By Jamison Shea, Henry Holt & Co., 2024
Jamison Shea currently lives in Finland, but is from Buffalo, NY. In addition to being an avid horror fan, they’re also a flautist and linguist. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me was their debut novel which won the Ignyte Award for Best Young Adult Novel.
In the aftermath of everything that happened before – her best friend trying to murder her, the destruction of the ballet school, and Laure murdering her best friend – Laure just wants to get back to a somewhat normal life. Or at least to the extent one can with an eldritch god, Acheron, living inside her. Unfortunately, dead bodies are piling up, and it seems Acheron has plans for Laure he’s been keeping a secret. Acheron has recruited other merciless people to his side, but is Laure strong enough, vicious enough herself, to become the monster that will save them all?
What Works: The horror elements in the story are still as absolutely perfect as in the first book. While I Feed Her to the Beast balanced the grim and creepy against both the beauty and violence of ballet, in I am the Dark there is less to juxtapose the horror. Instead we are left with bleak options, merciless characters, and tons of revenge plots. There’s lots of gore, lots of violence, and through it all Laure just wants to figure out how to have some semblance of a normal life. The story moves at a quick clip, that will certainly see readers racing to find out what happens next. And the story still retains all the anger and frustration that Black girls deserve to have about the way the world treats them.
What Doesn’t Work: Everything in this story works exactly as it should! It’s not for the faint of heart, though. Certainly, some will be put off by the violence, but it’s a story perfect for the Halloween season, or anyone looking for a good scare.
Pass It or Grab It: Grab it!
Content Warnings: This story comes with lots of content warnings, which were provided by the author. Grief, death and dying, mourning a loved one, parental abandonment, surviving abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, gore (including blood, bones, corpses, and animal carcasses). Body horror, murder, torture, vomit, drinking, cannibalism, and forced confinement (being buried alive)
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