Tuesday, March 19, 2024

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Book Review

Book Reviews

3/6/2024

By S.T. Gibson
2/13/24
352 pages
$18.99
Orbit

‘An Education in Malice’

Is it weird that I wish I had been sent away to boarding school? I’ve read so many books about people having strange and fantastic adventures when sent to some gothic revival mansion in the deep woods, I feel like I missed something important at my run-of-the-mill school. At least I have the wildly popular dark academia genre to help me cope with my dull youth.

Laura Sheridan leaves her stifling childhood behind to attend a prestigious and secretive writing program at a mysterious east coast college. The normally introverted and awkward Laura soon finds herself drawn to Carmilla, a darkly beautiful and brilliant classmate she despises, at first. Both young women are soon caught under the spell of an enigmatic poetry professor who revels in their rivalry and encourages their adoration. The enemies quickly become something more intense as political and supernatural mysteries twist and turn their youthful naivete into something darker.

Lush, haunting and perfectly paced, this is a beautiful and unsettling story that wasn’t nearly long enough. I recommend this to anyone who needs a little passion and intrigue in their life, or if your memories of school are as boring as mine. n — Review by Julie Goodrich


By Lee Mandelo
3/19/24
180 pages
$19.99
Tordotcom

CNA - Stop HIV Iowa

‘The Woods All Black’

Appalachian horror is having a moment, and I am loving every second. There are threads of Shirley Jackson, William Faulkner and even Stephen King woven into this tale of a community gone bad. This twisted, dark novella is full of monsters — most, but not all, of them human.  

It’s the 1920s, and the frontier nursing service sends Leslie, a war-weary nurse, to Spar Creek to provide the backwater with the standard medical care they desperately need. Upon arrival, he finds a town on the verge of horrific violence in the name of religion. Acting quickly and with no regard for the horrors that await him, he tries to save a child with the unfortunate affliction of being different.

This is an unrelenting, high-speed thriller with a cast of complex characters who are still living in my brain. For a story set more than 100 years ago, it feels startlingly modern and serves not just as a cautionary tale but a grisly reminder of both the cost and value of being yourself, social pressure be damned.  ♦ — Review by Julie Goodrich

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