howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

 This was pretty good! I don't feel like it was particularly memorable or like I'll have a lot to say about it when I type up a review, but it was a solid introduction to Ania Ahlborn's work and I'm looking forward to picking up another story of hers soon!

✨ Representation: disabled protagonist (missing multiple fingers) with an undiagnosed mental illness (implied schizophrenia) and Tourette's 

 This was a fun, quick little short about life as a lonely single woman facing a zombie-riddled world in which the zombies, or "Hungries" in this story, live alongside humans and try to co-exist peacefully, despite never being quite able to forget their cravings for flesh. We follow an introverted woman as she goes on a few first date attempts, but each one is thwarted by the lack of life in the other parties. Despite being a horror/dystopian tale about zombies, it was a surprisingly sweet, poignant piece with really lovely writing and a compelling, familiar depiction of loneliness and how much we can grow to crave another's company. I enjoyed this a lot, and highly recommend it!
 

 I just read Ruth's Phantom Pain earlier this week and adored it, so I had to hurry up and read another story of hers right away, and this was so much fun, too! While it didn't quite gross me out as much as Phantom Pain did, I still had a ton of fun with it. This poor woman! She was so easy for me to empathize with and I felt so bad for how it seemed like every possible thing that could go wrong, did go wrong for her. That ending was not what I expected at all, though! I had a really good time with this one and definitely recommend it if you're looking for a quick, icky horror novelette!

✨ Representation: plus-sized protagonist 

 This novelette was delightful: a super quick, nasty, gooey horror novelette featuring a plus-sized lesbian protagonist who's dealing with a sudden and terrifying medical condition.

I was sold from the beginning when Lisa has to deal with a completely idiotic doctor (because honestly, yes, I could see some jackass being like "maybe lose some weight and *insert spoiler* will stop happening!"), but what really got me was this one particular body horror scene that I can't describe—I'll say it made me literally gag a little. Also, I definitely caught myself crossing an arm over my chest to subconsciously protect myself at one point. 😂

This was my first time reading Ruth Anna Evans' work, but I can't wait to read more now!

✨ Representation: fat lesbian MC, sapphic side character, gay side character 

 This was absolutely gross and I loved it. What a fun, twisted spin on a Thanksgiving story. I won't spoil anything, but the Gobbler is downright awful and I love a good home invasion tale—the kind that legitimately makes you think, "What if this happened to me and MY family someday?" It's a terrifying thought.

If you like extreme horror, Judith Sonnet is an author you can't miss. She weaves some of the nastiest scenes of gore with genuine creativity and dark humor, and the two stories I've read by her now have been action-packed from the start. I can't wait to read more!

✨ Representation: Tig and Norma are lesbians 

 There isn't much to say about this: it was a cute little smattering of illustrations depicting Pusheen and her family in their everyday lives, spending time together, making sweet treats, enjoying their hobbies, and going on imaginary adventures. I can't see myself buying a finished copy for myself, but I think it would be a good gift for someone who really loves Pusheen a lot.
 

 This was absolutely lovely, though I'm not sure what fantasy world I was living in when I thought that a "children's book" by GRRM would be anything like other children's books! To be fair, this book is probably about as happy and hopeful of a story as ol' George is capable of writing. 😂

I was reading this to my 6-year-old and am very grateful that he wasn't interested enough in the plot to complain when we "forgot" to read the last couple of chapters together, because he's a very compassionate and empathetic sort who gets his little heart broken every time anything bad happens to a character, and I'm not sure he could have handled the ending of this one. ♥ 

 This was fantastic! I loved finally getting the story on this creepy, massive beastie in the woods, and I wasn't expecting his origin at all. There were actually a couple of twists in this volume that caught me off-guard, plus one that I saw coming and was dreading a bit, only because I worry about what it means for sweet Emmy in the future.
 

 

Let's go ahead and address the obvious: this book is hyped as an incredibly fucked up, extreme horror story, and it definitely fits the bill when it comes to depravity. The main character's necrophilia is on full display from the beginning, but we also delve into some scenes of cannibalism, pedophilia, and glorification of rape. Morrison doesn't hold back from the messy details in any way, so this isn't a book I'd recommend to anyone who isn't already accustomed to extreme horror.

All of that said, something about the detached and repetitive nature of the narrative voice made even the most disgusting and graphic scene in this book fall short of actually affecting me. I thought based on the hype that this would be the rare book that would be "too much", but honestly, I frequently found myself bored and wishing for the story to end.

I feel bad giving this such a harsh review, but I have to say my piece: the main character is so focused on being as much of an antisocial edgelord as he possibly can be, it overshadows the gruesomeness of the entire plot. I'm not saying I needed him to feel guilty or be less of a "monster", I just needed him to stop devoting his entire life to impressing 14-year-old white boys on reddit.

I see a lot of people saying Morrison's writing is brilliant and unique because all of this is intended as satire, and maybe that's true and I'm the one who's missing something here, but either way, Dead Inside didn't work for me, and not for the reasons I expected. I'm glad it's such a successful and harrowing novella for so many other people, but given that my issues with this story were so similar to my issues with the last Chandler Morrison novella I read, I'm thinking it's time to accept that his writing isn't for me.

Also, the character who talks about how much she loved being raped at 7 years old? That entire segment made my eyes nearly roll out of my skull. 

 This series is phenomenal. I love that we're getting to meet more of the haints now and I love what a big variety there is (I'm especially fond of Priscilla!), and that big "fight" scene with all of them was wonderful, though I wish it'd been a hair longer. Another fantastic volume!