I just can't say enough good things about Gemma Amor. Dear Laura was one of the strongest novellas I read last year. Till the Score is Paid was one of the best collections of short fiction to come my way in 2019, and it has some quality competition. Truth is I knew I'd love this before I even opened it.

Grief is a False God is a novelette about 50 pages long, which include gorgeous illustrations by Anibal Santos. The artwork makes opting for the paperback over the e-book an utter necessity. It's a dynamic compliment to Amor's storytelling, and I do hope they'll consider teaming up again.

The content itself is a bit tough to describe. Part of me wants to tell you you're about to read an allegory. There's a lot of depth in the biblical names, meaning behind the character's actions, and of course, Baal, the antagonist. Baal is the stuff of your deepest, darkest nightmares and the depictions as envisioned by Anibal Santos only fuel that that image. As I was saying, you could make a case for allegory, but this is such a very real story with real people.

One thing I loved about Till the Score is Paid was the depiction of how down-to-earth the stories were, and Grief is a False God is just another example of how talented this author is at crafting a story in this vein.

This story is emotional, it's raw, and it's also very scary. Both in the sense of classic horror, and valuing the people around you who mean the world to you. What could be scarier than knowing bad things could happen to your loved ones, and you might be helpless to change the outcome. Grief is a False God captures this exquisitely.