...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

I hope you're having a great summer! Here are some short reviews that might help you with your summer reading list, enjoy.

Thirteen Stories by Jonathan Sims

Twelve Storeys is an unorthodox anthology of thirteen horror short stories that are interconnected and even intertwined with each other; twelve stories for twelve tenants of the legendary Banyan Court - a housing project that combines the richest and the poorest of London and it indeed works... as long as everyone stays in their corner. The haunting that starts happening in the building knows no class boundaries, though, and the twelve tenants find themselves trying to figure out what exactly is after them. At the end of each chapter/story the main character receives a dinner invitation sent by Tobias Fell, one of the richest men of London and owner of the building. The fancy dinner party is the subject of the last and thirteenth story and marks the grand finale. 

I super enjoyed reading this book and felt completely entertained! The structure, the characters, how everything comes together in the end - though it could feel a little repetitive at times, that repetitiveness and the consciously chosen simplicity of the style and storylines felt right. A light read and nice pastime that felt like a compilation of Black Mirror stories, but for light horror.

The Taxidermist's Lover by Polly Hall

Unfortunately, this book wasn't such an easy or light read for me as the previous one...

The Taxidermist’s Lover is told from an unusual perspective – Scarlett, the titular lover of taxidermist Henry, addresses her lover in the second person singular and tells him their own story in hindsight, how she felt, what she thought about things that happened in their shared life, leading to a for me shocking and nauseating finale.

But it’s not only the finale that nauseated me, I felt the whole story, the relationship between the two, the way Henry treats Scarlett, the twisted and possessive way of loving, Scarlett’s complete dedication to him very oppressive, depressive, claustrophobic – it obscured my heart, darkened my spirits. The author’s choice of narrating in the second person singular tired me endlessly. So, considering it is a horror book, it did what it is supposed to do and depressed me thoroughly. It is also very successful for a debut, brava for that. But would I recommend it? I’m not sure about that...

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

I received a copy of Across the Green Grass Fields from macmillan/tor in exchange for an honest review and admittedly, my first thought upon receiving it was an unenthusiastic "Oh OK, young adult..." as I usually don't really enjoy YA. So I kept delaying reading it, and read only small parts to slowly get it over with until... Fast-forward to last week, when my COVID jab was scheduled and the night before I was really stressed and needed to soothe my nerves. That's when I remembered that some time in the past I started reading this little book about a horse universe where centaurs keep unicorns in unicorn farms, fauns sell roasted nuts in annual fairs and young intersex girl Regan tries to escape the harsh reality of school bullies and ends up in this universe and all the horse people help her get over her problems. And guess what? In that situation a book about unicorns was exactly what I needed and it indeed helped me get over my anxiety.

I haven't read the other books in the "Wayward Children Series" so I might be missing some things that may be common knowledge for constant readers but I thought the ending was a little hastily written and the journey of little Regan, the kelpie Gristle and the peryton Zephir towards Hoofland bears a greater potential than what it actually turns out to be.
Although I think I'm not the right target, it is nice to read something simple, hopeful, healing and relaxing as this book every now and then.
Thank you pan macmillan/tor for the copy of this book!

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon 

Ever since I have read Solomon's An Unkindness of Ghosts a couple of years ago I am a sucker for everything written by them and Sorrowland was no exception to that rule. If anything, it even further reinforced my admiration, because this is an impeccably written, deep, meaningful book and may even be the author's best yet.

We follow Vern who, heavily pregnant, flees the religious compound she has been living in all her life and hides in the woods, where she gives birth to twins Feral and Howling. After living some years in the forest without the influence of the outside world, Vern enters a kind of metamorphosis and her body starts changing in eerie (and may I say cool?) ways, which forces her to leave her quiet life and to explore the roots of her bodily changes, explore the true secrets of the compound.

With every step of Vern's journey, Sorrowland gradually increases in complexity, making it more engaging with each tier of her story and leading to places truly unexpected. Every single character and their interactions were interesting and engaging to me, adding to the captivation of the grave and, yes, sorrowful metaphor this book deals with. Sorrowland is a whole different level of art, of telling, it's a masterpiece and seriously, it should be read everywhere by everyone.    

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Thriller time!!! And this is more like it! I was left a little disappointed by Michaelides' highly praised and hyped thriller The Silent Patient that I had read a couple of months ago and deemed it just an overly twisted relationship drama. Although The Maidens offers no less relationship drama, there is so much more here at play that I clearly prefer this one to its predecessor.

Widowed psychiatrist Mariana Andros is convinced that Professor Edward Fosca from Cambridge University is responsible for the murders of two young girls who were both members of a secret society of female students known as "The Maidens". In order to support her niece, a student at Cambridge and to dig a little research, she decides to stay until the very end, until the absolutely flabbergasting finale.

Lots of references to Greek mythology (luckily explained, so you don't feel helpless in front of allusions you don't understand), lots of red herrings, lots of references to The Silent Patient (but you luckily don't need to have read it to understand this one) - The Maidens is as enthralling as its predecessor, but better. I just really wish Michaelides was a little nicer to his characters, he torments them so... It is slightly better here, but can be improved still further.