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Series Review: The Suitable 'Verse by R. Cooper

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. Full Audio Here Powerful noble families known as the beat-of-fours, answerable only to a ruler and the mysterious, godlike fae, scheme and squabble amongst themselves, and go to war for the chance to put one of their own on the throne. But the fae might be pulling more strings than the nobles realize and they definitely have their favorites. A series of love stories loosely centered around the political crisis that led to the current ruler, featuring oblivious librarians, crafty though loving kings, an innocent half-fae noble, a legendary outlaw turned conqueror, worried warriors, clever guards, and an infamous beauty. PUBLISHER: Independently Published LENGTH: ~1000 pages so far AGE: Adult GENRE: Fantasy, Romance RECOMMENDED: Highly Queer Rep Summary: m/m and m/m/...

The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp

When Isabella died, her parents were determined to ensure her education wouldn't suffer.

But Isabella's parents had not informed her new governess of Isabella's... condition, and when Ms Valdez arrives at the estate, having forced herself through a surreal nightmare maze of twisted human-like statues, she discovers that there is no girl to tutor.

Or is there...?

TITLE: The Atrocities
AUTHOR: Jeremy C. Shipp
PUBLISHER: St. Martins Press-3PL
YEAR: 2018
LENGTH: 112 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Horror
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

THE ATROCITIES is an engrossing bit of horror which deftly blends unreality and/or mental health issues of several characters to create an atmosphere where a supernatural explanation would almost be better than the alternatives. 

Having finished it, I'm now pretty sure I know what happened (and a specific explanation is offered which I found to be satisfying), but there's just enough wiggle room that I could see a very different explanation being true at the end. I especially love how the canonical explanation is more horrifying (and even more plausible) than some of the previously offered theories, that is well done.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, the aesthetics are detailed and creepy, the cast of characters is small and memorable, and I heartily recommend this to anyone who likes horror with creeping dread.

CW for child abuse (backstory), mental illness, medical content, medical trauma, child abuse, emotional abuse, body horror, gore, self harm, animal death, animal cruelty (backstory), child death, death.

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