Hoboken Library Staff Picks

The Library at Hellebore
by Cassandra Khaw
I’m always interested to check out a new work by Cassandra Khaw. Even when their work is at their goriest there is always something beautiful about the world they have created. The Library at Hellebore focuses on a school for those with dark supernatural powers. This is Dark Academy at its darkest; Harry Potter if the dementors were running the school. Although some of the students apply and arrive by choice, the main protagonist, Alessa Li, however has no other option after she is forcibly enrolled. When it becomes clear that the school is less about rehabilitation and more about using these would-be anti-Christs as fuel for the even more malevolent staff, they will need to use all their powers to if not save the world at least try to save themselves. I thought it was interesting how the school is often symbolized by carnivorous plants and many of the students are associated with insects and plays with the idea of symbiosis and parasitism. Also the idea of the ways love can become dark, obsessive and predatory are explored in a number of the characters relationships. Want to learn more about Khaw’s work; you can read my previous blog posts about Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy and Nothing But Blackened Teeth.

Certain Dark Things
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Sivlia Moreno-Garcia is best known for her novel, Mexican Gothic, but she has many other works of dark fantasy and horror that are also worth checking out. I enjoyed Certain Dark Things about a down on his luck young man, Domingo, who meets Atl, the beautiful jaded descendant of Aztec vampires. Atl is hiding from both the rival narco-vampire clan and the cops that would like to rid the streets of her kind. As always Moreno-Garcia does a fantastic job of weaving traditional native Mexican myths and legends in with modern stories with complex characters. Her vampires are unique in their physiology and history. In her feeding and behavior, Atl is often compared to not a bat, but a hummingbird. There is also a slow building romance between Domingo and Atl that added a sweet element to the darkness around them. I enjoyed listening to Certain Dark Things as an audiobook read by Aida Reluzco. If you are looking for more, you can read our previous blog posts about Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: Cassandra Khaw, dark academy, horror, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, vampires