This was not for me at all. I understand that poetry is subjective and poets have a lot of creative freedom, but the type of poetry that takes loads of liberties is usually not my cup of tea. The book started with some rhyming poetry and I was excited, I know it's cliche and 'just because it's poetry doesn't mean it has to rhyme', but my little brain enjoys the rhyming, ok? Unfortunately, the whole book explores all sorts of poetry forms and I didn't enjoy most, I have this 2 stars because I liked 2 or 3 of the poems so it wasn't a complete flop. Good poetry for me needs to tell a story, and none of the poems did - and if they did, I didn't get it. This is probably all a ME problem, but I cannot recommend it. If you're a seasoned poetry reader you might like this tho, so take my review with a handful of salt.

A pleasing (and playful) collection of speculative (often in a horror key) poetry. The poems are on the shorter side but this works to their advantage because you have the wonderful sense of riding through an otherworldly space and seeing, as if through a train window, flashes of the paranormal, the folkloric, and the monstrous. These flashes in turn become windows for metaphysical meditations on what makes us human and what makes us more. The vast diversity of subjects, and the quality of the probing intelligence and lyrical sensibility behind these poems, give this collection wings. Adored it.

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. The art is wonderful and I love the colors of the illustration. The summary was interesting, I was wondering what it would be like to mix science fiction with poetry! However, after reading it, I don't think it represents the book very well.

It was a quick read, the poems are short and the pages turned quickly. Unfortunately, I didn't like the writing style: I felt like some of the words were randomly chosen and I had a hard time finding a link between the different poems. I liked a few of them, but it was a minority of the whole.

I will look at the author's other works which I hope will appeal to me more.

After falling in love with the cover of this poetry collection, I hoped I'd enjoy the actual poems just as much; sadly, I didn't. What I liked the most was how all the poems were grouped by themes. It made it very easy to read and go back to specific ones. I think these poems would've had a bigger impact on me if they had been a bit longer?
The last part was my favorite and definitely what stood out to me, but the beginning was very twitter/tumblr-ish. However I found the sci-fi element very intriguing, because I've never personally read poems like that, so I'll try and look up some more with a similar vibe.

The atmosphere Christina Sng creates in her book is special. That union between light and darkness, life and death can't be done by just anyone.
It reads in a breath, but I have taken my time, as you have to immerse yourself beyond what you read and make sense of the words.
The Gravity of existence has been a pleasant and perfect surprise. I chose it as a challenge for me, since I find books with a touch of fantasy, science fiction... dense and I end up leaving them, but thanks to Christina and her pen I have discovered that they are amazing.

A gorgeous collection of sci-fi haikus. Haikus are deceptively simple, their brevity suggesting simplicity. But this collection proves that it is a tricky art form that requires loving attention and exacting concision. Sng does something wonderful here, presenting a collection of small sparkling gems that contain entire worlds.

What a great little book of poetry. Though, don't be mistaken - although this is a short read of short poetry, Christina Sng packs quite a punch in each piece. Each poem paints a picture in the readers mind and leaves quite the impression. I highly recommend this book to poetry lovers and novices alike.

A sci-fi exploration of human existence through short bursts of verse. Really liked how each collection of pieces was divided up as well as the theme of juxtaposing the innocent with the macabre but, other than that, this body of work is super short and, for all of the grandeur of its synopsis, I wish there was more.

Lo leí por la portada y por el formato que decía que tenía, poesía en forma de relato. Prometedor? ponele.
Son poemas cortos inspirados en "historias de terror", simplemente se le da un twist para que atraiga la atención y se lo pueda clasificar como horror en sí.

“Longing to be extinguished every single day”

This collection of poems has a lot of themes I am naturally drawn to, such as ghosts, spells and outer space.

The short poems linger on the darker side of existence and their simple execution was beautifully natural and easy to engage with.

I particularly liked the section of poems that were based on childhood stories, such as Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, as they portrayed a more macabre perspective of the well know classics which I have always found more interesting.

A little bonus is how Sng references cats throughout the collection, which made the poems feel a lot more humane to me.

Definitely and interesting read. The only downside is I read it too quickly!

Poetry is something that’s hard to rate and review, and I was looking forward to this collection but unfortunately the majority missed the mark for me. With a few humorous pieces thrown in, I didn’t see enough in here that I liked or was my speed.


Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a review copy.

I'm the first to admit I don't really "get" poetry, these poems, however were in a genre I like and the poems are a also quite fun, quick and approachable read. I enjoyed Sng's style and humour as well as her use of space and voice, though I will warn you that the later poems in the collection are a lot more engaging (in my opinion) than the first few. These were quite short, quite quick poems to read, though I've seen from other users that Sng also does longer poems, I'd be interested to give those a read as well.

My favourites were "The Darkness", "The Many Ways We Die in Space", "Cats in Space", "Body Parts" and "Puss in Boots."

i don’t read much poetry, but this collection sounded interesting as it blends horror, fantasy and sci-fi and deals with the burden of living while being misunderstood. however, i did not enjoy it at all.
the poems all felt very empty, there was not much substance to them, and because of that i did not really care about any of them. they were all very very short (too short) and written in the “instagram poetry” style (which is not an issues in itself, but i feel like this style was not used well in here).
i liked how the collection is organized as it forms a storyline, but again, because of the lack of substance, it goes all too fast and i could not care at all about the characters or what they were going through.
i would not recommend this collection, sadly. however i will be picking up christina sng’s other collections as they have way better reviews/ratings than this one.

I don’t usually read a lot of poetry so I was surprised when finding out this was a poetry collection. This was quite a quick read and I did like 2 or 3 poems however, I think I may be missing something. A lot of these poems didn’t make sense to me and although I appreciate what a lot of poetry collections do, this didn’t do it for me. If this book was any longer I would have definitely DNF’d it altogether. I didn’t like the format the poems were in and I think this didn’t help for my brain to comprehend what was being written and the message it was supposed to be sending. I may try something else from Christina Sng to find out whether it was just this collection I didn’t enjoy or I don’t get along with her writing. 1 star for me.

Thank you to Christina Sng, Interstellar Flight Press, and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) of "The Gravity of Existence: Poems" in exchange for an honest review.

When the acknowledgments head tipped to a life that taught the artist the brevity was the best way to say anything, taught so by her father, she had not put it amiss. Another in the long, modern fascination with bite-size confessional poetry, Sng finds herself as one of the shortest and most concise in words choice more often through out her pages.

I did love a handful of them, but there were a good others that didn't hit me much.

Thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Gravity of Existence by Christina Sng was a gorgeous compilation of eerie poems exuding energies ranging from apocalyptic societies to Brothers Grimm princesses to aliens in space.

I’m not an avid reader of poetry but the short bite-sized nibbles of these were easy to interpret. Once beautiful things are turned frightening in The Gravity of Existence, gloriously done with Sng’s writing.

Though the poems were pretty and gory, they left much to the imagination, most of them being very one dimensional. Christina Sng’s collection was short and sweet and a worthwhile read.

For this is give The Gravity of Existence 3 out of 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I’m very picky when it comes to poetry, and I enjoyed many of Sng’s poems in this collection. I was curious about this book after seeing the beautiful cover and the description made me interested in the theme! I was especially excited for some monsters and fairy tales. However, my favorite poems were in the prelude section of the book. The fairy tale related poems just felt too short and out of place. Sng’s writing in her longer poems is amazing, and I hope to be able to read some more of her poems soon.

Thank you to Netgalley!

2.5/5 stars. beautiful cover and lovely title choice. this was my first time reading poetry with sci-fi and speculative themes, and i especially enjoyed the latter third of the collection.

'mysteries of space' and 'requiem' were the two highlights for me, with evocative imagery and strong choice of diction. i would've loved for more of a prolonged focus in the 'childhood tales' section, which felt to me like a smattering of unfulfilling snippets; choosing fewer tales to dive into more in-depth would have had a stronger impact, or perhaps turning this into a separate collection altogether. alice in wonderland in particular was one i wished was explored in more depth.

overall, the first half of the collection felt disjointed at times, with what felt like random words strung together. it jumped from one idea to the next without a clear purpose or direction, and as the themes moved into horror, the only change was an occasional, ominous line amidst the jumble of thoughts.

i'd recommend to readers that they should stick it out until the latter half given the short length of this collection, or skip directly to the sci-fi portion and astrological journey. this was where the poetic style and vague language worked well, and it was a more satisfying, thought-provoking journey from there until the end.

I'm not usually into poetry, but I am into fantasy and horror so I thought I'd give this a go, and I'm glad I did! These were short and sometimes funny poems that were a perfect quick, light read on a cold and snowy day.

My faves were ESCAPE, Puss In Boots, and the Real Mobsters section.

Thanks NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the arc!

As a lover of horror and poetry, I adore this book, so much so that I want a physical copy for my library. This is absolutely fantastic.