I have 5 reviews in the August 2025 issue of Booklist. I am breaking them up into 2 posts. Today, I have the 3 starred reviews of three very different books (novel, stories, and nonfiction) beginning with a big one-- both in pages and in anticipation.
But real quick, a reminder that these posts are my draft reviews with added appeal info including my three words.
First up, the first Joe Hill novel in 9.5 years:
By Joe Hill
Oct. 2025. 896p. Morrow, $38 (9780062200600); e-book (9780062200624).
First published August 2025 (Booklist).
Hill’s first stand alone novel in nearly ten years, taking inspiration from Tolkien, introduces readers to Arthur, Colin, Allison, Donna and Donvan (twins), students at a small Maine college 1989, and Gwen, a high school townie, whose mom works for Colin’s wealthy family. When Arthur falls into debt with local drug dealers, the group tries to summon a dragon to take care of the problem. When King Sorrow actually emerges on that winter evening, the friends are forced to pay by providing the name of a person to be sacrificed to the dragon each and every Easter. Set between 1989 and 2022, readers are brought back every 5 years, watching the unintended consequences of their choices reverberate through time and space. Real history overlaps with unsettling verisimilitude as the six friends bear this secretive, unshakable burden, one that is not easy to hide. Hill’s remarkably well-paced character-centered epic, blanketed in unrelenting dread, escalating to pure terror every Easter is perfectly suited for this moment. Pitting the computer age vs folktales this is a story that seriously contemplates the costs of power. However, the real horror may be that there are plenty of dragons to go around. For fans of terrifying tomes like The Wanderers Duology by Wendig, or Our Share of Night by Enríquez.
Three Words The Describe This Book: epic in length but moves well; blanketed in unrelenting dread; the horrific costs of power
Further Appeal: I turned in my review of King Sorrow to Booklist just before ALA Annual where I was scheduled to interview Hill love on stage as part of the conference. Here is a photo of the two of us chatting snapped by one of my colleagues.
We had a great time talking about his career and King Sorrow specifically. And I am here to tell you today that the book is worth the wait. It is also worth the almost 900 pages. But as you will see in my longer comments here, with it being presented in 5 books, each approximately 5 years apart, you can take breaks easily. Hill needs to catch everyone up on the characters lives at the start of each 5 year time jump.
Here are a few more words I considered for the above 3 words:
- Character centered
- Multi-POV-- very important because who is telling us the story changes it just enough
- American centered history from 1989-2022-- verisimilitude
- Technology vs fairy tales-- Dragons and Trolls-- the fairy tale version and the modern versions
- Epic with short Chapters keep you reading-- compelling despite length
- conversational narration
- Power: who holds it, who wields it, who can usurp it, what is the cost?
- A blanket of unease always that builds to terror each Easter.
- A messed up found family
- Every detail comes back to matter, but told in a way that you don't have to remember them all-- Hill leads you through and brings you to where you need to be.
This is the case when the back of the book description gives NOTHING away. The set up, yes, it gives that, but it is not what anyone will think, especially because the description is very plot and action driven while this is novel about the 6 characters and the world they live in more than the dragon and the necessary sacrifices.
More about the six friends than I could first above: Arthur, Colin, Allison, Donna and Donvan (twins) and Gwen. All but Gwen are at a rich kid college in Maine. Gwen is younger by a few years and her family works for the the uber wealthy Colin's family
The 5 Books cover the years: 1989, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2016, Epilogue 2016-2022
First book is the slowest, but it is needed to develop the characters and setup the story. Without it, we would not follow through for almost 900 pages as readers. Also without it, we don't get a baseline of who these 6 people are at the start. We need this to watch them change over time. Because as I said above this is a character centered book. And details from that chapter are repeated by different characters as they take the POV.
A quarter of a century of time in their lives told in spurts of a year or so each time with catch back up with them.
More than a passing inspiration from Tolkien-- especially at his scariest moments, especially his version of dragon.
Easter! That is the day each year that King Sorrow takes his sacrifice-- picked around New Year's but the group.
Not dark fantasy, this is a horror novel. It is about the horror of power. It is about the horror of our modern world-- especially since the home computer. There is a reason this is frames around the technology available at the time. We start with a computer that can scan rare books in 1989 and we move straight through the advances. They not only matter to the plot but the technology ratchets up the fear and terror, especially when juxtaposed by the dragon. Trolls are here too, both literal ones and internet ones and how they merge is awesome.
The dragon is real here. And nasty. But not because he is evil, it is just who he is. He has always been here causing destruction-- King Sorrow or another. There are plenty of dragons to go around when humans seek control and power. And that is why this story is so horrifying.
The way Hill deals with the dragon and him exerting his power in the modern age is brilliant and why this story works. He does not hide the fact that the havoc the dragon wrecks is hard to explain. Rather he uses those explanations as part of a story that slots neatly into our real world.
Further Readalikes: The two listed above give you a sense of the scope of this book and the larger statements it is trying to make. But I was very surprised by how similar this book was to another hotly anticipated 2025 title-- The Bewitching by Moreno-Garcia-- this one is way shorter than others I have mentioned, but the college frame and the class issues are VERY similar. They share a lot of appeal except for the length.
I know people will compare this to IT by King (his Dad) but I think it shares a lot more with 11/22/63. And I hope this book will send people back to The Hobbit.
STAR
By Clay McLeod Chapman
Sept. 2025. 352p. Titan, $28.99 (9781835410783); e-book (9781835410806).
REVIEW. First published August 2025 (Booklist).
With this collection of 25 previously published stories, Chapman gives readers a glimpse into his crowd-pleasing and critically acclaimed style of crafting visceral stories, every single one of which will leave readers psychologically unmoored. The stories are of varying lengths and scare levels, hitting on a range of tropes, all are anchored by intense narrators burow through the pages and into readers’ bodies, wreaking havoc on their nervous systems. Standouts include “Stowaway,” a tale of a “boring” family road trip that will make readers wary to stay at a roadside motel ever again and “Pump and Dump”, a story of a dad using a breast pump disguising a more serious tale of the mental health struggles of a new father. And then there is the novelette, “Stay on the Line,” an exquisite example of the devastating power of grief horror. Chapman fans will also be able to see the seeds of his novels (some obviously, others more indirectly) in a handful of these stories. Fans of Nat Cassidy and Paul Tremblay will flock to this volume, but there is also much here for readers of menacing and haunting works of short fiction such as those written by Amparo Davila or Samanta Schweblin.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Visceral, Psychologically Unmooring, Intense Narrators
Further Appeal: Originally I was going to write "unsettling" as one of the words above, but I looked at that list and I was like, yeah no...that is not strong enough for what this book does to you. It unmoors you. But not in a way that is jump scares or overly gorey. That is why this collection is a star.
The stories are all visceral in that you feel them inside of yourself while reading -- and yet even when a few of them have gross things happening-- they are not GOREY. The narrators are all intense and if not directly talking to the reader (in a few they are), as a reader you connect with the narrator as they unravel in front of you.
Chapman's ability to craft narrators who literally burrow into the reader, nestle in for the duration, and carry you through the story is clear in his novels but to see it sustained in stories of varied lengths, that was amazing to see.
The range in "scares" here are from creepy to unsettling to terrifying and then again psychologically unmooring (what are you doing to us Clay?) so while I loved it all, I am aware that this book could traumatize some readers.
The excellent novelette "Stay on the Line" is here. Oof. That one is a lot but so well done as a story about grief, not just for one person, but an entire community.
A few of the others I loved (and I had to limit myself to make this list not be almost every story):
- Stowaway-- a family on a road trip and well-- see title.
- "Baby Carrots" and "Hermits"-- these are stories where I could see fingerprints of WHAT KIND OF MOTHER without it being literal. Also they were separated in the book-- one near beginning and one near the end-- but very similar in how they make the reader feel.
- Pump and Dump-- dad pumping breast milk literally but a great look into the struggling mental health of a new father
- Knockoffs-- oh my god this story.....fingerprints of WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES, but more subtle than an earlier story-- Spew of News, which is really the opening of the novel.
- Psychic Santa-- ghosts of dead kids (but so much more). This one is longer and there is more time to build the narrator and the payoff-- oof. Again Clay, what are you trying to do to us?
The last story is fun, but probably the weakest. And then I saw that it was from a charity compilation and it made so much more sense.
Also a few stories that you can see were part of Chapman's process of writing Wake Up and Open Your Eyes as well as a few that I can see the ideas themes from What Kind of Mother as well. Even a few that explore grief and ghosts similar to Ghost Eaters. Really only one or two of these are super easy to see those connections, but many are adjacent to those works in ways fans will be able to see. As a fan of Chapman's it was very cool to see how his brain got to those novels through other ideas.
Readalikes: I listen authors above but I did have a few readalikes in mind. Rest Stop or When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy, The Beast Your Are by Tremblay and The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Davila. And anything by Samanta Schweblin. Also Craft: Stories I wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
And finally, a book I think you should have two copies of--
STAR
Feral and Hysterical: Mother Horror’s Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women
By Sadie Hartmann
Aug. 2025. 192p. Page Street, paper, $23.99 (9798890032973). 814.6.
REVIEW. First published August 2025 (Booklist).Hartmann (101 Horror Books to Read Before You Are Murdered) is back with another fun, accessible, and essential book centered around the the terms “feral” and "hysterical,” used by generations to keep women in their place, forcing women into a forever fight against unfair standards, ultimately making women “overqualified” to write horror. Sharing her deep knowledge in a conversational tone, Hartmann presents 36 lists of horror books written by living, women*, focused on how the titles “vibrate” with readers, rather than what subgenre they fall into, an organization method which organically shines a light on how systemic misogyny has kept many authors hidden from potential readers finding them– until now. Take the Gothic for example, a genre historically dominated by women. In Hartmann’s hands Gothics are represented by not one but five distinct lists based on the “vibes” uniting those titles. With the addition of essays by some of today’s top women in horror and useful sidebars, Hartmann has produced another stellar reference title; a book for everyone, from every gender identity, who loves books about books, anyone who enjoys Horror (even in small doses), and especially to those who have read a book found in one of these lists because they will instantly find dozens more.
Three Words That Describe This Book: conversational tone, books about books, participatory
Further Appeal: This is the follow up to 101 Horror Books to Read Before You Are Murdered-- which I gave a star in the June 2023 issue of LJ, and while I still stand by that star-- this book is better.
Why?
Because it is about how the books "vibrate" with readers. Because it is only about women Horror authors who Hartmann notes (and I agree) are "overqualified to write horror fiction." Because Hartmann's expressed mission is to take you on a journey that she went on, one that shaped her entire world view, and along the way she shares all the books and what she learn about herself while also leaving you space to find a truth for yourself. Because men and women will love it. Because it will showcase the breadth of Horror written by women. Because it will end the argument that people don't know any women horror writers-- there are HUNDREDS of titles here, HUNDREDS. Because it uses her awesome conversational tone to draw readers in. Because she does not sacrifice the "facts" for the conversational tone. Because there is awesome side bar material. Because there are essays by Christian Henry, Laura, Purcell, Alexis Henderson, and Alma Katsu charing their stories. Because there is a book list in the back where you can keep track of what you have read and or want to read.
Because it is fun to read and easy to use either as a reader yourself, or (and this review is going to be in Booklist so this second part matters) to help readers find the right book for them.
What Hartmann has added to the conversation about matching the right book with a readers is this idea of explaining the vibes of a book and how vibes are different from mood or even tropes. Hartmann is a big user of EBSCO's NoveList through her library, so she has thought about the "why" someone likes a book quite a lot.
From the opening section entitled "Why is Vibes Reading?"
Mood: a temporary state of mind or feeling.
Vibes: a distinctive feeling or quality capable of being sensed.
Moods are fickle, but vibes? Vibes are forever.
As you read the book these definitions become clear. The 36 lists found within this book are not lists of books by text trope or subgenre-- no-- they are based on the vibes.
The best examples are the lists centered around books from the Gothic and Motherhood Horror subegnres. She does not have 1 list of Gothics and 1 list of Motherhood Horror as many resources normally would. No, she has 5 that contain books that would be classified as Gothic and 3 for Motherhood. That is 8 lists where there normally would be 2.
This opened my mind. Hartmann is showing how the patriarchy has made all of us file all horror titles that deal with motherhood as the same or all Gothics as the same. And these are subgenres that historically have been where women appeared in higher numbers than men. But normally, they would get 1 list. Not here. The vibes of all of these lists are different. The frame might be Gothic-ish and Motherhood, but the vibes most certainly are not. And Hartmann titles each and explains why.
The entire book is great but these 2 specific areas are why this book is not only getting a star but needs to be seen as a new way to talk about Horror in general.
And I haven't even talked about the title yet. From the Introduction:
The definition of horror isn“. . . an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.”
The definition of feral is “. . . in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication.”
The definition of hysterical is “. . . uncontrolled or unrestrained extreme emotion.”
Women are the “feral” and “hysterical;” our bodies flailing against restraint—captive. Our voices unleashed into the void from scratched, raw throats—unheard. So, by the first light of the day, by candlelight or firelight, during any time free from expectation or duty, dark and disturbing stories are written by the very people defined by powerful words.
By flipping FERAL and HYSTERICAL-- words used to box in women for centuries-- women who did not conform to the way men wanted them to be-- and using them to explain why women are "overqualified" to write horror-- Hartman sets the stage for every reader-- no matter how they identify-- to engage with this book with their eyes wide open-- understanding that all readers need to rethink their own preconceived notions about horror, about reading, and about women in general.
Fun bonus list in the middle-- 50 states, 50 books. A great way for her to add 50 more horror titles that didn't make it in the other lists.
You need this book in all libraries where people check out any creepy books ever-- so every library. And I would argue you need 2. One for the 800s and one to put in an area near your fiction. You should create a books about books sections so readers can find tools to help them find their own great reads, but this is a longer discussion, one which I will have a separate post on this topic soon.
Readalikes: Hand this book off to any reader-- from any gender identity-- who wants to be exposed to hundreds of new voices who write Horror stories from creepy to terrifying. And anyone who wants to read about books.
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