Book Review: Signal to Noise

Signal to Noise 

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is not really a fantasy or magical book. It has some magic in it which is a catalyst for some events, but otherwise largely a non-factor. There is no real discussion about how the magic works, rules for the magic, or any actual system of setup. For me, because I’m not a big fan of teen contemporary books I found this disappointing. It’s well written, interesting characters, and engaging enough (as Silvia Moreno-Garcia always is), but a bit too much teen angst for me. Call me pathetic that even at 41 years old I still have anxiety when I read teen books that are set in our world and focus on common family or friend dynamics wrong gone; but it was not a great time in my life and so I just don’t have any desire to revisit those feelings, in myself or vis other characters. I do hope some other readers, especially younger ones find something in this to learn about themselves. I’m just no longer that person.

I will (of course) continue to read what Moreno-Garcia publishes even though Signal to Noise didn’t do it for me. Not only because she’s a fellow Canadian, but because Mexican Gothic is brilliant and it wasn’t the writing here that was the problem for me, more the marketing making this sound more magical than it is.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: The Luminous Dead

The Luminous Dead 

by Caitlin Starling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! What a creepy, suffocating, psychological disturbance this novel is! Caitlin Starling brings it big in her debut novel in a way I’ve never read before. If this were a movie I’d never be able to watch it as it would be too scary (like The Descent, which I’ve never seen). With only two characters, and a host of ghostly characters we enter a cave with a menacing, tunnelling beast, water in all kinds of places, rock waiting to squash or trap, and fungi that just might make you wonder if you’re seeing things? But what if you aren’t?!

Honestly had a hard time putting this down as I needed to know how it ended even when it was at its scariest. It is perhaps worth noting I am terrified of water; be it in large ocean expanses or small exposed places. Seriously I don’t even take baths because I hate soaking in or being near water (showers are the best!). So I may have had a more visceral reaction to this novel than some. Even without this factor the dread, ghostly images, creepy fungus, and constant rumbling of a tunnelling beast would have easily been enough to keep me on edge and terrified, at least for our main gal, if not in general.

I will be making my horror buff of a husband read this to find out what he thinks. If you enjoyed Drowning into the Deep by Mira Grant then The Luminous Dead is likely for you. While the ‘monster’ is more psychological here it is no less constrained to the space it can inhabit, subject to the futuristic technology of the cave suit, and the alien planet is as current pulling as the deep dark of the Marianas Trench.

Do not miss out on this novel if you need a good survival at all odds story, find ghosts and lies (maybe even betrayal?) behind each cavern you enter, and ultimately need to know what it takes for someone to be so far past their tipping point they can no longer function as a human being. Add in a mission with no monetary value and suddenly we have factors that don’t add up until the final pages. Starling takes the reader on a crazy journey through her caverns (thank goodness for the map at the front of the book that I referred to constantly) and never stops to emerge for air, sunlight, or sanity.

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