⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ll be honest: this one took me a little while to click with. Not in a bad way, exactly — more that I had to adjust my expectations. The opening didn’t immediately grab me in the way some Discworld stories do, and for a bit I felt like I was circling the edges of … Continue reading A Scrappy, Sharp-Edged Fairytale
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I just finished There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm, and I have to say, it’s exactly the kind of weird that gets me excited about fiction. From the very first entries, there’s this uncanny, almost clinical tone that makes you feel like you’re reading a classified briefing rather than a story, and I … Continue reading Bending Minds and Reality
⭐⭐⭐ When I first read The Lost World years ago, I remember absolutely tearing through it. I loved it almost as much as Jurassic Park, which is no small thing. At the time, it felt like a worthy continuation: more dinosaurs, more danger, more of that Crichton techno-thriller momentum that made his work so addictive. … Continue reading A Nostalgic Reread That Doesn’t Quite Hold Up
There’s a particular kind of unease that creeps in when you realise the monster (or antagonist, the terms are often interchangeable) isn’t lying, and everyone else is. Not because the monster is gentle or fair or deserving of sympathy, but because it never pretends to be anything other than what it is. The fear doesn’t … Continue reading When the Monster Is the Most Honest Character
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead quietly unsettles you rather than going for big shocks, and that’s exactly where it shines. A retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, it keeps the bones of the original story but dresses them in something far stranger, funnier, and biologically grotesque. The atmosphere is … Continue reading A Creepy, Clever Reimagining That Gets Under Your Skin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I finally sat down with Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney after years of loving both the 1956 and 1978 film adaptations, and I’m honestly kicking myself for not reading it sooner. I’ve watched those films so many times—each one with its own charm, its own atmosphere, its own flavour of creeping … Continue reading A Classic I Should’ve Read Years Ago
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I first picked up His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet on the recommendation of one of my university lecturers. At the time, I was working on a project with some thematic overlap, and, honestly, it felt like perfect timing. I’m still working on that project now, and reading this novel has been both … Continue reading A Gripping Blend of Crime, History, and Psychological Depth
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stephen King’s Insomnia surprised me in the best way. I went in expecting a fairly straightforward horror story, but it turned into something much stranger and more ambitious. Ralph’s sleeplessness starts off feeling uncomfortably real—King captures that foggy, irritable, slightly surreal feeling of being overtired so well that I could practically feel my own … Continue reading A Restless, Haunting Journey Through Derry
⭐⭐⭐ Overall, I enjoyed Influencer by Adam Cesare, just not quite enough to bump it higher. The concept is great: a horror story rooted in internet fame, parasocial chaos, and the curated madness of influencer culture. Cesare leans into the world of streaming and online personas, blending satire and genuine menace. When the horror elements … Continue reading A Slick, Modern Horror with Uneven Footing
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m honestly not quite sure what to say about Morsels by Abe Moss. It’s one of those books that isn’t bad at all — the writing’s solid, the pacing works fine — but for some reason it just feels very… average. “Meh” really sums it up. I didn’t dislike it, but I never felt … Continue reading Decently Readable, But Mostly Meh
Gareth Ellis - Author 