This one had such an interesting premise, a good atmosphere, and some very strong moments, especially at the end, but ultimately I felt like the mystery was revealed too early and it just doesn’t leave me with a lasting impression. I enjoyed the look at an insular town like this, as well as the feminist themes and over-all weirdness of the premise. There was a lot of love for and knowledge about horses that really shone through! And as mentioned above, I felt like the ending sequence was really strong and impactful, if not necessarily subtle in its theming.

Still, I didn’t connect very strongly to any of the characters and I feel like this one could’ve leaned harder into being weird and gross—it was atmospheric, but never especially scary, I would say. I also felt like the mystery of what was going on was pretty much apparent a third of the way through or less, without any super exciting reveals that subverted my initial expectation. Also, another thing that really took me out of the horror was

the monster talking. That’s a pet peeve of mine, but after so much silence, the dialogue felt sudden and not very scary at all, though in general I prefer horror that’s open-ended and impersonal.

In general, I just felt like things were a little too explained. Still, this was definitely an interesting read, and I can see it really working for some people!