3/5. What a colossal disappointment. I normally don't purchase new King books because his books over the past 10ish years have been really hit or miss and get them from the library instead, but I enjoyed The Talisman and Black House quite a bit, so I was excited to hop into Other Worlds Than These. I can only hope that it's true that there are other worlds than these, and that there exists a world where King is still able to write high quality works, but so far I've been mostly disappointed.

To preface, I am a massive Stephen King fanboy and have read all of his books at least once but I've also reread many of his books as well, and I consider him to be one of my top three favorite authors.

I am going to go off on what seems like a tangent, but I promise that it's relevant to this book and my experience with it. Reading this book reminded me a lot of watching The Force Awakens or The Matrix Resurrections. Both movies were built on extremely solid foundations with their respective franchises. The original Star Wars and Matrix trilogies had great ideas, characters and character development, worldbuilding, and plots.

With Star Wars, we had the threat of the evil empire who created the Death Star that was capable of destroying entire planets and it was up to our heroes to stop the bad guys. Then The Force Awakens rolls around and the (definitely *not* the Empire) First Order creates (definitely *not* the Death Star) Starkiller Base which is just like the Death Star from the OG trilogy but it shoots FIVE lasers instead of just one, which means it's FIVE times as cool right? For myself, when watching The Force Awakens the predominant thought in my head was "This seems a little familiar..." while the movie was crafted to essentially retell the fundamental story from A New Hope. And meanwhile all of the imagery just keeps reminding you of how awesome the original movie was, making you question why this exists in the first place.

The Matrix Resurrections did all of this in an even more egregious way. Set decades after the conclusion of the final movie of the original trilogy, apparently the peace between the machines and humans has come to an end and, yep, you guessed it, we're going to rehash a lot of fundamentals from the original movies. But where The Force Awakens had completely original images, The Matrix Resurrections literally plays scenes from the originals in the background, constantly reminding the viewer of how awesome things used to be. This, again, forces the question "Why does this even exist?"

Other Worlds Than These follows a similar track in that it is *loaded* with references and callbacks to The Talisman and Black House (which makes sense since this is book three in a trilogy) but also the entire Dark Tower saga. Honestly, this book could even be considered Dark Tower #8 with where the story goes, but that is a massive negative for me. For me, The Dark Tower could be a mixed bag at times, but still one I overall enjoyed and I am rereading. The Dark Tower had this crazy and interesting world (sometimes maybe a little too weird). Roland, Susanna, Eddie, and Jake were great characters because they were built up well in the first three books and so the reader knows them intimately with how they would act or react to situations, and so becomes invested in their journey. The ka-tet's quest was interesting because it involved trying to stop all of reality from unraveling and the mechanics of this quest were pretty out there and off the wall. Because of these, even when the quality dropped in the series, there was at least still enough to carry you through the end.

Which brings me to the question: why does Other Worlds Than These exist? I know King says that he and Peter Straub had the general idea over a decade ago about the roving gangs of marauding teenagers wreaking destruction through the Territories (Mid-World) but that doesn't excuse the plot. In this book, Jack's character is easily the weakest it's been portrayed throughout the trilogy. I just never felt invested in him or cared about him or his quest. A big part of this being that *we* *have* *already* *done* *this* *before*. Jack needs to stop these gangs because, without getting into the nitty gritty, if they continue doing what they're doing it will lead to "the destruction of the world, and all worlds." Wasn't that literally the point of the Dark Tower series? Why are we doing this again? To make it even more blatant, there are a ridiculous amount of callbacks to Roland, Susanna, Eddie, and Jake, with the worst literally making comparisons to Jack's companions to them. Everytime I saw a reference to the Dark Tower series or even the other two books in this series, I was just reminded how much better those were than this. Frequently throughout the story Jack will read an excerpt from his journal that will describe events from The Talisman. When I'd read these I'd think, oh yeah that scene was awesome, etc. And then I'd be yanked back to the sad reality that is this book.

I think when it comes to my beef with Jack's character in this book, my biggest grievance is the stakes of the plot. It's too big, especially considering this has already happened in this universe. The Talisman and Black House worked because they were way more intimate. In The Talisman, Jack is fighting to save his mother. In Black House, Jack is fighting to save children in the town where he lives. There's very little introspection here; I think one of King's greatest strengths as a writer is his character development. I'm currently in the middle of rereading IT and it's almost shocking that these books were written by the same author. There is a noticeable drop in quality here, and it's just sad because I've seen him at the top of his game. This book is very plot driven, tons of action, and because of this I never got attached to any of the side characters. To compare these to the original ka-tet felt almost insulting.

I'll be interested to see how public reception to this is once more time has passed and more people read it. As of right now, I think I'm in the minority opinion here. I just want King to write things that have a deep impact on me, not things that feel like a cash grab for fans of another series.

Please me find a good seasonally appropriate spooky book alternative. Looking for a good narrator—and book. Not young adult fiction.

Hauntings and paranormal are my favorite typically. I love the classics. Only been listening to audio books for about a year so I’m sure there is a lot out there I have not heard.

Maybe something from a few years ago that was amazing but not too new, so it might be available without a long hold?

All the classics and newer stuff is held for weeks.

Mexican Gothic was a six week hold but I’m abandoning it. I cannot handle this narrator. She is so monotone and there is this weird dull mindless rhythm and cadence in which she reads. Reminds me of a slowly rocking boat or someone counting backwards from 500 to fall asleep. I actually was getting angry listening. I just wanted to stay awake at minimum 😅.

After reading I have no mouth and I must scream, earthlings and tender is the flesh, unfortunately I might actually pass out if I keep this up but I still crave horror 😞

I read a lot of horror (mainly extreme horror/splatterpunk, but if it has horror I’ll read it). But I don’t usually get scared easily

I want something that’ll scare me, leave me shaking and looking over my shoulder.

I’ve lured this subreddit a bit and have gotten some genuinely good recommendations from here so I’d love to see what you all recommend

Why did the author capitalize "Sun" throughout the book?

Listen man, it's October and I keep reading bad horror novels. I need your help. Please. PLEASE. I need the scariest book you've got locked away in your macabre archives. While I'll happily take any recommendations, my favorite brand of horror is the kind that leaves you feeling dread in the pit of your stomach or leaves gooseflesh on your arms. I particularly love stories where you can feel that something bad is happening and it's slowly encroaching, like in zombie-apocalypse stories and the first signs of outbreak or something being off are first occuring. I'm not necessarily looking for a zombie apocalypse novel, but that's the vibe I love. My favorite horror novels are The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, so anything with those kinds of vibes would be great. Again though, I'll take any recommendation, I just need it to be SCARY. Please, PLEASE help me salvage the spooky month I hold so dear.

I've had both books on my list for a while, and read them within the past year. I was excited to read The Turning of the Screw after I heard a lecture where the professor said he thought it was the greatest ghost story in the English language. But I came away more impressed with Hill House. Maybe I need to give Turning... another chance, I didn't read it super slowly, but I thought his writing style was very difficult to read with all his asides. And the horror aspect never seemed very present. It seems to me that the narrator saw a couple ghosts a couple times and became convinced that they were after the children. But I didn't understand why she thought that about the ghosts, see any real threat to the children, or what she perceived to be the threat to them. I know that's partly the point (Are these ghosts real or in her mind?) but there never seemed to be many dangerous or supernatural elements to be "horror".

Hill House, on the other hand, had the intensity build throughout the book, and had enough "spooky" elements (the bangs on the doors and the strange room) to keep me engaged. I think it's interesting that both books deal with a woman protagonist where you question whether everything that's going on is all in their mind. But in Hill House I felt like I was brought along with her as she descended into "madness", in Turning... I often felt myself wondering what she was talking about, and why she was so scared for the kids. Maybe I missed those points in James' endless asides.

(Note: I criticize James' writing style knowing full well that I often write in a similar way. But I think if your sentences often go on so long that you need to repeat what you were getting at in the same sentence, you might need to edit them a bit.)

I've read The Last House on Needless Street, and it's honestly one of the worst books I've ever read — for several reasons that I won't get into here.

However, I'd like to give Catriona Ward another chance to see whether that particular book was simply the wrong choice for me or whether her writing just isn't my thing.

I've looked through her other books, and the two that appeal to me the most are Looking Glass Sound and Little Eve.

Which of these two would you recommend? Or, if you've read any of her other books, what did you think of them?

Enjoyed this but feel a lot of takes are missing a central point - the adults are mostly utterly flawed but humans are flawed, it’s more or less how we are defined (see every classic bit of literature from Homer to Dostoevsky and beyond). None of them are particularly or ‘demonically’ flawed.

It seems this book is better understood as a study of Bela’s infantile take on human nature, one you see shared by adults in moralising Facebook posts etc.

It’s well established that morality develops in stages - Kohlberg’s theories etc - and that this follows similar lines to cognitive development ie not everyone develops into the latter stages of ethical understanding awareness.

I read it more as a metaphor for the banal moralising of social media & the horror that unleashed when we realised (via the internet) that there are millions of adults still caught in this awfully simplistic, childish, conventional (in Kohlberg’s terms) kind of morality… and some of these people are in charge of things.

The book works because we are seeing the world of families and parenting through the gauze of a still cognitively-underdeveloped ‘pure’ child.

The key inside the body scene from Gone to See the River Man is so far the only time as an adult that I've viscerally and verbally reacted to a book even though I just now am getting into extreme horror and shock content so I'm sure there's more out there.

Sadly Song of Kali was spoiled for me before I read it, but I was still disturbed upon reading. The baby scene was more like "Oh my God why are we doing this" than "how about fucking no" though.

In the midst of October, my horror tbr is coming to a close.

I love horror lit and need more recs! Everything from gore, to supernatural, to murder, monster, mystery, scifi, etc.

What is your all time fave horror book or a must read? All recs welcome.

Anything that left an imprint on you, genuinely scared you, is a reread every Halloween, whatever.

Let me know!

One thing I have noticed is that there's a lot of great concepts, good execution, and ... well, not a great ending at all, or one that seems pat or contrived.

For me, books like Crone fit this definition: well-paced, good characterization, great concept, and you could see the ending coming from about 100 pages away.

Others, like Snow, by Malfi, kind of follow that same pattern: love the description, love the style, brilliant and unique concept, and then the ending just kind of sucks the air out of the room.

I can go on and on about these: Hex, Sacrificial Animals, All the Fiends of Hell, kind of all share the same thing, where it feels like the agent sold the work based on the premise and then the author had to scramble to figure out how to close it out.

On the other hand, I felt works like The Terror or Japanese Gothic had great endings that enhanced the novel or otherwise ended in a somewhat logical, but ultimately unpredictable place. Heck, even classics like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist had great endings.

What horror works in, say, the last ten or fifteen years do you think manage to not only be quality, but they manage to stick the landing?

I've read Out by Natsuo Kirino and Parasite eve (the hard copy that I gave to the thrift store...) and liked both, can't say I loved either. I loved movies like Sweet Home, and Dark Water. Wondering if anyone has recommendations about paranormal horror. My list is pretty small looking at maybe starting to read Ring? Confessions, Ghost bride, graveyard appartment, audition. But these titles come up again and again on every top 10 Asian horror novel. I would like to look at something different.

Thanks in advance and happy spooky month!

Just finished this and LOVED it. The ending wrapped everything up well but I did start to get a little bored. Looking for a new horror book that will suck me just as much as this one did!

I've read "Ms. Vengeance" by Jon Athan, I've read "Livia Lone" by Barry Eisler, I've watched "I Spit On Your Grave." I want a book that is full on female revenge / rage. Looking for underrated / lesser known works. Thanks!

This is a new release from Joshua Chaplinsky. I’m nearing the end and loving it. It’s being marketed as a novel that is House of Leaves meets David Lynch.

The story follows three women whose lives become connected through the mysterious, decaying Vogel House, a place haunted by a sinister entity known as the Man in the Watch.

Thought I’d share with the group. Anyone else read or reading?

This isn’t so much a review as much as I just wanted to recommend this for anyone looking for a good horror read that’s different from some of the other recs on here. I picked this wonderful book up after another user (edit: shout out u/ohnoshedint 🤌) posted their review of a few different medieval horror novels. I’ll have to go back and find that post and edit this one, because I’ve read a few books from their list now that were really fantastic!

Anyway, I just wanted to sing the praises of this novel, which i was blown away by considering (I believe) it’s his debut novel. It starts slow, but by the end of the book the pace really rackets up. There’s elements of religious horror, body horror, supernatural/cosmic elements, psychological horror, I mean you name it there’s something for everyone in this book. While early on I didn’t connect much with the characters, Luthi uses all 660 pages to start to flesh them out and by the end I was extremely invested. If the premise of this one appeals to you, strong recommend! It was a 5/5 reading experience for me.

I'm looking for books featuring rituals and black masses, preferably with detailed scenes of them happening. All recommendations are welcome, but I'm especially interested in any which aren't rooted in (or against) the Catholic tradition.

Would really appreciate some recommendations!

was looking for a different metamorphosis but ended up reading this one. it was nauseating yet i finished the book in one sitting. though i really enjoyed the concept and it did have potential, a lot of the plot felt illogical. itfelt more like someone’s sick fantasy than a fleshed out story, i wish camphouse actually developed the horror aspect by adding more psychological depth to the characters than simply relying on shock factors. then again i don’t doubt sick and one dimensional people like nora actually exists irl

Quick trigger question before I start in on this!

Suicide is a triggering topic for me and it occurred to me right before cracking Where I End that the title could reference that. There's no yes or no on Does the Dog Die so I'm hoping that means no, but if I have to go through what I did with I'm Thinking of Ending Things where I gave it a shot on the positive reviews and let the book convince me it wasn't actually about that until the last second when SURPRISE it had been the whole time and I ended up both triggered and angry at myself because that was obviously on me for reading a book called I'm Thinking of Ending Things I will be quite upset. I'm in a place with this trigger where if it's a topic that comes up throughout that's honestly fine, but a story that tees it up as an ending and ESPECIALLY as a twist is not the right book for me right now. Should I skip this one? (I have no other emotional triggers so I don't need any other spoilers thanks!)

Has anyone else read this book and can tell me if it is worth continuing?

I’m doing the audiobook version and so far it’s just…. So on the nose and like not subtle in any capacity. It’s making me cringe a little bit, plus some of the scenes so far have been a bit much.

This is a question for the moderators and/or broader community. Has there been consideration for creating or connecting to an Author events sub for horror writers here? It would be really cool for this community to be in the know on signings, readings, and other live events. Just thought about this as I was lucky enough to stumble across a live event with Christopher Buehlman in Austin and it would have sucked to have missed it!

To be clear, I don’t want to create or moderate anything. Been there, done that.

This is quite possibly a bit too specific, but if anyone knows a novel that rings any bells, please shout!

I'm looking to read something for Halloween that really relishes its setting, in particular a theme park or halloween haunted house or a theatre. I'm in the mood to read some kind of interplay between these highly artificial environments (constructed sets and costumes) and actual real horror. It won't surprise you that I'm a big Jurassic Park fan. I used to work in both theatre and theme parks and I think these environments lend themselves so well to horror stories; the architecture of the space is so primed to never know who or what is in the room with you. I've found a few titles that sort of fit this vibe but a lot of them are quite juvenile, YA type stories, or else they're spicy horror-romance. I do like romantic subplots but I'm looking for something with a substantial horror plot and actually interesting characters. Bonus points if the main cast are the employees of these spaces, and not just the guests, as I haven't found anything where the employees are the ones trying to figure out what's going on and have to stop the horror threat.

Anyway! I know that's super specific and niche, but any recommendations are heartily welcome! I'm really looking for a vibe more than a particular setting/plot, and characters that are a bit more mature than what you'd find in most YA books.