Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Press for this Advanced Reader Copy.

A tale as old as time, beware of the u-hauling lesbians.

A Thousand Monstrous Forms by Saratoga Schaefer was such a beautiful and chilling horror book. It tackles a sapphic relationship that has a wide socioeconomic and age gap, the trials and tribulations that comes with, and a haunted house. This is one of my first reads of Schaefer’s and I don’t regret it at all. This made me want to read their other work.

I love it when horror uses symbolism. This book is really about a toxic relationship and the mechanisms of it. It discusses abuse and how the cycle perpetuates. Schaefer also uses symbolism through art as well within the book. They use language like “colonizing” and such when discussing art collecting from different nations.

I appreciated the friendship displayed in contrast to the romantic toxic relationship. However, wow. People really be treating the ones that care about them the most like crap. It’s realistic that way. Celia was so hot, I probably would’ve folded as well and u-hauled it with her. You can tell that the younger character was in LOVE LOVE. It’s reminiscent of a person desperate to be loved. The ending was a little bit wrapped up too nicely.

This is a sapphic retelling of Bluebeard with other things thrown in. Fans of Dr. Who, especially those that loved the Weeping Angels, would love this one. You have some creepy statues that may or may not be moving. I’m looking forward to people using the art industry as a background to a horror story more often. I love a good artsy horror.