"The Blade Between" by Sam J. Miller presents a chilling and atmospheric tale set in the decaying town of Hudson, New York. The plot follows Ronan, a photographer returning to his hometown only to uncover sinister secrets lurking beneath its quaint facade. Miller skillfully builds an aura of mystery and intrigue as Ronan delves deeper into the town's dark underbelly, uncovering a web of corruption and supernatural forces at play. However, while the premise holds promise, the execution falls short in sustaining tension and delivering a satisfying resolution, earning it a modest 3-star rating. The novel's strongest aspect lies in its characters, particularly Ronan, whose complex and flawed nature adds depth to the narrative. As he grapples with personal demons and confronts the ghosts of his past, readers are drawn into his tumultuous journey of self-discovery.

While "The Blade Between" offers an intriguing blend of mystery and supernatural elements, it ultimately struggles to maintain momentum, with pacing issues hindering its overall impact. Miller adeptly captures the eerie atmosphere of Hudson and infuses the narrative with a sense of dread, but the plot meanders at times, losing focus and failing to deliver on its initial promise. Despite its flaws, the novel still offers moments of intrigue and serves as a compelling exploration of small-town secrets and the darkness that lurks within.

This was an interesting book. I’m not sure what genre it was marketed as, but it leaned more horror and paranormal than I expected.

Its mashes a lot in the plot: gentrification, social justice, sexuality, and ghosts. It might be one too many things to cram into a story.

I went into this with high hopes, it sounded like something I’d love. It sounded almost Lovecraftian….but it’s not! At 27% I just couldn’t continue. Why should I keep reading a book about a city that the characters who live there hate so much? I wasn’t invested in any of the 3 main characters. The ”hauntings” were weird. I know “new weird” is a recent genre of fiction but I don’t remember seeing this described as that but this wasn’t horror. I have Blackfish City by this author on my kindle, I’ll give it a shot at some point but not anytime soon.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion (sorry that opinion is negative).

The Blade Between was a totally unexpected queer, dark fantasy. It was very reminiscent of Stephen King, but gayer. I enjoyed the imagery and the poetic prose throughout the story. It was beautifully written, but also sickening and horrifying at times. I can't say I enjoyed the characters or their choices, but I enjoyed the story, the themes surrounding gentrification, racism, homophobia, and the acts of rebellion to fight for justice.

This was a pretty fantastic book.

I've listened to almost 4 hours of this audiobook and (a) I'm struggling to follow what's going on with the POV switches, (b) I don't care at all about any of the characters, in fact, Ronan makes my skin crawl, and (c) there's a lot of sexual content that just seems vulgar, and this is coming from someone who regularly reads a wide variety of romance. Based on some other reviews I've read, none of the above gets better. This is the first book by this author that I have attempted and it will probably be the only one.

Wasn’t really for me. I was intrigued by the “ghost story” premise of a small town’s past and present, but I lost interest halfway through and was speeding/skimming through the end. The cast of characters became hard to follow, especially on audio, since there were multiple characters where the same character would be narrated by different people. I also think I must have missed something and lost hold of the plot, because at some points I had truly no clue what was going on, or where certain plot points were going. I’ve seen pretty good reviews for this, so it’s most likely that it just missed the mark for me.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded down

Whale ghosts.

Seriously. Whale ghosts! Go get the book already! What's that about the plot? Oh, okay: Ronan, our out and queer protagonist, comes home to Hudson, New York. He was roundly hated for being his gayboy self, but Things Have Changed and, well, I myownself call someplace homophobically stuffed turning into Boystown-meets-the-Tenderloin a Martha-Stewart level Good Thing. The whale ghosts, um...they are...weird, as expected. That was okay with me, too, since I like the cli-fi elements of the read.

We parted company when Ronan gets involved with his <I>married</i> ex-lover. I've been in that car crash and I do not like that trope.

I had to finally DNF this book. It simply did not work for me. Miller is a good writer and the storyline started out interesting and then it lost me mid way through.

I really tried with this. I got to 40% and just didn’t have any connection with or concern for the characters. Too many ancillary characters started getting introduced, too. Plus, I’m not much of a fantasy fan. So the dreams, blended worlds, whale-powers, just wasn’t jiving with me. But the writing was great and the author can really create a world and atmosphere.

Sam Miller has written another amaxing book! Romen has to return home to care for his ailing father, although he promised never to return. As the city continues to change and modernize from the old city he knew, Roman learns he l9ves his city enough to fight for it. While all of this is going on, there are also ghost threats, plots to murder, and love triangles.

The Blade Between is a very unique and fascinating book. There are so many intertwined themes here that you’d think they’d tangle to the point of being impossible to pin down. But they aren’t. Each theme is given its due time and everything resolves in a way that feels both poignant and satisfying.

Explored are gentrification, eviction, homophobia, racism. commercialized animal murder, classism, technological warfare, small town culture, hate, vengeance, and exploitation. Each one of these thematic elements is flayed open, pushed and prodded, and examined in glorious detail. Hudson is a small industrial town with gargantuan troubles.

Based on what I’ve read about him, it seems that Miller might be a tad whale-obsessed, and I think that worked in his favor here. The idea of whale ghosts seems outwardly insane, but it ended up working so well. Sort of like how the whales going to space thing in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home probably should have been ridiculous but somehow worked (it did. hush).

The idea that hate manifests as a blade wedged between the ribs is going to live with me for the rest of my life. What a beautifully uncomfortable and appropriate metaphor that is.

I think that for those many of us who have been forced to sit back and watch ourselves and our neighbors get priced out of our homes, neighborhoods, and even entire cities, The Blade Between is going to hit HARD. I know that aspect of it certainly did for me.

The Blade Between is a story mired in trauma. All of the main players are people who have lived and breathed hardships their whole lives. And to see the town that harbored those difficulties taken over wholesale by moneyed hipsters is too much for them to bear.

This was a weird supernatural story. There is also a lot of heavy introspective going on. Not sure it was really my cup of tea. The one thing I liked was the historical facts that were woven into the story.

Perhaps this book just wasn't for me. However, I will still hit some good points about this book.

There are a LOT of issues addressed throughout the book, everything from discrimination, social justice, social media, and more. I can absolutely get on board with addressing issues facing society today. For me, however, it was a bit too much for one book. As an empath, it was just too overwhelming and was stress inducing.

I did enjoy the more supernatural/magical realism aspects of the story as well as the atmosphere.

It did read like a bad YA in many ways for me. But again, this is just my perspective.

Thank you NetGalley and Ecco Press for my review copy.

This was too much. The author was just trying to do too much. What's with the whales?? There are too many characters and not enough development. I hated the protagonist, who is so incredibly angry but going back to the place that made him so angry. I don't know, I just wasn't into it.

This book wasn't for me. It did seem that the author see from personal experience, which made the characters real and sympathetic. However I found the introduction of the supernatural, which I was excited about, to be rather clunky and actually distracted me.

Thank you for the chance to read this book in exchange for honest feedback. I was able to get a copy of this book at my library. This book is very heavy in its aims to tackle complicated, dynamic content and themes. It is written in a unique prose style that will be enticing to some readers, while others may find it hard to connect or follow depending on personal tastes. There is so much going on in this book (I won't spoil but here are some overarching themes: homophobia/discrimination, racism, socioeconomic issues, etc). In my view, I had some trouble really connecting with the book due to the writing style, which was a type I've never really come across before. However, this book will be a good read for some, as it is unique and definitely not a fluff piece.

This was a difficult book, which I didn't want to finish at about 50 pages, but pressed on. The ending was pretty good, bit more reminiscent of a B grade horror novel then anything else. ( I used to like B grade horror novels...) The thong is, the author needed to make a choice about this book's direction, and I am not sure he ever committed. The ending was solidly horror, but so much meandering had led up to that point, you were afraid it would meander again.

After finish reading this book, I realised that I never read any book in this genre until this. but I must say I enjoyed reading this book. this book was filled with horror but with little reduced size horror and weirdness. Some characters are likeable in some way, but most of them are not. As its the first time to read this kind of read, I was agitated about the developing plot most of the time while reading.

When I say this book was extremely weird, I mean that in the best way possible. Such an insane story, with so many different elements. Very original, yet not too much craziness and action to the point where it gets confusing. It was just the right amount of weird and I have never read a story like this. I would venture to say that the genre is definitely more sci-fi than anything.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
Not really my cup of tea despite some fantastical elements that were interesting. Plot is too drug out. Characters are not particularly interesting or likeable. I'd give this one a pass.