Thank you to Talon & Quill, the author and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review

Hmmm, I had high hopes for this book after reading the blurb -

"a haunting mosaic of visceral tales that bend the familiar into the uncanny" featuring "dark vignettes" with "blood-soaked revenge"

Sounds fascinating doesn't it? Unfortunately this did not live up to expectations at all. None of the short stories in this volume held my attention in the slightest. As a consequence I won't be seeking out the rest of Isabella Falconeri's work. Plain and simple, I just didn't 'get' any of these stories. I just ended up thinking - What did I just read? The only reason I didn't DNF this book is that it was only 178 pages long.

#isabellafalconeri #NetGalley

I was unsure what to expect from this book. I enjoy anthologies and short stories with a horror or eerie tone. I frequently find myself drawn in. The first story in this book piqued my interest, the second kept me there, and the third persuaded me to keep reading. Most of the stories piqued my interest; some made me gasp, others made me think, and a few made me simply smile. It's a light read. It doesn't take long to get through the stories, and I am confident that fans of eerie and unsettling tales will enjoy this. I would definitely read another work by this author.

This was such a haunting collection of stories! Not every one hit the mark for me, but more than 70% of them did. I liked the specific ominous dark atmosphere that was present the entire book because it really made each story feel connected, even when they weren't.
The writing style took me a few stories to get into, but I ended up appreciating the razor sharp style, no minced words, no excess, just delivering darkness to the reader.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. The idea of glimpses into snippets of time was so interesting to me. But, in the end I was left wanting something more. I absolutely enjoyed some stories more than others. But, respectfully, a lot of them felt like they were trying too hard to be poetic, when it didn't feel totally necessary to be. But, definitely an interesting concept that I would love to read more of.

Thank you so much, netgalley, for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5/5⭐️

ARC 📖 Review: Fragmentations by Isabella Falconeri
⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: April 22, 2025. (Out Now!)

I don’t think his was for me. I probably would have DNF if it wasn’t only 120ish pages. It felt unfinished and I couldn’t follow like any of these short stories. I was left confused after each one.

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

💀💀

"Fragmentations" is a haunting mosaic of visceral tales that bend the familiar into the uncanny. Across these dark vignettes, humanity's earliest stirrings collide with primal magic, intimate betrayals harden into blood-soaked revenge, and the battlefield gives way to a surreal purgatory where survival is as much a matter of cunning as courage. Each fragment stands alone yet resonates with the others, forging a hidden pattern beneath the surface.

This could work, but it didn't. The ideas are good, and the concept of really short stories is nice, but it wasn't well executed. It looks like the stories were written for social media and not for a book, with the really short sentences and even shorter paragraphs. The stories were good, but the writing was not. Needs some more work.

This really just want my cup of tea. Hard to follow and just over all not great. I honestly would not recommend.

It felt like I read a book of ideas by the author. Most of the stories felt like a beginning of a story but never met it's end. But I must say I enjoyed most of them. It was a not so light, light read as some had heavier topics but definitely enjoyable.

I enjoyed the authors writing style and wish the book was longer! I was a bit confused from usually the shorter chapters as they didn't include enough information, but I get it's probably supposed to be that way since the title is Fragmentations. The line spacing/formatting was a bit annoying and made the book seem longer than it actually was for how little story there is.

Oh boy, I really tried to like this one. Weird horror is one of my favourite genres but this was too weird for me. At times it felt like the book was too smart for me and at times it felt like the author was a hack and trying to be "intellectual" with these weird but ultimately futile exercises in storytelling. The only story I sort of liked was The Grower