Are we ok with rating a book purely off of vibes? Cause this is that book for me. I can tell you with 80% certainty that I had very little clue about what was actually happening throughout.

There are a lot of characters in the novel and I am historically bad at remembering characters unless they are completely unique and distinct from one another. I’m also not great with remembering a lot of different names unless the story is really fast paced and I can feel a connection with the characters. This is where I struggled with Root Rot. I appreciated the naming of the characters “The Liar” “The One With The Beautiful Voice” because it gives us a glimpse into each that we normally wouldn’t get because there are so many people. However, it confused me quite a bit and it was hard to follow.

With that being said I did enjoy the overall atmosphere of the book. It was dark, unsettling and suspenseful. It was giving me Stranger Things/stuck in the upside down vibes. I would consider reading it again and making more of an effort to keep the characters straight.

Thank you to @netgalley and @creaturepublishing for making an eARC available to me in exchange for an honest review.

Root Rot is out now.

3.5 ⭐️

Root Rot is a quick, quirky read that mixes the quiet magic of being a child with some unique forrest horror. With a large cast of characters, this story has a lot going on in its ~100 pages, and at times I found myself wanting to get to know the characters a bit better. That being said, I felt the author did a great job building the complex hierarchy of relationships between this group of cousins. The horror here is slow-building and a bit understated in a way that more 'eerie' than 'scary'. I loved the imagery and overall feel of this story, very rich and earthy. A solid novella from Saskia Nislow.

This novella stands out as a truly surreal experience—an unsettling blend of fungal horror and fever dream. Its brevity means the tension ramps up almost immediately, which is thrilling but also left me wishing for more. I would’ve loved to see the first third expanded to deepen the atmosphere and build-up.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC of Root Rot in exchange for an honest review! Had I realized that this book did not have named characters and was formatted without quotations, I probably would not have requested it. The book description describes the characters by calling them “The Liar, The Secret Keeper, etc.” but I had assumed the characters would eventually be named. Unfortunately not. This made it incredibly difficult to connect to the characters and thus the story. Also, the characters were hardly physically described at all. And maybe this was intentional to connect readers more to the creepy environment, which was described with quite a bit of detail; but for me it just added to the disconnect between me and the story.

Thank you so much to author Saskia Nislow, Creature Publishing, and Netgalley for providing this free eARC for me in exchange for an honest review.

If I could choose three words to describe this novella, it would be:

1. Weird
2. Wacky
3. Overwhelming (in a good, atmospheric way)

Root Rot follows a family--primarily the children--who are unnamed throughout the story. Instead of traditional names, Nislow instead used descriptors like their characteristics to differentiate between characters. The One Who Runs Away, The One with the Beautiful Voice, The Secret Keeper, and The Liar just to name a few. Brought by "The Adults" for a stay at Grandfather’s House, all is not what it seems at the patriarchal home.

The lack of names serves to alienate the reader from our characters. For if they are faceless and nameless, what might we have in common with these kids? Right off of the bat, it makes it feel as if these kids aren't even human like us. This sets the vibe for us to absolutely eat up the rest of the story, now that there is a feel of unease that is established. With these long winded names, I did have a hard time remembering who was who (despite the names being super memorable) because there was simply so much going on, with so many unexplained events. It served to create a somewhat claustrophobic headspace for us.

Honestly, at times throughout the story I had absolutely no idea what was going on. But that is okay. I feel like you are supposed to be so utterly in the dark and thrown off. The writing itself is stylistically confusing, serving to effortlessly unnerve the reader. Without spoiling anything, the setting itself is to die for, and is utterly distrurbing, and has you guessing about the sanity of the characters (or maybe yourself!) A smarter person would be able to explain the metaphors or allegory in this story, but honestly, I survived off of its vibes alone.

Despite the low page count, Saskia Nislow perfectly packages eco horror in a cozy little bite sized amount. I read this in one sitting, and I do believe that this is the best way to consume this media.

Saskia Nislow isn’t afraid of the experimental. While the narration of this story takes a minute for the reader to become accustomed to, once you’re in it, you’re in it. This is a story that gets under your skin and begs to stay.

This book was weird. I enjoyed it but, I kept saying wtf the more I read.

Like others have stated, its hard to keep the characters straight becauase, of their names.

The author's writing style was great and if you want a book that literally feels like a fever dream than this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

There could not be a more perfect title or cover for this story. It's creepy but unique which perfectly describes the story.

Some readers may struggle with the type of writing in the book but just try to go along with it. I will definitely check out more from the author because I loved how weird this was. The book, itself, is only 142 pages so you will fly through it. It reminds me of Midsommar and other similar folk horror stories.

Thank you to NetGalley, Saskia Nislow, and Creature Publishing. I have written this review voluntarily and honestly.

2.5 rounded up
"It seemed that The Lake House would take us all eventually. It wasn't like a predator we could avoid through cleverness or speed. No, it was slower, inevitable. Like rot."

PEAK weird horror.

Root Rot is a very short horror novella that follows a group of cousins spending time at the family lake house. the longer they are at the house, the more things start to feel wrong, look different, or act different, and the more the children believe something is wrong.

I think it’s interesting to have the POV focus on the children because children can inherently be unreliable narrators. are they actually seeing all these things? or is this just imagination gone crazy?

the best parts of this story were the visuals. genuinely terrifying and uncomfortable images that will be haunting my imagination for the foreseeable future.

however, the structure/layout of the story is a bit off-putting. it’s really confusing whose POV we are reading from. at first, I thought perhaps it was ALL the children narrating, and that’s why the constant use of “we”. but then there are times where the spoken dialogue is in quotation marks, or in italics, or just regular text. I think those variances in formatting must mean something in regards to who is speaking, but it wasn’t clear what it actually meant and just made it feel confusing or like it was riddled with formatting errors.

the “why” of it all was difficult to discern as well. I wish the motives would have been explored a little more to flesh the story out a bit, but overall as a creepy horror novella, focusing on the creepy visuals worked really well. I would recommend this for a quick spooky read that will make your skin crawl, but I would not recommend it if you are looking for a story that will haunt you.

plot: ★★★★☆
the plot sounds interesting, but I think it gets lost in the cast of characters and trying to understand what kind of force is at the lake house exactly. it’s eerie and spooky, but it’s difficult to follow, and the ending doesn’t really feel satisfying.

writing: ★★★☆☆
the atmosphere created in the writing was stunning. I felt like I was in the woods in the summertime with these characters. you know exactly how the air feels, how the grass feels. this gets uncomfortable when the author begins to describe the skin and the way the not-quite-human beings look. it was really well done.

the structure for the story was lacking though. it felt disconnected and difficult to read. the story is short enough that I should have been able to read it in a day or two, but every time I picked it up, I struggled to stay with the story.

pacing: ★★☆☆☆
the story is short, so you could read this quickly if you wanted to, but I struggled with it. the flow felt clunky and disjointed, so I found myself setting this book down often to read something else instead. it seems like the pace picks up at the very end, but the first 75% is a very quiet sort of looming horror.

characters: ★★★☆☆
the characters were a bit hard to follow because there were 9 main characters (1. The Oldest; 2. The Boy Twin; 3. The Girl Twin; 4. The Liar; 5. The One Who Runs Away; 6. The Baby; 7. The Crybaby; 8. The Secret Keeper; 9. The One with the Beautiful Voice) and they all have elaborate names. the characters aren’t described very much, so you don’t really get a visual of them very much. just a bit of their ages.

there were a few sentimental moments that helped connect me to the characters, but not enough to really make you feel strongly for any of them.

over-all: ★★★☆☆ (2.5 rounded up)
I liked this as a spooky kind of gross short story. the visuals it inspires are amazing. I didn’t love the layout of the story or the ending. it felt like we were more focused on creepy weird stuff rather than having an actual plot. but maybe I just didn’t “get it”.

I think I need to put a pause on this book. I think I like the premise but the characters not having actual names is really throwing me off. There’s something that’s not holding my attention and I don’t know if I can pinpoint it. I find myself rereading several passages and then just moving on. It also reminds me of We Were Liars which I really didn’t enjoy. I will finish this book but it’s just not for me at this time.

3.5 stars rounded up

Nine cousins and their families are going to stay at their grandfather’s lake house.It doesn’t take long for the children to begin changing one by one. Their eyes blink from the bottom up and their faces distort, but when you try to get a deeper look at what’s happening, you realize there was nothing strange going on all along… maybe.

The characters are split up into the children and the adults. We never learn anyone’s true name. The children are referred to as The Twins (both Boy Twin and Girl Twin), The Crybaby, The One Who Runs Away, The One with the Beautiful Voice, The Oldest, The Secret Keeper, The Liar, and The Baby. The adults are just referred to as The Adults.

This book had me deeply unsettled. So much so I found myself having to set the book down a few times, but the uneasiness lingered. THE AUTHOR slyly packs in some horrible imagery and scenes, and to view this from a child’s perspective is terrifying. Eyes blinking from the bottom up. Any moment of the book that had to do with the baby left me biting my nails to nubs.

That being said I had a real hard time following any type of plot going on throughout this book. Due to how the characters are named I had a hard time personifying or connecting with any of them. You also never figure out why the children are referred to the way they are nor do they act like their respective nicknames.

This read like a fever dream. Although terrifying, in my opinion it lacked any real substance. There are no chapters, and the writing format is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It left me feeling like this book was one big run-on sentence.

A big thanks to NetGalley, Saskia Nislow, and Creature Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

ROOT ROT
By: Saskia Nislow
Release: 3/25/25
Page count: 140
KU: No Hoopla: TBD

Synopsis: A family, both old and young, come together for a weekend… but things grow out of control and will never be the same.

First line: “The Lake House was not on a lake at all, but a river.”

Favorite line: “She couldn’t quite put her finger on it because they were almost identical to his normal eyes, but something was different. They seemed to blink from the bottom instead of the top.”

Thoughts: My first for sure on the Top Ten of 2025 for me and probably will end up in the top three. This is the dictionary definition of perfection. Hands down, the scariest and most unnerving book I have ever read and to go farther, one of the best books I have ever read.

Rating: 10/5

3.5/5⭐️

I needed a minute to collate my thoughts. This novella has a lot of oddities and dark whimsy to offer.

The story follows a group of young children on vacation at their grandfathers lake house. The story begins ordinary enough, where each family has their issues and where the intricacies of family dynamics are slowly revealed throughout the novella.

Our children are not named, instead they are named by their characterisation. I thought this was super intriguing and a unique way of identifying and exploring the characters. We knew so much about them yet so little in a short amount of pages. I will concede I did find it a little tricky to keep track of who was who and if they really lived up to their characterisation. Some were definitely more obvious than others.

This fever induced setting had much to offer where things weren’t quite as they seemed, or perhaps your mind was playing tricks on you with the over imaginative mind of a child. However each child is practically lured into the woods, one way or another and they never come back quite the same.

I very much enjoyed the imagery it was disturbing and unnerving but I wanted to turn the page to find out what happened next. This novella definitely invokes curiosity.

I liked the personification of nature, how everything is connected to the earth. The endless cycle of life.

To be completely honest I wasn’t entirely sure on the ending, I don’t know what I envisioned however it’s not that I thought the ending was bad I just struggled to actually understand what the ending was.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and creature publishing for this arc!

Root Rot is a fever dream of a novella.

From the perspective of children its is writing in a way that keeps your head spinning.

None of the children are given names only nicknames given to them by the other children, the baby, the liar, the twins etc it did make it a little difficult keeping track of who was who as there seem to be so many of them (nine I think!) however horror stories from the perspective of children are given an even creepier edge and as we join the children on their stay at the family home during the summer on their strange experiences it keeps you asking yourself just what is going on!?

For fans of Mexican gothic, fungal horror & lyrical prose that feels like a warped nightmare.

I did enjoy this but I was throw a little by the narrative it did fit with the vibes of the book but sometimes I just felt a little lost. Will definitely check out more from this author in the future.

This is a tense little novela with creepy imagery that will stick with you. I loved the names of the characters, "The Liar", "The Older One". It was a bit disorienting but it also made me feel like I was there apart of it all.

3.25⭐️
I’m not entirely sure what I just read. So let’s start with what I do know: I do know that Nislow’s writing is beautifully atmospheric. As confused as I was for a majority of the story, I also felt like I was right there with them. I also know that Nislow has a gift to really creep me out in less than 100 pages. Again, even though I did really understand what was going on, this was a spooky and chilling read. And even though most reviews I have read said this bothered them, I was not bothered at all by how the characters were named. In fact, I found it incredibly unique and representative of the way children would refer to each other, especially if they don’t see each other very often.

What I don’t know is what the hell was going on. This was definitely one of those books that I feel left too much unexplained. Nothing is explained. Even when it seems like something is about to be made clear, it’s not. It’s made even more confusing. Who’s the villain here? Why? How exactly? Absolutely nothing made any sense. I mean there are some things I can guess at, but I know almost nothing for certain.

However, I would absolutely read something else by this author.

***Thank you NetGalley, Saskia Nislow, and Creature Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.***

This story follows an extended family, viewed primarily from the childrens point of view, as they spend time at their grandfather's Lake House, as strange things begin to happen all around them.

I found this novella to be eerie, disturbing, dark, and deeply unsettling, but in such a good way! This story was unlike anything I've read before. I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone, but I fully enjoyed falling into it and feeling completely consumed by it! I couldn't put it down!

Excellent narrative style, with such beautiful imagery. This author painted a  masterpiece with words in a way I haven't seen anyone else do before. Unique, heartbreaking, and strangely beautiful all wrapped up in one bizarre little package.

The cover of this book gave me high hopes; its unusual concept drew me in, but I was sadly disappointed. This style of book is not for me, although I know that others quite enjoy it. However, I got lost with all the character names and found myself struggling to pick it up each night.

What a wonderfully disgusting book.

I read the whole thing in a day and honestly everything’s a blur but man did I enjoy the ride. The writing hooked me from the first sentence, eerily atmospheric and beautifully descriptive, and while I can’t say a lot about the plot without spoiling the whole thing, the story’s progression and ending felt effortless and well-deserved, all cushioned in truly beautiful prose.

Sometimes it felt wrong to devour the story like I did because writing like this should be savoured, but I needed to know how it ends (and then I couldn’t sleep because I was creeped tf out). The story is told from the perspective of the children, none of which get names, and there were moments where I got the characters mixed up, but overall Nislow utilises narrative techniques in a way that makes me want to read the story again and again and carefully disect the words.

More of this, please!

I just knew from the cover and blurb I would love this book. From the second I picked it up I couldn't put it down. So bizarre and unique and beautifully written. I look forward to reading more of Saskia Nislow!