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A review by sleepingnerd
White Pines by Gemma Amor
4.0
Okay, so this was a whole experience.
My love for Gemma Amor has already been well established with “Dear Laura” and “Cruel Works of Nature”, so I was very excited (and also a bit apprehensive) to read a full novel by her. Overall? It didn’t disappoint.
The best word I can use to describe this story is “raw”. It rubs us raw, makes us watch as Megan, our protagonist, is destroyed and made anew, as all the horrors of the world are revealed, leaving us drowning in the wreckage. Like the synopsis warned, it’s a mash of Celtic, folk, cosmic horror with a hint of cults that somehow works beautifully. To this day I still think about some of the horrific images this book brought me (specially the pig). Amor’s mind is truly something to behold. This is what I love about horror: how it can expose our fears, our helplessness, both in an uncaring, cruel world, and in the horrible things we do to each other.
I felt the pacing falter a bit from the middle towards the end, as horror after horror presented itself without answers. Also, Megan doing everything just because of this “indescribable drive of the island” felt a tad too convenient, and I would have appreciated if she had more complex motives for her actions, specially when it’s those actions moving the plot forward. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, but it was... fitting, somehow.
All in all, I really loved reading this! I’m really becoming a horror fan, huh?
My love for Gemma Amor has already been well established with “Dear Laura” and “Cruel Works of Nature”, so I was very excited (and also a bit apprehensive) to read a full novel by her. Overall? It didn’t disappoint.
The best word I can use to describe this story is “raw”. It rubs us raw, makes us watch as Megan, our protagonist, is destroyed and made anew, as all the horrors of the world are revealed, leaving us drowning in the wreckage. Like the synopsis warned, it’s a mash of Celtic, folk, cosmic horror with a hint of cults that somehow works beautifully. To this day I still think about some of the horrific images this book brought me (specially the pig). Amor’s mind is truly something to behold. This is what I love about horror: how it can expose our fears, our helplessness, both in an uncaring, cruel world, and in the horrible things we do to each other.
I felt the pacing falter a bit from the middle towards the end, as horror after horror presented itself without answers. Also, Megan doing everything just because of this “indescribable drive of the island” felt a tad too convenient, and I would have appreciated if she had more complex motives for her actions, specially when it’s those actions moving the plot forward. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, but it was... fitting, somehow.
All in all, I really loved reading this! I’m really becoming a horror fan, huh?