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Book Review: Eynhallow by Tim McGregor

cover art for Eynhallow by TIm McGregor

Eynhallow by Tim McGregor

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2024

Available: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

Tim McGregor’s writing evokes the ghosts of 19th century English writers who captured the mystery of human beings and the wild forces of nature that remain untamed around us and in us. His latest book, Eynhallow, is an irresistible mix of science fiction and horror, with a twist of Gothic terror and a dash of old legends.

 

This story about an unusual, hardy woman opens in 1797 in the nearly deserted Orkney Islands, where four families are struggling to survive. Agnes, a devoted mother, has always acted out of necessity, the only reason she married and stays with her abusive husband. She now cooks and delivers meals to their new, wealthy neighbor, for a price. Her days revolve around family life, and occasionally helping to bring a neighbor’s child into the world. It is a monotonous existence, but Agnes has a curious and active mind that is constantly evaluating and analyzing everything and everyone around her. She also has many questions she feels she must answer about herself, what she wants, and whether she can have what she most desires.

 

As she pursues these answers, Tim McGregor’s atmospheric descriptions of the weather, vegetation, houses, characters, and even the church and food take on a life of their own, putting the reader into a state of growing uneasiness about Agnes’s safety and security. Slowly but surely, we discover that she has a role to play in another story, a famous one about a monster created from dead human body parts, who is now alive. McGregor brings the two stories together in surprising ways, reminding us of what we already know about Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, and filling in new details about the challenges of dealing with the monster’s demands and the unforeseen consequences of what Frankenstein dreamed would be the greatest scientific achievement of all time.

 

In the end, Eynhallow, meaning holy island, is far from it. It is a place of violence, pain, torture, and death. Just as Mary Shelley made her audience consider the boundaries between God and man, the spiritual and the scientific, and life and death, so too does Tim McGregor, but with an important difference. McGregor’s audience has had a much greater chance to explore these boundaries and observe their crossing. It is in that context, one of greater understanding, that we can truly see an earlier horror story becoming a contemporary one… and a permanent nightmare.

 

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on March 19, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

cover art for The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Del Rey, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593355336

Available:: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

 

This reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau takes place on the Yucután peninsula in 1871 against the backdrop of the Yucután Caste War. A hacendero, Joseph Lizdale, hires the adventurer Montgomery Langdon, a functional alcoholic with a special set of skills that include hunting, taxidermy, and working with dangerous animals, as mayordomo for the isolated estate occupied by Doctor Moreau, who is researching creating human/animal hybrids as replacements for rebellious Mayan workers, his daughter Carlota, and the more successful hybrids.

 

Six years later, Montgomery is content in the company of the Moreaus and their hybrids and Carlota has grown into a young woman. Lizdale’s funding is drying up, and the doctor’s research is stalled. Eduardo and Isidro Lizdale arrive without the elder Lizdale’s knowledge demanding men to help chase down Mayan rebels. Carlota defuses the confrontation by inviting them in. She and Eduardo fall in love and he asks her to marry him. Change, and revelations, are coming.

 

The point of view alternates between Carlota and Montgomery. I really liked Montgomery’s voice and enjoyed his character. Carlota frequently grated on me probably due to her naivete and meekness, but she was kind and loyal. Watching their relationship develop was interesting- he was a more thoughtful man than he often appeared.

 

The monstrousness of Moreau and his work is evident to the reader early on but it’s only as Carlota realizes it that we really see it. The monstrousness of the hacenderos, even one as handsome as Eduardo, is easily revealed. The hybrids, who appear to be monsters to the humans, are less monstrous than their creator and those who wish to exploit them.

 

This is a fast, engaging, easy read. You don’t have to be familiar with the source material, but it did enhance my reading experience.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on January 24, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

 

The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope.

Redhook, 2022

ISBN-13 ‎978-0316377911

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition, Audible

Buy:   Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

The Monsters We Defy takes place in an alternate Washington, D.C. during the Harlem Renaissance. This world has Enigmas (similar to demons) who will offer you a gift (Charm) always in company with a catch (Trick). Clara has the second sight. Her Charm is a mystery, but her Trick is to help anyone who asks. A woman brings her son, who has become unresponsive, to Clara for help, but there is a ward around the cause that prevents her from helping. The condition spreads through the poor Negro population, with the “Afflicted” then being collected in trucks and disappearing. The Enigma who holds Clara’s debt, the Empress, tells her a ring worn by Miss Josephine, an opera singer in cahoots with the mob, is the cause of the Afflicted. The Empress says she will clear Clara’s debt and that of any who help her acquire the ring, except the Enigma called the Man in Black.

 

Clara meets Israel Lee, a musician in debt to the Man in Black, who also wants the ring and to prevent the Empress from getting it. Israel’s gift is to be able to hypnotize with his music and be admired by all, but his Trick is that he cannot have true friends. In addition, she meets Jesse Lee, who can erase memories, at the expense of his true love being able to recognize or remember him, and Aristotle, an actor who can play any role but never be seen as himself. They, and Clara’s albino roommate, a former circus freak, plan to take back the ring at a party for the Luminous 400, the wealthy Black upper class.

 

Clara is based on Carrie Johnson, a 17 year old girl , who shot and killed a detective who broke into her bedroom during the Red Summer of 1919. She was convicted, but got a second trial where she was freed. Langston Hughes also appears as a minor character. There’s also a “drag bsll” which is pretty cool! Zelda is a really fun character and learning about Black albinism was really interesting. Penelope had challenges with researching during the pandemic, but the world-building is great, and this is a fascinating read. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on September 6, 2023 by , Reply
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