Genre: Horror Novella
Published: Creature Publishing, March 2025
My Rating: 5/5 stars
“He hadn’t really understood before, he mused vaguely, how small he was in comparison to his body. There was so much space inside of him. So much empty space. Filling up.”
Growing up on the Dutch-German border, I remember exploring my families bookshelves filled with decades old books they held onto. One of them terrified me in particular. A book of classical regional fairytales. Not the Disney-variety, but the gruesome originals, filled with folk-horror and bizarre imagery. Many of them, including some of the lesser-known niche ones, had me looking over my shoulder whenever I was out in nature.
Root Rot felt like it came from the pages of this book. Bizarre, unsettling, but strangely hypnotic; I was under its spell.
Our story begins with nine children arriving at the grandfather's vacation property, for a family-gathering following the death of grandma. We don’t learn any of their names, as they’re only referred to by a moniker (“the Liar”, “the Secret Keeper”, the “Oldest” etc.), nor do we get any backstory on them. Whilst the adults convene inside the house, the kids explore the forest and gardens around the Lake House, where they encounter increasingly strange and unsettling events.
All of this is told through the voice of an unnamed narrator, watching from just outside the frame, referring to the kids as “we/us”. Are they one of the 9 children, a 10th child, or something else entirely?
Nislow proves herself a master of atmosphere. From page 1, she nails the “uncanny-valley” feeling, and truly shines in her ability to defamiliarize the familiar. Visuals and events that might otherwise be normal or even nostalgic are warped, transformed and twisted into unrecognizable shapes. It’s a brand of horror that I’m a sucker for, and Nislow executes it to perfection here.
Similarly, I loved how the story “flirts” with familiar figures of European mythology, whilst completely making it her own as well. There are hints at changelings, kelpies and treespirits, but the eventual answer to the mysteries are all Nislow’s own twist of mythology.
Root Rot requires quite some suspension of disbelieve, and a bit of work from the reader. It intentionally keeps you at a distance and in the dark for quite a while, and while it adds to the fever-dream-feeling, I can understand how not every reader will appreciate that. In its current dose, this being a novella and all, it was perfect for me.
That being said, if you your fairytale/folk-horror, nature-horror or even sporror with a hint of the bizarre and uncanny: this is one that’s 100% worth your time.
Many thanks to Creature Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Find this book here on Goodreads.
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