book review: the gloaming by kirsty logan
Rating: five stars Wow. That was magical and mesmerising and so, so beautiful. It was definitely less fantasy and more magical-realism than I had expected (no actual mermaids, rip), but I absolutely loved the slightly off-kilter tone and the Gothic atmosphere, and the blending of reality with magic to the point where you're not sure what's real and what's not anymore. The writing was just gorgeous, so descriptive and poetic, and I loved all the sea imagery. I seriously couldn't put it down, I'm obsessed with it aaaaaaah The story is set on a tiny, isolated, rural island, where a subtle magic permeates everything, where the sea is a part of everyone's lives and it takes and takes and gives nothing back, where people slowly turn to stone and go up to the cliff when their time comes to die. The descriptions and tone were absolutely perfect; the landscape was so vivid in my mind, it was absolutely spellbinding. It follows a family who live in a massive run-down ho...