Reviews

The Writhing Skies by Betty Rocksteady

dtaylorbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

THE WRITHING SKIES is an absolute fever dream of a novella. I’m still not sure what actually happened, but I’m not disappointed about it either. It had me completely wrapped up in its tentacles, titillated and horrified at the same time. It did its job in both departments there.

When the story starts, you’re dropped into the middle of everything, and it’s not clear whether what’s happening is really happening or Sarah is mentally unstable and having some kind of breakdown. Considering where the plot circles back to, that’s still not off the table, especially with how everything plays out.

Honestly, I’m still not convinced this story didn’t happen entirely in Sarah’s mind and these are the last electric pulses of a dying brain. It really could be that or something that really did happen. I think that’s a testament to Rocksteady’s skill in leaving you satisfied with the ending without really knowing if it happened or not.

The body horror is top notch. Explicit enough that you really know what’s happening to who and where, but not detailed to the point of nausea. At least for me, and I’m not a gore person. There’s enough to horrify you without making you want to vomit, if that’s your bag. I definitely wouldn’t call this extreme horror, if you need a better goalpost for that.

The writing is mostly stream of consciousness, but it utilized commas liberally. Initially I wondered if it was bad editing, but the more I read the more the words flowed with Sarah’s thought process. Normally I don’t like stream of consciousness writing, but in many other instances it doesn’t use punctuation at all. Not the case here, which jived well with my brain. With that being said, I think the stream of consciousness did lend itself to a number of editorial slips. I found a number of random apostrophes scattered throughout the book that didn’t look to be purposely stylistic or serve any real purpose. Unless I’m missing something.

At the end of the day, THE WRITHING SKIES is exactly what I was looking for with erotic horror. Well, maybe it’s a little weirder than what I was looking for, but it ended up fitting the bill nicely.

4.5

aiden_e_messer's review against another edition

4.0

The truth never stays buried for long. This is a great cosmic horror book with a unique, bizarre story and great characters. The writing is really good, and makes the book feel like a fever dream

michaellouisdixon's review against another edition

5.0

Betty Rocksteady is an amazing author. I highly recommend reading anything written by her that you can find.
The Writhing Skies was an excellent Body Horror story. I loved it in all its goopiness!

lloydhanneman's review against another edition

4.0

Haunting, grotesque, body-horror. This was a fun read but I'm not 100% sure I understood all of it, so I'll probably re-read this in the future. The whole thing reads like one big hallucination of sorts and I had no idea where it was going to go. Betty Rocksteady is clearly a very good writer so I can't wait to read more from her!

micahcastle's review

4.0

Betty Rocksteady’s novella The Writhing Skies (published by Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing) is a short, dread-inducing explosion of hauntingly bizarre — some sexual, some not — occurrences happening simultaneously, leaving you wondering — in a good way — by the end of the story: What the hell did I just read?

The sky has eyes and teeth and impossible colors and fireflies are everywhere, and goop and pus and other disease-ridden layers of not-flesh are coating the skin of everyone who’s left. To top it all off, no one knows what the hell is happening because nearly everyone in town has vanished, replaced by papery ghouls who roam the streets or loom in windows and continually question those left roaming the town by humming. And, Sarah wakes up in her apartment and is greeted by all of this and she now tries to make sense of it all after climbing out her window because her apartment is melting, or bending, and forming into tendrils and slithering up her arms and legs and fuck.

Does that sound interesting to you?

If so, then absolutely pick up The Writhing Skies and check out Rocksteady’s other works, too.