book review: The Hill In The Dark Grove by Liam Higginson

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5

Thank you Random House for providing an ARC for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson is a folk novel that captures the immense beauty of the Welsh mountains through vivid descriptive detail. It introduces a slow-building, eerie darkness that befalls Carwyn and Rhian’s remote farm. The sheep become sickly, an unpleasant earthy smell intensifies, strange dreams overtake their nights, and they begin to question what they see and hear. As Carwyn becomes more obsessed with digging up artifacts discovered in an unused part of the farm, the strange occurrences and dread only get more intense. 

The couple reminisces about their early life together while pondering generational folklore that may shed light on what they are encountering during this hard, strange year. Ancestral history of the land is also interjected into the book. Both providing a full and invested yearning for the reader to hope this couple can pull themselves to the other side of this darkness. 

I had so much fun looking up the Welsh words in the text and finding recipes for cawl, wimberry pie, and bara brith bread. This extra layer immersed me much deeper into the book. I do wish the ancestral history was tied a bit more neatly together as a complete story so that I could fully understand how it connected to the excavated mound. Doing so might have rounded out the ending by giving a glimpse into what became of the couple and how the site might affect future inhabitants, while still remaining vague.

Despite these small notes, this book absolutely deserves a 5/5. I was astounded by the imagery and the author’s ability to evoke so much about these characters lives through the written word. Readers who love literary works will appreciate this, and those that enjoy lore, witchcraft, or horror will love it even more. I highly recommend this debut novel and so look forward to anything future this author might release.

book review: A Plagued Sea by Bo-Young Kim

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

Thank you Honford Star for providing an ARC for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

One of the most enjoyable things about books is their ability to introduce you to new genres, places, ideas. A Plagued Sea by Bo-Young Kim introduced me to Lovecraftian horror - a subgenre centered around the terror of the unknown, isolated decaying communities, and tentacled monsters that defy the laws of physics and biology.

The novella takes place three years after Muyoung and her niece boarded a train to a remote Korean seaside village. Despite urgent warnings of a massive earthquake, they chose to go anyway. Since then, Muyoung and the rest of the visitors have been stuck under a government quarantine alongside the local residents. An ancient plague, unearthed from deep beneath the sea by the earthquake, is transforming victims into grotesque, fishy monsters - including Muyoung’s own niece.

At just over 100 pages, this novella is an easy read that you can finish in one or two sittings. Despite this short length, Bo-Young Kim does an incredible job at building a fully immersive, complete story. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to get a taste of the Lovecraftian genre. Or, if you simply enjoy haunting literary stories. 

book review: Sunrise by Tea Obreht

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  3/5

Thank you Random House for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

In Téa Obreht's newest novel, we follow multiple characters interacting with the mysterious, remote town of Sunrise, Wyoming, across three points in the past hundred years. Obreht's detailed, descriptive writing quickly piqued my interest and I was intrigued to find out the town's secrets. However, before I reached the quarter mark, I got the feeling much of the character backstories weren't critical to the core plot. These backstories were interesting, and could loosely be seen as adding to the character development. Yet, my engagement began wavering without enough bread crumbs to build discovery and momentum. Ultimately, I didn't find the story to ever tie together in a satisfying or particularly novel way. The book might have benefited from prioritizing a more complex story around the town of Sunrise first, then using all characters to support that vision. Instead, the few clues that were presented were vague and spread out; the crucial plot pieces needed to be more bluntly laid out. 

Readers who enjoy literary, historical fiction might still find fulfillment here. Obreht's style and depth overall make her a writer I would like to read more from.