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ev1's review against another edition
2.0
THGWSWLS = 3
THE ENCHANTMENT = 0.5
YFILTAO = 1.5
i feel bad giving this such a low review, because i genuinely think that larocca has some really unique and interesting ideas when it comes to horror. however, the execution feels very poorly handled in multiple places.
the titular story could have been a third longer, the enchantment could have been a third shorter, and the final story could have used its meagre word count much more advantageously than it does.
THE ENCHANTMENT = 0.5
YFILTAO = 1.5
i feel bad giving this such a low review, because i genuinely think that larocca has some really unique and interesting ideas when it comes to horror. however, the execution feels very poorly handled in multiple places.
the titular story could have been a third longer, the enchantment could have been a third shorter, and the final story could have used its meagre word count much more advantageously than it does.
allthings's review against another edition
1.0
This book gets one star for making me squeal at a gross-out scene, but otherwise it just pissed me off.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
In the titular story, two women who are supposedly in their mid-twenties in the early 2000s start writing emails to one another as though they're penpals in the Victorian era. We watch as the "relationship" between these people who we know nothing about immediately escalates for no reason. There is no character development, no sense of progression, and half the time I couldn't even tell the characters apart from one another. Scattered among the awkward IM conversations there are some graphic descriptions of violence against children and animals, then there's one fairly memorable gross-out event, and then it ends.
I can see why this went viral on TikTok: it's the kind of thing you find online as a teen then pass around to your friends because it's gross and edgy, like blowfly girl. Except that, instead of staying in the grimy backwaters of a personal blog or online micro press, this is now a professionally published short story in a gorgeous hardback that sits on bookshelves around the world.
The Enchantment
This is not a short story; it is a treatment for a short film or something similar. Towards the end, I think the author was just writing notes to themselves. You cannot convince me that the sentence "She cranes her head beneath end tables, sofas, etc." was written to be published.
None of it makes any sense. The characters have zero motivations. It also reuses things from the first story, to the point that I thought they were going to be connected somehow, but they weren't. I found it particularly strange that two out of the three stories featured women who, upon suddenly deciding, with no prior hint at this mindset, that they want to "carry life" inside them, will stop at nothing to fulfil this goal. It's a bizarre view of pregnancy, and the way it was written made it seem like the only justification for this behavior was because they're women, and women = children.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over
Boring and ridiculous, this short story commits the cardinal sin of telling rather than showing to the extent that at the end there is literally a paragraph summing up what the story was about. Except that the story itself doesn't even fulfil its stated theme; we're supposed to take away from this that Mr. Fowler's politeness that gets him into trouble, yet he's also being offered large sums of money to continue engaging with the bets. Talk about an exercise in pointlessness.
On top of all this, I thought the writing was badly crafted. I spotted so many repeated words and phrases, grammatical and tense issues, and the excessive use of "seemed to" and "seemed to realize" was incredibly distracting.
All in all, I hated this book, but it also inspired me, because if this can get published then surely I have a chance too?
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
In the titular story, two women who are supposedly in their mid-twenties in the early 2000s start writing emails to one another as though they're penpals in the Victorian era. We watch as the "relationship" between these people who we know nothing about immediately escalates for no reason. There is no character development, no sense of progression, and half the time I couldn't even tell the characters apart from one another. Scattered among the awkward IM conversations there are some graphic descriptions of violence against children and animals, then there's one fairly memorable gross-out event, and then it ends.
I can see why this went viral on TikTok: it's the kind of thing you find online as a teen then pass around to your friends because it's gross and edgy, like blowfly girl. Except that, instead of staying in the grimy backwaters of a personal blog or online micro press, this is now a professionally published short story in a gorgeous hardback that sits on bookshelves around the world.
The Enchantment
This is not a short story; it is a treatment for a short film or something similar. Towards the end, I think the author was just writing notes to themselves. You cannot convince me that the sentence "She cranes her head beneath end tables, sofas, etc." was written to be published.
None of it makes any sense. The characters have zero motivations. It also reuses things from the first story, to the point that I thought they were going to be connected somehow, but they weren't. I found it particularly strange that two out of the three stories featured women who, upon suddenly deciding, with no prior hint at this mindset, that they want to "carry life" inside them, will stop at nothing to fulfil this goal. It's a bizarre view of pregnancy, and the way it was written made it seem like the only justification for this behavior was because they're women, and women = children.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over
Boring and ridiculous, this short story commits the cardinal sin of telling rather than showing to the extent that at the end there is literally a paragraph summing up what the story was about. Except that the story itself doesn't even fulfil its stated theme; we're supposed to take away from this that Mr. Fowler's politeness that gets him into trouble, yet he's also being offered large sums of money to continue engaging with the bets. Talk about an exercise in pointlessness.
On top of all this, I thought the writing was badly crafted. I spotted so many repeated words and phrases, grammatical and tense issues, and the excessive use of "seemed to" and "seemed to realize" was incredibly distracting.
All in all, I hated this book, but it also inspired me, because if this can get published then surely I have a chance too?
citrus_seasalt's review against another edition
0.75
all of these are great concepts, but the pacing and the writing makes them read like bad MLP creepypastas
zoeygrey's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
cyndakeel's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Sexual content, Child death, Grief, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Pregnancy
yashrydz's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
3.75
I've heard so much about this author and finally decided to give his work a try.What I Liked:
- He delves into complicated themes surrounding psychological (coping with and processing loss, existential dread, consent, emotional manipulation), social (societal fears like xenophobia, nationalism, general attitudes), and philosophical topics (the extent of human darkness and weakness, struggles with morality). While conveying fear, he explores these through his stories, and he does so entirely via short stories, which I feel is a much more difficult feat to achieve when addressing these complex topics. Because it is a more challenging feat, it showcases his writing skills, and I think he is very skillful.
- I observed that he tends to focus on religion-related psychological horror (deaths on the crucifix, an extremely religious person) with supernatural elements (an evil deity in the second story and, I suspect, in the third story too). He uses these elements to highlight and compare the darker aspects of human beings versus an entity or evil deity. As a reader, I feel the impact of the underlying message the author is trying to convey.
- I appreciate the difficulty in putting myself through some of the horrifying scenes in the book. That was the element of fun I was searching for, but at the same time, what the author is discussing is clearly conveyed.What I Didn't Like:
- The characters in the titular story develop a super quick relationship, professing love too quickly, which cheapens it (to me). They haven't even met each other. However, I couldn't really "hate" the whole thing because I understood the situation: the sickeningly sad attachment style and the exposé on how one bad person could exploit another person's emotional vulnerabilities to the most absurd extremes.
- I read this without expecting anything, but I would caution that if you are searching for jump scares or keeping-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of horror, this isn't it.
- He delves into complicated themes surrounding psychological (coping with and processing loss, existential dread, consent, emotional manipulation), social (societal fears like xenophobia, nationalism, general attitudes), and philosophical topics (the extent of human darkness and weakness, struggles with morality). While conveying fear, he explores these through his stories, and he does so entirely via short stories, which I feel is a much more difficult feat to achieve when addressing these complex topics. Because it is a more challenging feat, it showcases his writing skills, and I think he is very skillful.
- I observed that he tends to focus on religion-related psychological horror (deaths on the crucifix, an extremely religious person) with supernatural elements (an evil deity in the second story and, I suspect, in the third story too). He uses these elements to highlight and compare the darker aspects of human beings versus an entity or evil deity. As a reader, I feel the impact of the underlying message the author is trying to convey.
- I appreciate the difficulty in putting myself through some of the horrifying scenes in the book. That was the element of fun I was searching for, but at the same time, what the author is discussing is clearly conveyed.What I Didn't Like:
- The characters in the titular story develop a super quick relationship, professing love too quickly, which cheapens it (to me). They haven't even met each other. However, I couldn't really "hate" the whole thing because I understood the situation: the sickeningly sad attachment style and the exposé on how one bad person could exploit another person's emotional vulnerabilities to the most absurd extremes.
- I read this without expecting anything, but I would caution that if you are searching for jump scares or keeping-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of horror, this isn't it.
jayhazey's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
3.5
Disturbing. Delightful. I liked the themes here
lemonadelizard's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
readingwithcharliexoxo's review against another edition
3.5
Things have, indeed, gotten worse since we last spoke.
The pork description???? Absolute sickening, I never want to look at pork again.
The transition between talking about family trauma revolving around the apple cutter to a Master/Slave BDSM contract was so jarring, I had to go back and reread to make sure I hadn't missed a few pages.
It's a good book for an intense shock factor, but some warnings (especially for animal cruelty and death) would be nice, but I'd forgotten I found this in a fucked up book recommendations so that's my own fault.
The pork description???? Absolute sickening, I never want to look at pork again.
The transition between talking about family trauma revolving around the apple cutter to a Master/Slave BDSM contract was so jarring, I had to go back and reread to make sure I hadn't missed a few pages.
It's a good book for an intense shock factor, but some warnings (especially for animal cruelty and death) would be nice, but I'd forgotten I found this in a fucked up book recommendations so that's my own fault.