So here then is a restart/reworking of the old Into the Wardrobe/Retro Childhood Review feature (sticking with the clever first name). If you happen to see something covered that YOU remember reading many years ago and enjoying – or despising – let us know!
Diavola is interesting as a gothic horror through the inclusion of modern-day family vacation chaos and emotion. But it also follows a unique path from the setup and haunting and predictable responses to an original take on consequences and after-effects.
Maybe you want a dystopia of a different sort, a dystopia that gets less play, less attention, a world less visited. A world less seen but no less dark than the usual dystopic alternate histories.
I was pleased to sink my teeth into Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro, about an ancient Nahua (from what’s now Mexico) vampire roaming the modern world. Some elements of the book weren’t to my taste, but it was fairly interesting and entertaining.
I wouldn’t call this novella undemanding, because there are various questions for the reader to think about along the way, but it is a very pleasant journey. Not all the questions are resolved, but enough are addressed for the reader, if not necessarily the fox, to be well satisfied.
“Putting the events of Moon of the Turning Leaves about a decade into the future beyond Moon of the Crusted Snow was an exciting prospect to be a little more speculative and move the spotlight onto the younger generation who grew up in this new era after the collapse.”
