This went from 5 to 3 very quickly.

A creepy and deeply unsettling book that read fantastically. The narration was actually very intriguing despite not being what I'm used to, and the story had me hooked. It was genuinely awful to read at points, and the descriptions were stunning.

However, I have no idea what the ending meant. The whole premise started so well and then just sort of fell away at the end. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it? I don't know, but it really ruined the whole experience for me, unfortunately.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read an Arc of this book in exchange for a review.

Let me start by saying I finished this book, closed my Kindle, and immediately ordered a physical copy for my shelf. It will be here next week.

This was a weird, creepy little ride that I was in for from page one. I'm a sucker for plant based horror like this and was really digging the weird dreamy all over the place way it was written.

While the way the characters were done was interesting it did make it hard at first to keep track of them between 'name' and how they are/aren't described. And you do have to pay attention to what you're reading or you're going to get lost fast.

But overall loved it. Can't wait to see more from this author, really enjoyed her writing style.

If you're looking for a unique spin on horror, you'd be a fool to miss Root Rot. Written in the eerie "we" of the children, you're never quite sure which of the curious brood you embody - and given the novella's eventual reveal, that may rather be the point.

Author Saskia Nislow's writing is beautiful. It's rich and immersive, filled with imagery that can both awe and disgust - often at the same time - and as a result, Root Rot grips with surprising intensity.

It's a cliche to say that the less you know about a novel the better, but it's never been truer than here. Indeed, Root Rot's blurb tells us next to nothing about what awaits amidst its deceptively short page count. I recommend going in blind as you can and letting Nislow's impressive visuals wash over you.

Root Rot's brand of horror won't be for everyone, but it feels appropriate to offer this single piece of advice: simply succumb. It's truly worth it.

wow! this was weird and disorientating, i didn’t think i was going to like it as much as i did but omg the writing just has that effect on you. it was almost mesmerizing at times with how things were escalating and being described. i’m a sucker for odd horror with fungus elements and this checked the boxes for me!! thank you to the publishers and net galley for the ARC

I'm not sure what I just read, but I enjoyed it.

This horror novella has a few things that stand out: the way it's written from a nine person interchangeable point of view of we, how no characters have names, and the creepy horrifying imagery. If any of that at all sounds interesting to you, then read it! To sum it up, nine children go to visit Grandpa with their parents. The lake house has death and decay all around it, but it remains standing and we will find out why. I wanted more clarity in the ending, but also the end was very on brand. The creepy and horrifying imager will really be sticking with me when I'm alone in the dark.

Wooooooof I’ll be thinking about this nightmare fuel for a very, very long time.

Root Rot was such an incredible and interesting read. I’d have to say this book contained some of the most grotesque, horrific imagery I have read in a long time, the ending had me in a dream state spiral.

I found the large cast of characters to be intriguing and dynamic. Despite them not having names I found I was able to connect to them through the bizarre and horrendous journey.

Huge appreciation to NetGalley & publisher for the ARC opportunity for this novel. I finished it on Earth Day of all days… and I feel a little bit closer to Mother Nature today. Maybe even a little bit more rotten than I was before.

Such an interesting book! I often feel like novellas are missing something or just aren’t satisfying, but this one was great! I found the characters a little difficult to keep track of, but I also enjoyed the uniqueness of it: The Liar, The Secret Keeper, etc. I think this will be a modern classic one day.

Nine children gather at their grandfather's lake house, but instead of names, they have labels like "The Liar" and "The Secret Keeper." This storytelling choice initially confused me, but soon I was pulled into Nislow's hypnotic collective "we" narration as reality shifts around the children - mushrooms bleed, faces distort, and the landscape seems hungry. The book captures that disorienting childhood experience of being thrown together with cousins, creating a strange mythology while adults remain distant figures doing incomprehensible adult things.. The vacation setting transforms from familiar to alien in ways that feel both disturbing and fascinating. There's no tidy resolution and I finished the book partly confused but strangely content with a story that perfectly scratched my itch for creative weirdness in the stories I consume.

Root Rot is an exploration in mystery and detail, immersing the reader inside the folds of the story and exploring it along with the characters. The tone is excellent - creepy, but from the perspective of one of the main children; dreamlike, but you don't actually wake up.

Very surreal, very bizarre, very experimental. But I think everything clashes together to create a perfect storm in the form of a modern gothic horror story--with lots and lots of fungi! The narrative is very surreal and dreamlike, and I found myself getting swept up in the eerie atmosphere of the lake house and the woods surrounding it. Although this novella is quite short, I felt like the tension creeped on me excellently and the description of the fungi/nature was truly skin crawling. I feel like I will gain more from this from a second read. I'm still trying to decipher that ending!

I find it hard to write a review for #RootRot and not for any bad reasons either. This is the sort of book I think I need to read more than once to completely understand everything that I just read.

We meet a large family of whom we are never given any names only descriptions of their personalities which is also how they are referred too. They all gather at the Family Lake House where something is off. Reflections aren't what they should be and skin doesn't fit quite right.

A fast read I loved #RootRot by #SaskiaNislow even though I am not sure exactly what I read. There are parts that as I read them I felt a growing sense of dread and unease and even now find myself horrified by some of the implications.

I want to thank #Netgalley for the chance to read an eArc of #RootRot

Root Rot is a book that draws you into the story with its dark, mysterious atmosphere. It is very confusing, but I think it's a part of its charm. It made me think about the movie Coraline, but ,well, add some forest, mushrooms, and lots and lots of rot. It is, for sure, a book you read for its vibe and aesthetics, and I might be a little bit biased since I love botanical horror, but I think it does a great job at showing the beauty and the darkness of nature. I wish it could be just a bit clearer at times, so the book could lead us to some answers, but it's just my preference as a reader to have at least some sturdy points that I could hang on to when the story is so dream-like. All in all, it was a very weird but enjoyable read. You shouldn't expect an action-based plot or deep character growth. Just let yourself get lost in the scary, dark forest, where incomprehensible things are happening.

A feverish, dreamlike novella, but one I very much enjoyed. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but the lyrical nature of the narrative swept me up and I read it in one (dread filled) sitting. The characters can be a little hard to keep track off, but I think this fits with the style of writing- by the time you manage to straighten them out and count them up, it’s too late. It’s very effective. A lovely, eerie read for a drowsy weekend. Thank you to Netgalley and Saskia Nislow for allowing me to read this arc 🪱

Nine children. One isolated lake house. What could go wrong?

This book is strange and unsettling in the best way, with growing horror that is slow and creeping (pun intended). It is told in an eerie "we" that reads like a whispered ghost story with the loss of childhood innocence, distorted bodies, and lingering legacies. As the forest closes in, the children change. This book is not just a story involving weird mushrooms and shadowy lake water; it's about control. You need to add this one to your shelf immediately.

Thank you, NetGalley and Creature Publishing, for the opportunity to review and provide my honest feedback.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!
***
"Nine children travel with their families to their Grandfather’s vacation property, where strange things begin to happen: eyes blink from the bottom up, mushrooms ooze blood, people's faces don’t hang right anymore—except they do, once you look more closely. Transformations warp the children’s sense of time and place, the very land itself seeming to encroach upon them."
***
This book left me thinking, "WTF did I just read?" - and not in a good way.
Judging by the cover and the blurb, this seemed just up my alley. However, I just couldn't follow the story line. The book is told from the perspective of nine children...as one. None of the characters have names, they are just referred to as "The Girl Twin", "The Liar", etc. There is also no chapter demarcations. Now, I would have been able to get past the formatting if the story itself was compelling, but it wasn't :/ Nothing truly made sense, and the descriptions were lacking and not horror/gory at all.
Overall, I think it is a good concept but poor execution. Unsettling, but not scary. Love the cover tho!

Review posted on Goodreads & Tiktok

I loved the surreal, poetic writing style. The way the story is told using a collective “we” made everything feel more claustrophobic and hive-minded, which added to the unease. The horror isn’t loud or in-your-face; it’s subtle and weird and biological, with mushrooms and mold and things that shouldn’t be growing—or moving. There’s a strong ecological vibe to it too, which made the horror feel even more real and grounded.

This definitely won’t be for everyone—it’s abstract, disorienting, and doesn’t tie things up neatly—but I found it beautiful in a really disturbing way. If you’re into eco-horror or books that make you feel like you’re slipping into a fever dream, I’d highly recommend this one.

Thanks netgalley for giving me an arc.

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.