dark fiction

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Lenni Reviews: “Mujina into the Deep” Vol. 3, by Inio Asano

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is suggested for mature readers.

Mai and Tenko face off, and we learn more about Ubeme. Juno is thinking of becoming a Mujina to escape the 9-5.

It’s sad that people care so little that it takes three months for a Mujina to be located after being killed. Yes, I get that they’re no longer legally people, but sheesh… It looks like there’s a big plot point here that has to deal with Ubeme’s past, as she was trafficked as a minor by a prostitution ring that was broken a long time ago, yet still being investigated. On top of that, it’s implied she’s losing her edge because she’s too attached to other people. That’s a pretty standard trope, but if it means that it wouldn’t take three months to find out if something happened to her, then go for it. She’s an awesome fighter, and seeing her in action is amazing. It’s a shame there wasn’t more of that from her in this volume. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews Challenge Edition: “The Groomer” by Jon Athan

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Andrew McCarthy and his wife, Holly, have a typical life with their kids, Max and Grace. That is, until they notice a man named Zachary sniffing around, and Grace goes missing. Frustrated with the police, Andrew embarks on his own violent mission to find his daughter.

Well… Overall, this is Taken, but if we spent more time on the most awful parts of human trafficking, torture, murder, and snuff (trigger warnings for all of that, by the way). We don’t get the catharsis of a “win” after going through all this darkness; just bitter emptiness. A family is destroyed, and all the revenge gore in the world won’t make the demented fruits of these monsters go away. It’s just a downer, especially with what’s going on in the world now (perhaps that impacted my experience). Even if it’s not the perfect ending where everything is fine, there could have been some kind of hope at the end. The writing is fine, the descriptions of violence are visceral and real, but I can’t say I enjoyed this. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews Challenge Edition: “The Slob” by Aron Beauregard

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*This book is recommended for mature readers. Trigger warning for murder, gore, and rape.

While Vera grew up in a hoarder’s house with her parents and mentally unwell sister, she now lives with her disabled veteran husband, Daniel. With a baby on the way, Vera decides to become a door-to-door vacuum salesperson for some extra cash until she knocks on the door to the wrong house.

I understand this was meant to be extreme, and it succeeds in that the descriptions of the Slob and his home are gross and the sexual violence is disgusting, but this felt try-hard. I couldn’t get into it like I could with Playground or Tender is the Flesh. It’s as if there was a checklist of “Gross Stuff” and every other sentence was about ticking a box off. There’s even this random bit about some gay guys who kill people, as if the checklist included “People We Need to Offend” and overall, I feel cheated that I didn’t feel what I think the book was trying to get me to feel. I do have to say, Vera is a great character. I’m not sure if I’m becoming desensitized to all this, but in the end, it was a giant “Meh.” 1 out of 5.

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Off Schedule Writing Update

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Happy Mother’s Day! If you’re into that thing. If not, happy I finished a project day!

The next part of Fruit of the Dead is finished and the rough draft is 2397 words. I absolutely have a ton of editing to do on it. I gave it a quick read through and there are things I need to add, details to expand on, etc. I have a much needed day off where I can do that and read a bunch of ARCs I’ve been dying to get to. I haven’t outlined the next bit yet but I have some ideas in mind. My book cover site has completely revamped and I no longer have access to edit the cover I’ve been using for this series. I did email them and support told me they could have it moved into the new editing software but it hasn’t happened yet. I really hope I don’t have to delay publishing the story when it’s ready or buy a new cover and have to go back and change it for the first two parts. It may not matter to others but, it’s important for me to have cover continuity. I hope they’re able to help me out soon so I can give this next part to you all.

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Lenni Reviews Challenge Edition: “Woom” by Duncan Ralston

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Determined to end the pain of all his accumulated trauma, Angel rents Room 6 of the Lonely Motel and enlists the services of a plus-sized prostitute named Shyla.

This book uses Angel and Shyla’s “date” as the wrap-around to a bunch of other stories having to do with the motel and Room 6. Each story is leading up to Angel’s ultimate plans for Shyla, which I will not spoil, but there’s a reason why her being plus-sized is important. I’m not gonna lie, I expected SOOOO much worse. After “Cows” and “Playground” this was a cake walk. In fact, it was almost tragically beautiful because it’s all about Angel dealing with his pain and rage. And I will spoil a tiny bit where I don’t think Angel’s penultimate plan is… Biologically possible? I wasn’t about to Google that. I’m probably on several watch lists already. I appreciate not having graphic descriptions of rancid female private parts but it is graphic; detailed descriptions of shit, vomit, and gore. No spoilers, but I was not expecting the outcome of the prom date gone wrong. It also read fast and in the end, I just felt bad for Angel. I finished it in an afternoon. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews – Challenge Edition: “Cows” by Matthew Stokoe

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*Trigger warnings for gore, sexual assault (of people and animals), and fecal eating, animal death, child death.

25-year-old Steve lives in poverty with his mother, who he affectionately calls The Hagbeast, and his dog named Dog. With dreams of a life like the shows he sees on TV, he starts a new job at a slaughterhouse where he quickly discovers it’s no ordinary place to work.

What is with these “extreme” books and poop-eating? And describing lady parts as smelling like fish? Is it a trope to just go for the easiest gross-out content (I can’t really say “humor” because it’s not funny) because I think the gore and animal fucking were plenty to accomplish that. There are obvious themes about the cycle of abuse and institutionalized abuse because I got the feeling in the slaughterhouse scenes that it was expected to do such out of pocket things to your coworkers and the cows while on the job. It’s normal to the men in the slaughterhouse to drill holes into a living cow and use it as a disgusting Flesh Light but Steve has to be initiated; taught that this is a normal thing.  Also, ew. Overall, this is not about Steve triumphing over this cycle. It’s a gross book with a depressing ending that didn’t even give me the feeling of horrid beauty that Tender is the Flesh did. Is it silly to expect more than just over-the-top gross stuff and have more meat (no pun intended) to these types of books? 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews – Challenge Edition: “Tender Is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica & Sarah Moses (Translator)

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If you’ve been on my blog for awhile, I do movie reviews on occasion and have a side thing of “Challenge Edition” where I watch extreme movies. Now that I know extreme books are a thing you know I have to do that, too.

This book is a dystopian world where a virus has rendered all animal meat inedible. A worldwide campaign is launched to acclimate everyone to accept eating humans instead; classifying them as “head” that as strictly regulated. Marcos runs a slaughterhouse and in addition to his wife leaving him and his elderly father losing his battle with dementia in a nursing home, he struggles with the realities of what he does for a living.

I totally get the allegory; treading a certain class like cattle, the mental gymnastics to justify this, the tole it takes on people to eat people, Marcos desperately trying to hold on to his sanity in a world where humans are just buying time before they end up on a plate, cruelty is normalized, and everything is permeated with an undercurrent of fear. The writing is great and that ending? Woof… But my suspension of disbelief was tested. Because I’m a writer, librarian, and general nerd; I know the little factoid that cannibalism in humans causes diseases and is not a viable replacement for traditional meat. I had to keep pushing that aside and plow on but it was worth it. It’s depressing because, not too spoilery but damnit Marcos:

This book is good, I loved the prose. And the graphic descriptions of the slaughter of humans for consumption will turn your stomach if you’re sensitive. But if you’re in the mood, this is a great book. 3.5 out of 5.

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