Scan barcode
maises's review against another edition
dark
tense
3.25
“When Darkness Loves Us” blew my expectations away. Extremely well-written, especially when it came to inner character voices. Really dark and unapologetic about it. I liked that everything was so visceral and people dealt with trauma in messy, indiscernible ways. Some unforgivable things happen and that was just that.
After the first story, I didn’t expect to like “Beauty is…” as much, and while I think some of it fell a little too flat for me (the parent chapters were a little slow), the build up ended with a bang. I was worried it would fall into the “mentally ill as source of horror” trope, but Engstrom portrays this in a way that is at least not accusatory or unsympathetic. Still not the best aged work. I enjoyed reading both stories, but might just prefer the first in terms of subject matter.
After the first story, I didn’t expect to like “Beauty is…” as much, and while I think some of it fell a little too flat for me (the parent chapters were a little slow), the build up ended with a bang. I was worried it would fall into the “mentally ill as source of horror” trope, but Engstrom portrays this in a way that is at least not accusatory or unsympathetic. Still not the best aged work. I enjoyed reading both stories, but might just prefer the first in terms of subject matter.
madmooney's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to the friend who recently frogmarched me in to picking up this title (despite a busy reading schedule that was focusing on reading mostly new works).
This novel contains two stories:
a) the titular When Darkness Loves Us
b) Beauty Is...
What Darkness Loves Us tells the multigenerational story of a family 'branching into their own lifestyle, and how this haunts those left behind'. A pregnant and newlywed Sally Ann is exploring the farmstead of her husbands land, and gets accidentally trapped in a vast and dark underground cave system, with no means of finding her way back. Here she survives, gives birth to a son, and is forced to make an autoschediastic home (as any mother would for her child). Mother and Son do find their way back to the surface eventually...and that is when things get chilling.
I found myself grimacing my way through this story - so much so that when I saw a friend on the subway, they had seem concerned for me by the faces that I was making. It was a very unsettling story.
Beauty Is.. is even 'worse' - your heart will sink to lows going through this one, and will fall even faster given how it ends. Do not spend hope in reading Martha's story here, it will not yield any dividend. In the Stephen King quote when he speaks about the three types of terror, Beauty Is falls under the Terror (with a capital T):
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/84666-the-3-types-of-terror-the-gross-out-the-sight-of
All in all, I am glad that I was pushed into reading this double feature, it has definetly expanded this readers threshold for ickiness.
This novel contains two stories:
a) the titular When Darkness Loves Us
b) Beauty Is...
What Darkness Loves Us tells the multigenerational story of a family 'branching into their own lifestyle, and how this haunts those left behind'. A pregnant and newlywed Sally Ann is exploring the farmstead of her husbands land, and gets accidentally trapped in a vast and dark underground cave system, with no means of finding her way back. Here she survives, gives birth to a son, and is forced to make an autoschediastic home (as any mother would for her child). Mother and Son do find their way back to the surface eventually...and that is when things get chilling.
I found myself grimacing my way through this story - so much so that when I saw a friend on the subway, they had seem concerned for me by the faces that I was making. It was a very unsettling story.
Beauty Is.. is even 'worse' - your heart will sink to lows going through this one, and will fall even faster given how it ends. Do not spend hope in reading Martha's story here, it will not yield any dividend. In the Stephen King quote when he speaks about the three types of terror, Beauty Is falls under the Terror (with a capital T):
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/84666-the-3-types-of-terror-the-gross-out-the-sight-of
All in all, I am glad that I was pushed into reading this double feature, it has definetly expanded this readers threshold for ickiness.
ldvinmke's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The horror of these two stories deal more with the horror of lost humanity than anything else. Yet, you have hope that the characters will make it out and find something better.
lulubeth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
katermannx's review against another edition
5.0
'When Darkness Loves Us' is a captivating collection of two tales that left me utterly enthralled. The first story, in particular, is utterly twisted and insane—in the best possible way. I adored it.
The author's wild imagination creates a fantastic tension and a bizarre atmosphere. Who says a plot has to be realistic all the time? That would be boring.
The second story, though longer and more tragic, remains gripping until the very end. I'll be pondering over this book for a long time and delving into more of the author's works.
The author's wild imagination creates a fantastic tension and a bizarre atmosphere. Who says a plot has to be realistic all the time? That would be boring.
The second story, though longer and more tragic, remains gripping until the very end. I'll be pondering over this book for a long time and delving into more of the author's works.
pbraue13's review against another edition
4.0
Such an interesting set of novellas! One (the title story) about a woman trapped in dark underground tunnels (terrifying) and the other (titled “Beauty is…”) about an mentally disabled young girl and how cruel the world can be.
4.5 stars!
4.5 stars!
sunsoar25's review against another edition
3.0
When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom is a book I picked up thanks to Grady Hendrix. It wasn't quite my style, but it was still fun to read some vintage horror.
bookswiththemoon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
tricapra's review against another edition
5.0
I can't recommend this collection to like, anyone, but you don't understand how much I adored the first story. It was written for me. The second one was really interesting too, but goddamn.