The Reading Frog’s Reviews > The Language of Knives: Stories > Status Update
The Reading Frog
is 10% done
Botanical/eco horror, my beloved 👏
— Jun 20, 2026 05:20AM
"The branches, gnarled and twisted as they are, still reveal the hint of human hands-outstretched towards the sky. "As if drowning," that's how Mom described them back when she was up to describing anything."
Botanical/eco horror, my beloved 👏
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The Reading Frog’s Previous Updates
The Reading Frog
is 45% done
"I drape around his right arm and embroider it further with my kisses, bites, and scratches. Just to see whether I can damage him, affect his reality. Do I have any power over him or not? There is no blood in him and my attempts to make him feel something add scars, but nothing more. There are no weeping wounds."
—Uhm, gulp. How did this weird succubus-esque story suddenly get relatable on an emotional level?
— 2 hours, 51 min ago
—Uhm, gulp. How did this weird succubus-esque story suddenly get relatable on an emotional level?
The Reading Frog
is 35% done
What in the 'Lady of the Lake' / 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' is happening here 😩 I don't see this ending well, but please don't let this evil fuck win.
— 7 hours, 45 min ago
The Reading Frog
is 29% done
–This chapter is hitting me like a freight train wtf. Relatable on way too many levels. I love horror that can make me sad tho, idk, there's just something about it.
— 9 hours, 43 min ago
"Why did they hurt me?" He's no longer crying out of physical pain.
–This chapter is hitting me like a freight train wtf. Relatable on way too many levels. I love horror that can make me sad tho, idk, there's just something about it.
The Reading Frog
is 23% done
Oh no, is this chapter gonna be about sepsis? Cuz that's literally one of my worst fears as someone who is immunocompromised. A whole different kind of horror 😭
— 10 hours, 52 min ago
"That's how he knows he's delirious and the course of antibiotics has done nothing more than kiss the infection in his leg better and hope for the best. A fact he digests dispassionately, riding the heat waves of his fever."
Oh no, is this chapter gonna be about sepsis? Cuz that's literally one of my worst fears as someone who is immunocompromised. A whole different kind of horror 😭
The Reading Frog
is 19% done
I'm normally an enthusiastic consumer of cannibalism as an allegory for love/hunger/want/whatever, but idk about this one lol
— Jun 20, 2026 02:18PM
"The kiss that unlocked the hunger and drove Varadin to bite the dead flesh off his wife's lips and Ghena to dig her nails deep underneath her husband's skin at the base of his neck and pull the large strips to her mouth where she chewed with gusto and swallowed."
I'm normally an enthusiastic consumer of cannibalism as an allegory for love/hunger/want/whatever, but idk about this one lol
The Reading Frog
is starting
Aquired this ARC via NetGalley. Might not binge-read this one since it is an anthology.
I'll try, however, to finish it before its publishing date. 👏
Buddy-read for spoilery updates is live on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/buddy_r...
— Jun 19, 2026 06:51AM
I'll try, however, to finish it before its publishing date. 👏
Buddy-read for spoilery updates is live on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/buddy_r...
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bookluvr (semi-ia coz work beating my ass)
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Jun 20, 2026 05:41AM
ooooo 👀 although! i need to read THEEEEE hazelthorn first! in this lane, no? i’m also getting botanical horror vibes from it
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bookluvr (semi-ia coz work beating my ass) wrote: "ooooo 👀 although! i need to read THEEEEE hazelthorn first! in this lane, no? i’m also getting botanical horror vibes from it"Hazelthorn first for sure! It's one of my all-time favourites. 💚
The language of knives is an anthology, so I'm unsure what each short story's vibe will be. But the chapter this update was about, 'The Town the Forest Ate', is definitely in that same niche subgenre and has that dark gothic fantasy vibe like Hazelthorn. So I'm hopeful for this read 👏
what is eco horror? intelligent green mold haunting a pile of unwashed dishes in ur sink? thats the image in my head anyhoo lol
Nel wrote: "what is eco horror? intelligent green mold haunting a pile of unwashed dishes in ur sink? thats the image in my head anyhoo lol"HAHHAHAHAH, well that's a whole other horror of its own 😂
Eco-horror is an umbrella term for horror where nature is, in a way, the 'monster'. Think sentient or carnivorous plants, forest animals turned hostile by radiation, gardens demanding blood, nature strikes back plot lines or apocalyptic stuff like The Last of Us, aka a parasitic fungus-based zombie virus.
Though most of the time in eco horror, nature isn't fully regarded as evil/monstrous, but more as a natural response to humanity's destruction of it. More like retaliation/punishment or something. Idk... I hope that makes sense???😅
ohhhhh okok i get it now. the kinda lit where ur rooting for the nature. xD
