drakaina16's Reviews (2.21k)

I don't even know where to start with this book. First of all, it was excellent. What starts as a typical Gothic murder mystery quickly goes off the rails in the best way possible. I've never read anything quite like The Crows. It genre-bends effortlessly and left me hungry for more. CM Rosens has created a world that I've just got to learn all about. I'll be picking up the other Pagham-On-Sea novels as soon as I can.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My absolute favorite tropes in horror are evil in a small town and coming of age. I've been reading a lot of them lately, but I have to say, Bloodtooth manages combine both tropes superbly. Better than most, even. D.W. Hitz has created a world that is like the love child of IT and Nightmare On Elm Street, although it manages to be it's own thing entirely. The characters and the writing are excellent. Although Bloodtooth clocks in at almost 650 pages, I would have happily read 650 more. This is the first of Hitz's books that I've read and I'm eager to seek out more of his work.

How well do you really know your coworkers? Cheryl is about to find out way, way more than she ever wanted to know, in the escape room from hell. This is my second Iain Rob Wright book and I had a lot of fun with it. His books are compulsively readable; they always make me want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. Escape! would make a great movie and is written in such a way that it basically played out that way in my head. 

This book is GOOD. The 90s nostalgia, the writing, the pacing, the slow reveal - all excellent. I've never read anything quite like this book. It artfully blends grotesque body horror, crime, and sci fi and is full of characters that you want to like, but can never quite trust. Head Like A Hole is my first Andrew Van Wey book, and what an introduction it was! I'm excited to read more of his works.

This book seriously suffers from "man writing woman characters very badly" syndrome. 

This tale of two young friends who find solace in each other and in a shared love of a band really blew me away. The grandiosity and lushness of the world Joseph Sale has created bring Clive Barker to mind. Beautifully written and dark as night, it definitely put me in mind of Imajica or Abarat. I can't wait to read the next books in the series.

In the Scrape is the kind of realistic horror I really love. It feels like a true story, and that's what makes something truly horrific to me. The story of two boys desperate to escape their abusive father morphs into a horror story of a different kind. Highly recommended.