Root Rot
Saskia Nislow

4.25 / 5

This story reads like a ketamine-fueled journey I unknowingly took once, in my early 20's. (Don't ask, it's a long story.)
Odd as that may sound, I mean it as the biggest compliment. 

When I think of "weird fiction", THIS is what I'm talkin about!!

Go in blind ... You'll enjoy getting lost ... And the effort it takes to find your way back out of the woods to the real world is more than worth it.

I had a blast trying to figure out what the hell was going on at The Lake House and in those Woods. (I'm still not sure I understand, but I can't wait to reread this weird-ass, trippy, familial nightmare again.)

And I eagerly await what Saskia writes in the future! 

Recommended for my fellow lovers of weird horror lit.

4.25 / 5

First of all the cover is so good. Its what drawn me to this book. As well as the name. I deff was so excited to read just based on that.
Secondly, I loved this book. I had no idea what was happening next. A lot of people say its a unique story and I agree. But I love that.

Thank you so much for this ARC

Root Rot is a brilliant and unique novella that reads like a fairy tale. It has a timeless, fable-like narrative style and archetypal characters, and it's thick with subtext and magical realism. It's difficult to discuss, though, because I had a hard time following the literal plot. The vibes came across perfectly, and it filled me with an eerie, forest-witch feeling, but if you asked me what actually *happens,* I don't think I could answer with more than a couple sentences. Fortunately the length allowed me to enjoy it without worrying too much about what I may have missed.

I would absolutely recommend Root Rot to readers who love familial stories, fungal horror, witchy vibes, and dark forests, but with the disclaimer that I don't quite know exactly what I read.

I can only describe this book as super unique! I enjoyed how the characters really didn’t have names but more so their descriptions as their name, the setting in which the story took place was really immersive as well

This was a weird little novella which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I was left wondering about things!
It was eerie and descriptive with lots of different characters who had different voices but was interesting and kept me reading

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Thank you NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the ARC.

The cover of this book and the title drew me in, and it did not disappoint.

The characters in this story are labeled with a single title that leads you to believe who they are is encompassed through a label. As with any true human story, labels never tell the whole truth. There is so much going on with each character, that I struggled to keep straight the familial dynamics and gender of each character, let alone all of the details and strange occurrences from the character’s points of view. While this was daunting, it did not make it uninviting. For me, it made me want to know and understand more.

I would consider this to be part weird fiction, part horror, and some other third thing I cannot put my finger on. This book at times can be very confusing, I love this type of book. I will need to read it 2-3 more times to fully understand the whole story and likely it will still have things to reveal after that. I think my rating of the book could go up after subsequent reads. Whenever I read this style of book, I believe each person can interpret so much, so differently. I am not sure if this is the author’s intention, but I still love how it works out this way.

Any time a fiction author makes me feel like I may not be smart enough to understand the story, I am actually drawn to it and need to figure it out over time. Having discovered this author and checking out the publisher, I think I have found an author and publisher I will be coming back to in the future.

🍄🌳 Root Rot offers some seriously eerie vibes that I'm all about. As a connoisseur of fungal fiction, this one hits the mark with its unsettling, icky weirdness. The atmosphere is thick with tension, and while the plot's a bit hard to follow (seriously, I still don't quite know what's going on), there's something magnetic about the writing that keeps pulling you in. The first-person plural narration adds an interesting layer, giving it that strange, shared family dynamic, albeit a disorientating one.

The characters aren't named, instead being referred to by traits, such as 'The Liar' and 'The Crybaby', which makes it tough to connect with them and hard to remember who is who, but the overall mood is immersive and indulgently cryptic. It's not a clear-cut horror ride, but it has that slow-burn, 'something's off' quality that I always enjoy. If you're a fungal fiend and like stories like Mexican Gothic and What Feasts at Night it's definitely worth a shot, particularly because it's such a short and bingeable read.

It's a solid entry into the niche genre of 'atmospheric horror with a touch of weird, fungal terror', and it's worth sticking with even if you're as confused as I am about some of the details.

A big thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
Root Rot is a reading with a very unique writing style. The first-person plural narrator fits perfectly with the atmosphere and all in all eeriness of the story, and plays well with the disorientation both the characters and the reader feel.
I am not very fond of the way the different children are described, using epitomes like The Liar or the Oldest; I feel it takes a toll in the overall rhythm of the story and it also made it difficult to create a mind description of each of them.
About the story in itself, I really liked some of the creepy scenes, but felt it was somewhat irregular and did not convey what it was trying to say. Again, I think the writing style was such an unique characteristic that I would recommend reading it just for the experience.

The best thing about this story was its unique narrative style. The first-person plural was great and made it feel like the children the book followed were a collective unit of which the reader was a part. I also liked how the children weren’t given names but were referred to by things like The One With the Beautiful Voice, The Girl Twin, or The Liar. This combined with the descriptive and atmospheric prose and the eerie tone of the book made it feel like a beautiful, dark fairytale.

However, I wish the plot had been as interesting as the writing. While the story was perfectly creepy and strange, it didn’t feel super original. I would have loved for the author to lean more into the fairytale aesthetic, maybe expanding on the themes of family and cycles as I felt like these weren't focused on very much, leading to the story feeling too ambiguous and difficult to connect to. I might also have liked it to incorporate more body horror and unsettling imagery as I think the book was at its best when doing this. Even though I thought the lack of names was cool, it did make the story a little confusing as there were so many children and it was hard to keep track of who was who.

Overall, while the story wasn't as interesting as I think it could have been, this was an extremely well-written, creepy, and original short story. I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great novella that I was hooked from the first page and enjoyed the overall feel of this. It uses the atmosphere that I wanted and was hooked from the first page. I thought the characters were on point and worked in the family trip in horror. Saskia Nislow has that writing style and was glad I got to read this.

*Root Rot* by Saskia Nislow is a darkly engaging novel that dives into the complexities of family, trauma, and self-discovery. With haunting prose and a unique narrative structure, Nislow crafts a powerful story that interweaves psychological tension with rich, symbolic imagery.

The novel follows a protagonist who returns to their family’s rural home after years of separation, only to confront deeply buried secrets and unresolved issues that linger like the twisted roots of neglected plants. The title, *Root Rot*, serves as a fitting metaphor for the decay beneath the surface of familial relationships and the way trauma can take hold and spread if left untreated. Nislow’s storytelling taps into both the literal and figurative aspects of root rot, drawing connections between the protagonist’s deteriorating family ties and the natural decay in the garden that surrounds the family home.

One of Nislow’s greatest strengths is her evocative language. Her descriptions of the setting—moody forests, overgrown fields, and rotting plant life—draw readers into a world that feels both familiar and unsettling. This atmospheric backdrop enhances the novel’s themes, mirroring the protagonist’s emotional journey and the difficult process of confronting hidden pain. The characters are vividly depicted, each bringing their own flaws and complexities to the narrative. As the protagonist unearths painful family secrets, readers are led through a series of revelations that expose the emotional scars shared by each family member.

*Root Rot* stands out not only for its psychological depth but also for the way it uses nature as a narrative device. Nislow draws clear parallels between the cycles of decay and rebirth in the natural world and the protagonist's journey of self-reclamation. The novel’s pacing allows for moments of introspection, but there’s enough suspense to keep readers eagerly turning pages.

In conclusion, *Root Rot* by Saskia Nislow is a haunting and beautifully written novel that will appeal to readers who appreciate stories that explore the darker sides of family dynamics and the healing power of self-reflection. Nislow’s work is both literary and accessible, a memorable story that leaves a lasting impact by reminding us that sometimes, we must confront what’s hidden beneath the surface to truly heal.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an ARC!!!

Very interesting yet unsettling little book. This was a creepy read, and it went very fast. I liked it overall, however the ending was pretty confusing and didn't make much sense to me. I didn't really like how many kids there were, I understand why there was so many, but it really just confused me.

3.5 stars
A bizarre and unsettling novella, this book explores a family’s trip to their lake house and the horrors that await the children in the woods. I enjoyed the writing, it was very atmospheric and disturbing. At points it felt like there were too many children to keep track of and the ending was a little ambiguous for my liking, but still a creepy quick read.

This is a short novella but there is a lot of wisdom and sadness and creepiness that I really found to be fascinating, hypnotic, and ultimately tragic. I love the way that characters are named by their type, and anyone that has ever had large extended family gatherings will recognize all of the types described in this story. A short, but really good and deep read.

Root Rot follows a collective of nine cousins referred to only by epithets (The Oldest, the Liar, the Crybaby, the One Who Runs Away etc...) who encounter increasingly sinister things while vacationing at their large family home.

My favorite choice in this novella was to write in first person plural. It reminded me somewhat of The Virgin Suicides and was unsettling but worked well for a novella with so many characters.

Unfortunately, where this novella lost me was in the actual haunts. There was creepy stuff, to be sure, but it didn't seem to be rooted (haha) in anything. The description of the book talks about family dynamics, but I'm not sure that this was actually demonstrated. The kids don't really interact with the adults in their family, and they barely interact with each other. Because there are so many characters, they all seem pretty flat and we don't get a good grasp on their relationships with each other. I think horror needs to be a metaphor for something else in order to feel thematically relevant. I'm left being unsure what this book was trying to pull off besides a few body horror scares amongst cousins.

Root Rot is a bizarre little novella that had me wondering what the hell I was reading page after page.

The story follows a family gathering at a Lake House, we’ve got the Adults and we’ve got nine unnamed children: The Oldest, The One Who Runs Away, The One with the Beautiful Voice, the Baby, the Cry Baby, the Secret Keeper, The Liar, and the Twins (Boy Twin and Girl Twin). Their Grandmother has recently passed and this family gathering is taking place for a reason they do not know.

What follows is a chronological kaleidoscope of scenes in which the different kids witness strange things they can’t explain and quickly forget, and how some of them don’t come back quite themselves from their solo strolls in the woods.

This was so bizarre and had so many clues about what may have been going on, it kept me interested. My toxic trait when reading is that I always try to guess the ending, so it was fun (the narration POV, the cover, the bloody tooth mushrooms, the word choices…).

Sadly, I found the theorizing more satisfying than the conclusion. I’m still not sure I got it. This book would have been a five-star read, even with the confusing progression, if 1) the imagery had been more unsettling, vivid, and/or bizarre (not asking for body horror but that would have been the cherry on top) and 2) the character “names” had been utilized for anything. I rarely saw the Liar lie, the Crybaby cry, or the Secret Keeper keep secrets (forget them, she surely did lol).

3.5 stars rounded up. The theorizing was fun and the writing was nice.

This was a very interesting story and I read it in one sitting. It constructed a great atmosphere and had me questioning everything that was going on.
It did take me time to wrap my head around all the characters however, because none of the characters are called by their names. E.g. the liar or the one with the beautiful voice, which did make the story hard to follow at times.