I’ve been up to my ears in books this week. There’s nothing new about that. I’m always swimming in books. I finished three. I have quick reviews for two, and the third will get a longer review later this week.
Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato A con artist, a quiet warrior, and a young woman trapped in a terrible marriage. These three people should never have met, but their paths bring them to a mysterious and frightening manor house in the deep woods where a curse keeps the inhabitants trapped with a murderous priest and forces them to enact the same horrific game night after night. As time progresses, the three people try to find a way to break the curse, but discover that ultimately one of them must die to end it. This dark little book is based on the Slavic folklore that Croatian author Jelena Dunato grew up with. I am not familiar with Slavic folklore, so I’m not sure what was folklore and what was invented for this secondary world, but its setting feels historical with fantastical elements that build slowly as the characters draw closer to the cursed manor. This mostly worked for me, though it took quite a while to get the three characters together-- the first character didn’t reach the manor until about the midpoint. Dunato spent that first half building up the characters’ backgrounds so they had a logical reason to be in the forest, but that buildup came at the expense of the overall story and atmosphere. The cursed house is what’s brought you to the story in the first place, and when it takes more than half the book to get everyone there, it feels like the story doesn’t quite know what it’s about. The ending was rushed and the finale felt like it didn’t have the weight it should have had, given how quickly the characters’ storylines were wrapped up. I mostly enjoyed this story, and I’m curious about Dunato’s upcoming book, Love Lethal, Death Divine.
Psychopomp and Circumstance by Eden Royce Phee St. Margaret is the daughter of a successful Black family in the Reconstruction era South. She has lived a constrained live under the too-watchful eye of her demanding mother, and while she longs for a life lived on her own terms, she has never taken steps to achieve that. When news comes of the death of her Aunt Cleo, Phee decides that she will take responsibility for planning the funeral, an honorable role that her mother insists Phee will fail at. When Phee arrives at Aunt Cleo’s house, she finds that it is full of memories that haven’t been put to rest and deep secrets that will change her life forever. This was described as a Southern Gothic story, and while it certainly is, it doesn’t have the air of menace or the uncanny that I expect in a Gothic novel. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. It is about Phee’s journey toward independence more than anything else, and there are elements that make it strangely comforting despite its dealings with death and the business of funerals. I went into it expecting a creepy horror story, and found something much cozier, while there are plenty of eerie and fantastical elements that make Phee’s world strange and enchanting. I finished this book in a day, and was thoroughly satisfied with its lovely ending. What I’ve Been Listening To I didn’t sit down and actually listen to music this week. What I pulled up was meant for background sound while I was reading. Joseph Trapanese’s score for the Netflix show, Shadow and Bone, was my go-to music, as it suited the tone of what I read. I enjoyed Shadow and Bone, and while it had its flaws, there was a lot to like about it. It was a fantasy show that didn’t take itself too seriously, had diverse characters who were perfectly cast, and a brightly colored production design that was beautiful to look at. Given Netflix’s history with its science fiction and fantasy shows, I was not surprised when they canceled it after its second season, as well as canceling the spin-off show the writers had planned. I wish both shows had been allowed to continue because they had a lot going for them. But that’s how it is with so much SFF in the streaming age. If it’s not a perfect, massive hit in its first couple of episodes, the streaming executives deem it unworthy of continuing. Can you imagine if that had been the mentality when shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered? These shows affected pop culture in profound ways, but it took a little time for them to get going. The Emmys have introduced a new award for legacy shows that have continued to engage audiences and affect popular culture even after they have finished airing. To qualify for this award, a show must have had at least sixty episodes across five seasons. Will this encourage production companies to stop canceling things after one or two seasons? I hope so. I’m tired of these short, eight episode seasons that focus solely on a complicated plot. It’s detrimental to character development and doesn’t allow for single, standout episodes. Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s ‘The Inner Light’, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s ‘The Visitor’, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s ‘Hush’ wouldn’t have been made with eight episode seasons. But anyway. I enjoy the score for Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, and that’s what I listened to (in the background) the most.
What I’ve Been Watching Speaking of Star Trek, I managed to get through two episodes of Deep Space Nine and one episode of Starfleet Academy. The DS9 episodes were ‘The Maquis, Pts. 1 and 2’, in which a group of colonists who remained in a part of demilitarized space ceded to the Cardassians after a treaty have taken up arms to defend their homes against Cardassian aggression. As Starfleet’s admiralty is bound to the letter of the law, they refuse to send weapons to the colonists. The colonists feel betrayed and organize to form a group called the Maquis. A number of Starfleet officers empathize with the Maquis and have either joined them outright or support them in other ways. This situation introduces instability to a region of space that had just quieted down after years of tension between the Federation and the Cardassians, and of course the crew of the space station Deep Space Nine end up in the middle of it all. While watching these episodes, I remembered how much the Maquis was embedded in Star Trek lore from the end of The Next Generation, through most of Deep Space Nine, and into the first couple of seasons of Voyager, with each show dealing with the Maquis in various ways. Something I appreciate about each show’s approach is that you don’t have to have watched all of The Next Generation for Voyager to make sense. Each show makes sense in its own setting, and all you really need to know going into it is that Starfleet is a force for good that is made up of a bunch of hyper-competent if flawed people doing their best to solve problems. It has been long enough since the last time I watched Deep Space Nine that the details of many of these episodes have faded from my memory, so it sometimes feels like I’m watching them for the first time. ‘The Maquis, Pts. 1 and 2’ were like that, so it was fun to get reintroduced to this particular ongoing plotline. It’s hard to believe that, while I’m twenty-one episodes into the second season of Deep Space Nine, I still have five episodes left until I reach the third season, where the consequences of their link to the Gamma Quadrant really start to ramp up for the station’s crew. The second episode of Starfleet Academy, ‘Beta Test’, focuses on the Federation’s ongoing efforts to reunite the core worlds of the Federation as they were before the Burn. Here, they are trying to come to agreement with Betazed, whose leader is a conservative with significant demands the Federation does not want to concede to. The leader has brought his two grown children who themselves are leaders in a youth movement that wants to reach out to the worlds beyond Betazed’s borders. While things don’t go smoothly, eventually Betazed and the Federation come to an agreement and everyone goes home happy-- so far, so Star Trek. Despite some corniness, I enjoyed it. It’s fascinating to see the changes the Federation has undergone since the events of Discovery‘s later three seasons, and I’m curious to see how it will continue to evolve. I’m also enjoying the effervescent energy the show has. There are so many dark and gloomy shows-- both in tone and lighting-- and it’s great to see something that has such hope and optimism. Was the second episode realistic in how easily the problem was solved? No, not really. Do I care that it wasn’t realistic? Nope, sure don’t. I enjoyed watching a group of characters who were willing to work to find a way to exist together. We could use more of that these days.
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Sunday, 22 February 2026
Recently Read #4
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