Source: DRC via NetGalley (Tor Publishing Group, TorDotCom) in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: August 1, 2023
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

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Why did I choose to read this book?

I am always on the lookout for a story that can make decent use of Lovecraftian horror elements. Many writers avoid them altogether because of the extremely racist and unsavory nature of Lovecraft, and honestly I get it. But wouldn’t it be nice to make something beautiful out of the sludge and then rub it in his face from beyond the grave?

What is this book about?

This book is about family. I finished the story yesterday and I’m glad I sat with it for a bit because at first blush I thought it might be about coming of age and inheriting the tendencies of your ancestors against your will. This morning I woke up and realized it was about family and who you decide to label your family. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you know that I love a story about found family – where your blood relatives are shit but you build a family from the people who you love and who support you and that’s stronger than blood.

This story is about what happens if you allow your family by blood to eclipse everyone else.

What is notable about this story?

This book is very very very short. I wasn’t paying attention when I requested it on NetGalley but it’s only 122 pages or so. This is a good thing, because the story is fucking brutal. I don’t know if I would want to read any more of that kind of trauma. It’s short, terrifying, and then it ends and you’ll be left staring at the acknowledgements page thinking “the fuck did I just read???”

For a story that is so aggressively scary and, at the end, violent, it was not gory. I appreciated that the author kept their descriptions of the horror very dry and to the point. It did not give me nightmares for this reason, and I am thankful.

The thoughts that the main character has about their changing body and the changing relationships around him are well written. What he is becoming isn’t totally within his grasp to understand and no one ever even tries to explain it to him despite his grandfather horning his way into their lives and knowing all about it, and his mother who had to grow up with it and knows what living around that kind of person is like. He’s left to handle it all on his own and even at the end I don’t think he really understands himself. This surrender to inevitability without a fight is everyone’s downfall.

Was anything not so great?

This is a spoiler, but I ALWAYS give this spoiler because I would want to know. There is a very good dog that stands by the boy’s side through the whole book and he dies defending the boy. It happens right at the end, and because the author is dry with their descriptions it didn’t hurt as much as it might have otherwise. More than anything it made me mad, but for the boy in the story. I wanted him to get revenge. The dog’s death is an honorable one, but allowing good dogs to die in your stories is always going to earn a “not so great” from me.

What’s the verdict?

3 stars on Goodreads because (1) the dog dies, (2) it was too short, and (3) overall it was a fast parable about familial support and rejection that was pretty good. Oh yes, and it has some sea monsters in it. If you’d like to see for yourself, the shortness of the tale means it’s pretty cheap to pick up in ebook format. Let me know what you think!