well that ending really got creepy.

the start was a but slow but the ending actually made me feel uncomfortable so for a horror? i think the book achieved its goal! 

this book has a lot little things that add but to a great read.

i love the social commentary and how it reminds the reader how women were treated in 1890 when this takes place and that if a woman is sick and the doctor can find something wrong right away it’s hysteria or some other nonsense instead of being seen as something that might actually require help and medicine to make it better. 
it reminds everyone that women have/had a difficult time getting into specific fields of study or jobs and even if they manage to do it and prove themselves they are still not treated with the same respect as many male counterparts in the same position. 

all that is one in subtle but clear ways with characters that know it can’t be changed but needs to be worked around and worded beautifully! 


but i do love that this author writes a very well executed creepy story but also manages to point out social injustices while doing so. talent, that’s what that is, people! 


i love the books by this author for a lot of reasons -mostly because i see a lot of my own behavior reflected back in how this authors mind seems to work and because of that it’s just clicks for me to read her stuff. 

she gives explanations. she gives a why and a how and even though she writes speculative horror and for most things there can’t really be actual reasoning she still manages to write something into the book that gives answers to leave -at least me personally- the book ending in a satisfying way. 


this book was no exception from that.

also somehow she made fungi an actual character in many ways? so there clearly is talent there. 

i slo always enjoy her author notes at the end where she explains how she came to write the book and in this it was nice to get info about why she picked that story and how she came to write this as it is. 


it’s certainly not a book i would just randomly recommend to everyone. 

it’s a pretty specific kind of reading taste i think. 

but if you read other books by this author before -i only gotten to two so far „nettle and bone“ and „house with good bones“ - and enjoyed those? 

especially „house with good bones“ has a similar tone, very different plot and story and characters but the creepingly atmospheric horror that slowly starts to build throughout the story and slowly comes together and connects it all in a horrific event is similar enough that i think that if you like either this or „house…“ you will enjoy the other. 


overall well done! 

achieved what a horror read is supposed to do - leave the reader feeling unsettled and slightly anxious about a specific topic-fungi in this case.


also you don’t have to know the „original“ story „house of usher“ by Poe to read this. 
this stands perfectly as it’s own story.

but it also adds some layers to the original if you do know it.


if all that sounds intriguing? go for it!