The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, narrated by Gem Carmella

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very short, lyrical fantasy novella which reminded me of Neil Gaiman's Stardust.
I read Amal El Mohtar jointly authored This Is How You Lose the Time War but felt it lacked something < a href = "https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..." My Review and have had it in the back of my mind to try another of her books and was surprised that this was her first solo effort. I loved it, part murder story, part romance, this is really a classical fairy tale. This creates a folk lore where 'grammar' is used as a metaphor for magic and magical transformations, where riddles are used to communicate as is singing. Sisters Esther and Ysabel are charged with singing to the magical willows that mark the boundary between Thistleford and Arcadia, essentially the land of the Fae. Esther falls in love with the Arcadian Rin who can adopt many a form , whilst being pursued by her human neighbour and traditional horrible suitor, Pollard, who is after the families land. A classic plot but beautifully told, interspersed with songs and riddles. So well worth listening to the audio. Hand drawings in the book I believe are by the author.

Very entertaining.No wonder it has won the 2025 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 2026 Hugo and Locus Best Novella Prizes and others.

Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica, trnaslated by Sarah Moses

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Not for the faint hearted nor the squeamish, but a gripping, dystopian horror which is essentially a critique of the way we factory farm animals for meat.

A virus has poisoned off all the worlds animals. Humans have to find something to eat in their place. After their transition to this new source of meat protein the slaughterhouses, butcheries, tanneries, Food safety regulations and even research laboratories have all been repurposed to raise, slaughter and process this 'special meat'.

This is the second Argentinian writer of horror and I have recently - see my review of Diego Muzzi's The Eye of Goliath, and I note that I have read previously other Argentinian writers such as Samanta Schweblin who also write horror and wonder why this country is generating so much quality work in this genre now - historical trauma? I found this article which proposes why this might be
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Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, Audiobook narration by Christine Hewitt

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A member of my in person book group recommended this writer to me. Coincidentally I noticed that the editor of this book was Max Porter , who I have been reading and raving about recently, during his time at Granta.
Sarah Moss 's Ghost Wall has an unusual setting , Northumberland more, for an all to common issue, male domestic violence. its 150 pages are told in the voice of teenager Silvie who, with her mother and father , is on a experimental archeology trip to experience Iron Age life with an anthropology Professor and his students. Her father is a bus driver, self-taught and downright authoritarian , lording it over mother and daughter. While the students treat the exercise at the most semi-seriously, the father is fanatical, looking for authenticity and his 'British' roots. His Northern family are well used to camping and foraging in contrast to the students who skip off to the Local Spar for groceries, and in the case of one student Molly, a hot shower and the pub in the village. The tension is thus set and is escalated in the story. Silvie's stream of consciousness narration which is present for most of the book is gripping. The reader see her change from a youngster, happily walking with her dad on the moors, to an abused teenager and to cult victim in a almost 'Lord of the Flies' climax. It is unsettling yet superb. Sparse yet horrifically gripping. Character full, very filmic yet uniquely absorbing. Beautifully narrated by Christine Hewitt

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