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Root Rot & Other Grim Tales
Walk into the woods. Dive into the water. Make a wish. Meet your fate.
Within Root Rot and Other Grim Tales, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Sarah Read delivers cautions and disturbances across 18 grim tales.
Prepare to inherit stories of fossil-haunted houses, of doorways to the afterlife. In the woods, learn of vengeful wolves and women. In the water, discover shipwrecks stuck in time, Devonian monsters, and islands where your father loved to fish—and where your future hangs in balance.
Within Root Rot and Other Grim Tales, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Sarah Read delivers cautions and disturbances across 18 grim tales.
Prepare to inherit stories of fossil-haunted houses, of doorways to the afterlife. In the woods, learn of vengeful wolves and women. In the water, discover shipwrecks stuck in time, Devonian monsters, and islands where your father loved to fish—and where your future hangs in balance.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 29, 2023
Review in the October 1, 2023 issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/2... (link live 10/3/23)
Three Words That Describe This Book: Sinister, discomfort, immersive
But I can get this book to 1 word-- sinister!
Each story is original, terrifying, and compelling but when Read pits what readers think is coming against the extremely sinister tone at the heart of each tale, it is as if she is stabbing their tender spots with a knife, twisting it, and leaving it to dangle long after the last page is turned.
Suggest freely to those who enjoy dark, immersive, and character driven speculative fiction that firmly grabs its readers as written by Pelayo, Khaw, and Beukes.
Another readalike– Shirley Jackson winning Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors edited by Doug Murano which includes a story from this collection. “Wish Wash."
Three Words That Describe This Book: Sinister, discomfort, immersive
But I can get this book to 1 word-- sinister!
Each story is original, terrifying, and compelling but when Read pits what readers think is coming against the extremely sinister tone at the heart of each tale, it is as if she is stabbing their tender spots with a knife, twisting it, and leaving it to dangle long after the last page is turned.
Suggest freely to those who enjoy dark, immersive, and character driven speculative fiction that firmly grabs its readers as written by Pelayo, Khaw, and Beukes.
Another readalike– Shirley Jackson winning Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors edited by Doug Murano which includes a story from this collection. “Wish Wash."
November 28, 2023
This is what I want when I hear the term 'dark fantasy'. Not vampire romance, not LOTR with edgelord characters... I want this. Tales that defy reality and normalcy, allowing the sinister to creep in and color the proceedings. A-OK by me if it flips to straight up horror, as it does in quite a few of these tales. But Sarah Read seems more concerned with telling a fantastic tale without any fear of... well, what causes fear. By embracing the darkness and the unexplainable, she puts the humanity of her characters in sharper relief. The results are striking and memorable, and tremendously readable.
December 14, 2023
The first book I finished post hip surgery. A collection of short stories that are all very creepy. I enjoyed reading all of them.
May 15, 2024
Maybe more of a 2 1/2 star. I’m being generous due to the stories I liked, were really great.
I probably brought a bad attitude into reading it as I’m not a fan of multiple stories books. I got it part of a package and so I shall read no matter.
I probably brought a bad attitude into reading it as I’m not a fan of multiple stories books. I got it part of a package and so I shall read no matter.
June 20, 2024
The stories are very well-written and extremely evocative, with inventive premises. Mostly after I got the premise, the stories went the way I imagined they would, and for most of the collection I thought that this is a collection of very solid works, but none of them would be "there's that one story" for me - and them The Pescadoor happened. It is definitely "that one story" from that collection for me, and it's great.
I slogged through Root Rot for like two months, but not really because I disliked the stories - rather because they are very different from one another and I needed time to switch between movies in my head (again, extremely evocative).
Some standouts:
Inn of the Fates - my favorite imagery
When Auntie's Due - the most "retellable" story; quite fucked-up psychological horror
The Pescadoor, as already mentioned - it is about a fish and a town that was drowned after a dam was blown and desperately wants to be free of its fate.
And don't read the title story during meals.
I slogged through Root Rot for like two months, but not really because I disliked the stories - rather because they are very different from one another and I needed time to switch between movies in my head (again, extremely evocative).
Some standouts:
Inn of the Fates - my favorite imagery
When Auntie's Due - the most "retellable" story; quite fucked-up psychological horror
The Pescadoor, as already mentioned - it is about a fish and a town that was drowned after a dam was blown and desperately wants to be free of its fate.
And don't read the title story during meals.
March 27, 2024
It is rare for me as a reader to find a collection where the quality of the writing is absolutely smooth across the entire spectrum of stories. In Root Rot, Sarah Read presents a wide array of stories, modern day to fantasy, dark and surreal to gritty, and throughout it the prose is consistently rich, drawing the reader in without any warning that it's just a story...
As with any collection of anthology, some stories resonate more than others, and rarely the same stories from reader to reader. In this collection, my favorites are "The Hope Chest," "Death Plate Seating for 1000," "Trouble With Fate," and my absolute favorite, which is odd because the story is so odd... "Skydivers." There is something in this collection for everyone. It's a well-rounded, richly visual parade of different angles of dark fantasy, woven together with the binding of a strong, lyrical voice.
As with any collection of anthology, some stories resonate more than others, and rarely the same stories from reader to reader. In this collection, my favorites are "The Hope Chest," "Death Plate Seating for 1000," "Trouble With Fate," and my absolute favorite, which is odd because the story is so odd... "Skydivers." There is something in this collection for everyone. It's a well-rounded, richly visual parade of different angles of dark fantasy, woven together with the binding of a strong, lyrical voice.
January 20, 2024
Like a lot of short story collections - whether by a single author or various - there are typically standouts, average stuff, alongside tales that don't connect. That rule applies here, but the standout material is really dark and grim. And that's a good thing.
More hits than misses, so snag this one if you are in the mood for bleak weirdness.
More hits than misses, so snag this one if you are in the mood for bleak weirdness.
January 22, 2024
A wonderful collection of weird and creepy! Seeing Stones is my favorite and I want more witch vs serial killer stories! I enjoyed how some veered from horror to sci-fi and fantasy but each with a unique horrific twist to it. Skydivers and The Pescadoor were extremely cool that way. When Auntie’s Due was absolutely horrific!
May 7, 2024
I gave this one a 4.75 on my scale, rounding up to a 5, which is rare for me. A great collection that stands with some of the best of King, Link, Campbell, Barker, and Llewellyn. Literary, exotic, inventive. Loved Skydivers best, but there is something for every horror/dark fiction reader here. Bravo!
December 5, 2023
Horror. A collection of short stories, reminiscent of familiar stories and folklore but much darker. Some, I loved. Others, I didn’t connect with as much. All, I thought, were very good. I enjoyed her twists and turns – the different perspectives of the human experience.
September 13, 2024
After reading this collection of creepy, disturbing stories I will always give Sarah a second glance as she stands up on the stage at the Stoker Awards. I will wonder if any harm will come to the authors tearfully giving acceptance speeches in front of her.
January 15, 2024
A stellar collection of gritty, earthy tales.
March 3, 2024
Entertaining, visual adventures. A good collection of stories.
March 19, 2024
I really enjoyed a lot of these stories and even the ones that weren't quite my cup of tea were well written. I would absolutely read more of what Sarah Read has written.
April 5, 2024
3.5. I enjoyed about 80% of these stories and passed on the other 20%. The book was well written and almost like an adult version of scary stories to tell in the dark.
April 22, 2024
Im not one to really write reviews but this collection is ✨chefs kiss✨ I plan to read her other books as well, I loved this one so much.
November 3, 2024
These took me a while to work my way through when in between other books, but overall I really enjoyed them. Definitely some good dark fairytales for bedtime reading.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews