*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

TW apply, please only read "Where the Worm Never Dies" if you're feeling up to it.

I'm sorry to say that this book wasn't for me. It's not that some of the triggering (and disgusting in parts) content was the problem, I honestly felt bored? The poems were often short, often pointless, I felt like the book tried so very hard to shock that it forgot that there's more to the genre than just the same old Gothic stereotypical dark stuff? I'm trying not to be mean here but I had high hopes for this book and it just didn't deliver.

1.5 stars because it was well crafted language-wise

I think this book can really go either way. That’s what poetry tends to do to its audience. A part of me enjoyed quite a few of these, especially Breaking the Cycle. But some of them fell flat. I wouldn’t say they were bad just not for me!

“…the only thing left holding his soul down is the weight of a lifetime of a multitude of sin, his reservoir of flesh stinks, it’s saturated with it this sin mixed with flesh hardens into a tomb.”

Quinn Hernandez’s collection is an unsettling round up of monsters and the unknown. Each poem uniquely describes the darker side of human nature. It explicitly describes the lengths to which one would go. Even those they feel they may not be capable of.

The author does great work in vividly describing how depraved ones thoughts in their most difficult times must be yet to have them portrayed so viscerally makes these poems uncomfortable to read.

Several of these had me pausing for a moment to really take in what had happened. Each one has that power to leave a lasting impression.

This collection may be a bit much for some readers as it does address the darkest and depraved parts of human existence. By looking into the hidden areas and voicing thoughts one could not fathom, it may unnerve some and for the same reason keep you wanting to read more.

A unique horror collection I really enjoyed.

I was very intrigued by the idea of horror themed poetry. As I wanted to read a bit more poetry this year, this seemed like a match when I first signed up for NetGalley. That being said, the collection isn't... bad. It just left me wanting. Many of the prose poems would have been better off as full stories. Or, maybe, I would have been happier if the poet had played a little more with punctuation or formatting to pack more of an emotional punch. There were, however, two poems that stood out for me as highlights.

Full Moon Limericks: these were really creative and fun, especially for those who are horror movie fans.

Pawn: Loved the whole sympathy for the devil vibe of this one, really making the reader question perception... I just didn't feel like it belonged in this collection.

I read other reviews and I think they tainted my reading experience. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed many of the stories/poems, but I didn't realize that I was about to read a book of short stories and poems. Not Just Anybody" was a delightfully unique. Experiencing someone else's darkest sins after they have died is just a crazy concept. I thoroughly enjoyed it. "Pawn" makes you think about one of Christianity's core villians in a new light. I appreciated the nods given to classic horror and would really like to read a longer version of any of the "Three Examples of Why Clowns Ain't Funny". This collection was a quick read and the author had a fresh take on horror.

Great, thought-provoking pieces. All of the poems are dark and unsettling, to various degrees. And many had profound revelations that really made me pause and think. Deep and intelligent writing that isn't overly esoteric.

i wanted to like this so much based on the synopsis but i was really let down. first of all, there were so many moments where i couldn't tell if this was satire or edgelord nonsense, which i feel is a huge loss for this collection. if it played more into the humor, i feel i may have received this better. the horror is not revolutionary or transgressive to me in any way, even though the blurb referred to this as an uncanny odyssey of terror. i was not scared! like, clowns? sexual assault? weird religious metaphors? cheap and overdone in the genre in my opinion. "desire" was probably the most unique and abject piece for me. it may just be that for me, someone who regularly consumes extreme horror, i felt like this was nothing new and didn't live up to what it promised. additionally, typos and grammatical errors abound, which i am assuming will be fixed in post, but errors like "gentile" instead of "genteel," "it's" instead of "its" and "peace" instead of "piece" end up glaring on an already sparse page.

This was definitely written by a fellow horror nerd and I see you dude. Very fun, still had a few edge lord moments but I have a feeling those may have been put in there on purpose to make people laugh.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

3 stars!

First off I loved the random Dario Argento poem! I enjoyed these. Very different, and held lots of raw emotions and dark themes within them. I also really liked the poem Hypocrite.

Obviously not for everyone but I'm glad I came across this as now it has put Quinn Hernandez on my radar!

Spoilers.

Received free for honest review.

This poem book was...different. People only read this if you can handle horror: murder, rape, necromancy, etc.

Some of these poems really spoke to me, like Breaking the Cycle. Which was about a man being tied to a chair by his son's because of the traits he passed on to them.

Or

The Power of Grief, which was about a man capturing death to delay his wife's inevitable death from cancer, but his son frees death.

But some of these poems really had me questioning if I was reading was a big metaphor or if I should take it literally. Poems are supposed to be interpreted by the reader, but I was having a hard time doing that. I could tell these poems were written by the heart of the person but the poems near the end started to dry up. And wasn't making me think as much or discuss with myself.

The three poems I disliked the most was Three Examples of Why Clowns Ain't Funny. Basically a spinoff of killer clowns from outer space and felt like the poems didn't fit well in the book.

Overall I give it a good three stars cause the book did make me think. But it also slightly disappointed with some poems.