A review by vigil
Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley.

This is a shockingly dense novella, one that I think I'll definitely be reading over again once it comes out in August. I did actually like reading this book, which is exceedingly rare for me when reading novella's, though I still do have some small qualms. 

Firstly, the praise. I liked how the author wrote the main female character Veronica in here, doing a lot of very excellent character work in such a short time. Also, while I think he could stand to use a few less commas (relatable, but the opening sentences are consistently too long.) the prose style here balanced atmosphere, poetic language, and readability well.
One of my favorite aspects of the story was Veronica's dream sequences, and I just loved how skin crawling yet oddly comforting they were.
 

I have some complaints, which is largely due to the constraints of the novella format. On one hand, I appreciated the haze and mystery in the
sections with Veronica, and having the veil pulled back almost completely with Grub's who sees and moves through the world in such a specific manner to her,
but I also think we could've done with more worldbuilding in the beginning.
To a certain extent, the only reason I was unsurprised by the existence of the moon spiders was because it was in the title. I think the lack of knowledge here actually hindered my potential feelings of dread and horror, because I was mostly a bit confused.
This is also part of another problem which is mostly solved in the back half of the book, but the beginning half lacked a certain amount of connective tissue between scenes, making things seem more haphazard than they needed to be. I don't think more plot needs to be added per se, but I would focus on moving things along a little less quickly. 

I'm glad to see that this is going to be a series, as I certainly felt there was more story to be explored here. I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the books as they become available. 
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