Sooo fun, I fly through this. Our main character is sleepwalking and there's something else going on and along the short, short chapters & book, we're figuring out what she's been up to & why is she sleepwalking.

A great choice if you wanna read some Women In Translation work or simply a short, fast-paced book to get out of your reading slump. Also the chapters are so short, this is literally for all of you easily-distracted babies. Go pick up this book releasing soon in September! Thank you to Net Galley & publisher for allowing me access to the eARC.

I really loved the idea for this book, plus the format was especially intriguing. But I did not understand it whatsoever. The ending was vague, and not in a fun literary way, but in a "no one has any idea what is going on" way.

I went into this novel completely blind and feel it was a fast-paced and creepy read. It had a deeply unsettling atmosphere and kept me drawn in with its nightmarish horror.

Iðunn is waking up feeling like she hasn’t truly rested throughout the night. Something is happening when she’s sleeping, but she can’t remember anything. As she tries to seek a solution, she finds herself in more trouble.

I liked her dry sense of humor and the use of one sentence chapters. It added a layer of horror. I was a little confused by the ending as it was very abrupt, but overall I enjoyed the story.

Possible trigger warning for animal deaths (specifically cats). It’s not very detailed and doesn’t linger in the story, but it is mentioned.

I really enjoyed that the story is set in Iceland and focuses on its culture, as I am not very familiar with it. I felt I learned a little bit about the culture and areas in Iceland, such as the Esja mountain range.

Thank you to the author, Hildur Knútsdóttir and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

As a fitness tracker enthusiast, the concept of this book terrifies me. I was immediately putting myself into the MC’s shoes and thinking about what I would do if I woke up to 40K new steps and a plethora of physical symptoms.

This novella is such a quick read at around 200 pages and absolutely perfect for starting the spooky season vibes. I was trying to guess what was happening the entire time. The chapters were short and I was so engrossed in this book that I stayed up late to finish it. I have mixed feelings about the ending because I think I was just expecting something different, but absolutely recommended for a quick and weird horror read. I adore books like this!

The Night Guest was creepy and packed a lot into a short work. The short chapters made it a really fast read as well. The author is really successful at creating a growing sense of dread as things escalate. The one thing that some people will not like is that, like most shorter works, this serves more as a window into a life for a short time, then stops suddenly.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

🌑ARC Review 🌑
Release Date: September 3rd

The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir is a thriller/ horror novel that will leave you questioning.

After waking up every night with pain in her body, Iðunn seeks medical help. After coming to no conclusion, Iðunn is forced to figure out what is going on, on her own. She comes to find out that she is getting up after she falls asleep. When she tries to stop it, things go astray.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars ⭐️

This Icelandic horror had my attention the whole time. I finished it in about an hour. The pace is very quick, but not too quick that you’re confused.

I loved that this brought up the topic of how women get brushed off when seeking medical attention. How though we know something’s wrong, doctors usually either misdiagnose or don’t care to pay attention.

In the end, we do find out what happens to Iðunn, but it happened so fast I had to reread it a few times. That was the only time the pace startled me.

I recommend reading this if you love fast pace horror, psychological horror,and women in translation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic little unhinged gem of a book. Trigger warning for animal abuse and death. A dream like experience that takes you in and out of consciousness with so many questions. Questions drive the plot forward making it a very compelling and addictive story. Highly recommend for anyone seeking out something a little darker that loves a bit of dark mystery/horror.

The Night Guest
Wow. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I signed up to read The Night Guest but it wasn’t this.

Our heroine is suffering from very poor sleep and she is waking up with weird bruises that she can’t explain. Doctors won’t take her seriously. But then her smart watch shows 20000 extra steps one night—she knows something is up.

I quite enjoyed my first entry into Icelandic horror. The dark and the creeping horror do something being not right is very well done. The characters are lightly drawn except for our narrator, but the atmosphere is thick enough to make up for it. The translation is quite good—possibly the best I’ve read in a long time, the sentences have a lovely rhythm to them that has been I assume preserved very well. I’d definitely read more Icelandic horror and more from this author specifically

The ending is interesting and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about it but without a doubt it’s daring and I’ll be thinking about it for a while now.

I recommend this for fans of Caitlin Starling in particular. Major content warning for harm to animals.

I received an ARC for this honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing me with an ARC of this book for review.

Trigger warning: dead (murdered) cats.

Delightfully weird and creepy. Distinctly Icelandic. A little horror novella about Iðunn, an office worker who is constantly exhausted and bruised and she doesn't know why. But she quickly realizes that she's been sleepwalking, nightly. There's not much that can really be said without spoiling the book. But the pacing and sometimes abruptly short chapters added to the atmosphere and tension.
And, well translated to boot.

Managed to squeeze a translated work on the last day of August for women in translation month and absolutely no regrets. This book is really dividing people and in typical me style I fall into the ‘it’s incredible’ category. Chilling and gut clenching tension with an ending that was perfection (unpopular opinion according to some reviews I’ve seen). The only problem I had is that I wish it was longer but I also loved that it didn’t give you everything. Please check the trigger warnings on this book before going forward!

This was a good quick read. I really enjoyed it. It kept me interested and I read it in one sitting. I felt bad for the main character and what she was going through. I was disappointed in the ending. I feel like it stopped too abruptly leaving questions.

This was fast paced and gripping at first, but the ending was so vague and abrupt. I liked that the main character was an unreliable narrator and I definitely felt the creepy vibes. I really wish the ending was more fleshed out.

This was an excellent novella about an Icelandic woman who wakes each morning with different aches and pains, and never feeling fully rested. Believing she is suffering from a terminal illness; she seeks medical advice. Desperate to track her sleeping patterns, she purchases a smart watch and learns she is walking in her sleep. Each day, she discovers some disturbing details when she wakes such as bruising, dirt, and blood. This disturbance is causing her to miss work and interfering with her personal relationships. What is actually happening to her during the nights? And why does she walk to the same location?

I enjoyed this story and was able to read it in one afternoon. Though it appears to be a horror, it reads more like an odd fiction to me, which honestly, makes the story better, in my opinion. It's a fast-paced gripping read, without any unnecessary fluff to lengthen the plot.

Trigger Warning: animal cruelty to cats

This is one of those head-scratcher books where you think you’re liking it, and then the end makes you go, “Wait. What did I just read?”

You can read this in one sitting (about 200 pages), with several pages being one or a couple of sentences. This is a suspenseful page-turner. Our main character, Idunn, wakes up every day exhausted and sore. She can’t figure out why and decides to track her physical activity on her watch, and also see a doctor about it. Things get progressively worse and you start to question her reliability. You do get hints of what’s happening throughout the book, but not in totality. The ending is open-ended, leaving the reader having to figure out what and why this was all happening to Idunn.

I can’t say I liked or disliked this book because I don’t completely know what the hell was going on or why. I suppose if you’re intrigued, pick this one up. It’s a quick read so you won’t invest too much time in it.

*Thank you @netgalley and @tornightfire for this advanced copy. This book hits shelves on September 3.

this is absolutely a one-sitting type of book & I highly recommend reading it on your kindle at 3AM to really get the full effects ya know. short translated horror is my new favorite sub-genre, and this one is no exception.

not to mention 100 chapters in a 200 page book?? need I say more. loved every single page.

The Night Guest was a creepy novella that was so captivating I read it in one sitting. I loved that the narrator felt so unreliable and in the end we really didn't get a concrete answer on what was happening but I found that almost more intriguing than if everything had been spelled out. Iðunn was a fascinating character and I feel like the author used her as a way to show what happens to women in healthcare without being too heavy handed with it. Iðunn is still as much of a mystery to me as she was in the beginning. We never really learn more about her or her motives and that adds to the unsettling nature of this novella.

This was a very strange read. I was really enjoying the first part of this book, but then the story got weird and confusing. I still don’t know what the heck was happening towards the end. It could be because I read this book when I was half awake, but that ending was just strange. There are animal deaths in this story, so beware if you’re a cat lover like me.

This was a very quick read and it did hold my interest. I read it in about an hour. I liked the writing, but the story was not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for an advanced copy of The Night Guest.

I almost didn't read this based on another review that said it contained "a lot of cat murder," but I'm glad I put that concern aside. Horror can either contain entirely too much graphic depictions of abusing or hurting animals, or it can be a point for the character that doesn't linger but makes an impact. This doesn't linger, and I'm grateful for authors who manage to walk that fine line.

I love a cryptic thriller horror book with some fantastical elements and this did not disappoint! I don't want to include many details because I don't want to spoil it.

And also I want to wear my smart watch to sleep every night forever.

Iðunn is so tired. She's tired of her mother never remembering her dietary restrictions. She's tired of seeing her ex at work. She's tired of doctors dismissing her concerns. Because she is deeply bone tired every day, and sometimes she wakes up with sore muscles and bruises.

Determined to discover what is keeping her from resting well, Iðunn purchases a fitness tracker. Soon she discovers that she is walking in her sleep -- but walking miles and miles to the same location every night. She suspects she knows what is driving these nighttime treks, but she is terrified to come face to face the truth.

I really enjoyed the bulk of this novella. I loved Iðunn's narration and her use of parentheticals and one sentence chapters. Her mysterious weariness was an interesting hook, and I was invested in discovering the cause along with her. Mary Robinette Kowal's translation work is really top-notch here.

Unfortunately, I felt that the conclusion didn't quite meet my expectations. I was confused by the climax and didn't fully understand why certain elements were including the in novella. I wish that a few more chapters had been dedicated to the climax and falling action of the story.

I also have to issue a massive content warning for animal harm in this book. If that is an element that doesn't sit well with you, then you should probably avoid this one altogether.

This review will be shared to Goodreads and Instagram (@goodquietkitty) on August 30, 2024.

I loved this book all the way through up until the ending. The final few pages did nothing to explain exactly what was going on. I was left with so many unanswered questions and felt very disappointed.