I really didn't enjoy this as much as the other two Hill House collections currently on NetGalley (Basketful of Heads and The Dollhouse Family). Two female friends who live in a dying Pennsylvania coal town uncover a big secret that changes their lives. It's certainly artistic, but the story is just a bit too surreal for me (deer women, sinkholes opening up in people, burned men periodically coming up out of coal seams?). This just wasn't for me.

Holy shit. Holy shit. I just finished this graphic novel and, friends, I truly do not see myself as someone who gets legitimately rattled easily — books may make me emotional, but rarely do they get under my skin and stay there — but I feel like The Low, Low Woods is going to linger in my bones for a long, long time to come. That's not because it's scary, but because it is horrifying, not in the haunted houses and ghosts sort of way, but in a sinister, nauseating manner that I never saw coming.

There is so little I can say without spoiling the entire thing, so instead, I'll just tell you that Carmen Maria Machado is one of the most brilliant creative minds I've ever seen and I cannot possibly recommend this story highly enough. It carries her signature speculative taste and bleak outlook on the world, despite following characters you can't avoid loving and rooting for (and naturally, it features queer women of color as the main characters, because we can always count on CMM to give us beautiful diversity in her dark little tales) ♥).

All of my appreciation not only to CMM for crafting this story, but to DC and the Hill House Comics team for helping this twisted creation come into being.

Well, this went in a direction I was NOT expecting, and it ended with a gut punch straight to the feels, but damn it was good. I can't say much about it without throwing out a LOT of spoilers but I guess what I can say is, friendships are golden, even when you think forgetting is bad remembering can be way worse, and men are absolute trash.