In Rituals, Lorcán Black crafts a deeply evocative and unsettling collection of poetry that challenges readers to confront the stark realities of existence, the ache of monotony, and the enduring search for meaning. Black’s work is both haunting and illuminating, painting vivid pictures of despair and hope intertwined in a surreal, almost hypnotic dance.

The collection’s use of mental institutions, Egyptian mythos, and stark portrayals of modern disillusionment feels like an intricate tapestry, each thread pulling you deeper into its world. Through these symbols, Black holds a mirror to the suffocating repetition of daily life—the "rituals" we all perform to survive—and the yearning to break free from them. His exploration of love, or perhaps the hope of love, emerges as a faint yet persistent light amidst the darkness, a fragile thread binding us to our humanity.

Tim Durham’s illustrations serve as a haunting counterpart to Black’s poetry, enhancing the macabre and ethereal atmosphere of the collection. The artwork feels like an extension of Black’s words, grounding their abstract concepts in visceral, visual form.
The thematic blend of natural imagery with grim settings, such as hospitals and harbors, is striking. Black’s poetry feels like an incantation, guiding readers through a labyrinth of raw emotion and existential questioning. The dismal undertones are tempered by moments of revelation and wonder, leaving the reader with the sense that even in despair, there is beauty to be found.

Rituals is not a collection for the faint-hearted. Its exploration of hopelessness and monotony is unrelenting, but therein lies its power. For those willing to wade through its murky depths, it offers a cathartic and thought-provoking experience that lingers long after the final page.
A must-read for lovers of dark, introspective poetry, Rituals is a testament to Lorcán Black’s talent for capturing the human condition in all its grim and beautiful complexity.

Beautiful book! Vivid poetry that really brings its scenes to life. Dark yet gleaming is accurate. “Watch: I shall the call the elements, / I shall cast sacrilegious circles in sand.”

Beautiful poetry and wonderful illustrations combine in this book. It's dark, but deep at the same time, and will make you think. They really hit you in the heart, and you may tear up while reading it. Overall, a great collection.

I appreciate poetry that exposes me to a different experience or worldview. Poetry can also be beautiful, challenging and inspiring.

This collection seems self-indulgent and narcissistic. It is also not really interesting to read in terms of poetic rhythm or structure. The author may have found much healing and growth in the process of writing, however, I don't think many other people would find much to linger on. Perhaps I shouldn't speak for others, but this did not resonate with me.

It is self-consciously dark and intentionally trying to invoke a sense of other-worldly spirits and power. The metaphors are obvious; "The clock is driving itself insane, going around in circles."

I wasn't a fan. I think it just wasn't something that resonated with me, I couldn't get myself into this collection.

A unique collection of poems.
I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are interesting black and white illustrations.

Otherwise, I have mixed feelings about this collection. I liked a few poems, but I have to admit that I somehow couldn't connect to the majority of it. I don't mind that this poetry is gloomy and dark. I didn't like the style. I'm sorry for the bad review, I don't want to write one, but this one is not for me.

Rituals, we all need them and use them - sometimes consciously, sometimes not.

In this wonderful collection of poems, Lorcán Black weaves his words on the balance of life and death, love, compassion and obsession, sometimes leaning a bit to one side or the other. He shows the rituals we recognize, wether we knew they were there or not.

His poems gave me the chills, in a good way. They reached my core and will linger there for a long time.

"To build, you must first destroy."

This is my first poetry book review. I picked this book because the description and the cover intrigued me. The collection explores many themes: war, mental health and illness, self-harm, suicide, love, innocence, drug addictions, constant inner battles, mood swings etc. There is a constant undertone of poignancy and melancholy. Each poem is different in style and length. I loved the fact that they are not monotonous. As mentioned in the description of the book, readers will find themselves clawing through muck and grime, trying to find love so it can save them or at least, hope for love.

The poems are really dark. When I first picked it up to read, I knew this would be a dark read but it turned out to be darker than I imagined. The poems are bewitching but only a few came close to my heart, though every poem fascinated me with its intricate ritualistic writing. Pieces based on asylum reminded me of Sylvia Plath. Anyone who knows me, know that she was the one who helped me rediscover my love for poetry. The highly metaphorical poems, the ritualistic comparisons, the ethereal flow and the magic in the poet's writings are immensely remarkable! The soul of the book was deeply thought-provoking and profoundly deep. It is a quick read and anyone can read it but not everyone will like it but the poem's imagery will stay with you. I would love to read Black's upcoming collections!

eBook provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I went in to Rituals with the expectation that I would enjoy it. I love poetry, I love the ~aesthetics~ that Rituals has, and I love the subjects Rituals covers. However, I was completely disappointed. None of the poems grabbed me in any capacity. I found myself bored and scanning the pages because nothing was gripping or interesting. It seems like the author had one half-interesting Instagram poem and made an entire book of poems around it, all of them more pretentious and meaningless than the previous one. I so desperately wanted to enjoy this book, but I walked away from it after finishing it, relieved that it was finally over. The only reason it earns two stars is because the illustrations were absolutely beautiful.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Rituals, released on the 31st of May this year, from NetGalley and the publisher April Gloaming Publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

I want to begin as always, by saying that this review may contain thoughts and opinions that could spoil the book for you. 

The blurb for this collection states that "Black's poetry illuminates the wonder in all of us."..."this collection fortifies our nature to hunt for a life worth living." Which pretty much perfectly sums up how I felt about this work. 

I have decided that my rating for Rituals had to be at least 3.5-4 out of 5 stars. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but those of you who do appreciate poetry that is quite metaphoric and gritty pick this up. I will say though, if you can, read Black's poem 'Aleppo' it will break your heart... in a good way? 

For my full review check out my blog:
https://readbyamity.blog

This was a quiet little poetry collection. The author describes it as a "strange little book" in the acknowledgements and that's an apt description. The cover intrigued me with its mix of beauty and brokenness, and the poems have the same feeling. This is not a happy collection, but it is beautifully written. None of the poems particularly resonated with me or made me feel strong emotions, but that's not a bad thing. It just didn't click all the way with me. The poet is undoubtedly very gifted, though, so I encourage you to give it a try.

*I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved everything about this book. I didn’t know what to expect and I am so glad this book found me. Beautifully written, dramatic prose, soulful pages of relevant and important topics. I felt lost occasionally but it was because I was stuck thinking about the previous sentence or two and had to go back and read it again because of the different ways of perceiving. Will recommend!

This collection of poetry featured quite a lot of themes in it:mental health, being in mental institutions,feeling trapped in your own head, war,consequences of war,depression and many,many more. The author has such a unique style of writing, creating an atmospheric experience. All poems were dark,and as you read them you feel like you are drowning and with each poem you go down a little deeper. Don't think I will reread this one,but it will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. One of the most beautiful books of poetry I have read in a long time. Faith, madness, reality, all combined. What is faith? What are we to believe? How do you show that faith? These poems are all about what you feel.
I enjoyed the artwork as well. Everything fit well into the atmosphere of the poetry. This book may be dark to some, but I personally love the dark.

Rituals by Lorcán Black is an arrangement of vivid images and edgy, emotional writing that also grips the reader. I have shared about it gladly on my blog, along with some other poetic titles. Many thanks to the publisher for this digital advance copy.

I was honestly a little lost with this, and there was a strong disconnect between the poems themselves. Sometimes, with poetry, the reader fails to feel it, and I believe this was exactly what happened to me with this one. Some were beautiful, but most too much for me.

This poetry collection definitely has more of a classic feel to it. For everyone who likes that more than the shorter modern style, this book will be amazing. I just couldn't get into it and felt no connection to the poems. They were well crafted and I enjoyed, that the book was short and every poem felt like it had a reason to be there and wasn't just filler.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes longer, more lyrical poems. It just sadly wasn't for me.

This is a lovely collection of poetry from a talented poet and I really enjoyed reading it. There were different styles and I particularly enjoyed the dark subject matter and how the poet addressed these topics. I loved the witchcraft elements as well. There is a diversity of themes in this poetry collection, everything from mental health, parenting, and much more. I was a pleasure to read and quite a few of the poems left me thinking afterwards.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free digital download of this book by NetGallery in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was disappointed in this volume of work. While I knew some of the writing would be dark due to subject matter, I didn't expect the entire book to be so dismal. The writing style also seemed to evade my perception. I found it to be very rudimentary.

The book itself had a lot of blank/filler pages and could have been condensed.

I don't claim to be a poetry expert, but this one simply offered me no reading pleasure.