I Should Read That

Listen, sometimes you just don’t have a ton to say about a particular book, regardless of how you felt about it. The following are four short reviews of books I’ve read this year. Enjoy!

The first victim was a former paper salesman drinking himself into oblivion down by the docks. Next a child and her beloved dog, then six drifters fighting over a bottle of gin – all devoured by a black, writhing mass of giant rats.

As London descends into panicked chaos, high school teacher Harris is pulled head-first into the nightmare when a student arrives with a rat bite on his hand. And he quickly realises that this is no ordinary creature, nothing like anyone has ever seen before.

With their intelligent, wicked-looking eyes and razor-sharp teeth, the balance of power between man and rat has suddenly – shockingly, horribly – shifted.

The rats have had their first taste of human blood.

And they’re hungry for more . . .

I love reading books that have influenced a genre, and the impact of The Rats on horror is obvious. A pulpy, gory, over the top and sometimes campy tale, this book is an important work of British horror.

Most impressively, The Rats shows incredible insight into class and social issues of 1970s London. Strangely, the main character is dull and the main plot a little underwhelming. What I really enjoyed were the vignettes scattered throughout the book. They are of average people, unsurprisingly, getting eaten alive by rats. Herbert gives these characters surprising depth and tragedy even though they’re not on the page for long.

When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store – but not that one – slips through a portal to another dimension, it’s up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company’s bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but those two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago. To find the missing granny, Ava and Jules will brave carnivorous furniture, swarms of identical furniture spokespeople, and the deep resentment simmering between them. Can friendship blossom from the ashes of their relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are. possible.

A great concept, but the execution fell flat. The relationship (non-relationship?) between the characters was so clearly toxic that I couldn’t enjoy the book. If I wanted to read 100 pages of two exes fighting, I’d go to Facebook. A real shame!

Medusa is the sole mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her Gorgon sisters, she begins to realize that she is the only one who experiences change, the only one who can be hurt.

When Poseidon commits an unforgiveable act against Medusa in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can: on his victim. Medusa is changed forever – writhing snakes for hair and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. She can look at nothing without destroying it.

Desperate to protect her beloved sisters, Medusa condemns herself to a life of shadows. Until Perseus embarks upon a quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

This was my first foray into Hayne’s fiction writing and I really enjoyed it! Stone Blind is a reimagining of Medusa’s story, but gives all the context that is usually left out from her tale. Haynes has a wonderful knack for modernising mythology, but still sticking with the original sentiments of the story she’s retelling. Medusa becomes more than a monster – she’s a three-dimensional, tragic character.

A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and gritty crime by both new and established Indigenous authors that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?” Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief ranges far and wide and takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls a Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl and snatch the foolish whistlers in the dark. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear-and even follow you home.

Collections of short stories are always hard to review! I find that most short story collections, whether they’re written by one author or many, tend to be a mixed bag, and Never Whistle at Night is no different. There were some stories in this anthology that were absolutely fabulous but others that I really didn’t get on with. However, with 27 stories, there is something for everyone in this volume. Overall, it’s well worth a read and is a great starting point for finding some new Indigenous authors to read.