Book: Loud As Bones by D.G. Woods
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 5/5
This book solidifies D.G. Woods as an auto-buy author for me. Her prose is absolutely stunning and haunting, with a way of instantly drawing you in so that you can’t look away. She did this to me with Into the Dark, We Go , and she's done it again here. Now, I must go back and read Fairbanks .
This gore-filled novella starts with a couple living in a remote, fixer-upper estate where they become victims of a sickening vampire attack. Our protagonist, Iris, is kept as a blood source while her girlfriend is tragically killed. Although it’s a short read, the events packed into these pages build a slow, suffocating tension, creating an incredible gothic atmosphere.
Woods has an exceptional ability to make a story with supernatural elements feel deeply, painfully human. Iris’s mindset oscillates beautifully between the terror of her captors and her desperate fantasies of escape. There are so many layers to this brief story. The themes of grief, trauma, control, and lust are palpable on every single page. Woods even weaves in elements of generational trauma, showing the devastating weight of it when left unchecked. While reading, I felt as if I could smell the metallic scent of blood drenching the air and feel the slow decay of the estate. I felt the raw pain and visceral hunger Iris endured as she withered under the control of her vampire captors.
D.G. Woods has crafted an excellent, deeply disturbing vampire horror novella. I continue to be captivated by her work and honestly can’t wait to see what she writes next!
Thank you to D.G. Woods for providing this eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.