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The House of Drought
A HAUNTED HOUSE FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE ERA. On the island of Sri Lanka, at a colonial mansion between the forest and the paddy fields, a caretaker arrives with four children in tow after pledging to keep them safe. When violent thugs storm the house demanding that Ushu repay his debt, young Jasmit and the other children hide in an upstairs bathroom where a running tap opens a gateway to escape. But the Dry House is not the only force at work in the place where the forest and the estate meet—something else stirs in the trees, something ancient, something that demands retribution.
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house’s inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion’s bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house’s inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion’s bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.
106 pages, ebook
Published July 14, 2022
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April 18, 2024
When German documentarians, Bernhard & Julie make their way into the Kandy province of Sri Lanka with the intent to film clips of the devastating effects of climate change on local farmlands, they come across a local folktale whispered amongst farmers. The legend of an entity that floats through the jungle with seeds for eyes & lures children with tenderness; always keeping an eye on the health & wealth of the lands, seeking to protect the nourishment that it requires to prosper. Throughout this novella, a multitude of characters, each with their own dramatic backstories, find their way to the house only to become lost in the horror that befalls the property.
There is always room on my library shelf for a book that requires me to research topics. Though I enjoy stories that lead me down familiar roads, there is something to be said for those who leave me seeking to learn more. This is one such book.
Riddled to the brim with folktales & lore, the Sap Mother is an entity that was sprinkled into the story just enough to leave me feeling intrigued yet, I did not feel that enough dedicated detail was given to her or any of the characters to leave me feeling fearful. I wonder if this is due to the length of the book or if it is because the story is being presented in book format, that the intensity of the lore is lost upon me. Should I find myself watching this story unfold, I should think that I would enjoy the film very much.
I am not one to comment on something that I have no knowledge of. I will always do my due diligence in terms of research materials that were previously outside my realm of understanding. When it came to seeking to understand who the Sap Mother was for locals, especially those in the farmlands of Kandy, I came up empty-handed. It was incessantly difficult to find any information about a Sap Mother, an Anik Amma, or a White Lady in local lore which made the author’s note a bit confusing.
There are ample texts dedicated to explaining the phenomenon of The White Lady for different nationalities of people; the concept appears to be quite common among humanity. However, I could not find anything specific outside of a couple of quick mentions of general descriptions.
The White Lady is a woman who wanders around luring men to their deaths, essentially. However, after coming up short in terms of specific information regarding this entity I relied heavily on the descriptors given to us in the book. I acknowledge that the author is recounting some of the stories that he has been told & am in no way seeking to claim falsehood when stating that I could not find information about this entity. Rather, I wonder, why we are given so little.
In the context of the story, the Sap Mother is said to be a protector of the land. Given the level of reliance that the local people have on a generous rain season to ensure that their crops grow, the Sap Mother wanders around taking seeds as payment for guardianship. My first moment of confusion arose when we were told that the Sap Mother gets her strength from the young, feeding on their life force to sustain her. Does this mean that she kills them or does this mean that she finds joy & sustenance for her tasks, in the presence of children?
What leads me to question this is that—& perhaps this was the point—the Sap Mother is simultaneously presented as good & evil. She kept a child captive with her during the entirety of his life in the jungle after he ran away from the house that mob members were barging into. Yet, we are also meant to believe that she is simply angry at the house for rotting the land & sucking it dry from water.
What is the link between the Sap Mother & the House of Drought other than they both inhabit the same place? Why were the children captive within the walls of the house? Who made it so this house held secret rooms? Are we to believe that the Englishman who built the establishment had directed it to be built as such? If not, where do the supernatural aspects of the story come into play when it comes to leading people to be imprisoned within the walls of the House of Drought? Wouldn’t the Sap Mother want to set the children free from a house that was ruining the land she sought to protect?
I understand that this story relies fully on the make-believe aspect of storytelling. For example, everyone who was trapped inside the Drought House would have died within three days, especially if the house was sucking them dry of any/all moisture.
I appreciate that not every aspect of an entity of local lore may be completely understood or accurately translated. However, this story would have benefited from more elaboration. Rather than hearing a villager recount some of the stories & experiences that she had, more than twice, we could have seen the characters of the documentarians do personal research. Perhaps they were in the early stages of their project but, seeing as we read about them gathering final clips of the house for the film I think not.
Bernhard & Julie would have added more than a disjointed link to the history of the house had they participated in the research. Seeing them be told by third parties what happened in the house felt a bit boring & I know that’s not a great descriptor but, every flashback to the present time saw me waiting for the next section of explanation about the actual people that lived in the house.
With that being said, some editing could have been done to have these pieces of the story flow with more ease. I do not think it necessary to read about every group of people’s impressions of the palace especially when each of these was the same, one from the other.
The dialogue grew to feel increasingly disjointed & I cannot pinpoint if this was intended in an attempt to write the English text how someone who spoke another language would speak it—utilizing intonations, emphasis, etc.—or if the author could have benefited from another editor.
As well, I had no reason to believe that the characters held the nationalities that they did. There could have been further German employed to reinforce where the characters were meant to be from. I originally thought that the employment of “ja’” in place of “yes” was due to spelling errors & it wasn’t until a German word was used that I understood why this was being done.
In cases such as this, it would be positive to have the English book be written in authentic English speech & not adopt the speech patterns of another language. Words can be utilized within the text to confirm who is speaking & what language they are speaking but, to do both feels disjointed.
Ambiguity is generally fine, I enjoy it in Horror but, in this case, I was waiting for something catastrophic to happen to lead me to feel enthused about the book. When Hemantha is probably killed by the Sap Mother I couldn’t help but wonder, why. This is meant to be a peaceful being & yet she murders a random person for being inside the house she hates? Is she single-minded or can she intone that these people walked through the forest in which she lives to seek shelter in the house? Did anyone find his body?
This leads me to question, again, what the connection between the House of Drought & the Sap Mother is. Is the house evil or is it simply haunted? Is it haunted because of the Sap Mother or is it haunted because the Englishman gave less than 2 cents for the land & the people?
When all is said & done, I enjoyed the thought & motivation behind this story more than I enjoyed the story itself. When the house captures Bernhard I didn’t care, I was eager to be done reading. Jasmit’s side quest to release the person who saved her after 20 years felt ridiculous; I’m sure it was difficult for her to return to the house but come on…this person sacrificed themselves in coming to save you, please be better. With some editing, this story would flow very smoothly & ultimately that should be the goal; to have a horror story transition effortlessly through terrors & fears, with bumps in the night & strange light, into the solitary confinement of a man without willpower.
Thank you to NetGalley, Stelliform Press, & Dennis Mombauer for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
There is always room on my library shelf for a book that requires me to research topics. Though I enjoy stories that lead me down familiar roads, there is something to be said for those who leave me seeking to learn more. This is one such book.
Riddled to the brim with folktales & lore, the Sap Mother is an entity that was sprinkled into the story just enough to leave me feeling intrigued yet, I did not feel that enough dedicated detail was given to her or any of the characters to leave me feeling fearful. I wonder if this is due to the length of the book or if it is because the story is being presented in book format, that the intensity of the lore is lost upon me. Should I find myself watching this story unfold, I should think that I would enjoy the film very much.
I am not one to comment on something that I have no knowledge of. I will always do my due diligence in terms of research materials that were previously outside my realm of understanding. When it came to seeking to understand who the Sap Mother was for locals, especially those in the farmlands of Kandy, I came up empty-handed. It was incessantly difficult to find any information about a Sap Mother, an Anik Amma, or a White Lady in local lore which made the author’s note a bit confusing.
There are ample texts dedicated to explaining the phenomenon of The White Lady for different nationalities of people; the concept appears to be quite common among humanity. However, I could not find anything specific outside of a couple of quick mentions of general descriptions.
The White Lady is a woman who wanders around luring men to their deaths, essentially. However, after coming up short in terms of specific information regarding this entity I relied heavily on the descriptors given to us in the book. I acknowledge that the author is recounting some of the stories that he has been told & am in no way seeking to claim falsehood when stating that I could not find information about this entity. Rather, I wonder, why we are given so little.
In the context of the story, the Sap Mother is said to be a protector of the land. Given the level of reliance that the local people have on a generous rain season to ensure that their crops grow, the Sap Mother wanders around taking seeds as payment for guardianship. My first moment of confusion arose when we were told that the Sap Mother gets her strength from the young, feeding on their life force to sustain her. Does this mean that she kills them or does this mean that she finds joy & sustenance for her tasks, in the presence of children?
What leads me to question this is that—& perhaps this was the point—the Sap Mother is simultaneously presented as good & evil. She kept a child captive with her during the entirety of his life in the jungle after he ran away from the house that mob members were barging into. Yet, we are also meant to believe that she is simply angry at the house for rotting the land & sucking it dry from water.
What is the link between the Sap Mother & the House of Drought other than they both inhabit the same place? Why were the children captive within the walls of the house? Who made it so this house held secret rooms? Are we to believe that the Englishman who built the establishment had directed it to be built as such? If not, where do the supernatural aspects of the story come into play when it comes to leading people to be imprisoned within the walls of the House of Drought? Wouldn’t the Sap Mother want to set the children free from a house that was ruining the land she sought to protect?
I understand that this story relies fully on the make-believe aspect of storytelling. For example, everyone who was trapped inside the Drought House would have died within three days, especially if the house was sucking them dry of any/all moisture.
I appreciate that not every aspect of an entity of local lore may be completely understood or accurately translated. However, this story would have benefited from more elaboration. Rather than hearing a villager recount some of the stories & experiences that she had, more than twice, we could have seen the characters of the documentarians do personal research. Perhaps they were in the early stages of their project but, seeing as we read about them gathering final clips of the house for the film I think not.
Bernhard & Julie would have added more than a disjointed link to the history of the house had they participated in the research. Seeing them be told by third parties what happened in the house felt a bit boring & I know that’s not a great descriptor but, every flashback to the present time saw me waiting for the next section of explanation about the actual people that lived in the house.
With that being said, some editing could have been done to have these pieces of the story flow with more ease. I do not think it necessary to read about every group of people’s impressions of the palace especially when each of these was the same, one from the other.
The dialogue grew to feel increasingly disjointed & I cannot pinpoint if this was intended in an attempt to write the English text how someone who spoke another language would speak it—utilizing intonations, emphasis, etc.—or if the author could have benefited from another editor.
As well, I had no reason to believe that the characters held the nationalities that they did. There could have been further German employed to reinforce where the characters were meant to be from. I originally thought that the employment of “ja’” in place of “yes” was due to spelling errors & it wasn’t until a German word was used that I understood why this was being done.
In cases such as this, it would be positive to have the English book be written in authentic English speech & not adopt the speech patterns of another language. Words can be utilized within the text to confirm who is speaking & what language they are speaking but, to do both feels disjointed.
Ambiguity is generally fine, I enjoy it in Horror but, in this case, I was waiting for something catastrophic to happen to lead me to feel enthused about the book. When Hemantha is probably killed by the Sap Mother I couldn’t help but wonder, why. This is meant to be a peaceful being & yet she murders a random person for being inside the house she hates? Is she single-minded or can she intone that these people walked through the forest in which she lives to seek shelter in the house? Did anyone find his body?
This leads me to question, again, what the connection between the House of Drought & the Sap Mother is. Is the house evil or is it simply haunted? Is it haunted because of the Sap Mother or is it haunted because the Englishman gave less than 2 cents for the land & the people?
When all is said & done, I enjoyed the thought & motivation behind this story more than I enjoyed the story itself. When the house captures Bernhard I didn’t care, I was eager to be done reading. Jasmit’s side quest to release the person who saved her after 20 years felt ridiculous; I’m sure it was difficult for her to return to the house but come on…this person sacrificed themselves in coming to save you, please be better. With some editing, this story would flow very smoothly & ultimately that should be the goal; to have a horror story transition effortlessly through terrors & fears, with bumps in the night & strange light, into the solitary confinement of a man without willpower.
Thank you to NetGalley, Stelliform Press, & Dennis Mombauer for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2022
I was expecting more.
Arc provided by the author and book sirens.
Overall, this story was interesting. An entity of the woods with seeds for eyes, there to protect and watch over the land. Important due to the climate change and the many disadvantages brought to the land. In present-day we follow Bernhard and Julie as they film the land of Sri Lanka for a documentary on the effects of climate change on the farmlands and how it has affected the locals. However, the farmers point them in the direction of a large house seeming to be the start of the downfall of the land while also being connected to a local folktale and missing children.
I found it a little difficult to follow—only because it went into detail of the many different inhabitants of the house and their connection to the folktale over the years. How it was formated could have been done better, yet I still got the gist of the story and what happened to the multitude of characters. I do wish this was more frightening. I'm not really one to enjoy the paranormal but this entire book didn't bring that fear factor. It was a thought-provoking read, and the story is somewhat unique that I do recommend this book—I just feel that there could have been more done with it.
Arc provided by the author and book sirens.
Overall, this story was interesting. An entity of the woods with seeds for eyes, there to protect and watch over the land. Important due to the climate change and the many disadvantages brought to the land. In present-day we follow Bernhard and Julie as they film the land of Sri Lanka for a documentary on the effects of climate change on the farmlands and how it has affected the locals. However, the farmers point them in the direction of a large house seeming to be the start of the downfall of the land while also being connected to a local folktale and missing children.
I found it a little difficult to follow—only because it went into detail of the many different inhabitants of the house and their connection to the folktale over the years. How it was formated could have been done better, yet I still got the gist of the story and what happened to the multitude of characters. I do wish this was more frightening. I'm not really one to enjoy the paranormal but this entire book didn't bring that fear factor. It was a thought-provoking read, and the story is somewhat unique that I do recommend this book—I just feel that there could have been more done with it.
August 20, 2023
“The House of Drought. The upside-down house. The house hibernating inside the house.”
Bernhard Zimmerkrug and his associate travel to Sri-Lanka to record a documentary exposing climate change and the severe drought in Anathakandu. While there he comes upon an old mansion and out of curiosity, he decides to explore and learn the history of the house. He believes his documentary needs something more; a human connection. What he learns and experiences will change his life.
We are given the history of the house during different eras and the people that were in some way connected. From the original builder and the people who once dwelled there. There is an ancient lore connected to the mansion, one that has always watched over the land to preserve and prosper it, a ghost of the forest. The building of the house has hurt the spirit and the forest in which she dwells. The house has become a curse upon the land.
The house has many, many secrets.
I feel one must keep an open mind while reading this. Read it for what it is, a work of fiction to entertain and yet still give a look into climate change and its effects. It has many unsettling moments as we are introduced to the lore of the forest and how the house is perceived as a labyrinth of hidden halls, an otherworldly side, with a very dry, dusty, parching, claustrophobic setting. It is never really explained how the house became a curse, but we are given a story of a woman who hides her children within to protect them from harm. A lineage of stories piecing each puzzle together, but never quite getting that foothold because we are shifted from the characters experiences within the house and then brought back to their entry into the house, but as the house is a labyrinth, it gives the feeling of also being taken through the many layers within. I felt it was very effective keeping with the themes that eventually are more revealed.
Good imagery, descriptive and atmospheric. Not necessarily frightening, a bit unsettling if one imagines oneself stepping into an old colonial mansion and becoming trapped within its corridors of dryness and dust.
“It’s worse than the world outside, worse than the forest and the fields. This place doesn’t belong here; it never should have been built.”
Bernhard Zimmerkrug and his associate travel to Sri-Lanka to record a documentary exposing climate change and the severe drought in Anathakandu. While there he comes upon an old mansion and out of curiosity, he decides to explore and learn the history of the house. He believes his documentary needs something more; a human connection. What he learns and experiences will change his life.
We are given the history of the house during different eras and the people that were in some way connected. From the original builder and the people who once dwelled there. There is an ancient lore connected to the mansion, one that has always watched over the land to preserve and prosper it, a ghost of the forest. The building of the house has hurt the spirit and the forest in which she dwells. The house has become a curse upon the land.
The house has many, many secrets.
I feel one must keep an open mind while reading this. Read it for what it is, a work of fiction to entertain and yet still give a look into climate change and its effects. It has many unsettling moments as we are introduced to the lore of the forest and how the house is perceived as a labyrinth of hidden halls, an otherworldly side, with a very dry, dusty, parching, claustrophobic setting. It is never really explained how the house became a curse, but we are given a story of a woman who hides her children within to protect them from harm. A lineage of stories piecing each puzzle together, but never quite getting that foothold because we are shifted from the characters experiences within the house and then brought back to their entry into the house, but as the house is a labyrinth, it gives the feeling of also being taken through the many layers within. I felt it was very effective keeping with the themes that eventually are more revealed.
Good imagery, descriptive and atmospheric. Not necessarily frightening, a bit unsettling if one imagines oneself stepping into an old colonial mansion and becoming trapped within its corridors of dryness and dust.
“It’s worse than the world outside, worse than the forest and the fields. This place doesn’t belong here; it never should have been built.”
July 10, 2022
An atmospheric horror that delves into climate change and western resource exploitation in Sri Lanka, with a haunted colonial mansion and an angry forest spirit. Some sections were stronger than others, but the tale of various families who interacted with the house was compelling. I do wish we'd got to hear this story from a Sri Lankan writer rather than a white German, but it was an interesting read regardless.
July 6, 2022
A twisty tale that feels like it’s taken from an actual legend, which it seems to be from the authors end notes. It moves around in time, which I found a little difficult to follow at times, but which pulled together well in the end. The writing is top-notch, and the characters are interesting, though some did feel as though they were not fully developed. There’s definitely a sense of place & a feeling of the mood in the setting in Sri Lanka with a strong sense of mystery. An interesting read.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC for an honest review.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC for an honest review.
April 10, 2022
Nope. This just didn't work for me. There was too much going on throughout the story.
I was fully behind a ghost story that was connected to climate change, but The House of Drought just brought ghosts and climate change into the story and really didn't dive into the how and why they were connected. Why was the house so thirsty? What's with the water? Why bring bottles of water in? Who are all the people and how do they connect? Where do they go and who else is there? These are all questions that frustrated me as I worked my way through the story. I never got any satisfactory answers. I'm still not certain I understood half of what I read.
I was fully behind a ghost story that was connected to climate change, but The House of Drought just brought ghosts and climate change into the story and really didn't dive into the how and why they were connected. Why was the house so thirsty? What's with the water? Why bring bottles of water in? Who are all the people and how do they connect? Where do they go and who else is there? These are all questions that frustrated me as I worked my way through the story. I never got any satisfactory answers. I'm still not certain I understood half of what I read.
July 15, 2022
This is weird rather than all-out horror, but there were times when it was scary enough that I didn’t want to read it before bedtime. If you like stories of labyrinths, derelict houses and mysterious ancient beings taking revenge, you’ll love this.
Set in rural Sri Lanka, Dennis Mombauer’s The House of Drought is a very creepy tale of an abandoned colonial house built incongruously between the paddy fields and the ancient forest. The land is rumoured to be protected by a mysterious pale woman, the Sap Mother. Somehow, the people who have lived in the house all seem to have either left or disappeared. When a German documentary team arrives, making a film about climate change, they are looking for a unique human interest story to catch the attention of their audience. When they see the abandoned colonial residence, they decide to investigate inside.
The story moves backwards and forwards between the past and the present, with several different groups of people living in the house or visiting it. Brooding throughout the novel is a sense of the supernatural. There is something strange about the house. Layer by layer we learn more about what has happened there, yet the more you read, the more peculiar it becomes. At the end, the true nature of the house’s mystery had not been completely solved for me, but I found it so gripping that I may well have missed some of the detail. Luckily for me, I have it stored on my phone, so I may well read it again.
There are rumours of a forest spirit, a wandering lost soul who takes in orphaned children and protects them and the land. Having recently read Melmoth by Sarah Perry, I was struck by how similar the legendary women are. Melmoth is a dark and lonely wandering woman, cursed to roam the earth and attracted to evil and our basest instincts. In The House of Drought, the Sap Mother or Anik Amma is a White Lady, who appears in the forest to men travelling alone and children wandering into the forest.
“She is not a ghost, and she is not bad. They call her the old lady of the forest, but she renews herself with swarming young bodies, with the pips of fleshy fruit. The saps and juices of the jungle flow through her. Her eyes are oily seeds, her teeth blossom in the night soil. She brings luck and keeps away the wild animals. Anik Amma nurtures those who live in the forest and sometimes those who live around it”, explains a local woman farmer.
When European colonists arrived in Sri Lanka, they imposed their own methods, disrupting the islanders’ centuries of careful stewardship of the land. They allowed the ancient irrigation systems to fall into disrepair, believing their methods were more advanced. For this alone, the forest spirit would have been sad, but a large house like the House of Drought was an insult to the forest. The Sap Mother has been taking revenge for years. The house has been irrevocably changed by the ancient magic she possesses. Or is it the house itself? I was a little confused.
“The man who built this house, he’d been warned. He knew of the Sap Mother and the hunger of the land. He knew that the mother and the mansion could not both be sated, that there wasn’t enough water here, but he didn’t believe what he was told. He built the house at the fringe of the forest, and the forest retreated. He built the house in the midst of the paddy fields, and the paddy fields withered. The foundations of the house sucked the soil dry, and then they turned inward.”
Added to this, farmers’ crops are failing due to the climate crisis. They are plagued by either drought or flood. This is an aspect which is mentioned several times but perhaps could have been expanded somewhat to make it clear to us what has changed. I would have liked to have known more, especially as the author has worked for several years as director of a sustainable development organisation in Sri Lanka, the Slycan Trust, a non-profit think tank.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It’s not a genre I often read, but it kept my attention throughout and the setting in Sri Lanka added to its appeal, though there is not much time spent exploring the culture. Knowing that the author was German, I assumed it must have been translated, but I was wrong. I contacted the author on Twitter and he wrote it himself in perfect English. My only quibble was that he spelled ‘yeah’ as ‘yea’; pretty impressive. More seasoned horror fans might find The House of Drought tame, but I can highly recommend it as creepy reading for those of us who are reluctant to read more gory or full-on supernatural tales.
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy as an ebook via Book Sirens. Nevertheless, I am free to express my own opinions, whether they be positive or negative.
Set in rural Sri Lanka, Dennis Mombauer’s The House of Drought is a very creepy tale of an abandoned colonial house built incongruously between the paddy fields and the ancient forest. The land is rumoured to be protected by a mysterious pale woman, the Sap Mother. Somehow, the people who have lived in the house all seem to have either left or disappeared. When a German documentary team arrives, making a film about climate change, they are looking for a unique human interest story to catch the attention of their audience. When they see the abandoned colonial residence, they decide to investigate inside.
The story moves backwards and forwards between the past and the present, with several different groups of people living in the house or visiting it. Brooding throughout the novel is a sense of the supernatural. There is something strange about the house. Layer by layer we learn more about what has happened there, yet the more you read, the more peculiar it becomes. At the end, the true nature of the house’s mystery had not been completely solved for me, but I found it so gripping that I may well have missed some of the detail. Luckily for me, I have it stored on my phone, so I may well read it again.
There are rumours of a forest spirit, a wandering lost soul who takes in orphaned children and protects them and the land. Having recently read Melmoth by Sarah Perry, I was struck by how similar the legendary women are. Melmoth is a dark and lonely wandering woman, cursed to roam the earth and attracted to evil and our basest instincts. In The House of Drought, the Sap Mother or Anik Amma is a White Lady, who appears in the forest to men travelling alone and children wandering into the forest.
“She is not a ghost, and she is not bad. They call her the old lady of the forest, but she renews herself with swarming young bodies, with the pips of fleshy fruit. The saps and juices of the jungle flow through her. Her eyes are oily seeds, her teeth blossom in the night soil. She brings luck and keeps away the wild animals. Anik Amma nurtures those who live in the forest and sometimes those who live around it”, explains a local woman farmer.
When European colonists arrived in Sri Lanka, they imposed their own methods, disrupting the islanders’ centuries of careful stewardship of the land. They allowed the ancient irrigation systems to fall into disrepair, believing their methods were more advanced. For this alone, the forest spirit would have been sad, but a large house like the House of Drought was an insult to the forest. The Sap Mother has been taking revenge for years. The house has been irrevocably changed by the ancient magic she possesses. Or is it the house itself? I was a little confused.
“The man who built this house, he’d been warned. He knew of the Sap Mother and the hunger of the land. He knew that the mother and the mansion could not both be sated, that there wasn’t enough water here, but he didn’t believe what he was told. He built the house at the fringe of the forest, and the forest retreated. He built the house in the midst of the paddy fields, and the paddy fields withered. The foundations of the house sucked the soil dry, and then they turned inward.”
Added to this, farmers’ crops are failing due to the climate crisis. They are plagued by either drought or flood. This is an aspect which is mentioned several times but perhaps could have been expanded somewhat to make it clear to us what has changed. I would have liked to have known more, especially as the author has worked for several years as director of a sustainable development organisation in Sri Lanka, the Slycan Trust, a non-profit think tank.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It’s not a genre I often read, but it kept my attention throughout and the setting in Sri Lanka added to its appeal, though there is not much time spent exploring the culture. Knowing that the author was German, I assumed it must have been translated, but I was wrong. I contacted the author on Twitter and he wrote it himself in perfect English. My only quibble was that he spelled ‘yeah’ as ‘yea’; pretty impressive. More seasoned horror fans might find The House of Drought tame, but I can highly recommend it as creepy reading for those of us who are reluctant to read more gory or full-on supernatural tales.
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy as an ebook via Book Sirens. Nevertheless, I am free to express my own opinions, whether they be positive or negative.
April 10, 2022
2.5 Stars
Thank you so much to SFWA and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
This is the first time I have heard of a writer's group that writes fiction stories strictly about climate change. I find it fascinating and admirable, as it's a situation that the entire world needs to take more seriously. I think on that front this novella was a success, but it falls flat on characterization and storytelling.
The cover and title of this book completely pulled me in. The House of Drought brings up so many questions, and the cover is mysterious and gorgeous. At just over 100 pages this is a very quick read, and I feel like it tries to accomplish too much with too few pages.
This novella is not told in a linear fashion, with different timelines jumping in at different moments. There are five different perspectives, and each time we encounter a new perspective we are told the end of their story first, and then work our way back up to that. With so many perspectives we are introduced to a ton of characters in a very short amount of time. I did not find this confusing, but that does mean there are a lot of very forgettable characters, which in a book so short potentially feels like wasted space.
Unfortunately, the characters themselves all felt the same. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, but everyone had the same voice. Even though there were characters from different regions of Sri Lanka, and they all came from different backgrounds, they all spoke with exactly the same type of speech. This was very noticeable, which is why I question if it was actually intentional. I did not know until the author's bio at the end, but he's actually a German who has been living in Sri Lanka for the past several years, so this may be a factor as well.
I definitely feel like this story needs to be fleshed out a bit more to feel whole. The house worked in a contradictory way, with characters out of nowhere completely understanding the house. For example, This is just something that I feel should have been broadened on a bit more, so it wouldn't feel like such a huge jump in logic.
Overall this was an ok novella, but the intent behind the story shines a lot brighter than the actual work.
Thank you so much to SFWA and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
This is the first time I have heard of a writer's group that writes fiction stories strictly about climate change. I find it fascinating and admirable, as it's a situation that the entire world needs to take more seriously. I think on that front this novella was a success, but it falls flat on characterization and storytelling.
The cover and title of this book completely pulled me in. The House of Drought brings up so many questions, and the cover is mysterious and gorgeous. At just over 100 pages this is a very quick read, and I feel like it tries to accomplish too much with too few pages.
This novella is not told in a linear fashion, with different timelines jumping in at different moments. There are five different perspectives, and each time we encounter a new perspective we are told the end of their story first, and then work our way back up to that. With so many perspectives we are introduced to a ton of characters in a very short amount of time. I did not find this confusing, but that does mean there are a lot of very forgettable characters, which in a book so short potentially feels like wasted space.
Unfortunately, the characters themselves all felt the same. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, but everyone had the same voice. Even though there were characters from different regions of Sri Lanka, and they all came from different backgrounds, they all spoke with exactly the same type of speech. This was very noticeable, which is why I question if it was actually intentional. I did not know until the author's bio at the end, but he's actually a German who has been living in Sri Lanka for the past several years, so this may be a factor as well.
I definitely feel like this story needs to be fleshed out a bit more to feel whole. The house worked in a contradictory way, with characters out of nowhere completely understanding the house. For example, This is just something that I feel should have been broadened on a bit more, so it wouldn't feel like such a huge jump in logic.
Overall this was an ok novella, but the intent behind the story shines a lot brighter than the actual work.
April 28, 2022
I requested to read this book because it was marked as “A haunted house story for the climate change era”. I liked the concept of grappling with large scale issues through the lens of horror, especially through the haunted houses trope, as they’ve always freaked me out. It’s something about the contrast of home as (supposed) sanctuary with home as a place of foreboding.
It turned out that this novella was much more than that. This is a story about imperialist expansion and colonial imposition, that details the horrors of taking too much, and the ramifications of and ignoring the people, the land, and traditional knowledge.
Set in Sri Lanka, this novella grapples with these complex topics through multiple periods of time and POVs. However, the perspective and timeline changed so much I often felt lost in the story. I normally like fluctuations between times and POVs, but it was just too ambitious for such a short novel. I needed more time to find my bearings to really feel immersed in the dread.
As well, while the author does explain that he’s not from Sri Lanka and these are not his stories to tell, I feel like this is a theme that should have been further explored in the novel. There were many points (e.g. the German filmmaker Bernhard’s POV) in which this could’ve been broadened and expanded.
Ultimately, I think the ideas were just much too large to be grappled with in such a short novella and the storylines should���ve been either edited down to a novella form or expanded into a full novel.
Check out this book if you’re looking for a story:
* That’s Pan’s Labyrinth-esque
* Has an atmospheric, descriptive setting
* Incorporates elements of gothic dread
While this book wasn’t really for me, I am still hoping to check out future books pubished by Stelliform Press, whose mission is to share Earth-focused fiction and stellar stories to shape conversations around our climate change to world and our place within it. Climate fiction is a burgeoning genre that I’m hoping to explore further.
Notable quotes:
“The forest never forgave those who built the house.”
“This place is quiet. It shouldn’t be here, and neither should we.”
Thanks to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and @netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review!
It turned out that this novella was much more than that. This is a story about imperialist expansion and colonial imposition, that details the horrors of taking too much, and the ramifications of and ignoring the people, the land, and traditional knowledge.
Set in Sri Lanka, this novella grapples with these complex topics through multiple periods of time and POVs. However, the perspective and timeline changed so much I often felt lost in the story. I normally like fluctuations between times and POVs, but it was just too ambitious for such a short novel. I needed more time to find my bearings to really feel immersed in the dread.
As well, while the author does explain that he’s not from Sri Lanka and these are not his stories to tell, I feel like this is a theme that should have been further explored in the novel. There were many points (e.g. the German filmmaker Bernhard’s POV) in which this could’ve been broadened and expanded.
Ultimately, I think the ideas were just much too large to be grappled with in such a short novella and the storylines should���ve been either edited down to a novella form or expanded into a full novel.
Check out this book if you’re looking for a story:
* That’s Pan’s Labyrinth-esque
* Has an atmospheric, descriptive setting
* Incorporates elements of gothic dread
While this book wasn’t really for me, I am still hoping to check out future books pubished by Stelliform Press, whose mission is to share Earth-focused fiction and stellar stories to shape conversations around our climate change to world and our place within it. Climate fiction is a burgeoning genre that I’m hoping to explore further.
Notable quotes:
“The forest never forgave those who built the house.”
“This place is quiet. It shouldn’t be here, and neither should we.”
Thanks to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and @netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review!
May 19, 2022
Although I felt a bit confused at the beginning of this novel due to all the jumping around from one time period to another with different sets of characters in each, I really enjoyed this story. My biggest complaint is that the novel wasn’t longer.
I loved the haunted house theme and the author did a really good job describing the creepiness of the house and the spirit that roams the forest. The concept of another realm existing within the house is something we have all seen before in other stories, but this novel proves that it never gets old. I found a few similarities between this novel, King’s Lisey’s Story (those who have read it or watched the series will know what I mean), and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Some other topics/themes were floating around in the story like climate change and colonialism but to be honest, I looked right over all that information – it didn’t interest me a bit. For me, this was just a story about a haunted house. There were also a lot of unanswered questions but I don’t feel upset not knowing all the answers in this case. The author could have expanded this novel in so
many ways but sometimes short and sweet works best.
I recommend this novel to those who like a light ghost story. You won’t have to sleep with the lights on after this one. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I loved the haunted house theme and the author did a really good job describing the creepiness of the house and the spirit that roams the forest. The concept of another realm existing within the house is something we have all seen before in other stories, but this novel proves that it never gets old. I found a few similarities between this novel, King’s Lisey’s Story (those who have read it or watched the series will know what I mean), and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Some other topics/themes were floating around in the story like climate change and colonialism but to be honest, I looked right over all that information – it didn’t interest me a bit. For me, this was just a story about a haunted house. There were also a lot of unanswered questions but I don’t feel upset not knowing all the answers in this case. The author could have expanded this novel in so
many ways but sometimes short and sweet works best.
I recommend this novel to those who like a light ghost story. You won’t have to sleep with the lights on after this one. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
June 12, 2023
Folk horror is one of my absolute favorites sub-genres of horror, and this book has this in spades. While I definitely had to look some of this up(just as I have with other books in the past), I wasn't disappointed in what I found. Mombauer creates a rich world, rife with danger and apprehension at each turn. I do wish there had been more detail on who had the home designed the way it was. I really feel like knowing who did it and why would have added rich details to an already well written tale. I know some people say there are too many characters, but honestly I love character rich stories and I feel like there was just enough information given with each to tie them into the story well.
With such a limited amount of entries into the horror world that are firmly based on the climate crisis, I feel like The House of Drought is one that cannot be overlooked. It has a lot to say, and we should all be listening.
With such a limited amount of entries into the horror world that are firmly based on the climate crisis, I feel like The House of Drought is one that cannot be overlooked. It has a lot to say, and we should all be listening.
May 18, 2022
2.5
Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange of an honest review
I was attracted by the concept of a horror, set in Sri Lanka and with elements of local folklore, connected with climate change and colonial expansion.
I found interesting the changing POVs, but they changed so fast an always at the climax. The narrating voices were also a tad flat, it seemed like it was always the same voice narrating.
Maybe because it was a novella, but there was not a lot of tension build up, everything happens so fast and “painlessly”, like ripping off a plaster. A lot of questions are left unanswered, like: What’s the link between the Sap Mother and the Dry House? Why would the house keep people trapped in there?
The premises were intriguing, but the story left me a bit confused and high and dry (no pun intended).
Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange of an honest review
I was attracted by the concept of a horror, set in Sri Lanka and with elements of local folklore, connected with climate change and colonial expansion.
I found interesting the changing POVs, but they changed so fast an always at the climax. The narrating voices were also a tad flat, it seemed like it was always the same voice narrating.
Maybe because it was a novella, but there was not a lot of tension build up, everything happens so fast and “painlessly”, like ripping off a plaster. A lot of questions are left unanswered, like: What’s the link between the Sap Mother and the Dry House? Why would the house keep people trapped in there?
The premises were intriguing, but the story left me a bit confused and high and dry (no pun intended).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2022
3.5
I was attracted by a non-linear narrative, a Sri Lankan setting, and a small press doing climate-change spec fic.
Non-linear engages me like a puzzle (not a hard one in this case--trust the narrative and let it piece itself together), and can be uniquely effective in escalating plot. I think the structure was this novella's strength.
Given the several groups of people we follow, though, characters didn't get a lot of room.
The stand off/battle between an out-of-place colonial mansion and the forest it intrudes on with its presiding spirit--both evocatively described--was nicely complex.
I read an ARC from NetGalley
I was attracted by a non-linear narrative, a Sri Lankan setting, and a small press doing climate-change spec fic.
Non-linear engages me like a puzzle (not a hard one in this case--trust the narrative and let it piece itself together), and can be uniquely effective in escalating plot. I think the structure was this novella's strength.
Given the several groups of people we follow, though, characters didn't get a lot of room.
The stand off/battle between an out-of-place colonial mansion and the forest it intrudes on with its presiding spirit--both evocatively described--was nicely complex.
I read an ARC from NetGalley
October 30, 2023
Stelliform Press has yet to disappoint me, and this tale of a "haunted house for the climate change era" lived up to what I've come to expect from the stories it represents. The work is complex, tightly told, and gorgeously written. As a novella, it unfolds a full world that you wouldn't expect to come through in so few pages, and does so in a manner that demands a reader's full attention and care. Mombauer's style is so visual and offered in such a collage-like style that there's no way to read without picturing the setting and the mansion at the heart of this book, and although it was sometimes a slightly slower work than I'd expected, I loved every moment. Haunting and creepy and perfectly timed, this is a novella worth finding.
May 19, 2022
I received a copy of "House of Drought" ! Thanks Booksirens! Here's my honest review--
House of Drought-- in my opinion-- doesn't feel like a horror book. It's a similar take on the "House of Leaves" trope-- but kind of with a folklore backstory that sets it aside as unique. I enjoyed this and found that kind of refreshing.
However, I had a little trouble keeping up with the characters and didn't feel connected to any of them. The book switches from POV several times, and I just felt kind of confused and disconnected for most of my read.
House of Drought-- in my opinion-- doesn't feel like a horror book. It's a similar take on the "House of Leaves" trope-- but kind of with a folklore backstory that sets it aside as unique. I enjoyed this and found that kind of refreshing.
However, I had a little trouble keeping up with the characters and didn't feel connected to any of them. The book switches from POV several times, and I just felt kind of confused and disconnected for most of my read.
June 4, 2022
I had a hard time staying interested in this story. I know how hard an author works to create a cohesive story so I hate to be a negative review. I’m thinking that the author could’ve gotten a 5 star from me if the story was less. Sometimes less is more. I received an advanced copy for my honest review.
August 5, 2022
Definitely want to read more ecogothic narratives
July 19, 2022
In a world on the verge of ecological collapse, a house stands looming over the rice paddies it was built on, in the shadow of a forest it encroaches on, a monument to colonialism that still haunts the region, long after the colonizers left. The House of Drought takes a house and makes it a liminal space revealing its history little by little, a house that doesn’t belong and that the surrounding land is trying to reclaim. Come for the creeping dread, stay around for the folklore. And that is all I am going to say because the delivery is the thing in this novella.
May 11, 2023
In The House of Drought, Dennis Mombauer combines the tropes of classic Gothic literature – an abandoned mansion with a questionable history situated in a remote location – with the contemporary climate emergency and Sri Lankan history to create a tightly-written novella that keeps the reader guessing how it will all come together as it spans multiple time frames and drips with atmosphere. The taste of dust and a sense of desperation permeate almost every page, with hope blooming unexpectedly in small corners.
The mansion at the hear of things is a Sri Lankan colonialist relic, long abandoned by the Europeans who built it when a caretaker named Ushu brings four children there to protect them from racially biased violence. When thugs arrive to collect a debt, eldest child Jasmit leads most of the children into a bathroom whose running tap is a portal to a mystical Dry House. The Dry House is both haven and horror. One child runs into the forest that surrounds the plantation, encountering the supernatural Sap Mother, who has her own agenda.
Parts of the story are told through Jasmit’s eyes, and parts through those of a climate disaster documentarian who has become obsessed with the plantation and begins investigating its history and reputation – including another family who lived there after Ushu’s charges disappeared. The shifts between POVs, the stories within stories, are sometimes jarring – but that adds to the overall sense that something is very not right with this house and the forest surrounding it, something dangerous that continues to threaten adults and children alike. I think this is part of the reason the story has lingered with me months after my initial reading: I feel as off-kilter as the characters do.
The generational similarities and differences, the backgrounds the characters are coming from, also add to that overall atmosphere … almost, but not quite, a “the more things change, the more they remain the same” feeling. I know very little about the history of Sri Lanka, and I do wonder how this book resonates with readers more familiar with the actual history.
Another reason the book has lingered with me is that pure atmosphere. The sweltering heat of the climate-change present day scenes is palpable, as is the parched sur-reality of the Dry House. Mombauer is at his best with the visceral sensory details (I felt dehydrated just reading the Dry House scenes), as well as in the way he expressed the unreality of the supernatural forces at work. Even his “jump scares” are potent.
I suppose if there’s one thing I wanted more of it was Sap Mother. A looming presence throughout, a counterpoint to the Dry House (both malevolent but in different ways), I felt like she deserved a bit more screen time than she got. But the scenes she does get are chillingly effective.
The House of Drought clocks in at a fast, engrossing 106 pages, and I suspect I’ll be seeing something new every time I re-read it.
The mansion at the hear of things is a Sri Lankan colonialist relic, long abandoned by the Europeans who built it when a caretaker named Ushu brings four children there to protect them from racially biased violence. When thugs arrive to collect a debt, eldest child Jasmit leads most of the children into a bathroom whose running tap is a portal to a mystical Dry House. The Dry House is both haven and horror. One child runs into the forest that surrounds the plantation, encountering the supernatural Sap Mother, who has her own agenda.
Parts of the story are told through Jasmit’s eyes, and parts through those of a climate disaster documentarian who has become obsessed with the plantation and begins investigating its history and reputation – including another family who lived there after Ushu’s charges disappeared. The shifts between POVs, the stories within stories, are sometimes jarring – but that adds to the overall sense that something is very not right with this house and the forest surrounding it, something dangerous that continues to threaten adults and children alike. I think this is part of the reason the story has lingered with me months after my initial reading: I feel as off-kilter as the characters do.
The generational similarities and differences, the backgrounds the characters are coming from, also add to that overall atmosphere … almost, but not quite, a “the more things change, the more they remain the same” feeling. I know very little about the history of Sri Lanka, and I do wonder how this book resonates with readers more familiar with the actual history.
Another reason the book has lingered with me is that pure atmosphere. The sweltering heat of the climate-change present day scenes is palpable, as is the parched sur-reality of the Dry House. Mombauer is at his best with the visceral sensory details (I felt dehydrated just reading the Dry House scenes), as well as in the way he expressed the unreality of the supernatural forces at work. Even his “jump scares” are potent.
I suppose if there’s one thing I wanted more of it was Sap Mother. A looming presence throughout, a counterpoint to the Dry House (both malevolent but in different ways), I felt like she deserved a bit more screen time than she got. But the scenes she does get are chillingly effective.
The House of Drought clocks in at a fast, engrossing 106 pages, and I suspect I’ll be seeing something new every time I re-read it.
July 10, 2022
This is a WEIRD novella. I don't typically read horror, so this is from the perspective of a fantasy/scifi reader. To that end, I really loved the folklore aspects of this story. Seeing what elements of stories are common and different across cultures is always facinating to me, and this story definitely delivers there. There aren't any concrete explanations of what's going on, and the multiple names and explanations for any given phenomena by different people bring the folklore to life. Knowing nothing of Sri Lankan folklore, I'm led to believe the author did this part justice.
Since the story hops around between several characters and timelines in the space of a novella, I never really felt a strong connection to any one character. I think that this is where the story would've benefitted from being fleshed out into a full length novel or cutting the number of viewpoints if it needed to stay a novella. I really want to give this story four stars since the setting was so interesting, but the lack of engaging characters drops it down to a three for me.
Speaking of multiple timelines, if you really need your books to be linear, this isn't the story for you. There are frequent time jumps within a chapter, although they do follow a pattern once you realize what's happening. It's an interesting approach, but I don't think it was really necessary to the story.
This is one of the first times I've seen a piece of fiction really try to connect colonialism and climate change and how imperialism has wounded the natural world. It's not an easy thing to accomplish without getting preachy, but the author managed to weave it into the story without it feeling too heavy-handed. The tension between the House of Drought and the surrounding forest becomes an analogue for the tension between colonialism/capitalism and nature. I wouldn't call it subtle, but by these forces being more animate setting than viewpoint character, it feels like an innate truth suffusing the story and not something the author slows down to explain in a pedantic manner.
This novella had me turning pages to find out what happened, but, like I said, the lack of any compelling characters makes it hard for me to give it more than three stars. I'm very interested to see what Mombauer can do with a full length novel though, since I think the rest of this story is pretty solid.
I'd like to thank Stelliform for providing an ARC in return for this honest review.
Since the story hops around between several characters and timelines in the space of a novella, I never really felt a strong connection to any one character. I think that this is where the story would've benefitted from being fleshed out into a full length novel or cutting the number of viewpoints if it needed to stay a novella. I really want to give this story four stars since the setting was so interesting, but the lack of engaging characters drops it down to a three for me.
Speaking of multiple timelines, if you really need your books to be linear, this isn't the story for you. There are frequent time jumps within a chapter, although they do follow a pattern once you realize what's happening. It's an interesting approach, but I don't think it was really necessary to the story.
This is one of the first times I've seen a piece of fiction really try to connect colonialism and climate change and how imperialism has wounded the natural world. It's not an easy thing to accomplish without getting preachy, but the author managed to weave it into the story without it feeling too heavy-handed. The tension between the House of Drought and the surrounding forest becomes an analogue for the tension between colonialism/capitalism and nature. I wouldn't call it subtle, but by these forces being more animate setting than viewpoint character, it feels like an innate truth suffusing the story and not something the author slows down to explain in a pedantic manner.
This novella had me turning pages to find out what happened, but, like I said, the lack of any compelling characters makes it hard for me to give it more than three stars. I'm very interested to see what Mombauer can do with a full length novel though, since I think the rest of this story is pretty solid.
I'd like to thank Stelliform for providing an ARC in return for this honest review.
April 21, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and Stelliform Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Marketed as "a haunted house story for the climate change era" I was instantly intrigued to see where this novella would take me. It is a non-linear story following a German documentary film crew in Sri Lanka, exploring the impacts of climate change on the local farmland. During their filming, the crew comes across an abandoned colonial mansion and in between this main narrative we see glimpses of those who inhabited the house before and the forces within the house and the bordering forest that threaten those within it.
I thought it was a really interesting exploration, using Sri Lankan folklore, into the consequences of colonial expansion through the neglect and disregard for the land, people, and traditions being encroached upon, however with the story being so short it left much to be desired. The intersections between colonialism and climate change are vast and complex and I feel it is just too difficult to really be able to flesh out those nuances in such a short story as this. That's not to say I did not enjoy it, because I did, I just think it could have benefited from allowing more room to expand upon the ideas it presents the readers with as I feel it would have made the story far more impactful. Additionally, as this is a horror story, I wanted more horror. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be afraid of and there was not a lot of tension built up that allowed the ending to be satisfying.
Overall, it was an interesting read that I would recommend for lovers of haunted house stories, however, it falls short in a number of areas that would have turned this story from a good one into a great one.
Marketed as "a haunted house story for the climate change era" I was instantly intrigued to see where this novella would take me. It is a non-linear story following a German documentary film crew in Sri Lanka, exploring the impacts of climate change on the local farmland. During their filming, the crew comes across an abandoned colonial mansion and in between this main narrative we see glimpses of those who inhabited the house before and the forces within the house and the bordering forest that threaten those within it.
I thought it was a really interesting exploration, using Sri Lankan folklore, into the consequences of colonial expansion through the neglect and disregard for the land, people, and traditions being encroached upon, however with the story being so short it left much to be desired. The intersections between colonialism and climate change are vast and complex and I feel it is just too difficult to really be able to flesh out those nuances in such a short story as this. That's not to say I did not enjoy it, because I did, I just think it could have benefited from allowing more room to expand upon the ideas it presents the readers with as I feel it would have made the story far more impactful. Additionally, as this is a horror story, I wanted more horror. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be afraid of and there was not a lot of tension built up that allowed the ending to be satisfying.
Overall, it was an interesting read that I would recommend for lovers of haunted house stories, however, it falls short in a number of areas that would have turned this story from a good one into a great one.
August 1, 2022
The tagline of "A haunted house for the climate change era" isn't incorrect, but nor do I feel it's wholly accurate either. For example, that doesn't give you a hint of the folklore (!!!) style of this novella, which was my favourite aspect of this story. I loved how the different acts felt almost like folktales in a lot of ways; I maybe would have read an entire book of just different vignettes like this.
The last act and chapter both had some tension, which was nice to see how the entire book culminated in a clear action climax. And the author's writing lended itself well to this - I found his writing pretty simple, and this is absolutely 100% a personal preference but: I like my horror or my folktales to feature really atmospheric, visceral writing. So the writing didn't quite work for what I personally wanted.
I think there were some very unique and interesting ideas in this - haunted house that has a direct connection to water and thirst! Pretty cool way to tie it into modern climate change, right? But I feel like a lot of the ideas could have benefited from more page-space, as there was a LOT to explore in a short novella. I don't know if a novel-length expansion of this would have been for me, but I think it could have led to more exploration of the house's history and mythology, as well as a deeper connection to climate change and more character development - actually, I think I've talked myself into thinking that it could very well be for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Overall, this wasn't quite like anything I've read before, and in a fairly good way!
The last act and chapter both had some tension, which was nice to see how the entire book culminated in a clear action climax. And the author's writing lended itself well to this - I found his writing pretty simple, and this is absolutely 100% a personal preference but: I like my horror or my folktales to feature really atmospheric, visceral writing. So the writing didn't quite work for what I personally wanted.
I think there were some very unique and interesting ideas in this - haunted house that has a direct connection to water and thirst! Pretty cool way to tie it into modern climate change, right? But I feel like a lot of the ideas could have benefited from more page-space, as there was a LOT to explore in a short novella. I don't know if a novel-length expansion of this would have been for me, but I think it could have led to more exploration of the house's history and mythology, as well as a deeper connection to climate change and more character development - actually, I think I've talked myself into thinking that it could very well be for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Overall, this wasn't quite like anything I've read before, and in a fairly good way!
June 29, 2022
Stelliform Press titles never fail to be interesting. The House of Drought is no exception. Its use of creepy surrealism and vivid descriptions of both natural and unnatural scenery create a spooky and immersive environment for its vignettes about climate change and colonial history.
I did struggle a little with the ethics and optics of a white European author telling Sri Lankan stories. While Mombauer does try to sidestep this issue a bit through the framing story about a film crew of extraction apparently similar to his own, I would have liked to see more engagement with the complexity of telling stories about places and people one doesn't belong to. He gestures at this, but, perhaps due to the book's brevity, doesn't quite get to a place that fully worked for me.
The best parts of this book, for me, are the ones that depict the sheer strangeness of the house the many characters pass through. The air of mystery that permeates the disparate stories woven together by their interactions with the house and the local history around it helped the separate sections avoid feeling disjointed. Between the Dry House and the frighteningly alluring Sap Mother who waits in the woods--and, sometimes, does not wait--there are plenty of eerie and uncanny moments to give summer readers a pleasantly shivery reading experience.
I did struggle a little with the ethics and optics of a white European author telling Sri Lankan stories. While Mombauer does try to sidestep this issue a bit through the framing story about a film crew of extraction apparently similar to his own, I would have liked to see more engagement with the complexity of telling stories about places and people one doesn't belong to. He gestures at this, but, perhaps due to the book's brevity, doesn't quite get to a place that fully worked for me.
The best parts of this book, for me, are the ones that depict the sheer strangeness of the house the many characters pass through. The air of mystery that permeates the disparate stories woven together by their interactions with the house and the local history around it helped the separate sections avoid feeling disjointed. Between the Dry House and the frighteningly alluring Sap Mother who waits in the woods--and, sometimes, does not wait--there are plenty of eerie and uncanny moments to give summer readers a pleasantly shivery reading experience.
July 27, 2022
I wish I had known more about Dennis Mombauer and The House of Drought before agreeing to review. I think if I'd known more I'd have known that this was not going to be for me. The House of Drought is a speculative fiction novella centered around a house that seems to be involved with strange events in the local area. I think that if you like odd speculative fiction that plays with storytelling, if you like unsettling horror, or you're a fan of The House of Leaves, there's a decent chance that you will appreciate The House of Drought.
However I'm not really into any of that. Like with House of Leaves, I can kinda appreciate what Mombauer is trying to do, but I don't enjoy it. I also found the storytelling style hard to follow. He dumps you into the story but then backs up and the story is told through almost episodic scenes from a couple different perspectives. But additionally there are several different timelines, each of which do this skip-hop-jump kind of framework. The author allows you to try to fill in the gaps to figure out what's really going on. It increases the unsettledness of the story since the story feels broken and creepy. But I mostly just found this frustrating since I didn't care about the story and didn't want to read.
All in all, I think there are probably people who are going to like this novella and appreciate it, but sadly I did not like it very much.
Thanks to Stelliform Press and Book Sirens for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
However I'm not really into any of that. Like with House of Leaves, I can kinda appreciate what Mombauer is trying to do, but I don't enjoy it. I also found the storytelling style hard to follow. He dumps you into the story but then backs up and the story is told through almost episodic scenes from a couple different perspectives. But additionally there are several different timelines, each of which do this skip-hop-jump kind of framework. The author allows you to try to fill in the gaps to figure out what's really going on. It increases the unsettledness of the story since the story feels broken and creepy. But I mostly just found this frustrating since I didn't care about the story and didn't want to read.
All in all, I think there are probably people who are going to like this novella and appreciate it, but sadly I did not like it very much.
Thanks to Stelliform Press and Book Sirens for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 25, 2022
The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer is an eerie eco-gothic that centers around a colonial mansion in Sri Lanka that sucks the land dry around it and follows different generations of people inhabiting the estate and trying uncover its mystery.
First off, it’s really refreshing to read a gothic that takes place outside of the UK or America, and the setting was wonderfully atmospheric.
However, I think this novella mainly falls victim to attempting to do too much and in too short amount of pages because, as it stands, the story feels unsatisfying incomplete. I still have so many questions regarding the mythology behind the Sap Mother and the house's connection to her.
The novella also gets bogged down by a 5 whopping POVs, so the majority of the characters feel indistinctive and tend to bleed together. Honestly, this would have been a much tighter and compelling of story if it had stuck with the twin's POV in the past and just 1 POV in the future trying figure out what happened to the twins and the house.
Thank you, Stelliform Press, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
First off, it’s really refreshing to read a gothic that takes place outside of the UK or America, and the setting was wonderfully atmospheric.
However, I think this novella mainly falls victim to attempting to do too much and in too short amount of pages because, as it stands, the story feels unsatisfying incomplete. I still have so many questions regarding the mythology behind the Sap Mother and the house's connection to her.
The novella also gets bogged down by a 5 whopping POVs, so the majority of the characters feel indistinctive and tend to bleed together. Honestly, this would have been a much tighter and compelling of story if it had stuck with the twin's POV in the past and just 1 POV in the future trying figure out what happened to the twins and the house.
Thank you, Stelliform Press, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2022
The House of Drought by Dennis ....
When Bernhard and his associate, Julie, make their way to Sri Lanka to collect information for a documentary about climate change and learn way more than they bargain for. Instead of climate change they learn about a local folklore of an entity that goes throughout the jungle luring children.
Aside from my complications with the book, it truly is a great storyline and I do look forward to seeing more from the author.
I am so torn with this book. First off, the writing style is phenomenal, I loved the world building and descriptions throughout the story. I loved the folklore aspect that's what drew me to the story.
I am fully on board with a haunted house, ghosts/entity and climate change but I felt like the connection, or an explanation just wasn't there. Some characters I felt as if we were given all of them and their connection to the house and some didn't feel complete. I had a hard time with the timeline and perspective flipping, it was hard to keep track of who and when.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
When Bernhard and his associate, Julie, make their way to Sri Lanka to collect information for a documentary about climate change and learn way more than they bargain for. Instead of climate change they learn about a local folklore of an entity that goes throughout the jungle luring children.
Aside from my complications with the book, it truly is a great storyline and I do look forward to seeing more from the author.
I am so torn with this book. First off, the writing style is phenomenal, I loved the world building and descriptions throughout the story. I loved the folklore aspect that's what drew me to the story.
I am fully on board with a haunted house, ghosts/entity and climate change but I felt like the connection, or an explanation just wasn't there. Some characters I felt as if we were given all of them and their connection to the house and some didn't feel complete. I had a hard time with the timeline and perspective flipping, it was hard to keep track of who and when.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
April 19, 2022
*I received an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
3.5
A German filmmaker is in Sri Lanka making a documentary about climate change and finds an abandoned colonial mansion where locals say some kids went missing during the Civil War in this mind bending horror novella.
Throughout the book we cut to different groups of people who have lived in the house, including those missing children. I liked hearing their different stories; however, there was not much difference in the character's voices despite coming from different regions of Sri Lanka and, in the case of the filmmakers, being from a completely different continent.
I did like that the novella wasn't told linearly and the way the threads came together in the end. I also thought he commentary on colonialism and climate change was really unique, in that I haven't seen it down in this particular way before.
I appreciated that the author acknowledged that while he has been living in Sri Lanka for many years, he is still drawing on folklore that is not from his culture.
3.5
A German filmmaker is in Sri Lanka making a documentary about climate change and finds an abandoned colonial mansion where locals say some kids went missing during the Civil War in this mind bending horror novella.
Throughout the book we cut to different groups of people who have lived in the house, including those missing children. I liked hearing their different stories; however, there was not much difference in the character's voices despite coming from different regions of Sri Lanka and, in the case of the filmmakers, being from a completely different continent.
I did like that the novella wasn't told linearly and the way the threads came together in the end. I also thought he commentary on colonialism and climate change was really unique, in that I haven't seen it down in this particular way before.
I appreciated that the author acknowledged that while he has been living in Sri Lanka for many years, he is still drawing on folklore that is not from his culture.
May 24, 2022
I'll give this book credit for a really cool cover and a good idea for a plot that links a mysterious mythical presence in an old, abandoned house in Sri Lanka to the consequences of climate change and global warming - a climate thriller, so to speak.
The execution of said plot, however, left much to be desired: The mystery was not nearly adequately explained, there were quite some plotholes and logical discrepancies throughout the story, and I only made the connection between climate change and the events happening in the novel because it was loudly announced on the blurp. What's more, the characters were flat and for the most part badly fleshed out, and the overall inner structure of the novel was deeply flawed and often rather incoherent.
This book had a lot of potential and I was really excited to read it, but in order to live up to its potential the novel would have had to be at least double its lenght, and a lot more attention should have been given to how climate change shaped and influenced the events in the story.
The execution of said plot, however, left much to be desired: The mystery was not nearly adequately explained, there were quite some plotholes and logical discrepancies throughout the story, and I only made the connection between climate change and the events happening in the novel because it was loudly announced on the blurp. What's more, the characters were flat and for the most part badly fleshed out, and the overall inner structure of the novel was deeply flawed and often rather incoherent.
This book had a lot of potential and I was really excited to read it, but in order to live up to its potential the novel would have had to be at least double its lenght, and a lot more attention should have been given to how climate change shaped and influenced the events in the story.
June 13, 2022
I really wanted to like this book. The topic is great - a gothic novel set in Sri Lanka just called to all the things I love! Add in climate change, and post-colonialism and I was really looking forward to this. The cover puts you in the atmosphere too. The problem is the main character is the house & forest... and I would have preferred it to be about the people.
I am very much a fan of characterization and fleshed-out intriguing fascinating heroes. Truthfully, I read any genre as long as I like the people in the book. Here it just jumped from one to another without giving you enough to know anyone or care. I guess this wasn't the point. But it made it hard for me to be invested in the story and I just rushed through. I think I would have liked it much better if it had just stuck to one of the groups, hinting at the history.
Great ideas, but I think I would have liked them treated a little differently.
I am very much a fan of characterization and fleshed-out intriguing fascinating heroes. Truthfully, I read any genre as long as I like the people in the book. Here it just jumped from one to another without giving you enough to know anyone or care. I guess this wasn't the point. But it made it hard for me to be invested in the story and I just rushed through. I think I would have liked it much better if it had just stuck to one of the groups, hinting at the history.
Great ideas, but I think I would have liked them treated a little differently.
April 23, 2022
“Humans change the world around them, no?”
I was intrigued with the description of this book but a little apprehensive because I’m not a huge science fiction fan. Still, the idea of a haunted house mixed with a deeper message about climate change helped me make the decision to read it.
The book is not very long at 106 pages so it is a very quick read. But the story is complex moving between different times and characters. I’ll admit I felt like I wasn’t fully grasping the entire message.
I really enjoyed the idea of The Sap Mother/White Woman. The story reminds me of Princess Mononoke and the forest spirits being angered by the humans.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. I have written this review voluntarily.
I was intrigued with the description of this book but a little apprehensive because I’m not a huge science fiction fan. Still, the idea of a haunted house mixed with a deeper message about climate change helped me make the decision to read it.
The book is not very long at 106 pages so it is a very quick read. But the story is complex moving between different times and characters. I’ll admit I felt like I wasn’t fully grasping the entire message.
I really enjoyed the idea of The Sap Mother/White Woman. The story reminds me of Princess Mononoke and the forest spirits being angered by the humans.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. I have written this review voluntarily.
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