Today in I don’t remember why I put a hold on this book but it came in and I did not even read the summary to find out what I was getting into, body horror! Do I normally have absolutely no issues with this kind of thing normally? Yes. Is my brain pretty fried from work burnout and stress and still recovering from all the brain issues, making it much less okay with this kind of thing? Also yes!
The book follows Kara (Carrot to close friends and family) as she finds herself living in her uncle’s Wonder Museum and helping him care for it while he’s out having knee surgery. A small hole appears in the wall, likely caused by a tourist accident, she discovers a passage to a strange world between worlds where you hope desperately that the willows that cover the place are hungry, because if they aren’t they are curious and will find new and interesting ways to toy with the humans who are unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped there.
The worldbuilding is a lot of fun, especially in how the willows become a very strange, alien force that creep into the minds of people. There’s also the fun that is seeing what was left behind by others, and how Carrot finds out that these are people who did not come from her world, but from parallel universes that are just a little off of her own.
I also appreciated the interplay and relationship between her and Simon, the barista from next door who also ends up experiencing the horrors with her. There was a distinct attempt to ensure there was absolutely no sexual tension between Carrot and Simon by pointing out he was, in fact, gay, which was just a weird reminder for me that they would have been expected to end up together otherwise.
Overall I really enjoyed it! It was a creepy story maybe not best read at bed time with some haunting imagery and an appreciated lack of a clean wrap up for the situation. If it sounds even vaguely interesting, definitely check it out!