Book Review: The Uninvited Words by S. Kovax
Title: The Uninvited Words – Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy Volume I (The Uninvited Words Collection, #1)
Author: S. Kovax
Release date: November 11th, 2021
If you’ve read any of my reviews over the last few years, you’ll often see me describe how a book came onto my radar. In the case of this collection, it may very well be the most innocent of all of them!
Recently, the amazing Gemma Amor had tweeted that she knew times had been tough. She asked people to offer a vent and she’d give advice/give them some cheers and genuinely give them a boost. It was through that Twitter thread that I saw S. Kovax reply that they’d released their first book and was having trouble getting it onto people’s radar’s. Most reviewers seem to be closed (I’m technically closed… not that seems to stop me from taking books on) and it can be tough to get your first release in front of people. I saw his reply, went to the Zon and bought a copy and let him know that I’d get to it asap. At the time of my buying it (and I don’t think I had anything to do with this at all FYI) there were sadly no reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. When I went to get the link on Amazon for this review, I saw that reviews were popping up! That’s so amazing. I’m confident Gemma’s boost got some eyes on this book, as it really does deserve to be read.
What I liked: The majority of stories in here, for me at least, were home runs, which can be very tough in a collection, and more so in a debut collection. Kovax does mention that some of these have been previously published, but I am unsure of how many are previously and how many are new to this release.
No matter, the stories within cover a wide variety of topics and each one is told with gusto.
The stories that connect with me most were;
The Uninvited Words – this follows reporter Janice as she gets a sneak preview of a new haunted/horror amusement park. Her brother’s sick, so she has her phone on a video call so he can see. This one starts off being interesting and then turns into a full on gore fest.
Pyromancer – a story I typically wouldn’t dive too far into due to it being epistolary (which I’m not really a fan of) but it worked well. This was a nightmarish story that follows some dark, dark events.
What Crawls Beneath – similar in feel to Gran’s ‘Come Closer’ we follow Samantha who believes slugs are overtaking her apartment each night. It might be true, it might be a medical condition. Kovax does a great job of making both a possibility until the very end.
Don’t Call Me Father – a really dark, brutal story about an exorcism. I’ll leave it at that, but you should be able to get a good feel for what’s instore by the title and subject matter.
The Horror of Bologorsk – a novella to close it out, if you know me, you know I love all things dark fiction set in Russia. This follows some horrific events in an isolated location and Kovax does a fantastic job of making you squirm.
Kovax writes solid, solid stories. Each one had something special, something that connected and pulls you along and that was great to discover.
What I didn’t like: There were a few stories that just weren’t my cup of tea. Another epistolary told story that didn’t catch me as hard as ‘Pyromancer’ which made for a slow time. As with every collection it’ll always be up to each reader and how they connect.
Why you should buy this: Well, it’s December 29th, so if you have any Amazon gift cards kicking around that you haven’t blown through yet, might I suggest you snag this one? Otherwise, if you’ve been looking for a fresh collection of dark fiction recently, might I offer this option for you? The stories were all really well done, the characters were engaging and the pacing was pitch perfect.
Great job, from a new dark fiction author I’ll definitely be watching for when his next release arrives.
4/5
