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A review by erikbergstrom
White Pines by Gemma Amor
3.0
Another stellar read from Gemma Amor, with a strong lead and a wholly original adventure. Not much scares me in terms of supernatural reads, but her descriptions of the monster, Nimrod, gave me chills! I grew attached to Megan and her plight nearly right away, and was with her for both her successes and failures. Overall, solid work from one of the better independent horror writers in the game.
Where the book fell short for me, especially compared to other works from Gemma I've loved, was in some of the pacing--the lead-up to Megan's arrival in White Pines was suspenseful and exciting, but in her time spent there, I felt like time was lagging a little. The denouement leading up to the end also felt longer than necessary. I also didn't fully connect to her relationship with Matthew--it seemed in the short time when they were physically together, she mostly disliked him. This leads me to my last detail... the voice of the narrator sometimes pulled me out of the story. It was anachronistic at times, like she was trying to speak like a Lovecraft or Poe narrator, then would speak in more contemporary terms in dialogue. But of course, these are all personal nitpicks!
Gemma has a knack for telling more than 1 type of story. She has stories that are both small, insular, and ones where she expands her scope to something wider and more cosmic. Over her library of work, I've found I've come to really enjoy and live in the former--overall, I'm not much of a fan of cosmic type horror, so to have me engaged throughout this story is quite a feat in itself. After knowing how much work and time she invested into this book (a blog of her journey was really inspiring to read) I can say I see all of her blood, sweat, and tears in this one, and I know her fans and lovers of more fantastical horror will really engage with this book in all the places I quite couldn't.
Where the book fell short for me, especially compared to other works from Gemma I've loved, was in some of the pacing--the lead-up to Megan's arrival in White Pines was suspenseful and exciting, but in her time spent there, I felt like time was lagging a little. The denouement leading up to the end also felt longer than necessary. I also didn't fully connect to her relationship with Matthew--it seemed in the short time when they were physically together, she mostly disliked him. This leads me to my last detail... the voice of the narrator sometimes pulled me out of the story. It was anachronistic at times, like she was trying to speak like a Lovecraft or Poe narrator, then would speak in more contemporary terms in dialogue. But of course, these are all personal nitpicks!
Gemma has a knack for telling more than 1 type of story. She has stories that are both small, insular, and ones where she expands her scope to something wider and more cosmic. Over her library of work, I've found I've come to really enjoy and live in the former--overall, I'm not much of a fan of cosmic type horror, so to have me engaged throughout this story is quite a feat in itself. After knowing how much work and time she invested into this book (a blog of her journey was really inspiring to read) I can say I see all of her blood, sweat, and tears in this one, and I know her fans and lovers of more fantastical horror will really engage with this book in all the places I quite couldn't.