Tag Archives: book

Book Review: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Posted on by CM Schofield

When I picked this book up, I didn’t realise that T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead was a retelling of Poe’s short story The Fall Of The House of Usher. I just saw that wonderfully mushroomy cover and was sold.

Photo of T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead book cover, featuring a hand splitting open with numerous mushrooms growing on and out of it.

This was a wonderful slow, meandering, gothic story in the spirit of the original. The author has a magical way with words which makes the bleak and unsettling atmosphere of the house so pervasive in the book. They describe the horrid little details so well to get us to Spook Factor: Neck Hairs several times. Glorious. The thick shroud of the House of Usher hung over me as I read.

The narration is, surprisingly but not oddly placed, hilarious. Kingfisher’s revamp of the originally nameless protagonist, now Easton, is brilliant. The details and the asides they add pour such flavour into the book. I could read about them doing literally anything and be entertained. The author absolutely nailed my sense of humour with this character, to the point where I know I’m going to have to pick up more of their books in the future. There’s a new book with this main character coming out in 2024, which will be getting preordered.

Despite the whole book taking place in the decrepit House of Usher, we were given such a rich feel for the fictional version of Europe in which it was set. The side characters, such as the mycologist, were fantastic and memorable. And again, it was creepy. I’m quite difficult to creep, so it was great fun to feel the goosebumps going for it.

A great, short read for people who enjoy beautiful gothic horror with a fair splash of humour added in.

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Posted on by CM Schofield

Getting this bit out of the way first..

THAT’S NOT HOW MASS SPEC WORKS. HOW DID YOU EVEN SEPARATE THOSE COMPOUNDS? WAS YOUR SPECTRUM JUST A SOLID BLACK RECTANGLE?

ALSO WHY DO YOU HAVE AN ORGANIC CHEMIST DOING THOSE THINGS? THAT’S NOT WHAT THEY DO.

Aaaaand I can breathe now. I’ll put the angry chemist in me away.

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed this book. I felt it had pacing issues (the start was slooooow) and I didn’t really like any of the characters (and felt like a few had great potential but were a bit wasted), but even that didn’t detract from this super fun monster book. It was, very clearly, written with a sequel in mind, which is unfortunate as said sequel does not currently exist, however if you enjoy some good monster horror I would definitely recommend giving this a read.

Cover of Mira Grant's Into the Drowning Deep, featuring some spooky looking red seaweed to look like a flame and a pair of wafting pale hands.

Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep starts off telling us about a ship that went off hunting for a legend and then showed up with no crew and footage of some very bitey-looking mermaids aboard. Seven years later, a new crew and a new ship are heading back to find out if the footage was a hoax, as is what is most commonly believed, and to definitively prove the existence of said bitey-looking mermaids.

Sounds like a terrible plan, right?

This book was predictable in the way that this type of book should be. It was written so that a well-seasoned horror enjoyer knew exactly what the characters were walking into, and had the tension and dread of watching them do it. The slow pacing at the start particularly helped this (even if, in my opinion, it went on a little too long), and for me it really built up to the payoff I was waiting for.

The mermaids themselves were wonderfully written and the author went into such interesting detail about them. I was absolutely fascinated every time we learned something new about these creatures. Honestly, I could read about them all day and am really hoping that we do get that sequel eventually.

Recommended for anyone who likes a monster story that doesn’t rush but also doesn’t keep secrets.

Don’t just take my word for it, but also that of the person at my book club who tried to read this in the bath and, upon finding themself at a particularly creepy part, decided that they were clean enough.

Book Review: River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Posted on by CM Schofield

So, I was browsing the transgender fantasy section of my local queer bookshop and happened across a book about killer hippos in Louisiana. Naturally, I bought it immediately and I have no regrets.

Book cover for River of Teeth, featuring a host of characters riding through a calm swamp on hippo back.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey was, by all accounts, a mad and ridiculous book in which our heroes are tasked with clearing out the feral hippos from a section of the Mississippi. It’s a year long gig, but our man Winslow plans on getting it done in a weekend. Good for him. Absolutely nothing will go wrong.

No book is perfect and I did feel that there were points where characters were inconsistent and some things didn’t make a huge amount of sense, but sense was the last thing I was looking for when I picked up a book about murder hippopotami in the United States. The flirtation between the main character and his love interest was slightly too much for me, but to be fair was I chomping at the bit to see some hippos eat someone every time we were on a non hippo-eating-people scene.

This book was great fun. I read it in two sittings, which is lightning fast for me. There was action, there was murder, there was both hippo and non-hippo related mayhem. There was a fat Frenchwoman meteor hammering things from the back of a trained hippo. There was Ruby the Stealth Hippo. It was, most definitely, an operation and not a caper. I’ll be picking up the sequel for definite.

Recommended for anyone who is looking for a quick read filled with action, who appreciates that sometimes things in books can just be that way because it’s cool.

Book Review: Pacts Arcane and Otherwise by Joanna Maciejewska

Posted on by CM Schofield

It’s funny, for someone who both loves reading and loves writing, I sure am terrible at writing book reviews. I still leave something on the book’s Goodreads and Amazon pages to help the authors, but it’s never much more useful than “this is dead good, peeps”. That said, it’s something I’ve been meaning to get on for a good while and, with Joanna Maciejewska’s Pacts Arcane and Otherwise series coming to a close last week, it seemed like a good time to go for it. 

Spoiler alert: I’m not going to write reviews for books I don’t like because I don’t want to trash someone’s baby and I also don’t want to lie. Maybe I should call them book recommendations instead? Anyway-

To celebrate the release of the final book in the series, Demon Siege, I thought I would talk about where it all started and the series so far. It all starts with By The Pact, a high fantasy epic adventure starring quick witted but seemingly mediocre magic user Kamira and her good friend and professional muscle Veelk. Together they stumble across a powerful demon, imprisoned in the ancient ruins they are searching, who traps Kamira into a bargain which will either see him freed or her causing a huge disaster. Fortunately, both Kamira and Veelk are both more than they seem, and each step they take leads them closer and closer to the dark truth of their world. What ensues is a colourful and complex adventure of magic and demons and swords and snark. 

Image of the cover of novel "By the Pact" by Joanna Maciejewska, featuring two human figures looking towards a large crystal with a demon encased inside.

This is a great one for people who enjoy your classic sword and sorcery, but also those who like cutthroat political fantasy tales without crossing over into the grimdark genre. What are some of the major highlights for me, personally?

Pacts Arcane and Otherwise has a great cast of complex characters starting right with Book 1. Kamira, introduced as a low grade arcanist, grows and grows throughout and shows us what she’s made of. Her past and her future are ever expanding and fascinating, and her family history shows its influence so profoundly – despite how much she runs from it! The supporting cast hosts a great mix of altruistic princes, evil royalty, secretive societies, mysterious outcasts, and on and on. It’s a great series for people who love to debate characters – get all your friends to read and then battle to the death over who is Team Ryell and who is Team Put Ryell In The Sea! 

Also, I can’t neglect to mention the world building! Maciejewska has crafted a vibrant and real feeling world, with intricacies and details that reminded me of why I loved Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle in spite of a certain redheaded bard/wizard/etc. Kaighal is a living and breathing city with layers upon layers, and it doesn’t feel like an island. The world around it and the links are interconnected so well that it’s easy to become immersed in this magical place. 

As with most high fantasy series, the stakes rise exponentially as we move from one book to the next, but Maciejewska has crafted a story which flows without leaps or suspension of belief (y’know, apart from all the demons and magic and stuff). Every plot point has its place and every wall in the story has its foundation, which just keeps me hugely invested in what on earth is going to happen next. 

And now, the series is complete, so I get to find out! Time for me to go and keep reading, biting my nails as I wish for everyone to make it safely out the other side!

(Except you, Ryell. Get in the sea.)