. This is the continuation of Antsy’s story. You met her in Lost in the Moment and Found. If you don’t know Antsy, please introduce yourself to her before reading this book.

In fact, if you haven’t already attended Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, now would be a really good time to binge the series. Some of the Wayward Children books can be read as standalones if you really want to, although I’m not sure why you wouldn’t simply read them all. This really isn’t one of them. It refers to characters, worlds and events that you really had to be there for.

Antsy. A part of me is still a little bit broken from knowing why she ran.

No quests.

Of course there’s a quest! Would you have it any other way?

Doors.

“Every door is a little different, and every world they take us to is very different indeed, but they all ask the same thing of us, and they all break our hearts, in the end.”

I thought I was obsessed before. This book fuelled my need to know everything there is to know about them. I have decided I need a companion book, Door Lore. It will explain the history of Doors, how they work and how different cultures and worlds understand them and tell stories about them. There will be an entry for every world, which will include where it sits on the Nonsense, Logic, Virtue, Wickedness spectrum. It will be encyclopaedic and glorious!

Kade. This is not Kade’s story but I learned more about him and the world behind his Door. I still can’t wait for Kade’s book but don’t want to say goodbye to him either, so I’m trusting Seanan to give us his story when the time is right.

Sumi.

“You have to listen to me. I died, and that means I’m clever now.”

I have loved Sumi since the day we met. Her nonsense was strong in this book, as it usually is, and I adore it and her more every page we spend together.

Harvest. I need to go there!

The ending. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. Even though I probably should have, I was not expecting it. I definitely wasn’t expecting the sneaky ugly cry.

Be sure. The worlds can be sugar sweet or they can drown me. The characters can (and will) break my heart, time and time again. I will always be sure. I will not stop looking until I find my Door.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.

When her fellow students realise that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise. 

Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!

A story that reminds us that finding what you want doesn’t always mean finding what you need.

The Norendy Tales #1: The Puppets of Spelhorst – Kate DiCamillo

Illustrations – Julie Morstad

“We must contain stories upon stories, stories without end.”

Spelhorst was a sea captain who lived above a tailor shop. It may seem odd that an old man with no family would purchase a set of puppets but one of them reminds him of someone.

A king, a wolf, a girl, a boy and an owl.

A king who dreams of having his own kingdom.

A wolf who talks about their teeth. A lot. They are very sharp, after all.

A girl who knows a song.

A boy who wants to do something important.

An owl who longs to fly.

Together they have a story to tell.

“We will tell a tale of truth and wonder and sorrow”

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the only stories Kate DiCamillo can write are those that I love. I’ve yet to find one I haven’t adored.

She invites me into her imagination. She introduces me to characters who become real to me, even when they’re puppets. I smile and get misty eyed. My heart warms and my curiosity engages. I feel hope.

“May you always look upon the moon and the stars and the sun with wonder. May you journey out into the great wide world. And wherever you go, may you love without regret – for that is the greatest glory there is.”

Is it any wonder I never want to leave the worlds Kate DiCamillo creates?

Thank you so much to Edelweiss and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Shut up in a trunk by a taciturn old sea captain with a secret, five friends — a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy, and an owl — bicker, boast, and comfort one another in the dark. Individually, they dream of song and light, freedom and flight, purpose and glory, but they all agree they are part of a larger story, bound each to each by chance, bonded by the heart’s mysteries. When at last their shared fate arrives, landing them on a mantel in a blue room in the home of two little girls, the truth is more astonishing than any of them could have imagined.

A beloved author of modern classics draws on her most moving themes with humour, heart, and wisdom in the first of the Norendy Tales, a projected trio of novellas linked by place and mood, each illustrated in black and white by a different virtuoso illustrator. A magical and beautifully packaged gift volume designed to be read aloud and shared, The Puppets of Spelhorst is a tale that soothes and strengthens us on our journey, leading us through whatever dark forest we find ourselves in.

Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher

“Remember us, and if you can, find your way back to us in time.”

You know those special reads that cause you to immediately search out a signed copy as soon as you reach The End, if not sooner, because it’s now one of your forever books? Welcome to Thornhedge and check out my pretty Broken Binding preorder.

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You probably think you know this story … a princess trapped in a tower in an enchanted sleep … the whole Sleeping Beauty thing. You’ve seen the Disney movie. You’ve read the retellings. You may have even read the original. You’ve absolutely questioned the lack of consent of that kiss.

But you don’t know this story. See, this isn’t the princess’ story. It’s Toadling’s. I unequivocally adore Toadling, with her blue-black tears and her determination to complete the task she was given so long ago.

“But we are not always given the choices that we want.”

Toadling is an absolute sweetheart whose loyalty is strong enough to endure for centuries and who wants nothing more than to be with her family. Not the family of her birth; the one who adopted her after she was stolen.

Toadling’s got a job to do, though, and it involves the princess in the tower that this story is not about. Unbeknownst to dear Toadling, although soon to be knownst, a knight has commenced a quest and it’s quite possible he’s going to make a right mess of the status quo.

“This is my place,” she said finally. “You are in it.”

This is a story of aching loneliness and not entirely fitting in anywhere. It’s found family and deep connections. It has magic and it is magical. It’s dark and it’s delightful and, I have to agree with the author here, it is sweet.

T. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favourite authors and this novella has confirmed why. Toadling lives in my heart now and she’s not leaving anytime soon.

Favourite no context quote:

“This would be easier if you could turn into a toad”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

If only.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

They Lurk – Ronald Malfi

They Lurk is a collection of five novellas, four previously published between 2009 and 2012, and one that’s brand new. All of the stories are of the strange and unusual variety, with a good dose of dread thrown in there.

Skullbelly

Three months ago, four teenagers went into the forest. One returned, and he’s not talking. The families, frustrated by the police’s lack of response, hire P.I. Jeffers to investigate. Wandering around in a forest looking for evidence of … something gave me Predator vibes. I love Predator! This was my favourite story.

“There’s animals, Mr. Jeffers. Things with claws and teeth.”

The Separation

Prizefighter Charlie hasn’t been himself since Gloria left him. Charlie’s psychotherapist friend, Marcus, hopes he can help. I guessed where this one was heading.

“She took a part of me with her when she left”

The Stranger

Someone’s sitting in David’s car. And they won’t get out. I had absolutely no idea where this story was going to take me. In hindsight, I would have been extremely surprised if I’d figured this one out ahead of time.

“God has laid a miserable fate upon us.”

After the Fade

Tommy was planning on breaking up with his girlfriend at The Fulcrum tonight. Then once upon a cheerleader Wendy Pratchett showed up and everything changed. Tommy probably should have stayed home instead.

“It’s still ringing. How can 911 still be ringing?”

Fierce

Connie and her mother survived the car accident but now they’re living a nightmare. There’s a fun connection between this and the first story.

Keep it together, Connie. Collect yourself.

I’m keen to read more books by this author. As this is only my third Ronald Malfi read, I’ve got some catching up to do.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

COME CLOSER…

Five terrifying collected horror novellas newly reissued from the “modern-day Algernon Blackwood”. 

Skullbelly
A private detective is hired after three teenagers disappear in a forest and uncovers a terrible local secret.

The Separation 
Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie’s behaviour grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work? 

The Stranger
Set a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there’s a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started… 

After the Fade 
A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn’t arrive alone.
Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern’s walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in.

Fierce
A teenage girl and her mum are in a car accident with another vehicle on a remote country road in the middle of a nightmarish snowstorm, which soon devolves into gruesome madness.

The Salt Grows Heavy – Cassandra Khaw

“And you shall know her by the trail of dead.”

This is the story of a toothy mermaid and her plague doctor. If you need to know more than that before deciding this is absolutely the book for you, then maybe this is not the book for you. For everyone else, it’s just as dark and weird and strangely beautiful as you’re hoping it will be.

It’s body horror. It’s a love story. It’s hunger. It’s not giving up on one another. It’s a story you should know as little about as possible before you prise open the pages and devour the viscera for yourself.

The writing is gorgeous. Although this read has its own style, it reminded me of Seanan McGuire’s books when she’s writing as Mira Grant. A number of reviewers have already described it as lyrical and I can’t think of a better word to capture the experience of this book. However, I’m certain the author could come up with ten alternatives.

For someone who simply loves words, this novella was practically a playground for me. I stumbled across so many words that were new to me so part of the joy of this read was learning what they all meant. A couple of my new favourites are intaglio and cicatrice.

“Could you assemble a new life from nothing but debris?”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella. I can’t wait to read it again!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After the murder of her husband and the fall of his empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the wilderness. Deep in the woods, they stumble across a village where children hunt each other for sport, sacrificing one of their own at the behest of three surgeons they call “the saints.” These saints play god with their magic, harvesting the best bits of the children for themselves and piecing the sacrifices back together again.

To save the children from their fates, the plague doctor must confront their past, and the mermaid must embrace the darkest parts of her true nature.

October Animals – Nicholas Day

Searching for monsters can be dangerous.

Lizzie Bat lives in October, Illinois, the most haunted city in the country. Grieving the loss of her father, she has a “cemetery heart”.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Owl is Lizzie’s best friend.

Lizzie Bat’s heart ached for her father. Owl’s heart ached for Lizzie Bat.

Then there’s tactless but loyal Spider and Kat, who recently moved to Illinois.

Lizzie has a plan for her and her friends to escape October. They’re going to rob Trick R Treats, October’s Halloween store, on Halloween night.

This is a story where the natural and supernatural collide, one where you aren’t always sure what’s real and what’s metaphorical. It’s the agony of grief, the longing for something better and the parts of ourselves we don’t share.

Going into this read, you may suspect that things won’t turn out exactly as planned for this group of friends. You have no idea what’s coming.

I don’t know if other readers will do this or not but I pictured each character as the animal they shared their names with rather than people. Whether this was the intention of the author or not, it was a really fun way to navigate this book.

At under one hundred pages, this is easily a read in one sitting book, although you may want to schedule a reread to get more out of the story. When I reread it, I’m hoping to get a deeper understanding of the ending.

I love discovering something new, even if it’s only new to me. This book came with two discoveries, a new author and a new publisher. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of both.

It wasn’t the forgetting that was painful. It was remembering.

Thank you so much to Rooster Republic Press for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

October Animals follows four teenage friends – Lizzie Bat, Owl, Spider, and Kat – who live in the riverside city of October, Illinois. Lizzie Bat, still grieving the loss of her father and at odds with her mother, plans to rob the town’s Halloween store the night of October 31st, and intends to use the money to escape to a new life. And, her friends are all too eager to help.

Owl, best friend and confidant. If Lizzie Bat’s heart aches for her father, then Owl’s heart aches for Lizzie Bat.

Spider, brave and loyal, had his secrets, and he kept them.

Kat, adored, she was the newest member of the group and the object of Lizzie Bat’s affections.

But their scheme threatens to tear the friends apart as they find themselves in the path of supernatural forces and monstrous local legends: haunted houses; doppelgängers; grave robbing; ghosts and vampires; monsters in the river and, even worse, monsters in the home.

October is a town that loves Halloween but no one realises that their whole world is about to become Halloween … forever.

Arch-Conspirator – Veronica Roth

Antigone lives in the last city of an irradiated landscape. It’s perpetually dusty, the population is dwindling and if you have a viable uterus you’re going to reproduce, whether you like it or not. Your chances of surviving childbirth are 50-50.

When you die in this world, your ichor is extracted from you and stored in the Archives. Would-be parents wander the Archives and make their choices, the Archivist implants the combined cells (complete with edited genes) and, hey presto, designer babies.

Antigone and her siblings, Polyneikes, Eteocles and Ismene, aren’t like everyone else, having been made the old fashioned way.

We were unique among our people, pieced together from whatever random combination of genes our parents provided. Table-scrap children.

This novella is a dystopian retelling of Sophocles’ play. Because I wasn’t already familiar with the story, I found a summary to read before I started this book. While it helped in comparing the two, it also spoiled the ending for me. I could have easily followed this story, even if I hadn’t done any homework before tackling it.

If you do know anything about Antigone, you’ll know this isn’t a happy book. It’s tragedy, grief and the abuse of power.

Doomed from the start, I found myself thinking. All of us.

I sometimes find multiple perspectives distracting and that was the case here for the first few chapters. However, once I figured out who everyone was, I began to enjoy hearing from the different characters: Antigone, Polyneikes, Eurydice, Ismene, Kreon and Haemon.

I would have liked to have explored this world more. I wanted to meet the Archivist. I wanted to understand why this pocket of land was currently habitable when the rest of the planet wasn’t. I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters better. Realistically, though, achieving the level of detail I craved would have pushed this way outside of novella territory.

The themes explored here lined up well with what I’ve read about the original story. I loved Antigone’s fierce loyalty to her family and her resistance against the status quo. I’m not sure what Sophocles would have made of this book (there’s a spaceship!) but I enjoyed this read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end.

Antigone’s parents – Oedipus and Jocasta – are dead. Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but with her militant uncle Kreon rising to claim her father’s vacant throne, all Antigone feels is rage.

When he welcomes her and her siblings into his mansion, Antigone sees it for what it really is: a gilded cage, where she is a captive as well as a guest.

But her uncle will soon learn that no cage is unbreakable. And neither is he.

Terrible Worlds: Destinations #3: And Put Away Childish Things – Adrian Tchaikovsky

Mary Bodie’s Underhill children’s books were the inspiration for movies and merchandise. The characters live on in the hearts of the Underlings, who brought their love of the series with them into adulthood.

The series itself was based on stories Magda’s mother, Devaty, told her when she was a child. (Mary was Magda’s pen name.) Devaty claimed to be the “Queen of Fairyland” so she regaled her daughter with stories about Underhill from an asylum.

We catch up with what’s left of the Bodie line at the beginning of the pandemic. Felix ‘Harry’ Bodie, Magda’s grandson, is a minor celebrity with a drinking problem and a curious habit of accidentally running in circles.

“I want you to come and see a wardrobe.”

It turns out that, despite everything Harry has believed up until now, Underhill is real. Unfortunately, all is not well in not-Narnia.

Its residents, which include Timon the fawn, Wish Dog the best dog, Hulder the dryad and Gombles the clown, aren’t exactly as advertised. It’s all a bit decrepit, actually, and there’s nary a Turkish delight in sight. Although there is cosmic dandruff. And swearing, which I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t find in Narnia.

“I am…” Harry said, “not sure what’s going on.”

This is a story of family legacy. It’s about how you respond when the role that was written for you doesn’t line up with reality. It’s characters yearning to fulfil their destiny when the world they inhabit goes off script. It’s portal fiction, which so many of my favourite reads are.

I loved not-Narnia, in all of its dilapidation. I loved its inhabitants, who have been doing the best they can with what they’ve been given. I loved that this felt like one big underdog story, one that was dreary and dismal but that also provided some humour and hope.

Of course, I thought of Narnia frequently and, even when I wasn’t, the book made comparisons for me. The discovery that a fictional world isn’t as fictional as you’d been led to believe reminded me of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

I felt a slightly confusing nostalgia about characters I hadn’t grown up with when I read Josh Winning’s The Shadow Glass that I also felt here. I probably spent too much time trying to figure out where on Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children Compass (Nonsense, Logic, Wickedness, and Virtue) this novella would fit.

This is my first Adrian Tchaikovsky read and it’s safe to say that I’m hooked. I’ve been eyeing off this book for months and it was even better than I’d hoped. The world was literally falling apart, the characters were damaged and I loved every minute of it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Solaris, an imprint of Rebellion Publishing, for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

All roads lead to Underhill, where it’s always winter, and never nice.

Harry Bodie has a famous grandmother, who wrote beloved children’s books set in the delightful world of Underhill. Harry himself is a failing kids’ TV presenter whose every attempt to advance his career ends in self-sabotage. His family history seems to be nothing but an impediment.

An impediment… or worse. What if Underhill is real?What if it has been waiting decades for a promised child to visit? What if it isn’t delightful at all? And what if its denizens have run out of patience and are taking matters into their own hands?

Wayward Children #8: Lost in the Moment and Found – Seanan McGuire

Illustrations – Rovina Cai

Every Heart a Doorway remains my favourite book of all time and I can’t imagine a day when Wayward Children won’t be my favourite series. I look forward to January every year so I can renew the search for my own door.

But … a little piece of my heart breaks every time I’m introduced to a wayward child. I can never forget that childhood trauma connects every wayward. After all, if everything in their lives was unicorns and rainbows, they wouldn’t need a door.

“Some children need to escape from places that will only hurt them, or grind them away until they’re nothing. And some children need to go somewhere else if they’re ever going to grow into the people they were meant to be. The Doors choose carefully.”

It’s safe to say that I hurt for every wayward but Antsy’s story broke me in a way that no other has.

That was the fourth thing she lost: the belief that if something made her unhappy or uncomfortable, she could tell an adult who loved her and they would make everything better.

I didn’t run soon enough. I don’t have words to explain how relieved I am that Antsy did. Not that there wasn’t a cost.

Doors always comes with a cost. Maybe you age out of the world where you belong or you accidentally break a rule and it kicks you out. Antsy’s experience with doors is unlike any we’ve been granted access to before and the cost is similarly unique.

When you consider the reason Antsy found her door in the first place, you’ll realise how appropriate the cost is. People who have experienced trauma that’s a similar shape to Antsy’s will likely have seen this cost play out in their own lives. Maybe not as visibly as in Antsy’s story but it’s still recognisable on the inside.

I doubt we’ll ever walk through Seanan’s door and I don’t think we should ever ask that of her because doors and the worlds that lie behind them are personal. However, between the dedication and the existence of cat-people, I’m pretty sure we’ve never been closer to it.

I would never expect anything different from Rovina Cai but I need to say that the illustrations in this book were practically perfect in every way.

description

I was absolutely delighted to discover that a couple of my favourite Door-touched people had cameos in this book.

Favourite quote:

“If an adult hurt you, that’s on them, not on you. Being bruised doesn’t make you bad, unless you’re a peach, and even a bruised peach is good for making jam.”

I’m thinking of starting a petition to name every month January so I don’t have to wait so long to go on my next not a quest with a wayward.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.

If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.
If you ever wondered about favourite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.
And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it…

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.