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A review by madarauchiha
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
✨🌠 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 🌠✨
I liked the folk horror, the music based horror, and the supernatural portion that felt Fae like but not at all Fae. I enjoyed the rotating pov and large cast, I thought it helped maintain interest and tension.
I loved the animal death horror, I wish the book did more with that. I know that makes me sound like a freak who wants animals hurt, but no way! I think the use of birds was very unique and interesting. Were they being controlled by the monster, or were they trying to escape a supernatural predator? Were they an innocent caught up in a paranoia fueled witch hunt propagated for centuries in a small village? Who knows, the book doesn't go into that. And I know overexplaining the horror really does destroy the spookiness. But it felt like there just wasn't enough information shared. Oh you got a funny lil animal hunting ritual. SIKE we're not telling you any more of it bye bye now.
It also did that with the 'Summer King' reference. Unless that's a reference to something I'm just not familiar with.
But other than that, it was a bit of a let down. I don't regret reading it and MIGHT rec it, but it was pretty underwhelming.
I was disappointed at how little it did. I felt like it could have done more in general with what the story had created.
There could have been a little more architecture horror beyond a single scene, and implied unreality that isn't caused by tripping massive donkey balls. Notsomuch a House of Leaves rip off, but like. There was potential!!! And yet it went no where. You could say that about this entire book.
The supernatural could've had a greater presence especially if it lingered long after since the book a decades later intervew.
The 'monster' could have had a more prominent place beyond appearing maybe twice? I think if it was proper stalking and not just hey, you showed up just when I did, welp let's do something monster-y now!
The appearance of the monster itself felt... cheesy. Not in a good way either. Maybe it was fresh and compelling for the literary scene in 2015(?) but if you were a internet loser [like me] then Black Eyed Kids flavored monsters don't do much for you. And you CAN do something interesting with Black Eyed Kids, for sure.
If there was a stronger 'oh fuck' moment. By that I mean all the major characters realizing "hey, something isn't right and it might not be the drugs. Let's sober up and see if this fucked up shit is still happening when there's not a drop of weed/etc in our bodies.Oh yup it is? well FUCK!"
It's ok to laugh if I'm getting / using this term wrong, but Delayed Decoding. Apparently coined by Ian Watt in the 1970s, about a technique used by Joseph Conrad in 'Lord Jim' and 'Heart of Darkness'. Though a lot of writers before and after have probably used it. I wish this book had more of that in this book. Yes there is the photograph for the album, but I'd love to see more of it, a more consistent haunting. Hindsight is 20/20, and seeing how close you got to death or disaster is horrifying! Like taking a hiking selfie, only to see when you get back home that there was a mountain lion or wolf walking right behind you in that moment.
I wish there was a pov from Julian Blake, like his journals being used in lieu of an in person interview.
All in all, I don't regret reading it.
If you're looking for more supernatural horror music band themed books, I tentatively rec The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling. It's about the The Yellow King mythos that Robert W Chambers created. It's got a lot of canon typical misogyny and anti Rromani slurs, but ehhhh it was. Decent. It scratches an itch, so to speak. I don't whole heartedly rec it for the aforementioned reasons, and because I thought the ending was pretty stupid.
major animal death, drug use smoking tobacco, gore,
medium animal cruelty, animal death, parental death, car crash, suicide, child death, blood,
minor ableist c slur, body weight mention, bullying, cancer, drug abuse lsd marijuana, infidelity, injuries, sexual content
I liked the folk horror, the music based horror, and the supernatural portion that felt Fae like but not at all Fae. I enjoyed the rotating pov and large cast, I thought it helped maintain interest and tension.
I loved the animal death horror, I wish the book did more with that. I know that makes me sound like a freak who wants animals hurt, but no way! I think the use of birds was very unique and interesting. Were they being controlled by the monster, or were they trying to escape a supernatural predator? Were they an innocent caught up in a paranoia fueled witch hunt propagated for centuries in a small village? Who knows, the book doesn't go into that. And I know overexplaining the horror really does destroy the spookiness. But it felt like there just wasn't enough information shared. Oh you got a funny lil animal hunting ritual. SIKE we're not telling you any more of it bye bye now.
It also did that with the 'Summer King' reference. Unless that's a reference to something I'm just not familiar with.
But other than that, it was a bit of a let down. I don't regret reading it and MIGHT rec it, but it was pretty underwhelming.
I was disappointed at how little it did. I felt like it could have done more in general with what the story had created.
There could have been a little more architecture horror beyond a single scene, and implied unreality that isn't caused by tripping massive donkey balls. Notsomuch a House of Leaves rip off, but like. There was potential!!! And yet it went no where. You could say that about this entire book.
The supernatural could've had a greater presence especially if it lingered long after since the book a decades later intervew.
The 'monster' could have had a more prominent place beyond appearing maybe twice? I think if it was proper stalking and not just hey, you showed up just when I did, welp let's do something monster-y now!
The appearance of the monster itself felt... cheesy. Not in a good way either. Maybe it was fresh and compelling for the literary scene in 2015(?) but if you were a internet loser [like me] then Black Eyed Kids flavored monsters don't do much for you. And you CAN do something interesting with Black Eyed Kids, for sure.
If there was a stronger 'oh fuck' moment. By that I mean all the major characters realizing "hey, something isn't right and it might not be the drugs. Let's sober up and see if this fucked up shit is still happening when there's not a drop of weed/etc in our bodies.Oh yup it is? well FUCK!"
It's ok to laugh if I'm getting / using this term wrong, but Delayed Decoding. Apparently coined by Ian Watt in the 1970s, about a technique used by Joseph Conrad in 'Lord Jim' and 'Heart of Darkness'. Though a lot of writers before and after have probably used it. I wish this book had more of that in this book. Yes there is the photograph for the album, but I'd love to see more of it, a more consistent haunting. Hindsight is 20/20, and seeing how close you got to death or disaster is horrifying! Like taking a hiking selfie, only to see when you get back home that there was a mountain lion or wolf walking right behind you in that moment.
I wish there was a pov from Julian Blake, like his journals being used in lieu of an in person interview.
All in all, I don't regret reading it.
If you're looking for more supernatural horror music band themed books, I tentatively rec The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling. It's about the The Yellow King mythos that Robert W Chambers created. It's got a lot of canon typical misogyny and anti Rromani slurs, but ehhhh it was. Decent. It scratches an itch, so to speak. I don't whole heartedly rec it for the aforementioned reasons, and because I thought the ending was pretty stupid.
major animal death, drug use smoking tobacco, gore,
medium animal cruelty, animal death, parental death, car crash, suicide, child death, blood,
minor ableist c slur, body weight mention, bullying, cancer, drug abuse lsd marijuana, infidelity, injuries, sexual content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Child death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Car accident
Minor: Infidelity, Cancer, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Bullying, and Drug use