illegible_scribble
11/30/2019
I thought this horror novel was okay, but it is my least favorite of all of the Ursula Vernon / T. Kingfisher stories I've read (please note that this is praising with faint damns; everything written by Kingfisher and Vernon is excellent).
This is an eerie, dread-filled story about a real-world woman pulled into faerie (the original dark version of faerie, not the Disney version) in an attempt to help a woman who is being held prisoner there. It's a follow-on to Arthur Machen's novelette "The White People" (available to read for free on Project Gutenberg). It's not necessary to read Machen's story before this book, but I found that it enhanced my appreciation of the book.
I've seen quite a few people on social media post about how scary this novel is and... I didn't find it that scary. I didn't hate it, I just can't rave about it, either -- but then I'm not a huge appreciator of horror. Fans of Vernon's work for the kind and sensible main characters may appreciate the protagonist here, too.