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Mothtown
David is growing up in a world where something is very badly wrong but everyone is protecting David from knowing what it is. People are going missing, bodies are showing up with wings, or bones in nests if you believe the rumours from the kids at school. David doesn’t really know because his parents turn off the news whenever he might get a handle on what is happening around him and his older sister just doesn’t seem interested in sharing.
Most importantly for David the centre of his world – his grandfather – is gone. His parents say he is dead but why is his grandfather’s backpack and jumper missing from the house? Alongside this we have a man abandoned in a hostile landscape and trying out run nature itself to get back home with some information.
Most importantly for David the centre of his world – his grandfather – is gone. His parents say he is dead but why is his grandfather’s backpack and jumper missing from the house? Alongside this we have a man abandoned in a hostile landscape and trying out run nature itself to get back home with some information.
9 pages, Audiobook
First published November 14, 2023
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August 29, 2023My blurb: Hardaker will put a spell on you with her sleek and haunting prose.
September 30, 2024
Part of my Review Roundup on Before We Go Blog.
A stunning masterpiece of speculative fiction, Mothtown refuses to be confined to any conventional label like fantasy, science fiction, or horror. This is a work of art, both lyrical and unsettling. It also tells an amazing story that crushed me to tears by the end. I feel like I can't say any more without spoiling something. Be sure to add this to your TBR.
A stunning masterpiece of speculative fiction, Mothtown refuses to be confined to any conventional label like fantasy, science fiction, or horror. This is a work of art, both lyrical and unsettling. It also tells an amazing story that crushed me to tears by the end. I feel like I can't say any more without spoiling something. Be sure to add this to your TBR.
September 30, 2023
This book felt less like reading, and more like playing a horror video game. This is a complement, it feels like an intentional choice that the prose is flat and propels itself forward from one event to the next. The game SOMA came to mind as I read. There is a sense of dislocated horror combined with a step-by-step forward motion, so that rather than 'reading' it felt as if I was working through a game or a puzzle to get to the end. The drawings were a great addition. There was an loose ease in the prose that I enjoyed, too, for instance--
'My ankle is hot and loose, as if all of the bones are lost. '
'Grandad smelled like iron. '
'In the village, she stuck out like a crow. '
'Ours was a village where the curtains never closed, but no one touched. '
"The air in the study tasted very thin.'
Inventive, interesting, and enjoyable.
'My ankle is hot and loose, as if all of the bones are lost. '
'Grandad smelled like iron. '
'In the village, she stuck out like a crow. '
'Ours was a village where the curtains never closed, but no one touched. '
"The air in the study tasted very thin.'
Inventive, interesting, and enjoyable.
June 2, 2023
“Melt everything down to a great white blank. Eat anything that oozes out. No one knows how it all goes in Mothtown, and no one ever comes back to tell us. So, all you can do is practice being nothing and then hope that when you get there, you disappear."
Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker is a book which begs not be defined into one single category. Is this sci-fi, horror, coming of age, fantasy or mystery? Well, on the surface it weaves together all those genres, but underneath it is much more. Hardaker superbly immerses readers into a story that is both strange and haunting but also raw and incredibly tender.
Something is very wrong with our world. Disappearances are becoming more frequent, bodies are being found in remote places, “The Modern Problem” is spreading and encroaching upon all. As a young child, David Porter doesn’t understand what’s happening, his mother and father turn off the news in a bid to shelter him from the darkness, his sister Emily refuses to share her knowledge, and the darkness begins to creep in anyway. The only person who truly understands David is his grandfather, Francis Porter. To David his grandfather is his home, so when he’s suddenly no longer around David’s world is turned upside down. His parents say his grandfather died, but this is not something David can accept. For Francis was researching into other worlds and if he’s found a new world to escape into then David wants to join him.
The novel simultaneously switches between ‘After’, where we witness David as an adult and ‘Before’ where we meander through David’s childhood, giving readers an in-depth view of his life. Through young David’s eyes we get a picture of him as incredibly lonely; his mother and father largely ignore him, becoming frustrated when he doesn’t conform to their social expectations, his sister Emily, whom he adores and looks up to, in the throws of being a teenager blows hot and cold towards him and the children at school avoid him, laugh at him. His only companion in an otherwise isolated life was his grandfather who David utterly idolised. Their closeness is something Hardaker portrays as quite special, having their own little world with their own language of clicks and looks. The fateful day when he disappeared left a hole in David’s life, one which never healed.
“Grandad smelled like iron. Like something unearthed and laid in the light.
I used to think it strange that one place can be home to one person, but not to another. Grandad's office at the university was my cave.”
In a lot of ways Mothtown reminded me of the absolutely stunning Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Both have an otherworldly element to them, they both touch upon themes of loneliness, grief and belonging, they both have amazing lyrical prose. An electric charge hums throughout this novel, you can feel it building and escalating as more of David’s journey develops, the more he disconnects from the world around him the more his fixations become intense, a sense of surrealism permeates, a sense of slowly drowning in a world where he doesn’t quite fit, as he desperately searches for doorways to other places to belong. David was a character my heart broke for, if only someone had truly tried to help him, had tried to make him feel seen, heard, loved. How different could his life have been? There’s so much that’s thought-provoking and powerful about his character.
“Couldn’t they see me falling? Why weren’t they looking?”
Hardaker mirrors the increasing disappearance of people throughout Britain, which runs throughout the backdrop of this story, to David rapidly disappearing inside of himself, losing himself to mental decline. David is different, his thoughts, feelings and ways of seeing the world are different to those around him and without his grandad to anchor him, David ultimately unravels. Of course in his childhood this is something that’s noticed but never really addressed properly. Yet Hardaker doesn’t just limit the portrayal of depression, loneliness and grief to David alone. David sees it in those around his village, the ‘mudmen’ and those sent to 'the blue house’. Neighbours and priests pass the afflictions off as ‘The Modern Problem’, without ever seriously looking at what that is. How true to life is that? How often does mental health, autism and hidden disabilities get overlooked, dismissed, passed off as something that only happens to other people? This is what’s so special about Mothtown, Hardaker uses fantasy concepts to reflect upon dark, sorrowful themes.
“I sometimes feel like I'm locked in a circle. What's that creature, the worm that swallows its own tail? The ouroboros. Which bit is the beginning, and which is the end? And when they meet so seamlessly, what difference does it make?”
This leads me to discuss why I find Hardaker’s stories so compelling, though I cannot pinpoint it to one single aspect. She’s an author who can invoke our senses, and in Mothtown this is done particularly well. From visualising the bright orange of David’s grandad’s jumper, which contrasts the otherwise grey and dismal setting, to the smells of rust and coffee, to the sounds of rustling and beating wings. The accompanying illustrations by Chris Riddell also heighten the story, visually representing the light and dark parts of David’s life, the things which haunted or comforted him. The illustrations help to immerse the reader further, to truly see the world as David had. I also loved that we often gain meaning in new and surprising ways—for example there’s a scene where Hardaker describes visiting a foreign place like Mothtown as so alien that anything you take from it is essentially stealing, even the air you breathe, which I had never really thought of before but found so true. In fact Moths hold much meaning throughout but in a myriad of ambiguous ways, and what is real and what is metaphorical is left to the reader to decide. Hardaker is an author who tells a story using imagery, symbolism and allegory, building a puzzle readers can dig deep into, interpret and watch unfold. What unfolds in this novel is incredibly sad, I sobbed my eyes out at the end, but we are also left with a great sense of hope.
Layer after layer Hardaker builds a beautifully poignant and mournful tale of the bond between a grandson and his grandfather, of escaping worlds and journeys of transformation. Ultimately, Mothtown is a tale about discovering how to belong. Hardaker doesn’t write a book you simply read, she delivers a book you experience.
“Why won't you catch my eye? Is it my honesty that makes your skin crawl or is it what you see when you look at me? I dare
you.
Look at me.”
ARC provided by Caroline at Angry Robot Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the copy. All quotes used are taken from an early ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Mothtown will be released 14th November 2023
Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker is a book which begs not be defined into one single category. Is this sci-fi, horror, coming of age, fantasy or mystery? Well, on the surface it weaves together all those genres, but underneath it is much more. Hardaker superbly immerses readers into a story that is both strange and haunting but also raw and incredibly tender.
Something is very wrong with our world. Disappearances are becoming more frequent, bodies are being found in remote places, “The Modern Problem” is spreading and encroaching upon all. As a young child, David Porter doesn’t understand what’s happening, his mother and father turn off the news in a bid to shelter him from the darkness, his sister Emily refuses to share her knowledge, and the darkness begins to creep in anyway. The only person who truly understands David is his grandfather, Francis Porter. To David his grandfather is his home, so when he’s suddenly no longer around David’s world is turned upside down. His parents say his grandfather died, but this is not something David can accept. For Francis was researching into other worlds and if he’s found a new world to escape into then David wants to join him.
The novel simultaneously switches between ‘After’, where we witness David as an adult and ‘Before’ where we meander through David’s childhood, giving readers an in-depth view of his life. Through young David’s eyes we get a picture of him as incredibly lonely; his mother and father largely ignore him, becoming frustrated when he doesn’t conform to their social expectations, his sister Emily, whom he adores and looks up to, in the throws of being a teenager blows hot and cold towards him and the children at school avoid him, laugh at him. His only companion in an otherwise isolated life was his grandfather who David utterly idolised. Their closeness is something Hardaker portrays as quite special, having their own little world with their own language of clicks and looks. The fateful day when he disappeared left a hole in David’s life, one which never healed.
“Grandad smelled like iron. Like something unearthed and laid in the light.
I used to think it strange that one place can be home to one person, but not to another. Grandad's office at the university was my cave.”
In a lot of ways Mothtown reminded me of the absolutely stunning Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Both have an otherworldly element to them, they both touch upon themes of loneliness, grief and belonging, they both have amazing lyrical prose. An electric charge hums throughout this novel, you can feel it building and escalating as more of David’s journey develops, the more he disconnects from the world around him the more his fixations become intense, a sense of surrealism permeates, a sense of slowly drowning in a world where he doesn’t quite fit, as he desperately searches for doorways to other places to belong. David was a character my heart broke for, if only someone had truly tried to help him, had tried to make him feel seen, heard, loved. How different could his life have been? There’s so much that’s thought-provoking and powerful about his character.
“Couldn’t they see me falling? Why weren’t they looking?”
Hardaker mirrors the increasing disappearance of people throughout Britain, which runs throughout the backdrop of this story, to David rapidly disappearing inside of himself, losing himself to mental decline. David is different, his thoughts, feelings and ways of seeing the world are different to those around him and without his grandad to anchor him, David ultimately unravels. Of course in his childhood this is something that’s noticed but never really addressed properly. Yet Hardaker doesn’t just limit the portrayal of depression, loneliness and grief to David alone. David sees it in those around his village, the ‘mudmen’ and those sent to 'the blue house’. Neighbours and priests pass the afflictions off as ‘The Modern Problem’, without ever seriously looking at what that is. How true to life is that? How often does mental health, autism and hidden disabilities get overlooked, dismissed, passed off as something that only happens to other people? This is what’s so special about Mothtown, Hardaker uses fantasy concepts to reflect upon dark, sorrowful themes.
“I sometimes feel like I'm locked in a circle. What's that creature, the worm that swallows its own tail? The ouroboros. Which bit is the beginning, and which is the end? And when they meet so seamlessly, what difference does it make?”
This leads me to discuss why I find Hardaker’s stories so compelling, though I cannot pinpoint it to one single aspect. She’s an author who can invoke our senses, and in Mothtown this is done particularly well. From visualising the bright orange of David’s grandad’s jumper, which contrasts the otherwise grey and dismal setting, to the smells of rust and coffee, to the sounds of rustling and beating wings. The accompanying illustrations by Chris Riddell also heighten the story, visually representing the light and dark parts of David’s life, the things which haunted or comforted him. The illustrations help to immerse the reader further, to truly see the world as David had. I also loved that we often gain meaning in new and surprising ways—for example there’s a scene where Hardaker describes visiting a foreign place like Mothtown as so alien that anything you take from it is essentially stealing, even the air you breathe, which I had never really thought of before but found so true. In fact Moths hold much meaning throughout but in a myriad of ambiguous ways, and what is real and what is metaphorical is left to the reader to decide. Hardaker is an author who tells a story using imagery, symbolism and allegory, building a puzzle readers can dig deep into, interpret and watch unfold. What unfolds in this novel is incredibly sad, I sobbed my eyes out at the end, but we are also left with a great sense of hope.
Layer after layer Hardaker builds a beautifully poignant and mournful tale of the bond between a grandson and his grandfather, of escaping worlds and journeys of transformation. Ultimately, Mothtown is a tale about discovering how to belong. Hardaker doesn’t write a book you simply read, she delivers a book you experience.
“Why won't you catch my eye? Is it my honesty that makes your skin crawl or is it what you see when you look at me? I dare
you.
Look at me.”
ARC provided by Caroline at Angry Robot Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the copy. All quotes used are taken from an early ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Mothtown will be released 14th November 2023
November 13, 2023
Mothtown is a wonderfully strange, eerie, literary, beautifully written book about a man who doesn’t belong in this world. It’s a perfect followup to Hardaker’s first novel, Composite Creatures.
There are so many things that I want to say about this book. I can’t say most of them because of spoilers. This is a book where the less you know going in, the harder the ending will hit.
It’s dreamy and weird and a little hard to know what’s really going on at times. After it’s over, it’s really not over because 80% of it makes sense and the other 20% had my brain spinning for a long time after I finished.
I love unreliable narrators and Mothtown takes this concept to a whole new level. There’s a theme of human disconnect and what started feeling like untreated mental illness vs generational trauma, or both.
People are looking for doors into other worlds. People roam the streets screaming into the void just to see if they exist. Can you see me? It is hard to distinguish what is real and what isn’t – and once you realize how this is part of Hardaker’s plan, it’s one more layer to the mindf♥️ck of this book.
No answers are given freely and from a healthcare perspective, all I can say is that Hardaker found a way to tell this story perfectly. I would say a lot more from a healthcare perspective but it would be spoilery. From the perspective of someone who knew someone who passed after having six glasses of water with lemon and 17 pipes on their penultimate day on earth… 🤷♀️ it’s real, and more than a little heart breaking.
So anyway, where does this leave us?
A story about a family that can’t relate to each other. A man trying to exist. An inherited disorder that’s wreaking havoc in different degrees on every generation. Moths and dead things and people roaming the streets trying to go home – “Do I exist? Can you see me?”
This one is going to stay with me for a while.
This and all my reviews can be found at https://onereadingnurse.com/2023/11/1...
There are so many things that I want to say about this book. I can’t say most of them because of spoilers. This is a book where the less you know going in, the harder the ending will hit.
It’s dreamy and weird and a little hard to know what’s really going on at times. After it’s over, it’s really not over because 80% of it makes sense and the other 20% had my brain spinning for a long time after I finished.
I love unreliable narrators and Mothtown takes this concept to a whole new level. There’s a theme of human disconnect and what started feeling like untreated mental illness vs generational trauma, or both.
People are looking for doors into other worlds. People roam the streets screaming into the void just to see if they exist. Can you see me? It is hard to distinguish what is real and what isn’t – and once you realize how this is part of Hardaker’s plan, it’s one more layer to the mindf♥️ck of this book.
No answers are given freely and from a healthcare perspective, all I can say is that Hardaker found a way to tell this story perfectly. I would say a lot more from a healthcare perspective but it would be spoilery. From the perspective of someone who knew someone who passed after having six glasses of water with lemon and 17 pipes on their penultimate day on earth… 🤷♀️ it’s real, and more than a little heart breaking.
So anyway, where does this leave us?
A story about a family that can’t relate to each other. A man trying to exist. An inherited disorder that’s wreaking havoc in different degrees on every generation. Moths and dead things and people roaming the streets trying to go home – “Do I exist? Can you see me?”
This one is going to stay with me for a while.
This and all my reviews can be found at https://onereadingnurse.com/2023/11/1...
April 10, 2024
Mothtown is the second novel by British poet and author, Caroline Hardaker. David Porter is ten years old when he sees his grandfather, Frank for the last time. Dr Francis Porter is a researcher of multiverses working in the Superstring Theory and Dark Matter studies area of the University of York’s Department of Physics. He never returns from his annual mid-winter expedition in search of his doorway to salvation, and David’s father tells his family that Frank died in hospital. But that feels wrong to David.
David and Grandad shared a secret language of clicks and bumps and hums, as set our in their copies of the Verbatinea. And now, at Grandad’s house, the Key Verbatinea, Grandad’s yellow duffel bag and his favourite scratchy orange jumper with the brass sparrow button, are missing. David is certain that Grandad must still be out there somewhere, and the longer he’s absent, the more certain he is that his grandfather found his doorway.
People are already accustomed to people going missing, something dubbed The Modern Problem, The epidemic. The disappearing. The eloping. The exodus, and friends and family members become door-steppers, carrying photos and searching, posting “Have you seen…” bills everywhere. Are the piles of bones and feathers the remains of those gone? Those depressed souls who don’t make that exodus from their lives but feel misfit, are often gathered by smiling Blue Pilgrims, stashed in Blue Houses, neatly erasing the problem for authorities?
David’s family are uneasy about his focus on Frank’s work and his father seems determined to obstruct his search, but David knows that Hidden Worlds, the book Frank wrote, will lead him to the doorway. Because David knows he doesn’t belong in this world either.
We are told that a talented author will show rather than tell, but there’s not really enough of either here, and the disjointed feel is not just a product of the dual timeline narrative: characters seem to turn up haphazardly, things happen which seem like they ought to be significant to the plot, but connections are never made, and resolution is lacking.
Is David (definitely an unreliable narrator) turning into a bird? A moth? In the end, who knows, or cares! The misuse of personal pronouns grates, and parts read like a fever dream or the paranoid ramblings of a deluded person, becoming rather tiresome. This is a tale that might appeal to fans of dystopian sci-fi.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Angry Robot
David and Grandad shared a secret language of clicks and bumps and hums, as set our in their copies of the Verbatinea. And now, at Grandad’s house, the Key Verbatinea, Grandad’s yellow duffel bag and his favourite scratchy orange jumper with the brass sparrow button, are missing. David is certain that Grandad must still be out there somewhere, and the longer he’s absent, the more certain he is that his grandfather found his doorway.
People are already accustomed to people going missing, something dubbed The Modern Problem, The epidemic. The disappearing. The eloping. The exodus, and friends and family members become door-steppers, carrying photos and searching, posting “Have you seen…” bills everywhere. Are the piles of bones and feathers the remains of those gone? Those depressed souls who don’t make that exodus from their lives but feel misfit, are often gathered by smiling Blue Pilgrims, stashed in Blue Houses, neatly erasing the problem for authorities?
David’s family are uneasy about his focus on Frank’s work and his father seems determined to obstruct his search, but David knows that Hidden Worlds, the book Frank wrote, will lead him to the doorway. Because David knows he doesn’t belong in this world either.
We are told that a talented author will show rather than tell, but there’s not really enough of either here, and the disjointed feel is not just a product of the dual timeline narrative: characters seem to turn up haphazardly, things happen which seem like they ought to be significant to the plot, but connections are never made, and resolution is lacking.
Is David (definitely an unreliable narrator) turning into a bird? A moth? In the end, who knows, or cares! The misuse of personal pronouns grates, and parts read like a fever dream or the paranoid ramblings of a deluded person, becoming rather tiresome. This is a tale that might appeal to fans of dystopian sci-fi.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Angry Robot
November 11, 2023
5/5 stars
“No. This was a truth that I couldn’t swallow, and it rolled around my mouth, heavy on my tongue. I knew I should be sad, but I felt empty instead, as if something had been scooped out and not replaced. But in that hole, something lived and breathed, and it was flapping for attention.”
Caroline Hardakers sophomore novel had the honours of being my final anticipated release of 2023. Despite its purposefully enigmatic synopsis that only lifts the very tip of the veil of mystery that surrounds this story, I’ve been intrigued ever since its announcement. I can happily say, it lived up to the long wait. With its stunning prose that echoes the authors past work in poetry, its disorienting spin of events and its wonderfully resonant emotional core, Mothtown is one of the most haunting stories to come out this year.
David has always been an odd kid. A constant sense of displacement, and “otherness” has kept him from ever feeling completely at home in this world. His solid anchor, his home and kindred spirit, is his likeminded granddad, who’s eccentric interests and ideas fascinate young David. Especially Granddads work on multiverse-theory that even got him published once, has an electric pull on David.
Mothtown tells David’s story, as it is split into two time lines by an event that irrevocably divided his life into before and after; the death of grandfather. Without warning, without goodbye, Grandpa is gone and the world around him starts to take on strange and unsettling shapes. Unnerving events around town, missing people, bodies are showing up with wings, or bones in nests if you believe the rumours from the kids at school… And then, there’s the clues that Grandpa left behind; clues hinting that he didn’t die, but went away to another place. With increasing desperation, David sets off on a quest through a hostile landscape, piecing together the breadcrumb-trail Grandpa left behind, in hopes of finding that place where he doesn’t feel out of place.
Many of the events of the book remain shrouded in mystery and ambiguity, yet plenty is offered for the reader to understand what’s happening before them. Mothtown has strong themes of mental health, grief and trauma, and used magical realism to depict them in a way that almost feels “truer than life”. The way I interpreted the story . The way David's world splits following an event so horrible his mind cannot accept the reality of, is heartbreaking, harrowing and eerily resonant to read.
From a technical point, the authors writing is impeccable throughout. From the characterization, to the environmental descriptions, to the intense atmosphere; everything works synergistically to create this masterpiece. Although the book is tagged as “horror”, there are very few outward moments of fear throughout. Instead, the entire story is drenched in an unrelenting feeling of dread and displacement that, to me, was far more effective than any in-your-face-scares could be. Dread surrounding the unexplainable events happening, dread from a protagonist who’s desperately trying to make sense of a world that has fractures all around him, and the dread from you as the reader watching these events unfold, knowing the outcome likely won’t be a happy one.
All in all, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Comp-titles aren’t easy to find with something as unique as this, but Piranesi by Susanna Clarke comes to mind.
Many thanks to Angry Robot Press and Dreamscape Audio for providing me with both an audio- as well as a regular ARC in exchange for an honest review. Both formats add in unique ways to the story: the audio with its superb narration, and the physical/e-book by the stunning illustrations by Chris Riddell sprinkled throughout.
Mothtown is set for release on November 14th in stores, online and in audio-format.
“No. This was a truth that I couldn’t swallow, and it rolled around my mouth, heavy on my tongue. I knew I should be sad, but I felt empty instead, as if something had been scooped out and not replaced. But in that hole, something lived and breathed, and it was flapping for attention.”
Caroline Hardakers sophomore novel had the honours of being my final anticipated release of 2023. Despite its purposefully enigmatic synopsis that only lifts the very tip of the veil of mystery that surrounds this story, I’ve been intrigued ever since its announcement. I can happily say, it lived up to the long wait. With its stunning prose that echoes the authors past work in poetry, its disorienting spin of events and its wonderfully resonant emotional core, Mothtown is one of the most haunting stories to come out this year.
David has always been an odd kid. A constant sense of displacement, and “otherness” has kept him from ever feeling completely at home in this world. His solid anchor, his home and kindred spirit, is his likeminded granddad, who’s eccentric interests and ideas fascinate young David. Especially Granddads work on multiverse-theory that even got him published once, has an electric pull on David.
Mothtown tells David’s story, as it is split into two time lines by an event that irrevocably divided his life into before and after; the death of grandfather. Without warning, without goodbye, Grandpa is gone and the world around him starts to take on strange and unsettling shapes. Unnerving events around town, missing people, bodies are showing up with wings, or bones in nests if you believe the rumours from the kids at school… And then, there’s the clues that Grandpa left behind; clues hinting that he didn’t die, but went away to another place. With increasing desperation, David sets off on a quest through a hostile landscape, piecing together the breadcrumb-trail Grandpa left behind, in hopes of finding that place where he doesn’t feel out of place.
Many of the events of the book remain shrouded in mystery and ambiguity, yet plenty is offered for the reader to understand what’s happening before them. Mothtown has strong themes of mental health, grief and trauma, and used magical realism to depict them in a way that almost feels “truer than life”. The way I interpreted the story . The way David's world splits following an event so horrible his mind cannot accept the reality of, is heartbreaking, harrowing and eerily resonant to read.
From a technical point, the authors writing is impeccable throughout. From the characterization, to the environmental descriptions, to the intense atmosphere; everything works synergistically to create this masterpiece. Although the book is tagged as “horror”, there are very few outward moments of fear throughout. Instead, the entire story is drenched in an unrelenting feeling of dread and displacement that, to me, was far more effective than any in-your-face-scares could be. Dread surrounding the unexplainable events happening, dread from a protagonist who’s desperately trying to make sense of a world that has fractures all around him, and the dread from you as the reader watching these events unfold, knowing the outcome likely won’t be a happy one.
All in all, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Comp-titles aren’t easy to find with something as unique as this, but Piranesi by Susanna Clarke comes to mind.
Many thanks to Angry Robot Press and Dreamscape Audio for providing me with both an audio- as well as a regular ARC in exchange for an honest review. Both formats add in unique ways to the story: the audio with its superb narration, and the physical/e-book by the stunning illustrations by Chris Riddell sprinkled throughout.
Mothtown is set for release on November 14th in stores, online and in audio-format.
December 17, 2023
Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Alan Cammish
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
David always could tell there was something wrong. In school, there were rumors about missing people. His parents always turned off the TV when he entered the room. They protected him from some awful truth, apparently. The only person in the family who understood him was his grandfather. But he, too, one day disappeared without saying goodbye.
The novel is a blend of more genres, but the one that stands out is literary horror. As we read, we often feel that we don’t fully understand what we’re reading. The novel has a dark, almost suffocating atmosphere. We often await what comes next on the next page (or in the next few minutes of listening). There is no blood, zombies, or monsters in the story. There are no ghosts or other creatures. The creepiness comes mostly from the writing itself.
Mothtown is a very well-written book, constantly building suspense and leaving us in the dark. Throughout the entire reading, we perceive that something has not been told to us, that there is something important we don’t know.
Caroline Hardaker is a talented author. I have to check her other work.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
David always could tell there was something wrong. In school, there were rumors about missing people. His parents always turned off the TV when he entered the room. They protected him from some awful truth, apparently. The only person in the family who understood him was his grandfather. But he, too, one day disappeared without saying goodbye.
The novel is a blend of more genres, but the one that stands out is literary horror. As we read, we often feel that we don’t fully understand what we’re reading. The novel has a dark, almost suffocating atmosphere. We often await what comes next on the next page (or in the next few minutes of listening). There is no blood, zombies, or monsters in the story. There are no ghosts or other creatures. The creepiness comes mostly from the writing itself.
Mothtown is a very well-written book, constantly building suspense and leaving us in the dark. Throughout the entire reading, we perceive that something has not been told to us, that there is something important we don’t know.
Caroline Hardaker is a talented author. I have to check her other work.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
August 29, 2023
"mothtown" is one absolutely bizarre novel. david hasn't been the same since his grandfather passed away (or disappeared) when he was young. his grandfather always believed in him, supported him, and loved him, but he was an odd man with odd beliefs. he believed that humans could transcend the multiverse and go "home." david decides to find this hidden doorway to another world. he finds the rare, out of print book that his grandfather wrote and reads it religiously. the dedication shows that he wants david to follow him. what transpires is a descent into madness and absolute horror.
the illustrations in this novel are absolutely beautiful. while i felt the beginning and middle dragged at certain parts, it was absolutely worth sticking through to the end. i think there is room for improvement when it comes to describing the horror aspects, some visual details were rather messy, yet the illustrations helped. regardless, this is a fun read and it really makes you question what is real and what is just another delusion.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
the illustrations in this novel are absolutely beautiful. while i felt the beginning and middle dragged at certain parts, it was absolutely worth sticking through to the end. i think there is room for improvement when it comes to describing the horror aspects, some visual details were rather messy, yet the illustrations helped. regardless, this is a fun read and it really makes you question what is real and what is just another delusion.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
November 12, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!
Mothtown is such an odd and unique story, spanning a variety of genres (speculative fiction, horror, literary fiction, and more!). It follows David during his childhood and adulthood. David is a quiet 10-year-old boy, who has trouble connecting with others. His best friend is his grandfather, a physics professor who believes there is a multiverse humans can access through hidden doorways. He publishes a book full of his theories and dedicates it to David, hoping that David will follow a similar path in life. Suddenly, David's grandfather disappears. David's parents tell him that he died, but David can't help but feel that there is more to the story - after all, David's parents seem to be hiding a lot from him lately. Did his grandfather finally make a breakthrough on his research and enter another universe? And what exactly is going on in David's village, where people keep disappearing? What is David's family trying to protect him from?
This is a book that I thought I would love, because it has so many elements I look for when reading; it's very surreal, features an unreliable narrator, and makes you question what exactly is real in the novel's universe. It's basically a giant puzzle! Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I expect that it will be a divisive book - if the prose and style work for you, I imagine that you'll love it. If you're like me, though, and take issue with the writing or pacing, you may feel frustrated as you read.
The largest element that negatively impacted my enjoyment of Mothtown was the writing. I want to be clear, though - I don't think the writing is bad, but it's just not a style I enjoyed. The author uses simile after simile after simile. There are plenty of metaphors used, as well, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that, at least in the ARC (maybe it will change before publication), there were often whole pages with at least one simile per paragraph. Using imagery and metaphors can be extremely effective with horror, but here, I found it distracting. The similes were used in many unnecessary ways (for example, David would use similes to compare his thoughts and feelings to physical images, when I fully understood what he meant without the added imagery). The language throughout the novel is so detailed; usually I love that, but with this book, it overly explained details that never needed to be expanded upon. The horror elements were also written in a fairly unclear way... to me, it felt as if the author spent more time describing mundane parts of David's life (ex: there's an entire page describing instructions David found for using his library's catalogue and how he followed them) than the moments where David was experiencing something horrific. I think there are readers who will enjoy this type of writing, but I am not one of them.
Another element that didn't work for me was the pacing. The novel jumps around between "before" chapters largely detailing David's life as a child and "after" chapters describing David's present-day journey to find a door out of his universe. The "before" chapters do eventually catch up to the "after" chapters, but the "after" chapters were confusing and draining to read for the first 80% of the novel. They were so disjointed that they ruined the momentum that the "before" chapters were building. Additionally, there is a time jump in the "before" chapters that I found jarring. We follow David as a child, and then, suddenly, it skips to when he is 26 years-old. We missed so much character development by skipping formative years for the main character. It would have made more sense to maybe jump to David as a 16 year-old and then jump once again to when he's 18 or 19 - then all of the "after" action could have followed him at that age. Having him be 26 seemed like a bit of an arbitrary age, given that David hadn't progressed much after moving out of his parents' home.
The final major issue I had with Mothtown was its attempts to span so many genres. This could probably be debated (because the book is quite complex and leaves some questions unresolved), but I would argue that the core plot of the story fits more into the literary fiction and thriller genres, with a bit of horror sprinkled in. The sci fi/fantasy and mystery elements become less and less relevant as the book goes on. It felt as if the missing persons portion of the plot was mostly inserted to confuse readers and further muddy the story line, because it didn't play as big of a role (and wasn't resolved) by the end. So, as a reader who was expecting a horror/sci fi/fantasy novel, I was a bit disappointed. The story could have been less confusing and more successful if it tried to stick to a couple of genres, rather than inserting elements from so many different areas of fiction.
This novel does have a couple of positive elements I want to highlight, though. First, it's a really engaging character study and dives deeply into the theme of grief. I thought it did a great job of exploring how grief can impact children and families. It also explores mental illness, loneliness, and isolation in thoughtful and unique ways. I couldn't really root for any of the characters (we're stuck in David's mind for the whole novel, which makes it tough to fully learn about the rest of his immediate family), but I did want to know what would happen to each of them. Caroline Hardaker excelled at creating an immersive atmosphere and pulling me in. Even though the pacing dragged, I still wanted to keep reading to see how it all would turn out.
I also applaud the author for inserting many breadcrumbs throughout the story and leaving the ending up to interpretation. Mothtown is a book that pays off if you read carefully, tracking every little detail as you go. It would probably be rewarding to re-read. Unfortunately, since the writing frustrated me, I wasn't having fun reading all of the details. However, if you like the metaphors and imagery, I think you could find a lot of enjoyment out of reading this closely and even flipping back and starting over at page 1 after the ending to see everything in a new light. I appreciate strange books that make you think long after finishing them. Even though Mothtown didn't work for me, I'm hoping there are readers out there who will have a ball with it.
So, all in all, the writing, style, and pacing just didn't work for me here. I do believe there is an audience who will enjoy Mothtown, but I'd recommend you to go in expecting a confusing literary fiction novel, with thriller and horror elements added in. The vibes and atmosphere of this story reminded me of Liar, Dreamer, Thief and The Last House on Needless Street (though, the plot is very different from those two books); if you like either of those novels, you might enjoy this one. If you're looking for a scary or sci-fi/fantasy-heavy book, though, you may want to skip this one.
2 stars out of 5 stars. The illustrations were really lovely, though!
Mothtown is such an odd and unique story, spanning a variety of genres (speculative fiction, horror, literary fiction, and more!). It follows David during his childhood and adulthood. David is a quiet 10-year-old boy, who has trouble connecting with others. His best friend is his grandfather, a physics professor who believes there is a multiverse humans can access through hidden doorways. He publishes a book full of his theories and dedicates it to David, hoping that David will follow a similar path in life. Suddenly, David's grandfather disappears. David's parents tell him that he died, but David can't help but feel that there is more to the story - after all, David's parents seem to be hiding a lot from him lately. Did his grandfather finally make a breakthrough on his research and enter another universe? And what exactly is going on in David's village, where people keep disappearing? What is David's family trying to protect him from?
This is a book that I thought I would love, because it has so many elements I look for when reading; it's very surreal, features an unreliable narrator, and makes you question what exactly is real in the novel's universe. It's basically a giant puzzle! Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I expect that it will be a divisive book - if the prose and style work for you, I imagine that you'll love it. If you're like me, though, and take issue with the writing or pacing, you may feel frustrated as you read.
The largest element that negatively impacted my enjoyment of Mothtown was the writing. I want to be clear, though - I don't think the writing is bad, but it's just not a style I enjoyed. The author uses simile after simile after simile. There are plenty of metaphors used, as well, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that, at least in the ARC (maybe it will change before publication), there were often whole pages with at least one simile per paragraph. Using imagery and metaphors can be extremely effective with horror, but here, I found it distracting. The similes were used in many unnecessary ways (for example, David would use similes to compare his thoughts and feelings to physical images, when I fully understood what he meant without the added imagery). The language throughout the novel is so detailed; usually I love that, but with this book, it overly explained details that never needed to be expanded upon. The horror elements were also written in a fairly unclear way... to me, it felt as if the author spent more time describing mundane parts of David's life (ex: there's an entire page describing instructions David found for using his library's catalogue and how he followed them) than the moments where David was experiencing something horrific. I think there are readers who will enjoy this type of writing, but I am not one of them.
Another element that didn't work for me was the pacing. The novel jumps around between "before" chapters largely detailing David's life as a child and "after" chapters describing David's present-day journey to find a door out of his universe. The "before" chapters do eventually catch up to the "after" chapters, but the "after" chapters were confusing and draining to read for the first 80% of the novel. They were so disjointed that they ruined the momentum that the "before" chapters were building. Additionally, there is a time jump in the "before" chapters that I found jarring. We follow David as a child, and then, suddenly, it skips to when he is 26 years-old. We missed so much character development by skipping formative years for the main character. It would have made more sense to maybe jump to David as a 16 year-old and then jump once again to when he's 18 or 19 - then all of the "after" action could have followed him at that age. Having him be 26 seemed like a bit of an arbitrary age, given that David hadn't progressed much after moving out of his parents' home.
The final major issue I had with Mothtown was its attempts to span so many genres. This could probably be debated (because the book is quite complex and leaves some questions unresolved), but I would argue that the core plot of the story fits more into the literary fiction and thriller genres, with a bit of horror sprinkled in. The sci fi/fantasy and mystery elements become less and less relevant as the book goes on. It felt as if the missing persons portion of the plot was mostly inserted to confuse readers and further muddy the story line, because it didn't play as big of a role (and wasn't resolved) by the end. So, as a reader who was expecting a horror/sci fi/fantasy novel, I was a bit disappointed. The story could have been less confusing and more successful if it tried to stick to a couple of genres, rather than inserting elements from so many different areas of fiction.
This novel does have a couple of positive elements I want to highlight, though. First, it's a really engaging character study and dives deeply into the theme of grief. I thought it did a great job of exploring how grief can impact children and families. It also explores mental illness, loneliness, and isolation in thoughtful and unique ways. I couldn't really root for any of the characters (we're stuck in David's mind for the whole novel, which makes it tough to fully learn about the rest of his immediate family), but I did want to know what would happen to each of them. Caroline Hardaker excelled at creating an immersive atmosphere and pulling me in. Even though the pacing dragged, I still wanted to keep reading to see how it all would turn out.
I also applaud the author for inserting many breadcrumbs throughout the story and leaving the ending up to interpretation. Mothtown is a book that pays off if you read carefully, tracking every little detail as you go. It would probably be rewarding to re-read. Unfortunately, since the writing frustrated me, I wasn't having fun reading all of the details. However, if you like the metaphors and imagery, I think you could find a lot of enjoyment out of reading this closely and even flipping back and starting over at page 1 after the ending to see everything in a new light. I appreciate strange books that make you think long after finishing them. Even though Mothtown didn't work for me, I'm hoping there are readers out there who will have a ball with it.
So, all in all, the writing, style, and pacing just didn't work for me here. I do believe there is an audience who will enjoy Mothtown, but I'd recommend you to go in expecting a confusing literary fiction novel, with thriller and horror elements added in. The vibes and atmosphere of this story reminded me of Liar, Dreamer, Thief and The Last House on Needless Street (though, the plot is very different from those two books); if you like either of those novels, you might enjoy this one. If you're looking for a scary or sci-fi/fantasy-heavy book, though, you may want to skip this one.
2 stars out of 5 stars. The illustrations were really lovely, though!
December 30, 2023
If you are uncomfortable with ambiguity in a narrative, as well as the use of more than one timeline in a story, don’t bother with this book.
If, on the other hand, you’re intrigued by multiple, mysterious, questionable and enigmatic situations, an ever-growing sense of unease as the story progresses, and never quite understanding what is going on, all described by beautiful prose, with some truly lovely turns of phrase, then this book is for you.
Caroline Hardaker agains melds science fiction, fantasy, horror, family dynamics (some would agree that family can be fertile ground for horror), and grief together, to create a story about David Porter, who, when he was young, was deeply affected by the death of his grandfather Francis. His grandfather was a physicist, who had an abiding interest in the concept of multiverses, to the extent that he lost the respect of the scientific community. Francis and David shared their own language together, and David felt that Francis was the only person who fully understood him.
David never believes his family about Francis’ disappearance from his life, instead becoming convinced that the man found a way to another universe. His parents and sister don’t answer David’s questions, at least to his liking, and shield David from the news, which is full of unhappy events, including the disappearances, everywhere, of people.
All this only fuels David’s insistence on finding Francis. Already a quiet, sensitive child, David grows into a socially inept, isolated young man, who holds strange ideas and fascinations. David becomes reclusive, and decides to embark on a journey to join Francis, seeking guidance in conspiracy theories and portents.
This is one weird book, where one never feels fully certain what is going on. This sense of doubt is augmented by the two narratives, one of which follows young David, the other adult David.
Hardaker builds the sense of unease by continuing to mention all the strange disappearances from David’s youth onwards, even while adult David is disappearing from his family and into his search for Francis, through some truly bizarre behaviours.
Hardaker eventually reveals what is really going on, and it’s a well handled, unsettling depiction of David’s mental health, from the inside. It’s also a story of a dysfunctional family that does not know how to connect with each other, and shuts down all of David’s questioning and misunderstandings, only further driving David into himself.
It’s a book that leaves the reader constantly destabilized, and paints gorgeous and terrifying images as David searches for a way to find meaning in his life.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Angry Robot for this ARC in exchange for my review.
If, on the other hand, you’re intrigued by multiple, mysterious, questionable and enigmatic situations, an ever-growing sense of unease as the story progresses, and never quite understanding what is going on, all described by beautiful prose, with some truly lovely turns of phrase, then this book is for you.
Caroline Hardaker agains melds science fiction, fantasy, horror, family dynamics (some would agree that family can be fertile ground for horror), and grief together, to create a story about David Porter, who, when he was young, was deeply affected by the death of his grandfather Francis. His grandfather was a physicist, who had an abiding interest in the concept of multiverses, to the extent that he lost the respect of the scientific community. Francis and David shared their own language together, and David felt that Francis was the only person who fully understood him.
David never believes his family about Francis’ disappearance from his life, instead becoming convinced that the man found a way to another universe. His parents and sister don’t answer David’s questions, at least to his liking, and shield David from the news, which is full of unhappy events, including the disappearances, everywhere, of people.
All this only fuels David’s insistence on finding Francis. Already a quiet, sensitive child, David grows into a socially inept, isolated young man, who holds strange ideas and fascinations. David becomes reclusive, and decides to embark on a journey to join Francis, seeking guidance in conspiracy theories and portents.
This is one weird book, where one never feels fully certain what is going on. This sense of doubt is augmented by the two narratives, one of which follows young David, the other adult David.
Hardaker builds the sense of unease by continuing to mention all the strange disappearances from David’s youth onwards, even while adult David is disappearing from his family and into his search for Francis, through some truly bizarre behaviours.
Hardaker eventually reveals what is really going on, and it’s a well handled, unsettling depiction of David’s mental health, from the inside. It’s also a story of a dysfunctional family that does not know how to connect with each other, and shuts down all of David’s questioning and misunderstandings, only further driving David into himself.
It’s a book that leaves the reader constantly destabilized, and paints gorgeous and terrifying images as David searches for a way to find meaning in his life.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Angry Robot for this ARC in exchange for my review.
October 16, 2023
Mothtown is a bizarre, dark, winding reading experience. Caroline Hardaker is a skilled author and her commitment to her craft is clear from every angle, but particularly from a structural one. However, while I enjoyed the ride very much, it didn't quite stick the landing for me. Still, I'm rounding up my 3.5 star rating in honour of the whackiness of it all - it's quite the feat to have your reader not understand wtf is going on for more than half the reading time, and still be compelled to read on - and for those illustrations!
Thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 27, 2025
Stars: 3 out of 5
This is a hard book to review. I'm not sure if I liked it or hated it, to tell the truth. The narrative is a jumbled mess with the concept of an unreliable narrator pushed to the limit. It did, however, leave an impression on me, and that's usually an indication that it's a good book even if it's not really a book for me.
Let's talk positives first, shall we? The prose is beautiful. The author knows her way with words and how to paint an immersive picture. It's beautiful and haunting at the same time. The descriptions worm into your mind and slowly seed a sense of malaise the longer you read the book. Things aren't quite right, you can feel it, but most of the time, you can't really put your finger on what's wrong. This is a psychological horror story, so there will be no jump scares and splatter gore, and it's exactly how I like my horror books.
However, this book is also a jumbled mess, which makes it confusing and frustrating, and you don't get all the answers by the end of it.
The biggest issue I had was the split timeline. We get the Before chapters following the 10-year-old David dealing with the disappearance of his grandfather and then his slow descent into a full-blown psychotic break. But we also have the After chapters that follow David as he is trying to retrace his grandfather's steps and find the door he used to escape this world.
Problem is, at the beginning of the book, we don't know that the After chapters and the Before chapters are about the same person, and we have no emotional connection to the narrator. So I didn't really care about what happened to this strange person running from some pursuers in a very strange world. It was, as I already mentioned, confusing and even a bit irritating.
I liked the chapters with young David the best. I can relate to his struggle to accept that his grandfather is gone, especially since he was the only person who talked to the kid. I mean, the rest of his family sure didn't. I was a lot less invested in the older David, even though I could empathize with his slow unraveling.
I think my biggest issue is that the After chapters are pretty much useless to the story. If I understood well, they were just hallucinations born from DAvid's broken mind during a dissociative state. There were no doors to other worlds, no strange liminal land called Mothtown. Or was there? There is no clear answer to that.
Also, if all of this was just in David's head during a mental breakdown, what of all the vanishing people? Is that real? Or is that also part of his delusion? There is never a resolution to that particular plotline. It just gradually disappears from the narrative.
All in all, even though I loved the prose of this book, the story was way too confusing and jumbled for me to enjoy fully. I don't mind working for my answers, but I need to get at least some of them by the end of a book.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a hard book to review. I'm not sure if I liked it or hated it, to tell the truth. The narrative is a jumbled mess with the concept of an unreliable narrator pushed to the limit. It did, however, leave an impression on me, and that's usually an indication that it's a good book even if it's not really a book for me.
Let's talk positives first, shall we? The prose is beautiful. The author knows her way with words and how to paint an immersive picture. It's beautiful and haunting at the same time. The descriptions worm into your mind and slowly seed a sense of malaise the longer you read the book. Things aren't quite right, you can feel it, but most of the time, you can't really put your finger on what's wrong. This is a psychological horror story, so there will be no jump scares and splatter gore, and it's exactly how I like my horror books.
However, this book is also a jumbled mess, which makes it confusing and frustrating, and you don't get all the answers by the end of it.
The biggest issue I had was the split timeline. We get the Before chapters following the 10-year-old David dealing with the disappearance of his grandfather and then his slow descent into a full-blown psychotic break. But we also have the After chapters that follow David as he is trying to retrace his grandfather's steps and find the door he used to escape this world.
Problem is, at the beginning of the book, we don't know that the After chapters and the Before chapters are about the same person, and we have no emotional connection to the narrator. So I didn't really care about what happened to this strange person running from some pursuers in a very strange world. It was, as I already mentioned, confusing and even a bit irritating.
I liked the chapters with young David the best. I can relate to his struggle to accept that his grandfather is gone, especially since he was the only person who talked to the kid. I mean, the rest of his family sure didn't. I was a lot less invested in the older David, even though I could empathize with his slow unraveling.
I think my biggest issue is that the After chapters are pretty much useless to the story. If I understood well, they were just hallucinations born from DAvid's broken mind during a dissociative state. There were no doors to other worlds, no strange liminal land called Mothtown. Or was there? There is no clear answer to that.
Also, if all of this was just in David's head during a mental breakdown, what of all the vanishing people? Is that real? Or is that also part of his delusion? There is never a resolution to that particular plotline. It just gradually disappears from the narrative.
All in all, even though I loved the prose of this book, the story was way too confusing and jumbled for me to enjoy fully. I don't mind working for my answers, but I need to get at least some of them by the end of a book.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 27, 2023
This atmospheric mind-bending tale completely caught me off guard. The characters, even characters just briefly mentioned, all play a huge role in how eerie this story is. And, the idea of a lifetime of disconnect from others, this feeling of never being understood, ran right off the pages deeply affecting me.
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
December 11, 2023
The narration was not for me, the voice and story didn't keep me hooked. In about an hour into the book I was finally getting interested to know the characters and it that part was actually beautifully written. But then again I just lost it.
Even after reading 30-40 % it wasn't really clear where the story was going and I feel it is definitely a good portion of book to understand atleast what's happening. This book was total chaos, maybe it might work for others but it just didn't work for me. Not the narration, not even the story of even the characters.
Might be my first book on Netgalley which left me bewildered and disliking the book at all. I will say that the prose is beautiful although the plot didn't interest me, what did not work for me can work for other readers.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for this audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Even after reading 30-40 % it wasn't really clear where the story was going and I feel it is definitely a good portion of book to understand atleast what's happening. This book was total chaos, maybe it might work for others but it just didn't work for me. Not the narration, not even the story of even the characters.
Might be my first book on Netgalley which left me bewildered and disliking the book at all. I will say that the prose is beautiful although the plot didn't interest me, what did not work for me can work for other readers.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for this audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
November 10, 2023
Mothtown is a very bizarre novel dealing with grief, trauma and alternate dimensions.
I struggled through this whole book hoping the end would bring it all together but I was even more confused by the ending. Caroline Hardaker’s prose was wonderful but I found the story too confusing and complicated to find a grasp on what was happening. There were so many added elements that didn’t feel necessary and I feel like they got in the way of the overall plot.
Usually I like weird! But this one just left the reader feeling just as lost in Mothtown as David was.
⭐⭐
Available November 14, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot Books for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I struggled through this whole book hoping the end would bring it all together but I was even more confused by the ending. Caroline Hardaker’s prose was wonderful but I found the story too confusing and complicated to find a grasp on what was happening. There were so many added elements that didn’t feel necessary and I feel like they got in the way of the overall plot.
Usually I like weird! But this one just left the reader feeling just as lost in Mothtown as David was.
⭐⭐
Available November 14, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot Books for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
October 27, 2023
This atmospheric mind-bending tale completely caught me off guard. The characters, even characters just briefly mentioned, all play a huge role in how eerie this story is. And, the idea of a lifetime of disconnect from others, this feeling of never being understood, ran right off the pages deeply affecting me.
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
September 1, 2023
Extremely weird, extremely good. Perfect for fans of The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan or Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko who'd like a little extra dash of horror and depression sprinkled on top.
November 18, 2023
Review originally on JamReads
Mothtown is a literary fiction novel that refuses to be pigeonholed into a single genre, a book that needs to be experienced in its entirety to get the full grasp of its depth, written by Caroline Hardaker and published by Angry Robot Books. Using in really clever ways two resources as a dual timeline and an unreliable narrator, Hardaker casts a charm over the reader, creating an oniric experience.
Something is going wrong in our world, disappearance numbers are steadily increasing, with bodies being found in remote places; but David Porter's parent have been always protecting him from this reality, something that it's basically isolating him from the rest of the world, including his family and sister, creating his own reality cocoon. The only person that understands David is his grandfather, Francis Porter; but when his parents tell David Francis is dead, the only anchor that kept David sane disappears.
He's unable to accept that the only mirror he had is no more, refusing to accept the news and starting a journey through grief and depression, feeling even more alone when his sister moves to another city; David is drowning in a world he's not prepared for, a place whose expectations he cannot fulfill, only aggravating his mental conditions due to the lack of support from the rest of people that were close to him.
Hardaker mirrors David's own story with the big picture of what is happening alongside Britain, people disappearing with David slowly becoming an entity on himself; and in the same way, David is progressively left alone by those around him due to his mental condition, many people in the country are sent to "blue houses" when their families decide their mental health is not good enough to stay in society.
With the use of multiple layers, Hardaker weaves a compelling story centered around grief and pain, paired with a lyrical prose that reinforces the emotional weight of the narration; alternating Before and After helps us to get a full picture of what was happening in David's head.
Without spoiling this book, I can say that Mothtown is an unique travel through grief and depression using a carefully crafted prose; Hardaker has created an excellent novel that impacts you on the heart. Read it, and be prepared to be emotionally destroyed.
Mothtown is a literary fiction novel that refuses to be pigeonholed into a single genre, a book that needs to be experienced in its entirety to get the full grasp of its depth, written by Caroline Hardaker and published by Angry Robot Books. Using in really clever ways two resources as a dual timeline and an unreliable narrator, Hardaker casts a charm over the reader, creating an oniric experience.
Something is going wrong in our world, disappearance numbers are steadily increasing, with bodies being found in remote places; but David Porter's parent have been always protecting him from this reality, something that it's basically isolating him from the rest of the world, including his family and sister, creating his own reality cocoon. The only person that understands David is his grandfather, Francis Porter; but when his parents tell David Francis is dead, the only anchor that kept David sane disappears.
He's unable to accept that the only mirror he had is no more, refusing to accept the news and starting a journey through grief and depression, feeling even more alone when his sister moves to another city; David is drowning in a world he's not prepared for, a place whose expectations he cannot fulfill, only aggravating his mental conditions due to the lack of support from the rest of people that were close to him.
Hardaker mirrors David's own story with the big picture of what is happening alongside Britain, people disappearing with David slowly becoming an entity on himself; and in the same way, David is progressively left alone by those around him due to his mental condition, many people in the country are sent to "blue houses" when their families decide their mental health is not good enough to stay in society.
With the use of multiple layers, Hardaker weaves a compelling story centered around grief and pain, paired with a lyrical prose that reinforces the emotional weight of the narration; alternating Before and After helps us to get a full picture of what was happening in David's head.
Without spoiling this book, I can say that Mothtown is an unique travel through grief and depression using a carefully crafted prose; Hardaker has created an excellent novel that impacts you on the heart. Read it, and be prepared to be emotionally destroyed.
February 16, 2024
This really wasn't for me. I felt there was just too build up in the world of Mothtown and so the story ended up getting lost on me. Beautiful writing but, I just felt engulfed in it all a bit too much.
November 14, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for providing me with an e-ARC for this book.
Mothtown is a very strange book, and I loved it. The excellent writing is incredibly immersive, descending into the horror and confusion of the main character’s arc. The entire book is laced with uncertainty and unease, it’s constantly difficult to grasp what is real and there are no concrete answers. Reading this was engrossing, falling through a world, trying to grip onto its edges as it fades away to an inevitable tragedy.
The horror is cosmic and existential; every moment is like a nightmare that doesn’t end, filled to the brim with grief and isolation. There is no trust, no honesty, and no comfort. This book will stick with me. I will find my thoughts straying to this, picking apart its layers of meaning, and losing myself in its concepts and beautiful prose.
Mothtown is a very strange book, and I loved it. The excellent writing is incredibly immersive, descending into the horror and confusion of the main character’s arc. The entire book is laced with uncertainty and unease, it’s constantly difficult to grasp what is real and there are no concrete answers. Reading this was engrossing, falling through a world, trying to grip onto its edges as it fades away to an inevitable tragedy.
The horror is cosmic and existential; every moment is like a nightmare that doesn’t end, filled to the brim with grief and isolation. There is no trust, no honesty, and no comfort. This book will stick with me. I will find my thoughts straying to this, picking apart its layers of meaning, and losing myself in its concepts and beautiful prose.
Read
November 5, 2023First, thank you Angry Robot for this eARC
Love the illustrations and I wish horror had them more often.
I'll admit that I was confused a bit but I'm not going to have any grief over that because in the end I enjoyed it for what it is.
Was it weird? Absolutely. I think when you create something that is so genre-fluid it is expected. The elements of horror and speculative fiction melding with Gothic and sci-fi notes notes wrapped up in a lyrical narrative is an experience for the senses.
Gotta love a good plot twist 🤌🏼
Love the illustrations and I wish horror had them more often.
I'll admit that I was confused a bit but I'm not going to have any grief over that because in the end I enjoyed it for what it is.
Was it weird? Absolutely. I think when you create something that is so genre-fluid it is expected. The elements of horror and speculative fiction melding with Gothic and sci-fi notes notes wrapped up in a lyrical narrative is an experience for the senses.
Gotta love a good plot twist 🤌🏼
April 4, 2024
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
I’m a little backlogged with my ARC’s but working hard to get caught up. This book really took me by surprise! Just when I thought it was headed in one direction, it completely veers off and goes a different way! Without giving too much away, this story is beautifully written and the characters are extremely complex, nothing is as it appears. I loved the setting of Mothtown and despite all the strange things going on, I’d love to visit if it was a real place! I’d recommend to anyone who likes mystery, science fiction, and suspense with a touch of horror!
I’m a little backlogged with my ARC’s but working hard to get caught up. This book really took me by surprise! Just when I thought it was headed in one direction, it completely veers off and goes a different way! Without giving too much away, this story is beautifully written and the characters are extremely complex, nothing is as it appears. I loved the setting of Mothtown and despite all the strange things going on, I’d love to visit if it was a real place! I’d recommend to anyone who likes mystery, science fiction, and suspense with a touch of horror!
April 29, 2024
I had to sit with this book and digest it.
I read interviews to try and understand better, and reviews highly praising it, but was greatly disappointed.
It’s a story of grief wrapped in mental health leading to an adult getting taken advantage of by a cult, ending up getting treatment. The tie to moths is unclear.
The spooky imagery is due to the narrators mental health.
However, I found this book to be hard to follow, names hard to track, and events difficult to place.
I honestly thought grandpa was a serial killer and had finally been caught, which would’ve been way more interesting and explained more of the strange behavior of the town.
Overall, I just did not enjoy the delivery of what could have been good. I love mental health and want to specialize in it. This just didn’t do it for me. Nothing made sense - and that is not commentary that nothing makes sense for someone with autism or possibly paranoid schizophrenia & the author was — that’s giving the author too much credit I think. Perhaps I’m being harsh & I’m speculating on diagnoses based on presentation, but it was not done well, to me, and perhaps a bit damaging to certain populations.
I read interviews to try and understand better, and reviews highly praising it, but was greatly disappointed.
It’s a story of grief wrapped in mental health leading to an adult getting taken advantage of by a cult, ending up getting treatment. The tie to moths is unclear.
The spooky imagery is due to the narrators mental health.
However, I found this book to be hard to follow, names hard to track, and events difficult to place.
I honestly thought grandpa was a serial killer and had finally been caught, which would’ve been way more interesting and explained more of the strange behavior of the town.
Overall, I just did not enjoy the delivery of what could have been good. I love mental health and want to specialize in it. This just didn’t do it for me. Nothing made sense - and that is not commentary that nothing makes sense for someone with autism or possibly paranoid schizophrenia & the author was — that’s giving the author too much credit I think. Perhaps I’m being harsh & I’m speculating on diagnoses based on presentation, but it was not done well, to me, and perhaps a bit damaging to certain populations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2025
Wow.
This was definitely a very unique and bizarre read, in the best way possible.
Although a slow burn, the authors writing was phenomenal and kept me immersed and engaged throughout the book. I would say this is light on the horror and leans more towards mysterious, unsettling and very weird. I loved the illustrations by Chris Riddell but wish there were more of them though, it was a great addition to the book.
I had no idea what was happening most of the time and couldn't put the book down because I needed to see what was happening. The only thing is I don't think I fully understood the ending, I think I do but not completely LOL so I'm going to browse some reviews and see if I've pieced it together correctly. So for this I'm giving it a 4 star rating rather than a 5 star.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ENJOY: creepy towns, slow burns, bizarre fiction, multiverse, cosmic horror. Fans of Dark, Fringe, and Xfiles will enjoy this read.
Thanks to netgalley and Angry Robot Books for sharing a digital copy for me to read and review, as always, opinions are my own 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻
This was definitely a very unique and bizarre read, in the best way possible.
Although a slow burn, the authors writing was phenomenal and kept me immersed and engaged throughout the book. I would say this is light on the horror and leans more towards mysterious, unsettling and very weird. I loved the illustrations by Chris Riddell but wish there were more of them though, it was a great addition to the book.
I had no idea what was happening most of the time and couldn't put the book down because I needed to see what was happening. The only thing is I don't think I fully understood the ending, I think I do but not completely LOL so I'm going to browse some reviews and see if I've pieced it together correctly. So for this I'm giving it a 4 star rating rather than a 5 star.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ENJOY: creepy towns, slow burns, bizarre fiction, multiverse, cosmic horror. Fans of Dark, Fringe, and Xfiles will enjoy this read.
Thanks to netgalley and Angry Robot Books for sharing a digital copy for me to read and review, as always, opinions are my own 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻
December 21, 2023
Mothtown is a surreal masterpiece: strange, horrifying and deeply upsetting. It's very difficult to talk about without spoiling anything--and this is a book I think really is best experienced blind--but another reviewer comped it to Vita Nostra by the Dyachenkos, which I actually think is brilliant. Very different cultural contexts and plots aside, the experience of reading the two titles is very similar, and unlike anything I've encountered elsewhere: a slow and gorgeous unspooling of normalcy until it feels like sanity itself is unravelling; a growing sense that things are very, very wrong even while the narrator insists that really, everything is fine. This definitely isn't a book for everyone, and one I'd hesitate to recommend except to a very particular kind of reader--but I am definitely that reader. It was bonkers and messed up and I loved every word.
Many thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!
Many thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!
November 14, 2023
3.5*
I have recently decided that moths are not great. Maybe even worse than birds because at least there are some cool birds, like penguins and flamingos and such. Moths, nah. Anyway this book isn't actually about moths as such, so that is some good news! (Also, another positive thing is that most moth-related fare seems to know that the moths are not great. Self-awareness, we love to see it.)
What I Enjoyed:
Look, this is a weird book. I like weird! This is a good thing! It is dark, and a bit depressing at times, and David sure is a mess of a person. The reader cannot help but feel for him, since his beloved grandfather is missing or dead depending on who you ask, and the rest of his family seems pretty emotionally stunted at best. In this world, people go missing sometimes and that is just that. I don't fully get it, and I don't know if we're supposed to fully get it, but basically David is told that this is just the way things are but also, that Grandad really is dead so shhh. So, that is how David grew up, and now he is an adult but maybe not a fully productive adult? Anyway, it is easy to see how he is still dealing with these remnants of his childhood. Anyway my point is, I liked all the heavier emotional stuff, and David trying to figure out what is going on, and what happened to grandad, and all that jazz. Also, the drawings are lovely, and while things were a little weird, they were good weird!
What I Struggled With:
The weirdness veered a bit off course for me, I'm afraid, into confusing. I think I understand what was going on by the end, but since it wasn't explicitly spelled out, I doubt myself. That is just who I am. So when things got a little less interesting-weird and a little more confusing-weird, I liked this book a little less. I am going to add a spoiler here so someone who has read it can tell me if they agree, yeah?
Bottom Line: Often good-weird, sometimes confusing-weird, the author's writing style and character development were definitely solid enough to keep me reading!
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I have recently decided that moths are not great. Maybe even worse than birds because at least there are some cool birds, like penguins and flamingos and such. Moths, nah. Anyway this book isn't actually about moths as such, so that is some good news! (Also, another positive thing is that most moth-related fare seems to know that the moths are not great. Self-awareness, we love to see it.)
What I Enjoyed:
Look, this is a weird book. I like weird! This is a good thing! It is dark, and a bit depressing at times, and David sure is a mess of a person. The reader cannot help but feel for him, since his beloved grandfather is missing or dead depending on who you ask, and the rest of his family seems pretty emotionally stunted at best. In this world, people go missing sometimes and that is just that. I don't fully get it, and I don't know if we're supposed to fully get it, but basically David is told that this is just the way things are but also, that Grandad really is dead so shhh. So, that is how David grew up, and now he is an adult but maybe not a fully productive adult? Anyway, it is easy to see how he is still dealing with these remnants of his childhood. Anyway my point is, I liked all the heavier emotional stuff, and David trying to figure out what is going on, and what happened to grandad, and all that jazz. Also, the drawings are lovely, and while things were a little weird, they were good weird!
What I Struggled With:
The weirdness veered a bit off course for me, I'm afraid, into confusing. I think I understand what was going on by the end, but since it wasn't explicitly spelled out, I doubt myself. That is just who I am. So when things got a little less interesting-weird and a little more confusing-weird, I liked this book a little less. I am going to add a spoiler here so someone who has read it can tell me if they agree, yeah?
Bottom Line: Often good-weird, sometimes confusing-weird, the author's writing style and character development were definitely solid enough to keep me reading!
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
November 12, 2023
"Mothtown" by Caroline Hardaker, is a story that revolves around David Porter, a young boy caught in a world plagued by unexplained disappearances, eerie phenomena known as "The Modern Problem," and a growing sense of dread. David's only refuge is his enigmatic grandfather, Francis Porter, who shares a unique bond with him. When Francis suddenly vanishes, David's world unravels, and he embarks on a quest to find the grandfather he idolizes.
Caroline Hardaker masterfully employs a dual timeline, switching between 'Before' and 'After' to provide an immersive view of David's life. Through young David's perspective, we witness the loneliness that surrounds him as he struggles for acceptance in a world that doesn't seem to understand him. His relationship with his grandfather is portrayed as something truly special, a haven from the harsh reality of his everyday life.
The narrative pulsates with emotional intensity as David's journey unfolds, and his fixation on discovering doorways to other worlds intensifies.
David is a character who elicits profound empathy, as one can't help but wonder how his life might have been different if someone had reached out to help him, to make him feel seen, heard, and loved.
David's struggle with being different, with thoughts and perceptions that set him apart, is a powerful allegory for the often-dismissed issues of mental health, autism, and hidden disabilities, offering a unique perspective on societal neglect of mental health/awareness.
In addition, the book is replete with vivid descriptions, from the bright orange of David's grandfather's jumper in an otherwise drab setting to the evocative smells of rust and coffee.
Chris Riddell's accompanying illustrations add an extra layer of immersion, visually representing the light and darkness in David's life. The use of Moths as a recurring motif throughout the story adds to the enigmatic atmosphere and invites readers to interpret their symbolic significance.
In conclusion, Hardaker's narrative weaves a beautifully poignant tale of the connection between a grandson and his grandfather, the search for escape, and the journey of transformation. "Mothtown" is ultimately a story about the quest for belonging.
Thank you so much Netgalley and Angry Robot for providing me this ARC in exchange for a honest review.
Caroline Hardaker masterfully employs a dual timeline, switching between 'Before' and 'After' to provide an immersive view of David's life. Through young David's perspective, we witness the loneliness that surrounds him as he struggles for acceptance in a world that doesn't seem to understand him. His relationship with his grandfather is portrayed as something truly special, a haven from the harsh reality of his everyday life.
The narrative pulsates with emotional intensity as David's journey unfolds, and his fixation on discovering doorways to other worlds intensifies.
David is a character who elicits profound empathy, as one can't help but wonder how his life might have been different if someone had reached out to help him, to make him feel seen, heard, and loved.
David's struggle with being different, with thoughts and perceptions that set him apart, is a powerful allegory for the often-dismissed issues of mental health, autism, and hidden disabilities, offering a unique perspective on societal neglect of mental health/awareness.
In addition, the book is replete with vivid descriptions, from the bright orange of David's grandfather's jumper in an otherwise drab setting to the evocative smells of rust and coffee.
Chris Riddell's accompanying illustrations add an extra layer of immersion, visually representing the light and darkness in David's life. The use of Moths as a recurring motif throughout the story adds to the enigmatic atmosphere and invites readers to interpret their symbolic significance.
In conclusion, Hardaker's narrative weaves a beautifully poignant tale of the connection between a grandson and his grandfather, the search for escape, and the journey of transformation. "Mothtown" is ultimately a story about the quest for belonging.
Thank you so much Netgalley and Angry Robot for providing me this ARC in exchange for a honest review.
November 15, 2023
As a child, David could tell something was wrong. People spread rumors of missing people, nest of bones and bodies appearing in the mountains. David's family refused to share what they knew, with the exception of his grandfather, who suddenly disappeared without a goodbye. His parents told him that he died, but David didn't believe them. Now adult, David decides to look for the answers he always needed.
Mothtown is a scifi/horror/coming of age novel, mostly split in two timelines: before and after. In the first, we experience David's childhood and young feelings; in the second, we see him travelling and looking for Mothtown and more information about his grandfather's discoveries. The story is dark, mysterious, disturbing and beautifully told: I really really loved the writing style of Caroline Hardaker, a new-to-me author, and that made up for the fact that I was very confused and lost during the majority of the book (this is probably the kind of story that deserves a re-read, at least for me). I won't say more about the plot because I don't want to give away spoilers, but it's quite intriguing despite not super-easy to follow because of the time jumps.
The ending was great though, it left me emotional and still a bit confused but I overall enjoyed it.
I would recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by Alan Cammish who, not only has a lovely accent and voice, but did a fantastic job in bringing David's thoughts and mental state to life.
* I'd like to thank Caroline Hardaker, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Mothtown is a scifi/horror/coming of age novel, mostly split in two timelines: before and after. In the first, we experience David's childhood and young feelings; in the second, we see him travelling and looking for Mothtown and more information about his grandfather's discoveries. The story is dark, mysterious, disturbing and beautifully told: I really really loved the writing style of Caroline Hardaker, a new-to-me author, and that made up for the fact that I was very confused and lost during the majority of the book (this is probably the kind of story that deserves a re-read, at least for me). I won't say more about the plot because I don't want to give away spoilers, but it's quite intriguing despite not super-easy to follow because of the time jumps.
The ending was great though, it left me emotional and still a bit confused but I overall enjoyed it.
I would recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by Alan Cammish who, not only has a lovely accent and voice, but did a fantastic job in bringing David's thoughts and mental state to life.
* I'd like to thank Caroline Hardaker, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest review.
November 17, 2023
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This is a hard book to explain and it just feels like an acid trip. There is a lot of changing settings as we go through the book. David's grandpa is a professor at a university, people think they are birds, people are going missing. There is just a whole lot going on. We follow David's descent into madness and you struggle to understand what is real and what is in his mind.
This is a hard book to explain and it just feels like an acid trip. There is a lot of changing settings as we go through the book. David's grandpa is a professor at a university, people think they are birds, people are going missing. There is just a whole lot going on. We follow David's descent into madness and you struggle to understand what is real and what is in his mind.
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