🪦 DROPPED 🪦
An unsettling, immersive, and wildly entertaining debut novel from an exciting new voice in horror for fans of Paul Tremblay and Stephen Graham Jones.
After publishing his debut novel, The Shattered Man, to disappointing sales and reviews, Campbell P. Marion is struggling to find inspiration for a follow-up. When Edenville College invites him to join as a writer-in-residence, he’s convinced that his bad luck has finally taken a turn.
His girlfriend Quinn isn’t so sure—she grew up near Edenville and has good reasons for not wanting to move back. Cam disregards her skepticism and accepts the job, with Quinn reluctantly following along. But there’s something wrong in Edenville. Despite the charming old ladies milling about Main Street and picturesque sunflowers dotting the sidewalks, poison lurks beneath the surface. As a series of strange and ominous events escalate among Edenville and its residents, Cam and Quinn find themselves entangled in a dark and disturbing history. Told with equal parts horror and humor, Edenville explores the urban legends that fuel our nightmares and the ways in which ambition can overshadow our best instincts. Sam Rebelein is an exciting, sharp new voice, sure to terrify readers for years to come.
Okay, I found my threshold for grossness.
I can sit through shit and vomit and climbing into bodies and bugs, but (barf) apparently eating eye boogers out of an eye sockets with a lustful joy as they eat chunks is too much.
I gagged while writing that sentence.
I DNF’d this one. If I was physically holding the book and not listening to the audiobook, it may have been different, but to be honest, I don’t know that I was enjoying it anyway.
I mean, I picked up the themes. Writing always being based on those before. The predatory nature of academia. The resignation of people’s questioning natures to the readily available information where they sacrifice their personal selves to acquire information instantly. That bit is definitely a criticism on the lack of intellectual curiosity and the homogenization of information gathering.
The whole concept of the Mind, and the Spine, all of it stacked and everything literally being thought up already. Mindless repetition for different results. “Maybe there would be a better place out there” instead of simply bettering the place now. Sacrificing others to get ahead. Literally.
It’s an interesting book that even plays with pretentious writing on purpose, intended to reflect literary classics in a criticism of them. It often makes it plain that it’s intended to be a juxtaposition of highbrow writing and contemporary, casual language; the phrase “he feels like he is the specialest boy” comes to mind.
The descriptions are vibrant and excellent at times, which is why I put the book down at the end.
Eye boogers.
Still… I was expecting to be hooked. I was mostly in it to be like… what is happening. According to reviews I read afterwards… not much. The answer is not much. Do questions get answered? No. Do characters make sense in the end? No. Did I put off updating the blog specifically because I didn’t care about this at all? Yes.
I don’t recommend this book at all. I’m sure there are better eldritch/cosmic horror books out there.
