Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for the August 2025 Group Read #1 - They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran. Please use spoiler tags to avoid giving away key plot points. Happy reading!

rubs fins together eagerly

Just picked up my copy. I'll be joining the group.

I read this one a couple months ago and it was really good, I hope everyone else enjoys it!

It's been a quick read for me. Already past the half-way point.

In the opening chapters I wondered why this was labeled as young adult. Seemed to appeal to a larger audience, who might not discover it because of the YA label.
As I read further, it turns out that was accurate. This definitely qualifies for the YA tag. But I still believe there's a larger audience out there for this. Great descriptions. Characters to worry about. Disturbing body horror.

I’m going to give this a try. Hello, everyone! 😎


Zain

Are there only five of us reading this?
Not much commentary here. Ah, well.

For what it's worth, here's my short review . . . . .

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Started reading it a few days ago—also noticed that now I'm running behind in the summer challenge right in the middle of another book's section, so I'm finishing that and then full-steam ahead for this one

Michael wrote: "Are there only five of us reading this?
Not much commentary here. Ah, well.

For what it's worth, here's my short review . . . . .

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I'll be reading it, Michael. I just started off with other August books first. It's the pains of having so many bookish interests...

Michael wrote: "It's been a quick read for me. Already past the half-way point.

In the opening chapters I wondered why this was labeled as young adult. Seemed to appeal to a larger audience, who might not discove..."

I totally agree. This is a good read for most ages. Finished it last night and was wowed.

Just started this one. Liking the imagery so far.

Michael wrote: "Are there only five of us reading this?
Not much commentary here. Ah, well.

For what it's worth, here's my short review . . . . .

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I'm going to start this one later today :)

Currently halfway through! Really loving the writing specifically, it has a very pretty, evocative style.
(view spoiler)[Also, really hating the mom, in a good way, kinda like how it can be easy to both hate and pity Katniss' mom in The Hunger Games, heh. (hide spoiler)]

I finished this one the other day. It was better than I thought it would be :) More sci-fi than horror but still a solid YA read. It's a fairly unique post-apocalyptical world with strong themes.

Finally finished it, whew! Really liked it, the language was very pretty all the way through to the end, it kind of made even the more gruesome bits oddly pleasing just by association, and I found the ending plenty satisfying.
I wouldn't say I found it more sci-fi than horror personally, but more so in line with Weird/New Weird, which I admittedly don't necessarily find as horrific, but do also love. I also thought it was a solid Annihilation companion-like piece, while also being its own thing; and I still haven't read Wilder Girls, but I suspect that it'd be even more in line with that one.
A couple more thoughts in my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mostly, just really liked it, definitely plan on reading more by the author some other time.

I didn't like this one at all. I found it frustrating and a bit of a mess. There was definitely a good central idea here but the writing style was very grating with a huge lack of detail in some areas and far too much detail in other areas. The author tries to beat you over the head with it's metaphor as well instead of trying to make it more subtle. I'm happy to be finished this one.

I just got this from the library, will hopefully read it soon!