While I am not in the habit of posting poor reviews, I wanted to talk about these three books – even if I didn’t like them much. I’ve rarely posted reviews of books that were not for me mostly because I chose narrowly from a narrow genre: horror. It is not to say they were poorly written at all, they are all good. I had waited for Waif and am so happy to own a copy; Nineteen Little Stab Wounds was a delightful find; My Throat an Open Grave is just a wonderfully complete package from pillar to post and beautifully written.
They are all dark, twisty, horrific or weird. But… They were just not for me at all.
Before I get too deep into that: here is the link to the radio drama version of Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner https://www.zbs.org/audio/Sticks.mp3
Now, be it the recency, or the fact that I wanted to like these books so much – I also still want to share them because I know they do and will have fans!
Especially My Throat and Open Grave. Biblical connotations of the title aside, it was a Puritan nightmare! It’s a really beautifully written book and beautifully bound.
The one review I did edit heavily was for My Throat an Open Grave where I felt I was reading a subtweet for a hundred pages or heavily disguised Christian propaganda. It was a strange feeling because they have teen troubles that are not resolved in a wholesome way, the outcome is the opposite of an after-school special, and the whole problem started because of a cult-like Christian town. I am still not sure why I felt I was being sold snake oil throughout. On the other side of that, I felt the pandering to angsty teens was a little over the top and something I thought we had left behind over a decade ago. I will say the twist was unique and I loved how revenge played a big part in the first big resolution here, but I still felt at odds with the central theme as I came away with ‘women are bad and you should feel bad’ when I am sure the opposite was intended.
Anyhow! I’ll be reading a few great books to come, and The Haunting of Velkwood! Thank you to everyone who voted!
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I talk horror books; extreme horror, classic, slasher, gothic, and everything in between. Helping you find the next best horror book to read is the goal, and sharing new and old horror from my shelves and new releases is how! Horror, nonfiction and even true crime can be found here as I find that human beings are the scariest thing of all.
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