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A review by klaartjesmits
The Spore Queen by Debra Castaneda
3.5
The Spore Queen is a horror novel that combines fungal, eco and cult horror with Aztec mythology and themes of family, adoption, illness and ecology. After a violent storm in Nils Forest reporter Maria Hart travels to the forest for a story but doesn't come back. When other people start disappearing as well rumours spread about a strange new fungus growing in Nils Forest...
Castaneda has a way of describing things that makes it easy to imagine them very vividly. The different kinds of fungi, the strange things happening in Nils Forest and - of course - the Spore Queen herself looked absolutely magical and terrifying in my head.
I especially loved the way fungi, spores and mycelium function as metaphors for the roots/networks between people - here starting from Maria - and between humans and the planet. This makes for a very interesting take on fungal horror, focusing on the use of mushrooms by Indigenous people, elements of Aztec mythology, brujerÃa, ecology and more.
For me personally there were a bit too many themes and characters for the amount of pages (around 250), leaving some not fleshed out enough to connect to. While I think the combination of these different subjects with fungal horror is incredible I would have loved to see them explored more in depth. This is also the reason the ending felt too abrupt for me.
However, I definitely think you should check out The Spore Queen if you're a fan of fungal horror!
Thank you to the author, to Shadow Canyon Press and to BookSirens for the free eARC!
Content warnings: adoption, blood, body horror, disappearance of a loved one, dead bodies & body parts, death, drug use, domestic abuse (off-page), hallucinations, physical illness (Lewy body dementia & Hodgkin lymphoma), racism (anti-Mexican), teen pregnancy (off-page), violence
Castaneda has a way of describing things that makes it easy to imagine them very vividly. The different kinds of fungi, the strange things happening in Nils Forest and - of course - the Spore Queen herself looked absolutely magical and terrifying in my head.
I especially loved the way fungi, spores and mycelium function as metaphors for the roots/networks between people - here starting from Maria - and between humans and the planet. This makes for a very interesting take on fungal horror, focusing on the use of mushrooms by Indigenous people, elements of Aztec mythology, brujerÃa, ecology and more.
For me personally there were a bit too many themes and characters for the amount of pages (around 250), leaving some not fleshed out enough to connect to. While I think the combination of these different subjects with fungal horror is incredible I would have loved to see them explored more in depth. This is also the reason the ending felt too abrupt for me.
However, I definitely think you should check out The Spore Queen if you're a fan of fungal horror!
Thank you to the author, to Shadow Canyon Press and to BookSirens for the free eARC!
Content warnings: adoption, blood, body horror, disappearance of a loved one, dead bodies & body parts, death, drug use, domestic abuse (off-page), hallucinations, physical illness (Lewy body dementia & Hodgkin lymphoma), racism (anti-Mexican), teen pregnancy (off-page), violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Chronic illness, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, and Domestic abuse