Sng experiments with brevity in this collection. Sometimes the brevity equated with sharp, taut poetry, and other times, it felt disjointed. It's an interesting and bold collection but not my favourite by this talented poet.

The Gravity of Existence is a striking collection of horror poetry that blends dark fantasy, mythology, and sci-fi into brief, impactful poems. Sng reimagines familiar tales with a modern, often terrifying twist, giving new voice to classic characters like fairy tale princesses. The result is a fresh and unsettling exploration of themes like trauma, revenge, and identity.

Each poem offers a glimpse into otherworldly experiences, with Sng’s talent for brevity making every word count. While some sections are more cohesive and powerful than others, the collection as a whole is engaging and thought-provoking. The book's haunting cover art perfectly complements its eerie contents, making it a quick yet memorable read for fans of dark poetry and those curious about the genre.

Thought provoking, unique and creepy little collection of poems. Definitely recommend to anyone interested in horror. Some of the poems left me wishing for a little bit more, but other than that, no complaints.

This dark verse was incredibly unique and mesmerising - it took me a long time to process it. Seems so simple on the surface but actually if you read each "tiny terror" a number of times and truly consider it, a fascinating and horrifying reflection is almost inevitable.

Reach for this collection if you like:
-haikus
-reflecting on things you read
-horror elements
-fantasy elements
-simplicity

If you are looking to fall into the abyss of a book and never resurface then The Gravity of the existence is a book to pick that will have you hooked from start to finish

This poetry collection gives new voices to traditionally horror creatures, which is my whole jam. From werewolves, basilisks, sirens, ghosts, aliens, pandemics, fairy tales and myths, Sng provides alternate perspectives and a deeper understanding of creatures that are historically, sometimes tropey and one-dimensional. I love horror, and I loved this collection. Am definitely keeping it for a re-read down the road.

Christina Sng is a strong voice in modern poetry with a truly interesting style. Each poem is easy to read but still comes across with powerful imagery. This is definitely a book of poetry I would suggest to someone wanting to get into the genre or who want to pick up some ideas when experiment with poetic style. The cover art is also gorgeous, it nicely reflects the poignant style and beauty of the writing, my favourite was definitely the very short but punchy poem about the thousand year old ghost. It took me a while to get through this but only because I restricted myself to two poems a day.

One thing I don't like about this collection is that many of the poems (especially in the beginning) seem like something I would have read on Tumblr when I was a teenager. This is a big group of books, but I read almost all of them at once. I didn't expect the poems to be so small. Most things only have one idea, feeling, or thought. The ideas in the poems were cool, but I didn't think they related to each other very well. I liked the writing and now I want to read more from this writer.

I think I came into this book with higher expectations or wants, and so I was admittedly a bit disappointed. That said, I still adore this collection, the blend of familiar with new provides fresh perspective while maintaining a sense of tradition.

Honestly I love anything this author puts out! I had such a good time reading this. It’s perfectly paced and I would highly
Recommend it to anyone :)

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Oof. I don't often give books one star but I just couldn't bring myself to add a second here. I was intrigued by the premise of this collection - I'd never come across 'genre' poetry before, and this promised elements of horror and fantasy woven through the poetic form. I can't exactly say that this collection didn't give that at least, but it didn't give much more. Whilst the poems started out fairly promising, it became clear that the collection had been front loaded with the two or three decent bits of work in the hope of masking a multitude of sins. The poems fall into two categories:

1. Short, haiku style poems that are essentially one-liners. Most of these would work better as tweets - and to their credit, they would be pretty good tweets.
2. Slightly longer form poems which could be read as one long sentence were the formatting and line breaks taken out.

This is definitely in the tradition of Rupi Kaur's poetry, where the form and craft of poetry is passed over for the illusion of style. These poems feel distinctly like first drafts, or perhaps even prompts for much better short stories. If the poet worked hard on these poems, you get no sense of it. Perhaps there is potential there - Sng has a fun sense of humour that would go over well in a children's or teen collection- but I don't think this was for me at all.

I have long admired Christina Sng’s poetry even though she has a strong tendency toward the macabre (not my favorite). What she does with these extremely short poems (most of them haiku/scifaiku) is very skillful and such a delight for the reader. She has such an amazing facility for turning language in on itself and for finding a surprising twist to familiar fairy tales in just a few words. This could be (and was) a quick read like popping M&Ms, each poem a delight if sweet crunchiness. However, it also calls to be read over and over. It is full of award nominated and winning poems published in Scifaikuest, Star*Line, Dreams and Nightmares, Grievous Angels and many other magazines and anthologies.

Thank you to Christina for gifting me with a copy and to Interstellar Flight Press for the ARC. I am delighted to provide a review to show my appreciation.

This really is a stunning collection of poetry. I've read it a few times now, and each time I fall deeper into exactly what it is that Christina Sng created. The unknown. The gravity of loss. The gravity of existence. The brevity that we all face in the lives we lead.

I haven't written for years, and yet last night I was scribbling my imaginings on a page like I'd never stopped. For me, that says more than anything else could.

It's far from perfect, and not every message will effect every reader, but if at least one resonates, it's worth it.

This one is being added to my shelf.

Among my favourites of the near 60 in this sublime collection: Escape, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, Marriage, Electroconvulsive Therapy Session One, The Gift and Requiem.

Star Rating: 4/5

Many thanks to the author, Interstellar Flight Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Some beautiful poetry and the themes definitely came together in the end. I do wish the poems were longer and less instagram-esque.

Poems in this collection are short, they feature dark imagery and heavier topics that mostly deal with death one way or another, so I found the entire read a bit depressing. I wasn't able to connect with the poems emotionally or writing-style wise. The collection also didn't seem cohesive enough to me. At the same time it includes poems related to contemporary themes, then ghosts, then fairy tales, then hard sci-fi. I'd still recommend this book to anyone who wants to read some dark, creepy poems and enjoys that kind of imagery.

5 stars

I think this poetry collection is my aesthetic. It's a copy and paste of things I love, appreciate, and adore. I really loved the monsters section and was so impressed by it. I liked the fairy tales section as well, but I wish the poems were longer. The End of the World section was so much and I have decided that alien apocalypse poetry is my jam and my new favorite type of poetry.

For the most part, I only really read poetry when required to do so for studying. This is not to say I don't like the literary form, just that I don't choose to read it for some reason. And then my favour seems to side with the romantics like Shelley, Baudelaire or Tennyson.

But this collection intrigued me with its strange mix of sci-fi, fairytales and horror. I was pleasantly surprised by these snapshot poems that feel humorous, honest, anxiety-inducing and beguiling all at the same time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for providing me with a copy for an honest review in return!

3.5 stars

Poetry is something I struggle to connect with, and this collection falls into that struggle. If there were underlying meanings for a lot of these, I couldn't find most of them. Still, I don't want to say these poems are bad because that's subjective, but most of them were not to my taste (as is most poetry).

There were poems that I enjoyed subject wise and them all being really short made it so nothing dragged. Can't say I've been converted to reading more poetry, though.

3.5 stars
I didn't mind the darkness of the poetry. The science fiction section was probably my favourite with life outside of Earth. It felt to me a bit more relatable.

I did feel if some of the poems were longer, I would have appreciated it more. If it delved just a bit more deeper that would have been my preference, but I still understood the message that was coming across.

Definitely can see why this isn't for everyone.

I got this as "read now" on Netgalley and kind of wishing I didn't. It was simultaneously a mindf*ck and hard to understand at the same time.

Oh how I am glad that I don't live in this author's head.