A Thousand Monstrous Forms

The unsettling and atmospheric gothic horror of my DREAMS. Poppy, a young ceramic artist has been swept off her feet by Celia, an older art dealer who invites her to move across the country into her family mansion, House of Busirane, after they've eloped. Celia encourages Poppy to work on her art out of the mansion while she travels to visit different clients frequently, but under one condition, to never go into the basement. When Poppy is alone, the mansion starts expressing their dislike of her presence through bleeding paintings, moving statues, and hallways whispering her name... This was my first of Schaefer's work, and certainly not my last. Their writing style had me so immersed. If I could have ignored all adult responsibilities I would have been able to finish this in one sitting. The mirror scenes have truly creeped me out so bad I don't want to look at my own reflection. They reminded me of the movie "Mirrors" from 2008, and both the movie and these scenes with Poppy are so unsettling. You can tell how much love Schaefer poured into these pages to bring this retelling to life. I loved the authors note where they talked about how important it was to make this a gender-bent sapphic retelling. In many original works or fairytales the woman is saved by men or male figures and the male villain is slayed, but "A Thousand Monstrous Forms" shows what if the hero and villains were women? This will definitely be one of my top reads of the year and can't wait to read more by them!