Review: The Autumnal

The Autumnal by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD.

This was done so well that I'll now be looking twice at Autumn leaves.

The story follows single mum Kat at she and her daughter, Sybil, move back to Kat's hometown after the death of her mother. People in the town are sketchy AF strange and have a weird fixation on leaves.

The suspense builds slowly but by the end it's sheer terror. The pace is perfect and there's enough flesh for the story that it never feels rushed or flat.

The art style complements the story perfectly, with Autumn colours bringing the story to life in an extra eerie way.

Everything about this made a perfect horror story for me. The pace, the characters, the art, the ending. EVERYTHING.

Really loved it, and highly recommend if you're looking for a cleverly original horror graphic novel.

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Review: Babylonia

Babylonia by Costanza Casati
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Side note: by the time I was done with this, I'd reached 104% on the audio. LOL

Narrated by Ayesha Antoine
Presented by RB Media

An excellent historical fiction that I really enjoyed, though it felt a little too long by the end of it.

Babylonia tells the story of Semiramis, a nobody who rises to become the only female ruler of the Assyrian empire.

Knowing that's how it'll end does not make this story any less enjoyable. I really enjoyed her ruthlessness, and how she was so determined to just live.

The story gives us multiple viewpoints, so we get a well-rounded story that takes into account the thoughts and opinions of those close to Semiramis and allows a glimpse into the motivations of several. I appreciated having more insider knowledge of these other characters.

The story gets brutal at times, but I liked that about it. It added a realness that this story truly benefited from.

I do think the romance side of things worked against it - I loved Semiramis climbing the ranks for power, so as soon as questions of love were raised it started to soften and I wasn't wholly convinced. At the same time, the romance was never drawing the focus away from the progression of the story, so I appreciated that.

The narrator's performance was excellent - I was entranced by her voice and its strength suited this story so much. It was easy enough to differentiate characters, even without huge variations in pitch. A brilliant job and I'd happily listen to this narrator again.

Towards the end, it did feel like it was starting to drag - like the rest of the story had been so spread out that there was more but it had to be squashed in at the end because time had run out. It felt like a cramped ending that perhaps needed more time, or just less time spent elsewhere to balance it.

Still, I was entertained throughout and would happily recommend this to fans of historical fiction.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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