Reviews

Haunt by Ryan Meyer

znnys's review

5.0

Ryan Meyer's first book of poetry is an evocative exploration of what frightens us and why. I love the story-like narrative he writes in - each poem feels like looking at a sliver of someone else's life through a microscope.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire collectipn, my favorite works were "Occasionally, the Moon" and "We Fear The Worst." The former is celestially romantic with an emphasis on the otherworldly quality of a first love that gave me a wistful longing. The latter approaches an apocalyptic scenario from an unsettling mundaneness. The simplicity of it feels almost sadder than chaos or panic, and reading it, I couldn't help but think on how I might react in the same situation.

A fantastic read that I would highly recommend.

tastybourbon's review

dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I usually avoid poetry, but decided to give this collection a try due to Meyer’s subject matter. The author embraces the mystery of what goes bump in the middle of the night along with ghosts, ghouls, witches, and there’s even a cameo by an alien! The poems range from very serious to very light in terms of tone. The variety helped. I wish I had spaced this more over the course of a week I stress of reading them all within 24 hours. Overall, the collection only takes around an hour to read 

ericarobyn's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Haunt by Ryan Meyer is a collection of poetry that centers around loss, death, and darkness.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way. 

First things first, I love that some of the titles are from songs from bands. Two titles were from Chevelle songs, and you bet I spent the next few days at work listening to nothing but Chevelle! 

This collection has poems about death, loss, and other dark things such as watching someone you love get addicted to drugs, inviting darkness in, sacrificing, letting go, and much more.

My favorite poems from the collection include the following titles:

• Haunt 
• I. 
• One Man’s Charm is Another Man’s Warning
• II.
• Nothing Peak or, Where You Though the Answers Were 
• Carved 
• III.
• The Oldest Rules in the Book
• If You Haunted My Room
• IV.
• Dracula Drive – about the Melon Heads!
• Windmill 
• He Looked Like Me 
• V. 

The variety here is wonderful. Some poems started off upbeat and fun before taking a dark turn, while some started spooky and only got more intense from there. Some were sweet and heartwarming all the way through with just a sprinkle of darkness, like If You Haunted My Room. 

Even in length there was a variety here! Some poems were a few pages, such as Nothing Peak and Where You Though the Answers Were, while some were just a couple of stanzas. 

I absolutely loved the continuation of the poem that appeared in installments; I. II. III. IV. and V. The first poem kicked off in a terrifying jolt and then we slowly get more insight as the poems continue on. While I was really enjoying each tale along the way, I was always pumped when I saw another of the these poems pop up.

Carved was one of my favorites! I loved how eerie this one was and then it ends with a bang! The formatting of the text was also really fun!

There was also a lot of mentions of someone right behind “them.” Whether it was feeling breath on their neck, sensing someone behind them, or other similar situations. Each time something like that occurred, it only got more spooky. 

One more quick note, I loved that some of the poem titles led directly into the poem itself as the first line. This is so clever! I don’t think I had seen this done before so that was really exciting for me.

My Final Thoughts on Haunt

I loved this collection of horror poems. For fans of darkness and beauty in the horror that is life, this is a must read. It’s so wonderfully written and the entire collection is well organized. This will have you stopping between each poem to savor what you have just read before moving on to the next.