Book Review: Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A.Snyder

Just in time for Halloween! If you like the idea of cosmic horror, then keep on reading.

Minor Spoilers Ahead!

Sister, Maiden, Monster is split into three short stories, following three female characters as they survive, navigate and live through a world wide pandemic. Though initially, their stories are split, they end up intertwining in the final arc, so I'll give a brief overview of each story, without giving to much away.

“I don’t know why this is happening to humanity. To me. I’d like to think there’s some greater purpose behind this disaster, some cosmic meaning in all this, but God help me, I just can’t see it.”

Part One:

We start off with an introduction to he world. In a very similar fashion to the Corona Virus, a pandemic called PVG has been roaming across the planet, causing chaos. Our first character Erin works in IT and, we see the current state of things through her eyes. On the night of her engagement, she becomes infected with PVG. It's a rather gruesome affair, and the description definitely isn't for the faint of heart, but it's what occurs after she wakes up in hospital some time later, that the horror truly starts.

Erin's story is nice introduction into the world, and what exactly the virus can do. For instance, when testing to see what type Erin is – the virus infects people in different ways and these are categorised as types - the hospital staff, rather calmly, serve her an assortment of food and drinks, containing human blood and brains – to which you can imagine Erin does not take well initially. But this is the sort of chaos the world has been thrown into, where some patients of PVG are surviving by eating a small portion of brains to control their more violent, brutal urges.

Though it starts of rather slow, and can get a little repetitive, I enjoyed this first story. Erin's interactions with the world after infection, her isolation, her newly formed friendship, the effect her infection has on her past life and future. It's all weaved in a way that tells a story of a woman struggling, but surviving the best she can, until ultimately, the choice is taken out of her hands.

“Every bullet I fired into his flesh was nothing short of exhilarating. And when I saw his body crash lifeless to the tiled floor, I came so hard I lost consciousness.”

Part Two:

The second story was by far my favourite. It's the shortest of the three, but has the most impact and follows the most interesting character in my opinion. Savannah has a rather sordid past, and works as a Courtesan whilst studying towards a degree in Psychology. She's confident, sassy and not all that concerned about the virus, till one of her client's shows up at her work with it. Here, we are introduced to a new 'Type.' After Savannah is infected, her mind is filled with images from the Old Gods, showing her what is too come, the slaughter of the entire human race. After that, things take a turn for Savannah, mostly, in that she can no longer have an orgasm unless it's during the brutal murder of someone. Yes, you read that right. Savannah, now chosen by the Old Gods, carries out her ordained duties whilst seeing visions of what she has to do, meanwhile killing the innocent to get her rocks off. It's dark debauchery, and I loved it.

Though that might seem ridiculous and grim, and it is, it works really well here, because it fits almost seamlessly into the horrific world the author has painted. I didn't even find myself questioning why Savannah suddenly had to go to such extreme lengths for simple pleasures. It just made sense. Savannah however, isn't suddenly heartless, and she calls into question her morality and the things she has done, but ultimately, she can not disobey her new masters, and her story ends with her acceptance of her new duty.

“Except you. You’re not gonna die. The gods have plans for you, sugar pie.”

Part Three:

The third and final story follows a character we've already been previously introduced to in Erin's story, Mareva Buduci. Mareva already lived a pretty difficult life before the virus, prone to growing chronic benign teratomas. This plays a factor in the role she has been assigned in this pandemic, and out of all the stories, the cruellest. She is kidnapped by Savannah and a now mutated Erin, whisked away to an abandoned manor as the world burns, because she has been chosen to give birth to the spawn of what is essentially, Cthulhu. Yes, it's always Cthulhu. After a spawn rips itself from one of her tumours, she realises that she is too be used as nothing more then a breeding chamber, and as you can imagine, will do whatever she can to stop that from happening. I loved how all three women came together here, Erin, lost to the virus but still retaining some of her own mind, not only recognising her old friend but trying to help her, and Savannah, completely lost to the will of these otherworldly beings, senselessly murdering whilst retaining her charm.

Overall, the stories were well written, painting a beautiful picture of a world overrun with an alien virus and slowly succumbing to the will of an Old God. I found the stories quite unsettling to imagine, but not overly horrific, but the depictions of the events were described with such great detail that I found myself absorbed by the writing and was rather disappointed by how short it was. I could have definitely read more.

If you're looking for a quick horror read for the spooky season, and an apocalypse brought on by a pandemic sounds like you're cup of tea, I highly recommend this.

Rating: 4/5