Hi friends! I am so excited to be bringing you this reading blog! I’ve been wanting to do content like this on my blog for a while. I really hate writing monthly wrap-ups, so I figured I’d find new ways to chat with you about the books I read. So here it is! I read 3 horror novellas for spooky season and I’m sharing them with you!
Reading 3 Horror Novellas for Spooky Season
Since we are currently in the middle of a heatwave here in South Africa, I’m not feeling the spooky vibes as much. Here’s hoping it’ll rain soon. But to lift my spirits, I decided to read 3 horror novellas.
Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker
What’s it about? The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out — he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.
Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.
This book feels like a bedtime story that Gomez and Morticia read to their children and I am here for it. The writing style does take some getting used to, but once you get used to it you are hooked. I disliked the main character (our unnamed narrator), but that was the point of the book. They are not supposed to be liked.
My one complaint is that the ending feels a bit rushed. I would have liked to see the events unfold instead of just being told about them. However, this was a great spooky read and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommend this horror novella as a book to read at night before bed.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
What’s it about? A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company. It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends. But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.
And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth has been on my TBR since I read Kal’s review. This one started off great. I really liked the premise, ghost stories are my favourite kind of creepy story, and I really liked how Japanese mythology was woven through this story. I do think that the descriptions were a tad overboard. Khaw’s writing is excellent, and she really creates a creepy atmosphere through her descriptions. But there were just too many.
Every second line would be describing the smell or the taste, or the scene. If some of the descriptions were trimmed down, we could have gotten more from the story. It was at times hazy and confusing and felt fragmented. I did like the MC, but would have wanted the secondary characters to be more fleshed out. Overall I enjoyed it, and I would definitely read more of Khaw’s work.
Your Mind is a Terrible Thing by Hailey Piper
What’s it about? Communications specialist Alto’s shift aboard the starship M.G. Yellowjacket turns hellish after waking from a tryst to learn every crewmate has vanished. Worse, a sinister presence has crawled aboard the ship. It’s violent, destructive, and it can reach into your thoughts to make you see and feel what it wants.
Anxiety-ridden Alto might be the least-qualified person to face a creature that can hack minds like computers. Only a perilous journey to the ship’s bridge can reunite comms specialist with crew and give them a chance to call for help.
But the intruder only scratches the surface of this crisis, and discovering the truth will bring Alto face to face against a nightmare beyond flesh and thought.
This book was weird, and maybe not the good kind of weird. I love sci-fi, especially sci-fi horror, but I want it to be more Dead Silence than Alien, you know. Your Mind is a Terrible Thing is more in the alien realm, with some body horror and a rolling ball of corpses (yikes). I did enjoy the queer rep in this book, even if the romance wasn’t for me. Also, don’t date your therapist kids.
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Do you have any favourite novellas? Horror or otherwise?
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your reviews are eternally fabulous AND I LOVE THIS POST??? ITS PHENOMENAL OK??!! also all the reviews RULE! THEYRE PERFECT LIKE THAT 😭 thank you for convincing me to read all the books RIGHT AWAY, the plotlines sound SO INCREDIBLY INTRIGUING and the fact that theyre all novellas?? I MUST READ. books that you can complete in a couple hours are superior like that. CANNOT WAIT TO DEVOUR ALL OF IT THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR THISSS!!!
Hmm, maybe I should have given Prosper’s Demon a better chance. The premise sounds so fun! But I think I read about five pages and decided I couldn’t handle the style, haha.
I appreciated the succinct reviews. Also, Nothing But Blackened Teeth has one of the creepiest covers ever.