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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
This is a set of two stories. I read the first but didn’t like the genre or writing style enough to stick with the second novella.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, War
Minor: Fatphobia, Excrement
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A Lush and Seething Hell includes two engaging novellas with a cosmic horror bent. The latter novella in particular was unsettling and had an ending that left me thinking about it for days after. Would recommend.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Lush an Seething Hell" is quite likely my new favorite in the style of cosmic horror that pulls on the "classic tropes". The stories unfold through letters and journals, juxtaposed against narratives of descent into madness set in the "modern day".
The thing that is special about these two stories is they have a phenomenally powerful sense of specificity in their setting. The first story, while set in a fictionalized country, draws on events specific to March 1983 Nicaragua, not necessarily as major plot points, just in the setting. The second story builds around real music and musicologists. I stopped reading at moments to listen to specific archival recordings mentioned in the story.
Grounding tales off cosmic horror in such *viscerally real* settings adds to their unsettling nature. The characters are not in some magical world imagined by an author, they are in our world, which is filled with both the horror of man and the horror of the unknown.
The thing that is special about these two stories is they have a phenomenally powerful sense of specificity in their setting. The first story, while set in a fictionalized country, draws on events specific to March 1983 Nicaragua, not necessarily as major plot points, just in the setting. The second story builds around real music and musicologists. I stopped reading at moments to listen to specific archival recordings mentioned in the story.
Grounding tales off cosmic horror in such *viscerally real* settings adds to their unsettling nature. The characters are not in some magical world imagined by an author, they are in our world, which is filled with both the horror of man and the horror of the unknown.
2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this more than I did, but I almost couldn't finish the second story because it was so slow for me. I will, however, definitely give this author another shot at some point because I feel like I could definitely enjoy other works by him based on writing, the plots of these two stories just didn't do it for me.
this book consists of two novellas: “the sea dreams it is the sky” and “my heart struck sorrow”. both are stories i had never heard before, they are not predictable and felt totally unfamiliar. i liked that a lot. this author is really good at creating atmospheres that are so unsettling and you’re not sure why
i think i preferred “my heart struck sorrow”; that one is about a guy who recently lost his wife and son, and he works for the library of congress digitizing and indexing recordings of old folk music. he comes across a strange, hidden collection of old folk music recordings with a journal accompanying it, and... it’s bizarre and incredibly engrossing and creepy af and there’s some crazy devil shit involved. i obvz won’t give away the ending but it was kinda perfect and sad, and again, not predictable
i think i preferred “my heart struck sorrow”; that one is about a guy who recently lost his wife and son, and he works for the library of congress digitizing and indexing recordings of old folk music. he comes across a strange, hidden collection of old folk music recordings with a journal accompanying it, and... it’s bizarre and incredibly engrossing and creepy af and there’s some crazy devil shit involved. i obvz won’t give away the ending but it was kinda perfect and sad, and again, not predictable
UPDATE:
My Heart Struck Sorrow - 5 stars
I realised I forgot to connect my tablet to the WiFi and I still technically had the book on it, as I had no Internet to return it to the library. I decided to test out the second novella.
What a difference! I loved the second one. It was a dual timeline story about a man who works for the Library of Congress researching and transcribing folk music. He tragically loses his family which, as a young mother myself, I found hard to read or imagine. In his work, he finds the journal of a man who held a similar post as him, and reads his slow descent into madness as he becomes obsessed with a demonic folk song "Staggerlee". The vibes in this one just exuded rural southern folksy gothic. I could see the checkered shirts, hear the fiddles tune, feel the thick, humid air and the bite of the mosquitos. So evocative, so perfectly atmospheric and confusing and demonic and just right. A much better story than the south American dictatorship!
The Sea Dreams it's the Sky - 2 stars
NB: I only read the first of the two books in this duology, and I have to admit that I was so disappointed that it took me a few weeks to battle my way through a novella that had none of the promised "cosmic horror" and instead focused on the horror of a fake South American dictatorship. The main character was a woman but wow I did not buy that at all. The (male) author was not able to write a convincing female character. The story was gross but not cosmic, the promised Lovecraftian influences were so dim you couldn't see them if you squinted, and the "madding text" was only important for a bit in the beginning, slipping into obscurity halfway through. I just didn't enjoy it, and even though the 2nd book sounded better (devils, libraries, gothic...), I just couldn't bring myself to try it out before the hold expired. Oh well.
My Heart Struck Sorrow - 5 stars
I realised I forgot to connect my tablet to the WiFi and I still technically had the book on it, as I had no Internet to return it to the library. I decided to test out the second novella.
What a difference! I loved the second one. It was a dual timeline story about a man who works for the Library of Congress researching and transcribing folk music. He tragically loses his family which, as a young mother myself, I found hard to read or imagine. In his work, he finds the journal of a man who held a similar post as him, and reads his slow descent into madness as he becomes obsessed with a demonic folk song "Staggerlee". The vibes in this one just exuded rural southern folksy gothic. I could see the checkered shirts, hear the fiddles tune, feel the thick, humid air and the bite of the mosquitos. So evocative, so perfectly atmospheric and confusing and demonic and just right. A much better story than the south American dictatorship!
The Sea Dreams it's the Sky - 2 stars
NB: I only read the first of the two books in this duology, and I have to admit that I was so disappointed that it took me a few weeks to battle my way through a novella that had none of the promised "cosmic horror" and instead focused on the horror of a fake South American dictatorship. The main character was a woman but wow I did not buy that at all. The (male) author was not able to write a convincing female character. The story was gross but not cosmic, the promised Lovecraftian influences were so dim you couldn't see them if you squinted, and the "madding text" was only important for a bit in the beginning, slipping into obscurity halfway through. I just didn't enjoy it, and even though the 2nd book sounded better (devils, libraries, gothic...), I just couldn't bring myself to try it out before the hold expired. Oh well.