A review by saltpeanut
The Spore Queen by Debra Castaneda

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book took me on a bit of a journey. I’m REALLY into science adjacent supernatural horror or biological horror so when I saw this ARC I jumped at the chance.

It captivated me from the introduction and the is it is it not first half of the books managed to keep up good pacing and intrigue. I found that the pacing got a little less easy to follow on the second half, there was a lot going on with fungus, spiritual exploration and family drama that I think got lost a bit invetween eachother.

Ultimately this was well written and an enjoyable read, but the pacing and the wrap up to the book fell a bit flatter than I was expecting based on the shotgun opening. I will definitely be reading more by this author though as this whole series sounds up my alley so I’m excited to see other stories woven in a similar vein.

Thanks so much to Book Sirens and the Author for access to this ARC!