protean depravity

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

To read my full review of Chains please click here (or just take a look at previous post...) Inci: Hello M.! Let me start by congratulating to what I understand is your debut novel, I really enjoyed reading it! Are there any other writing projects you have been involved in and where can we find them? M. Todd: First of all, thank you so much your review of my first and only novel Chains . Your review is dead-on with my own feelings. I am glad you enjoyed the story and found the characters – especially the Kludde/Kledde – engaging. This is my only published project, although I am a lifelong reader, and have enjoyed writing, mostly poetry, my entire life.

Chains is by far one of the most interesting books I have read this year: its structure, its pacing and above all, its strangely compelling antagonist are just a breath of fresh air in often formulaic horror fiction. To be honest I initially had my doubts I would like it, mainly because I've really had it with books who move between two timelines present and past. Having now finished the book, I realize it was very necessary for Chains to do so and in hindsight I'm glad it did, because I ended up enjoying the "past" parts more than the storyline and the characters in present. And to be fair, M. Todd does not follow the trend of alternating the two timelines, but brings in the past in due places as an explanation. But, first things first, let's start from the beginning with the plot. It doesn't matter what you believe. Hell believes in you. Chains is a folk horror book that borrows folkloric elements from Dutch mythology; we follow a Canadian family with Dut...

I have read so few books this week, oh no! It's all because The Living Dead is such a door-stopper and took so much of my time... And I have no thrillers at all this time, what a crying shame. But I still have had two more interesting reads, one non-fiction on black culture and one translated gothic novella, that I review here and hope you enjoy these recommendations aling with the currently nice weather!

I'm so, SO happy to have read Zen Cho's Black Water Sister , it was such a breath of fresh air! If you like funny, emotional ghost stories set in Southeast Asia that are full of action and interesting deities, don't lose time and grab this!

One of the best and most exciting reads I had this year was Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street , that's for sure. But it is super hard to review because the phrase "the less you know about it before reading, the better" has never held more weight than for this book. So, I'm aware that I'm moving on dangerous ground here and will try to review accordingly. I also have to say that I personally did know nothing about this book when I started reading it and that was something that truly paid off. I had it on my e-reader because it probably was on some "year's most anticipated horror" list and I noted it and then found a good deal somewhere and purchased it, adding yet another title to my ever growing and never ending TBR-pile. When a few months later a book friend of mine on goodreads posted that she started reading this but feels uncomfortable about reading it alone and I took this spontaneous opportunity to do a buddy read - because...

People! The digital (and free!) author convention TorCon which gives you the chance to chat with or just watch your favorite TOR-authors chatting will take place between the 10th - 13th June this year and PLEASE just take a look at some of the great names participating: Catriona Ward, Charlie Jane Anders, Alix E. Harrow, Aliette de Bodard, Cassandra Khaw, Thomas Olde Heuvelt and many more...

Hej! I know I haven't been posting regularly lately and when I did only to hastily compile a few short reviews, sorry for that, I was kind of busy... But I do have a couple of fresh ideas for new stuff here on the blog; I am planing a review series for the buddy reads I have been doing with two friends from the general orbit of the Otherland Bookstore, a new column about guilty pleasures that I developped during the hard lockdown - that we're hopefully done with- and there is one author interview in the making! I hope it will all go smoothly and you can see the results as soon as I can make it! Until then, here is the latest wrap up for you to enjoy!

This review is on the second installment of C.T. Rwizi's Scarlett Odyssey Books. For the debut installment of the same title please see my previous review . I'm pretty shocked why C. T. Rwizi's masterpiece, the Scarlett Odyssey Saga isn’t a bestseller yet! Readers seriously should be cheering, shouting on the rooftops, agonizing over the devastating ending of this second installment and suspense-nail-biting over whether or not there will ever be a continuation, a third book… Because although Requiem Moon seriously offers everything a fantasy reader’s heart desires, it ends on a nasty cliffhanger and we demand a sequel. Requiem Moon picks up the story of prequel Scarlet Odyssey : Having finally gotten his status as a male mystic confirmed by the Yerezi Queen, Salo and his crew - she-warrior Ilapara, young atmech Tuk and finally Alinata, a gorgeous Asazi in the service of the said queen - finally make it to Yonte Saire, the Jungle City, where he is supposed to complete a pi...