The synopsis for Sarah Maria Griffin’s Eat the Ones You Love would understandably invoke thoughts of Little Shop of Horrors for most people. I also kept thinking about Sue Burke’s Semiosis trilogy, not in terms of the plot, but in the sentient plant character and point-of-view perspective.
Starting the novel, I was immediately drawn into the world and the folk nature of the story being told. As the human, I expected Thorn to be the center of the novel, but gradually began to appreciate Shimmer as the protagonist and character we would see adapt and grow through the adventure unfolding.
Following up on Dead Silence and Ghost Station, S.A. Barnes continues to solidify herself with Cold Eternity as a leading voice in SF Horror, particular within the theme of isolation in space.
Jones gives each of the three main characters of the novel an exceptionally personalized voice. A large part of what captivated me through the pages was his remarkable ability with the flow of words through a diversity of styles, a variation in ways that stories can be told.
The Tribe is a novel of continued relevance, as well as intellectual and emotional depth, that makes it deserving of a broad audience beyond typical horror readers. It should have crossover appeal to fans of crime fiction, historical fiction, or religious mysticism, and its themes around Jewish identity, racism, and general humanity put The Tribe on equal footing to any celebrated work of ‘literary’ fiction.
“I’ve now gone back and re-watched the entire trilogy across two days to put some of my thoughts on the X series down, including possible answers to that question, and an argument for why that third film should be better appreciated within the context of the series as a whole.”
