ominousspectre's reviews
247 reviews

Well now I am so very sad

It is cool to see a trans masc serve cunt amongst the sadness, but there is so much sad nonetheless

Fucking Christ, dude.

I know some people find the first 200 pages unnecessary, but I think they're important as a starting point to watch everything spiral from. I was giggling and hehe'ing away at the narrator consistently roasting this old man, having no idea what was in store later.

It's wild to me that the Tikhon chapter was censored out originally, as it entirely explains

Stravogin's character past just sort of being a selfish, apathetic womanizer. He is a horrific person albeit a person who can't take responsibility for anything until the very end.

Pyotr Stepanovich on the other hand is

such a sadistic, demonic little worm. Just wriggling his way into everyone's heads until the town collapses. The scene near the end where one of his conspirators asked if there were really more of them throughout Russia or if they were the only ones, and he reveals it's only them, that broke me.

This had a lot of potential but I think it should've been two different stories.

Learning about women homesteading in Montana during this era really intrigued me, and I felt like that could've been a story in itself.

The premise of the secret in the steamer trunk really grabbed me at the beginning. And the mystery of the Mudges. Once the secret is revealed and you enter Act 2, it sort of lost me from a horror perspective. 

Dense, academic read. Not a bad thing! Good practice on "how" to read those for me as it's been a while. But definitely not for anyone to just pick up for funsies.

I appreciated the use of multiple methodologies and challenging of older notions that have left some areas short. I love academic call outs lol. I learned some interesting tidbits.

Ahh, I really wanted to like this. I love everyday history, and the idea of blending a researcher and those whose story they're trying to uncover is really cool. I didn't care for how this played out though.

Very predictable for what's kind of meant to be a mystery. I REALLY hate miscommunication tropes, and this one was eye rolling. Also, CAN SOMEONE TELL THIS POOR CHILD WHAT A PERIOD IS?!

I really didn't care for Caroline's POV or storyline. It felt like what I imagine every Hallmark movie 5-10 years on looks like: Girl gives up her dreams for small town business boy. Oh no! Turns out he's unfaithful! Perhaps she should have considered her dreams all along?

Which listen...I love a story of women learning to live for themselves, this one just didn't hit. Also the husband was comically evil. Like girl the abusive red flags just became apparent to you??? There was never a teeny inkling till just now?

Huh...this is one of those where I have no idea how I feel.

This was well written, if a bit heavy handed at times (

the confrontation with Jaidee and Bryan's friends especially felt a bit buzzwordy.

). 

I think where this was a question mark for me is that it's completely misrepresented in its marketing. This isn't a horror novel, it's a literary, character driven thriller. Not a bad thing, but very different expectations. Social horror requires certain aspects that this doesn't have. The full contact haunted house is barely a part of the story, to the point where it felt as though you could sub any situation in and still get the point across. Honestly, seeing the description and date of publishing made me immediately think of McKamey Manor, so I was expecting a bit more shade toward that shit show.

Anyways, there were parts that were very poignant. Boonsri's scenes especially hit an emotional place for me, as well as Kendra's in different ways. Jaidee and Leonard's descent into

white supremacy

was well written enough that it made me feel really angry and exhausted. Which I think is what the author was going for, mutual feelings of anger and exhaustion. 

Did I have a good time though? :/

The Husband Stitch (4.5 Stars)
Folktales meet bodily autonomy
 
Inventory (3.5 Stars)
The reveal is cool and this made me somber
 
Mothers (3.5 Stars)
Raising a child through abuse

Especially Heinous (DNF)
This felt very out of place and difficult if you aren't a huge SVU fan

Real Women Have Bodies (5 Stars)
My favorite. Hurt me in my deepest soul

Eight Bites (4.5 Stars)
Having a body is horror

The Resident (5 Stars)
Felt like I was reading Shirley Jackson, which I loved.
"What if you colonize your own mind and when you get inside, the furniture is attached to the ceiling?"

Difficult At Parties (4 Stars)
Really well done, just very hard for me personally to get through 

D:

Other than a little lag in the middle, I loved this. It took me places I didn't expect. It's going to take me a bit to grasp it all. Expectations. Filling another's shoes. Never being enough or quite right. What is our nature. All that.

The first few chapters of Mago's grief are absolutely exquisite 

This was...a strange one. Not in that the story was too strange, as I love strange stories. It's that it had so much of what I should have really enjoyed in it, but I just didn't.

I saw another review that summed it up well, that there was no room to breathe. It's too short and too fast, so reveals don't feel earned, and there's too many concepts floating about that feel little explored. It's a VERY interesting world, and I wanted more of it.

I also get very *ick* about fantasy stories where trans characters are just suffering. I get that it's a dystopia, but it's high fantasy. Must we suffer persecution in every universe? I find no catharsis in it.

Definitely more for a teen audience, as some of the stories felt very young. I'm surprised it's not labeled as ya on here. And some didn't feel like folk horror to me? Just general supernatural.

A few I did like though:
The Burning One by Shakira Toussaint - WOW WOW WOW this one blew me away. It felt out of place with the rest honestly.

The Tallest Poppy by Chloe Gong - this scratched an evil hometown itch

Stay by Erica Waters - they were right to lead with this one. Great opening line and a good story about forced caretaking