Will Maclean: "Solace House" (ARC Review)

Title: Solace House [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Will Maclean [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2026
Age: 18+ (because of its themes and its complexity, it's a better fit for older readers - though it straddles the line between Adult and New Adult, and can indeed be read by mature teens. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Spellbinding, mindboggling, unpredictable, so very clever, exquisitely written.
Cons: The characters aren't what you would call "likeable". While the poetry inserts are ultimately important, their language is dense and old-fashioned. The ending is both open (in a way) and open to interpretation, which might annoy readers who need a decent amount of closure.
WARNING! Murder/decapitation, body horror, self-harm, psychosis, death of a parent, drugs, claustrophobic spaces, forced hospitalisation, references to suicide and domestic violence.
Will appeal to: Those who like creepy, multilayered stories set in a creepy, multilayered reality - with a side of time warp/time loop.

Blurb: In the summer of 1993, broke student Alex Lane joins a team clearing out Solace House, a Victorian mansion bequeathed to the university by a reclusive hoarder called Flayne. The other students are a mixed bunch, but Alex quickly falls into a close friendship with the lively, redheaded Ella. When the crew begins sorting through piles of junk, they stumble upon Flayne's journals, in which he details his obsession with his missing mother, his discovery of a place called Bewise, and - most mysteriously - his belief in another realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions as to how it might be reached. As the students delve deeper into the house's secrets, one of them becomes obsessed with deciphering Flayne's strange opus and its promise of another world...and they may be willing to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to get there. (Goodreads)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

In the Acknowledgments section, the autor states that it took him five years to.complete this novel, and I wasn't at all surprised to hear that. Even not taking into account its length (500 pages) and the quatrains that open each chapter (more about them later), Solace House is one of the most ambitious and complex books I've ever read...though I don't want you to get the wrong impression - it will mess with your mind, but you won't have to struggle to crack it open like the proverbial hard nut. You don't need to be well-versed in science, or philosophy, or history, in order to enjoy it (though it might help if you like word games). If anything, you'll find it compulsively readable, at least once the plot moves to the titular house or its vicinity at least (admittedly, the first section is maybe a tad too long, but on the other hand, it's not like I was bored while reading it). When the cast finally comes together, there's a palpable wrongness in the air, or a sense of disquiet at the very least, that can't be all chalked up to the amount of recreational drugs they take 😂 - especially after they have their first experience with the house, and a certain song (inspired by a painting) enters the equation. From there, the tension, uneasiness and horror keep ramping up, all the way to a finale that's either going to have you in awe or make you mad, but looking back, it's probably the only one that fits. [...]

Tell Me Something Tuesday (on a Saturday): Which Books Are You Looking Forward to Reading This Fall? (September-November)

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters throw in for good measure). After Heidi stopped blogging (apparently for good), five of us took over as hosts while providing new questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

WHICH BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THIS FALL? (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER)

(First off - the date for this post should have been September 1st, but I had my Offbeat Offline installment scheduled for that day, so I decided to move this one forward...).

I don't know if I'll ever get around to buying all these books or when, since 1) early reviews and excerpts might cause me to change my mind in the future, and 2) given my current situation (see: unemployment status), book money is scarce...(I got more than half of these in eARC form though! See below). Anyhow, I wanted to give a bit of exposure to all the fall books that caught my eye, so here's my list (complete with pub dates)...

Offbeat Offline: August 2026

Welcome to Offbeat Offline, where I bring you up-to-date with what went on in my life during the month just gone, give you a sneak peek of my next shenanigans, and share my favourite posts of late!

What happened last month to yours truly? More stifling heat, a whole lot of boredom. But what can you do in this climate? August was another unforgiving month, with a very brief (and mild) respite a few days ago and a fresh (ha!) wave of HELL afterwards. Anyhow, let's start with the bookish stuff as usual...

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #71 Mike Chen, Jonathan Sims, Rachel Reiss

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Seanan McGuire: "Inkpot Gods"

Title: Inkpot Gods [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Alchemical Journeys (4th of 5 books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2026
Age: 16+ (the book is geared towards adults, but can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Fascinating concept. Rich mythology. Characters who transcend the page.
Cons: The dual timeline with a foot in the 19th century may not sit well with everyone. In the "present" timeline there's a lot of exposition/recapitulation (though it's required in order to bring a new character up to speed).
WARNING! Death in childbirth, dismemberment, body horror/flensing, self-harm, stabbing, near-drowning, animal death, misogyny/sexism, suicidal thoughts.
Will appeal to: Fans of the series who loved Book 3 more than Book 2. Readers who enjoy a creative, exciting twist on concepts made flesh, gods incarnate and the heart of creation. 

Blurb: More than a century has passed since Asphodel Baker refined the process allowing her to imbue alchemically created life with power More than a century since she built the Impossible City on the ruins of Olympus. And now, so long after her exit from the world, the descendants of her dark alchemy - who exist in a reality that inches ever closer to the hellscape of her imagination - step into a place of birth, of discovery, of horror, to make amends for the sins of the past. Can the gods of today defeat the evils of their maker, or will the legacy of the most powerful alchemist the world has ever known prove to be their undoing?(Amazon excerpt)

Review: This series is FABULOUS (except for Book 2 LOL), and I'd be happy to read it for the rest of my life, but alas...we're approaching the ending. Only one book to go! Catch up while you can (the final installment will only come out in 2028...). Thank me later 😉.

DOUBLE ANGLE

While Book 4 in the Alchemical Journeys series is a direct sequel to Book 3, and at the same time draws on the events of Book 1 (the second installment was, for all purposes, a "sidequel"), it also broadens the scope of the story in two different ways. In the past, we're treated to an insight into the life of Asphodel Baker, the first female alchemist, to whom a number of our protagonists owe their non-human existence; in the present, we're introduced to Lilianne, a trans woman and a budding alchemist herself, whose life becomes entwined with the rest of the cast's due to a...meet-cute with one of them 😁, and who's in for a shock or two (more like a dozen) and a lot of reckoning to be done.

Asphodel's villain origin story was a blast to read (and a real eye-opener). Leave it to McGuire to write a despicable character in a way that makes you almost sympathise with them, all while you never forget how monstrous they are (in this particular case, the period-accurate misogyny helps a great deal with the sympathising part). Asphodel is a complex villain, and if her transition from innocent, wronged little girl to evil schemer is a bit abrupt, it's not like this impacts the story as a whole. Lilianne counterbalances the "villainous alchemist" trope and adds her own coming-of-age arc to the mix, one in which her identity and her pursue of alchemy are cleverly connected. (Before you ask: she has a supportive - and incidentally, magical-adjacent - family, so hers is mostly a story of trans joy, though McGuire doesn't shy from mentioning the trials that come with reinventing yourself on a physical level in a very vocally hostile society. Then again, the story is set in 2018, prior to the horrendous backlash the US trans community has experienced in the last couple of years). [...]