#briardark

[blurrypetals]

Waywarden by S.A. Harian - blurrypetals review

originally posted oct. 31, 2024 - ★★★★☆

I'll be perfectly honest, this book nearly lost me, but in the end, those reveals, those cliffhangers absolutely hooked me back in to the point where Broodmother is certainly one of my more anticipated releases of the moment now. Hopefully it's here sooner rather than later!

But I did have a fairly large issue with this book's pacing. While I was still very invested in the story and what was happening, it did feel a bit like the story meandered a lot. There was so much walk here, do this, get scared by this, almost die, maybe watch someone else die, etc.

That said, while it got a bit exhausting, I still wanted to know what was going on, and I think this gave me enough to keep stringing me along without things getting too exhausting. I'm stoked to find out what happens next!

[asoiafandotherbooks]

I thought of you when I read this quote from "Briardark" by S.A. Harian -

"“I just thought I would have figured out my divine purpose by now. I’m the universe’s dead weight.”"

Start reading this book for free: https://a.co/eqFz8Yz

[huntingteeth]

okay okay even if no one is interested, here is my list of 5-star reads since i joined storygraph (minus my mom’s book, which is a 5-star to me but i also don’t want to dox myself on the internet. if you like a cozy mystery, dm me and i’ll share it privately).

seven brief lessons on physics by carlo rovelli — for the most part i don’t reread books, but i try to read this about once a year, because i find it’s content so comforting in a very scientific way

once there were wolves by charlotte mcconaghy — the twist at the end had me weeping

our wives under the sea by julia armfield — reading this book is like circling the drain. its exploration of grief is great.

diavola by jennifer marie thorne — i waited so long for this book to come off my library holds and it was worth it

briardark/weywarden by s.a. harian — i love this series with all of my heart. it’s such a convoluted ride and each book leaves you with more questions than answers in the best way

big swiss by jen beagin — the main character’s narration is SO GOOD in this book. how this book examines trauma is incredibly interesting.

the song of achilles by madeline miller — i think this book’s worth has been expounded on by so many more people than me, but if you’re waiting like i did for a reason to read it, here’s your reason

annihilation by jeff vandermeer — has all of my favorite tropes, don’t know why i waited so long to read it tbh!!

the fisherman by john langan — this is a story within a story, and once you reach the climax of the story told in the book, you’re thrust into the climax of the actual book. very cosmic horror in a good way.

my absolute darling by gabriel tallent — i can’t actually recommend this one uh so actually check the trigger warnings on this one before you read it, but watching the main character find herself throughout the arc of the book is breathtaking even as the book is so gut wrenching

[danse-or-farkas]

Tag Game: Ppl I'd Like to Get to Know Better

Tagged by @rakimaiirisa

Last Song: The Call (feat. Francesca Hauser) - Warframe 1999 ost

Favorite Color: Orange

Last Book: Briardark by C. L. Werner

Last movie: Beetlejuice 2

Last TV Show: Agatha All Along

Relationship status: Partnered for a lot of years.

Last thing I googled: 'england to portugal' I needed to work out how long of a walk it we be to menace a friend in another country.

Looking forward to: working on a fairly indepth mod project i've only recently gathered the assets for.

Current obsession: Actually between hyperfixations currently. Its quiet. I hate it.

Just tagging @porphyriosao3 since I like their works and barely interact with anyone here otherwise, except rakimaiirisa who tagged me.

[crosaidi]

y'know those times you read a book or two that randomly scratch an itch you didn't even know was itching but then you can't let it go? that's happened twice recently, once with the Briardark series by S.A. Harian a few months ago and now again with The Watchers series by A.M. Shine

tl;dr i've been doing little else but reading for the last 24 hours, and maybe authors with initials for names are my kryptonite

[greeeenhand]

So here's the thing. I like horror as a genre, but at the same time, I am a huge wuss. I can't stand jumpscares, so I can't really play horror games or watch horror movies without eating myself from the anticipation.

Horror novels, however, are perfect for me, since you can't really create a jumpscare from written text alone.

That's why I've been reading some horror novels over the past few years, and I'm gonna share my thoughts on them. This isn't a ranking or a deep dive into each; just my opinion.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoyed this one. The premise revolves around a house with seemingly impossible dimenions and a hallway that leads into a dark, infinite labyrinth. Some folks refer to it "The Backrooms before The Backrooms was a thing", to which I reply "ehh kinda." This book is unique in the sense that it's layered pretty heavily. You're not reading about the guy who ventures into the house, you're reading about a guy who found a manuscript about a film that doesn't exist; with a ton of extra material added to it for... context? Vibes? In any case, this book is the hardest to recommend because of how cerebral it gets sometimes, but if you want a book with layers upon layers of themes, try this one.

Brairdark by S.A. Harian. The latest book I've read. A research team hikes into the mountains where five women went missing; only to find the wilderness making less and less sense around them. It ends on a cliffhanger, but I'm eager to read the sequel. I liked this one because the chapters are neatly divided between the different characters; no chapter drags on for too long.

The Fisherman by John Langan. This one had a bit of a slow start, but a solid ending, IMO. This story features a widower taking up fishing with a coworker, until they set off for the mysterious Dutchman's Creek. Out of all the stories on this list, this one felt the most... "Lovecraftian", I would say. It shares a bit of similarity with Briardark, and a little with House of Leaves, but skewed a bit more towards the former.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. Now this one feels the most digestible to anyone looking to get into horror books. A young woman revisits the old house her family lived in for a time; the same house her father wrote a novel about that claimed the place was haunted by a malevolent spirit. Every other chapter in this book is an excerpt from that novel; a way for the reader to compare the fiction and the reality. What I love about this book is that the mystery is fully solved and explained but stays scary. The truth of what really happened comes out, hits like a truck, and then another twist hits you.

Night Film by Marisha Pessl. This is less horror and more mystery thriller, so take that FWIW. It's about a journalist looking into the death of Ashley Cordova, the daughter of a mysterious movie director, and hopes to uncover the director's secrets. I have to say, as gripping as this book was, the ending just kinda petered out without much fanfare. It has a view images on the pages depicting web pages and photos, but this idea isn't as present in the latter half.

BTW, if you have horror novels to recommend, I'm all ears.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Briardark Cover Art by Svetlana Kostina

[liber---monstrorum]

A Review of Briardark by S.A. Harian.

SUMMARY

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But thirty miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out. Then the body vanishes without a trace. The disappearance isn’t the only chilling anomaly. Siena’s map no longer aligns with the trail. The glacier they were supposed to study has inexplicably melted. Strange foliage overruns the mountainside, and a tunnel within a tree hollow lures Siena to a hidden cabin, and a stranger with a sinister message… Holden Sharpe’s IT job offers little distraction from his wasted potential until he stumbles upon a decommissioned hard drive and an old audio file. Trapped on a mountain, Dr. Siena Dupont recounts an expedition in chaos and the bloody death of a colleague. Entranced by the mystery, Holden searches for answers to Siena’s fate. But he is unprepared for the truth that will draw him to the outskirts of Deadswitch Wilderness—a place teeming with unfathomable nightmares and impossibilities. (source)

Official content warnings: Gore, character death, terror, language, existential dread, mental illness, emotional abuse; more content warnings listed on Storygraph

REVIEW (disclaimer: I recieved a digital review copy of Briardark through Netgalley in exchange for a review.) Whatever I expected from Briardark, it wasn't this.

To tell the truth, I went in not knowing what to expect; the publishers introduce it as "perfect for fans of LOST and House of Leaves," two properties which I haven't yet touched (I know, I know, HoL is on my TBR this year). Based on my scant knowledge of these properties I assumed that meant people would be lost in a weird place.

In Briardark, people sure are lost in a weird place, but it gets so much wilder and bizarre than I could have ever dreamed of. Typically when a book is shilled as a horror thriller, it's just a horror book with a bit of thriller or a thriller book lumped into the horror category because it's a thriller. This, however, is a true horror thriller; the twists in this book are insane, and this is from someone who usually sees "twists" coming from a million miles away. Every single one not only ramps up the tension but also does something clever to tweak an aspect of reality we thought we could trust. Harian is also very patient when it comes to the reveal. Nothing's ever rushed, and the payoff for elements introduced or revealed can take chapters, if not hundreds of pages.

It's a quick read, too, despite its length (350+ pages, 10+ hour audiobook!). The pacing is excellent, knowing when to slow and take in the view and when to hurtle forward over the edge. Several times while reading, I would go to update my reading progress and realize that I'd only read five pages, but with all that had happened I'd expected 20+. In Briardark, stuff just keeps happening and doesn't stop.

THE PEOPLE While the blurb implies that there will only be two POVs, Briardark actually gives every character in Seina's team a POV. Siena and Holden are the main characters, yes, and most of the narrative is told from their perspective, but the narrative also isn't afraid to shift over to another character when necessary--usually when folks split up (or get split up). The reader isn't being shuffled around character's heads willy-nilly.

Normally I'm not a fan of multiple POVs; for me, more than two POV characters is pushing it. Briardark, however, does a really excellent job of handling multiple POVs. It establishes the characters firmly from Siena's POV first, allowing readers to become familiar with who they are before swapping. Also (and this important), every character is both unique and enjoyable.

Out of all the cast, Cam is my favorite. She's a well written lesbian character, something I always appreciate and rarely see. She's allowed to have a close, meaningful relationship with Siena, a straight woman, without ever being attracted to her. Siena never even considers the possibility. Cam's capable, respected in her field and her colleagues, and the trauma she has from her involvement with Briardark in the past is handled really well. I know these things can seem low bar to hurdle, but I'm starved for good lesbian rep, especially in horror/thriller books. I really hope to see more from her in the second book--her plotline was, to me, one of the ones I'm most invested in.

THE PLACE The establishment of place is beautifully done. The book is set in an absolutely awe-inspiring wilderness. Despite the fact I would definitely die immediately (and not even due to anything eldritch, just from the hiking), I'd love to visit.

One of the best pieces of advice I got from my writing classes was to treat place as another character. It's just as important as the human characters in a story, if not more so; the Deadswitch Wild, Briardark, even individual rooms all have their own character. This, of course, goes double for when the wild starts to get weird and eldritch (in more ways than one).

Honestly, I'm usually not one to be pro-map in books. I think they're fine, but I usually don't use them. I think that Briardark would benefit greatly from having a map included; maybe not necessarily in the beginning, but several maps are mentioned over the course of the book, and I was just dying for them to be included as an illustration or in the back. I read an advanced digital reader's copy through Netgalley, so they may be included in the final product. If not, I really hope the second book comes with a map or gets map illustrations. The textual description of them was well-done, of course, making them not strictly necessary, but they'd be cool.

That said, a lot of what is set up in this first book lore-wise recieves no payoff. It's the first book in a series (thank God), so having to wait for reveals is to be expected, but it's going to be hard to wait. Luckily, the second book, Waywarden, comes out in 2024. I can't wait to return to the Briardark in a year.

FINAL THOUGHTS I can't say if the comparison to LOST or House of Leaves is accurate. What I can say is that if you enjoyed titles like The Dark Between the Trees or short stories like "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" and "A Psychological Shipwreck" you'll love Briardark even more. It's weird, tense, and has some fantastic characters I can't wait to read more about.

Briardark released 16 January 2023. If you're interested in the book, check out the official website (https://briardark.com/), request the book from your local library, or buy yourself a copy!

[blurrypetals]

Briardark by S.A. Harian - blurrypetals review

originally posted oct. 28, 2024 - ★★★★☆

This book is the wonderfully weird love child of Annihilation and The Blair Witch Project, two of my all-time favorite horror movies, as well as Search and Rescue Woods by Kerry Hammond, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (my favorite stand-alone novel), and even my most recent horror read prior to this one, We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer, with a pinch of The Lake House.

Which is all to say, on a list of Things Which are Definitely My Shit, you'd find the concept of this novel. As I mentioned, I really enjoy all the things I'd compare this story to on its surface, and beyond that, I really enjoyed most of the execution of it all.

I loved the way this story unfolded, the way we discover how Siena and Holden's stories (and timelines) might or might not be interacting. I loved how we slowly came to learn how everyone on the outside of the forest might not have the research group's best interests at heart and how that affects the events of the novel.

Honestly, the reason this isn't 5 stars is because it left so many questions unanswered by the end. Luckily, unlike the aforementioned We Used to Live Here there's a sequel already out as well as a forthcoming third book, so answers and cliffhanger resolutions are much more possible here than they were there.

This was a great spooky read and I can't wait to see what happens next! Until then!

[echoes-lost]

Yay! The book haul I ordered after christmas is finally here! Very excited.

There's only Briardark which I got yesterday at the same time as my Warhammer RPG rulebook but we're not going to be picky about the haul :)

Night Lords and Briardark are both Warhammer Horror, which I have a weird fascination with. Night Lords is a trilogy set in the 40k setting, Briardark is Age of Sigmar. I'm very excited about those!

Then we have Project Hail Mary but Andy Weir. I very much loved The Martian, loved the movie and adored the book, so when I saw how well rated PHM was, I thought it was a sure bet.

I got Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw. I discovered Cassandra in a Warhammer Horror novel collection and liked her style. Hammer on Bone sounds very promising :3

Then we have Authority and Acceptation, sequels to Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Annihilation was deliciously weird and dreamy, I hope these two follow in the same direction!

And finally, Briardark I got yesterday on a haunch, I don't know anything about it :3

I'm pretty sure I also ordered a sci-fi GRRM book with those, but it seems to be missing. I'll have to check my email, maybe it got discontinued...

Anyway, very exciting reads this year!

[huntingteeth]

ok rec me all ur fave books that have to do with nature being out to get the characters (think this wretched valley or briardark or the ruins) i fear i have read them all lmao

[huntingteeth]

hello babies, i read 24 books in january, here’s my official rundown:

the house across the lake by riley sager: the flashbacks between before/after did a lot of heavy lifting for this book. would have been a quicker read for me if i didn’t have to put it down so often because of the undefined ick i got every couple of chapters lmao.

home before dark by riley sager: look, you know you’re not getting a book with a twist that necessarily makes sense when you read sager. this read was very slow for me.

the rotting within by matt kurtz: tense the entire way through. i had to put this one down at one point because i was so shocked at one of the scenes. could have done without the last chapter, but it was a good read

briardark by s.a. harian: love this book! i enjoyed all the characters, even the ones i didn’t necessarily like. the questions the book leaves you with make you want to read more, which is great since it’s a series.

big swiss by jen beagin; love the main character’s point of view. equal parts humorous and heartbreaking. the way this book explores trauma is interesting

you invited me in by sarah jules: i liked the premise of this book more than the execution

the exorcist’s house by nick roberts: there is one scene so shocking to me that it fully sticks out in my memory. entertaining read, overhyped by the internet

the haar by david sodergren: love the main character’s point, but the villain of the story does not turn out to be what you expect it to be. almost dnfed this one

the only one left by riley sager: slow start, but i enjoyed the last quarter of the book. there’s a whole extra man in this book who doesn’t need it be in it lmao

the god of the woods by liz moore: the first half of the book is a slog, but the last half really makes up for it by being a tense and heartbreaking read.

what have we done by alex finlay: a quick afternoon thriller, but nothing to write home about.

waywarden by s.a. harian: second book in the briardark series. really, really good! some questions get answered and so many more open up.

grimoire: dark fiction and horror anthology by mitchell lüthi et al: cosmic horror lite except i didn’t love this one. some short stories interesting, some not so much.

slewfoot by brom: loved the main character’s point, loved the time period, could have done without the epilogue.

episode thirteen by craig dilouie: definitely trends toward the goofier side of ghost hunting. i wanted it to be a different story than it was while i was reading it. the entire premise hints at a scarier story than we get, but it was still good. house of leaves for beginners.

earthlings by sayaka murata: wild read. not what i expected going into it. ending was sad but oddly hopeful but also not hopeful at all.

horror movie by paul tremblay: very interesting concept. i was so sad for one of the characters the entire time.

knock knock, open wide by neil sharpson: engaging read based on irish folklore. it’s got it all: lesbians, a weird kids show from childhood, and a mystery.

the eyes are the best part by monika kim: not necessarily horror but definitely horrific in some scenes. reminded me of the vegetarian a little bit. read content warnings on this one!

what moves the dead by t. kingfisher: fall of the house of usher reimagined. nice twist at the end.

helpmeet by naben ruthnum: body horror but make it intimate. short, tense read.

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado: hit or miss on each short story, but there are definitely some interesting ones included.

man-eater: the life an legend of an american cannibal by harold schechter: my nonfiction read of the month. a little repetitive in some parts, but an interesting look into the subject matter and pioneer times.

what feasts at night by t. kingfisher: second in the sworn soldier series. not quite as good as what moves the dead, but it was a entertaining read because the characters are familiar. kind of falls apart at the climax.

[huntingteeth]

ok here we go buckos

the only one left by riley sager, 3.5 ⭐️ IT’S RILEY SAGER, YOU GET WHAT YOU GET. one of his better books but it starts so slow lmao

the god of the woods by liz moore, 4 ⭐️ the first half of the book is so slow but the second half is tense. lot of povs to keep track of, but it doesn’t feel forced lol.

what have we done by alex finlay, 3 ⭐️ good afternoon thriller, but there are two characters who feel shoehorned in and the premise feels a little flimsy to me.

waywarden by s.a. harian, 5 ⭐️ this is the second book in the briardark series and they’re both top marks from me. leaves you wanting answers to questions you didn’t realize you had. got all my fave book things: creepy woods, wild science, rotating povs from interesting characters, time shenanigans

grimoire: a dark anthology by mitchell lüthi et al, 2.5 ⭐️ i guess i just expected more from something labeled “a dark anthology” lol. there were certainly interesting stories, but that last three or four are h.p. lovecraft and i justtt don’t like him. this is like cosmic horror lite i guess

slewfoot by brom, 4.5 ⭐️ the throughlines in this book are a little confusing, but i loved the main characters and the witch trial parts are brutal. ending is good, epilogue superfluous

if you would like to know what i’ve been up to this three day weekend, i’ve read five books and am about to finish a sixth, and i will share them later if there are any interested parties