Week 17
This week, I take a deep dive into horror in what is perhaps escapism and is perhaps just really good books. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, really.
Still, focus can be an issue for me lately, so anything that manages to keep my focus definitely gets a shout-out!
#24) OUR LAST ECHOES by Kate Alice Marshall
I literally could not put this book down.
I read it in a single day, in more or less one sitting, while I had many other things to do! Almost as soon as I started, I was totally hooked.
This book, as well as its predecessor (below), remind me in many ways of T. Kingfisher’s horror novels, THE TWISTED ONES and THE HOLLOW PLACES. They have a similar sense of dread and a similar approach to what is scary, and a similar trend towards what I would call casually-cosmic horror. If you liked either of those books, you’ll probably enjoy Marshall’s work.
OUR LAST ECHOES follows Sophia, who travels to a remote island in Alaska, in search of answers about her mother’s death when she was a baby. In doing so, she uncovers details about the island’s mysterious and spooky past, and about herself.
I liked a lot of the things about this book. I liked the characters, I liked the writing style. I particularly liked the way that it was told, with the main narrative interspersed with transcripts of videos, giving different pieces of the story. I liked that it felt like a puzzle, wherein I was constantly trying to put the pieces together as I read, trying to uncover the mystery myself.
As that creates much of the fun, I won’t spoil anything, only to say that I was both very creeped out at times by this story, but also found it to be tremendously satisfying in a way that horror isn’t always. Furthermore, I found the world-building to be really interesting, and I want to read so much more in this universe.
#25) RULES FOR VANISHING by Kate Alice Marshall
So, uh, I may have immediately gone to the library to get this book after I finished OUR LAST ECHOES. I just desperately needed more of this world and Marshall’s writing, which perhaps speaks for itself.
I read these out of order, obviously, as RULES FOR VANISHING predates OUR LAST ECHOES, but they’re separate enough that it didn’t super matter. There was one fairly minor point that was spoiled for me by having read them in reverse, but it didn’t make a major impact on my enjoyment.
As with OUR LAST ECHOES, I found the characters to be appealing, and interesting, and I sympathized with their reasons for doing objectively dumb things, like trying to get onto a weird spirit road. I understood them, and I was rooting for them to make it. I liked the idea of the rules, and the way that the road worked, as well.
I also liked the way that the story was told, with the main narrative being interspersed with transcripts and descriptions of pictures, and the way in which this enabled the story to unfold. This was particularly interesting due to the nature of the narrator being unreliable, and getting to see both her perspective and an external perspective helped in unravelling the mystery.
Again, I’m eager to read more of Marshall’s work, and I’m fascinated to see where she takes this particular world next.