Dark, poetic, and haunting. LaRocca weaves grief and horror into something unsettlingly beautiful. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Huge LaRocca fan, looking forward to sharing this title!!

An okay Larocca drop. As always I will pick up the volumes he drops but I was not a huge fan of this one. Hopefully as the series goes on it gets better.

Eric LaRocca has unleashed another monstrosity that makes me want to pray for his soul. The first of the Burnt Sparrow series is extremely strong, super depraved, and completely disgusting. I dissociated multiple times while reading this because my brain was instinctually trying to protect itself from what I was reading. Very akin to the deep cut exploitation horror films from the 70’s, gave me the creeps! That said, another easy five stars. Keep them coming, Eric.

Me thinks they aren’t so tender with their dead. Or if that’s their definition of tender, I’d hate to see what sadistic looks like.

One of my favorite things is when I finish a book, and I understood what happened. I really enjoy that feeling. I don’t enjoy feeling like I just read a book in Swahili with a few English words intermingled, but only used when describing vile, morally putrid scenes.

That was this book. Don’t get me wrong, there were some things here to be appreciated. The faceless family and the human-headed bird stood out as entities I’ll remember long after I put this book away for good.

I know this fits into a broader universe and is only the first book in the series, but to have no conclusion, or to bring anything to a close felt unsatisfactory. I have no interest in seeing how this plays out.

I’m disappointed after having recently read After Dark, I Become Loathsome, and loving it so much. I had high hopes for this one. I’m sure there’s audience out there for it, but consider me squarely on the outside looking in.

The story of the strange and ugly happenings in Burnt Sparrow certainly cross the threshold at times.
While this is not my typical genre to read (more graphic, brutal horror), I think it was impactful. The plot was interesting, and darkly unique. Some of the visuals in this will stick with me for some time.

The first 70% of this book was really unnerving and gripping at times. I felt that the ending bits started falling apart a bit. I think the rest of the trilogy could be interesting, I’d check out the rest of this story.

Trigger warnings and the like etc are fine by me. I read a lot of true crime and horror so I’m not particularly sensitive to disturbing topics. I really enjoyed the author’s previous work due to the absolute horror, disgusting imagination and all round originality. I was excited to pick this up but found I couldn’t get into the characters, the town, the storyline. It didn’t capture my imagination, and I found myself trying to get into the story rather than just being into it from the first page. I would have liked to have been curiously addicted to seeing what happens next (this was my previous experience with this author’s work). However it was not my experience this time. Not sure why, maybe it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t find Rupert or his Dad very interesting or sympathetic characters. I wasn’t really interested in reading Rupert’s perspective. Thanks to Netgalley for the

I’m not totally sure what I just read but I am sure I’ll be picking up the second installment in the Burnt Sparrow trilogy.

LaRocca opens with an author’s note containing detailed trigger warnings, and I appreciated the transparency. He’s also absolutely right in describing the book as “profoundly distasteful.” This isn’t a story you enjoy in any traditional sense. It’s discomforting, confrontational, and refuses to play by the usual rules of narrative or worldbuilding.

The in media res approach is a bold choice but didn’t completely land for me. I found myself craving just a bit more grounding in the world and its logic, something to latch onto while navigating the surreal brutality and emotional chaos. Without that, some of the impact of the themes felt dulled/distant.

Still, LaRocca’s voice is unique and haunting, and there's something magnetic in his refusal to flinch. I didn’t love this book, but I respect it and I’ll be there for whatever comes next.

What the hell did I just read? That was weird!
There is only ugliness here - in Burnt Sparrow.
There are a lot of stories here - a lot of threads to pull on and then there's the main story.
Mass murder at Christmas on the streets by faceless (yes - literally without faces) perpetrators and the town elders decide to leave the bodies of the fallen where they are slain, preserving the scene. No burials, guarded by "Preservers". Why?
What follows is a descent into a depravity that is shockingly breathtaking. There are no familiar horror tropes here, just a load of nastiness. This book is not for the fainthearted.
The story is written excellently and the descriptions are vivid.
I have questions that I hope will be answered in subsequent books so I will be waiting.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a ride, and I can't say that it was really a good or bad ride, just...wow. This is set to be a trilogy, and I can say that I'm interested in reading more, but at what cost? This is my first Eric Larocca book and I have heard that his books can be a little extreme and he does make a note early on of all the things that could be seen as extreme in this book.

The plot was interesting, with three faceless beings coming to the town of Burnt Sparrow and killing many of the town's residents. The main character and his father are in charge of guarding the scene of the massacre until the town can figure out what to do with the bodies and the richest man in town takes charge of providing the punishment of these three creatures, and we're taken on a wild ride for what happens with the main character and the creatures.

I feel that there was still a lot of shock factor in the story which I'm not for, especially when it really doesn't contribute anything to the plot and I also really couldn't get the meaning behind the story that the author states is deeply rooted in the story. This may be explained more in the next two books. I will continue on with the series, but it's a weird start for never having read one of his books before. If you have read and liked Larocca's work before, I think you will like this.

When a book starts like this, you know you’re in for a wild ride:

“This novel is not intended to entertain. I never set out to amuse or enthrall with my fiction. Instead, I hope to provoke, to elicit a reaction from my audience.”

We Are Always Tender with Our Dead by Eric LaRocca is a queer horror novel set in the eerie town of Burnt Sparrow where a brutal Christmas Day massacre unearths dark secrets. Seventeen-year-old Rupert Cromwell confronts grief, identity and supernatural horror in this haunting first entry of a trilogy.

“I was ten years old the day when he sewed his shadow to mine with dark thread.”

Eric’s writing is deliberate and deeply unsettling. It stirs both welcome and unwelcome emotions, sometimes all at once. His stories are designed not to comfort but to shock and move, and this one does exactly that. It is not for the faint of heart; nearly every trigger warning you can think of is here. But somehow, it is also an astoundingly raw and emotionally resonant read.

You will not enjoy this book in the traditional sense. You are not meant to. You are meant to squirm.

Releasing on September 9, if you are into dark, disturbing and emotionally intense fiction, this should be on your TBR. Grateful to be given the opportunity to read this as an ARC via NetGalley!

This arc was given to me by Netgalley, so thank you for that.

Eric LaRocca is a frustrating writer for me. The talent with writing is undeniable. His prose is lush and full, bordering on purple quite often. Every line feels like it took ages of deliberation and consideration, picked apart and strained to its breaking point. He is an expert at conjuring the most horrible and horrific things. He has a wild and deep imagination. He can make up a title like no one else. And his writing Is so readable. I Maybe see little bit why he gets so much love from The horror world. But it’s the storytelling that leaves me feeling cold so often. I’ve read many of his short stories and his novel “Everything The Darkness Eats” and there were short stories that I found compelling but his novel didn’t work for me At all.

This book opens with a plethora of trigger warnings and they are warranted. The centerpiece of the story is a Christmas Day massacre in the town of burnt sparrow committed by a family of faceless humanoids and the towns leaders decide to leave the bodies in the street where they died and give the faceless family to a wealthy man in town to do with as he pleases. The story is told through two different points of view, plus some news articles and documents. There’s themes of grief, loss, abuse, the horrors we commit against each other, the way we dehumanize others not like ourselves and make them faceless enemies to be abused and destroyed. There’s a lot going on here. And there’s also revolting and horrifying acts of depravity. My problem with all the shocking violence, gore, and sexual violence in this book is that it all feels rather cold and distant. I never felt a connection to anyone in this story. No one ever felt real to me in this so I never was affected by the truly horrifying stuff besides just cringing a little. I found the story at times felt like a bunch of different short story ideas smashed together and expanded on. It’s at times a confusing enigma and seeing as it’s the first in a trilogy leaves so many questions in its wake. This is a well written, compulsively
readable work of extreme horror that I can’t say I particularly enjoyed. I’m hoping one day his work will click
With me and I’ll see what everyone else does.

One thing that I will forever give LaRocca is their ability to write excellent prose. However, I think that while I have enjoyed some of his works before, I don’t think I am the target audience for this particular series. The writing is good, but that is about the only thing it has going for it. I think it is impossible to even begin to describe the details of this story, and I will say that there are so many trigger warnings and everyone should be aware of them before you pick this one up. There is a lot of darkness in this book. I like my books dark, but the story did not come together in the way I was hoping it would. LaRocca spent a lot of time telling us how the characters felt and there was surprisingly little plot for the length of the book. I am a reader who likes to be shown versus told, so again, while the writing is well done, this just didn’t work for me as a whole. I have to assume that things did not come together because this is the first in what is to be a trilogy, but I have so many questions and not a strong enough desire to continue on. There is an audience for this book, and I think fans of extreme horror in general will be a fan of this, but I was not the target audience, so take this review with a grain of salt. 3 stars for the writing alone.

This is an absolutely wild series opener about a small town in New England, the reactions of its town members to a brutal murder, and the even darker punishments that it decides to inflict on the wrong doers. I'll be up front that I have absolutely no idea where this is going for the rest of the series, but from the small individual horrors that the characters witness and experience to the wider horrors that the town tries to enact on the perpetrators, LaRocca is clearly willing to go hard. He also ups his weaving together of short stories with interstitials in the overall narrative here. Well worth your time this fall.

We Are Always Tender With Our Dead is a new horror novel from Eric LaRocca, centred around a cursed town, Burnt Sparrow, and what happens when three faceless creatures massacre a number of residents. Seventeen-year-old Rupert Cromwell is drawn into events by his father, and soon finds himself far too close to the dark cruelties that follow. It's hard to say much more without giving too much away.

Having read most of LaRocca's previous stories (liking some more than others as to be expected) and having a lukewarm reaction to his previous novel, I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, especially as it is the start of a trilogy. However, I feel like this novel better showcases LaRocca's skills in telling transgressive queer horror stories that explore human cruelty and trauma, whilst building up a sense of lore around Burnt Sparrow that I'm assuming will be continued in the later books in the series. The narrative is told from two characters' perspectives, including a few horror stories told by those characters, plus some separate articles about Burnt Sparrow, and the narrative itself is episodic despite the overarching 'plot' of the three faceless murderers. By doing this, the book is able to delve deeper into some characters than you can in a shorter story, whilst still giving LaRocca space to weave shorter extreme horror stories and moments into the novel.

I'll be fascinated to see what comes next in the series, as this one did feel like you were missing just that bit more about Burnt Sparrow, and the ending is quite sudden, with a lot of wider things left unanswered. The more extreme horror or splatterpunk moments in the book are quite brief, so whilst people should always take heed of trigger warnings at the start, I'd say that it isn't as unrelenting as some other books I've read, and a lot of the horror comes from LaRocca's trademark exploration of people's choices and cruelty and the thresholds they are willing to cross. For me, this was one of my favourite LaRocca books, combining unnerving supernatural elements with the horrors of humans themselves, and using the novel length to weave in related stories.

This one is hardcore! I hesitate to say I enjoyed it or that it was a fun time but I definitely was compelled to finish it and I wanted to know how it ended. I love Eric’s style of writing and their short fiction, so reading a full length novel from them was a real treat - maybe treat is the wrong word given the subject matter, but I’m looking forward to reading whatever they put out next!

Eric LaRocca continues to solidify his place as one of horror’s most daring and evocative voices with We Are Always Tender With Our Dead. Fresh off the acclaim of At Dark, I Become Loathsome, LaRocca delivers yet another unsettling masterpiece—one that both disturbs and mesmerizes in equal measure.

Set against the haunting backdrop of the town of Burnt Sparrow, the novel plunges readers into a chilling tragedy that leaves behind a trail of unanswered questions and emotional wreckage. At the heart of the story is Rupert, a teenager burdened with trauma and forced to confront horrors both internal and external. Through Rupert’s eyes, we navigate a reality twisted by grief, loss, and something far more sinister.

LaRocca’s prose is lyrical yet merciless. The grotesque imagery and emotional rawness evoke the visceral terror of Duncan Ralston’s Woom, while the imaginative scope and dark beauty harken back to the legendary Clive Barker. It's a rare feat for horror fiction to strike such a delicate balance between revulsion and poignancy, but LaRocca handles it with masterful precision.

This is not a comfortable read—and it shouldn’t be. We Are Always Tender With Our Dead forces readers to sit with their discomfort, to peer into the abyss and recognize something human staring back. It is grotesque. It is tender. It is unforgettable. The only thing I am disappointed in is the fact that I have to wait for the second book.

I give this novel a well-deserved 5-star rating. For fans of literary horror that pushes boundaries and lingers long after the final page, this is an absolute must-read.

Thank you Eric and thank you Titan Books for gifting me an ARC.

Creepy as always, I am such a fan of the LaRocca collections. What I really want is a feature length plot!

I've read quite a bit of Eric LaRocca's writing and I'm always blown away by how beautifully they're able to write some of the most grotesque scenes you've ever encountered. "We Are Always Tender with Our Dead," takes that prose and unsettling atmosphere but adds on top of it a level of character development we haven't yet seen from LaRocca.

This first installment in the "Burnt Sparrow" trilogy uses multiple view points to tell a story with time jumps that gradually reveal more about the titular town and the characters in it. I don't want to give anything away plot wise, but I will say that the character work is so good that LaRocca could've put them into just about any situation and I would've been in.

If you're familiar with Eric LaRocca's work, you know he pushes boundaries and excels at making the reader uncomfortable. This is no exception. If anything "Burnt Sparrow," hurts even worse because we know so much about our characters lives and back stories. If you're interested in reading this or any other of LaRocca's books, make sure you check trigger warning.

This is a great book that I'll recommend to very few people, due to what it asks of its audience, but if you can stomach it at its darkest, you'll be awarded with a story that will literally leave you wanting more. Can't wait to the next two installments in this series

Although I finished this in a single afternoon, I took my sweet time finding the right mental space to finally write a proper review. This is the kind of book that either makes you utter generalities, banalities, trivialities ("watch out for them triggers," "the author is the new god of horror," "the book is so dark I couldn't find my way to the bathroom," and so on), or tempts you to spoil the fun for everyone, and go for, well..., spoilers. There's no doubt this is not your typical horror book; it's also too good to just stick a label to it ("literary transgressive horror"), and move to the next book in your TBR.

There's horror, and then, there's Eric LaRocca. Sure, the author's a genius (there, I couldn't avoid a banality of my own!); sure, he knows how to take a common horror trope (namely, small-town horror), and transform it into a claustrophobic paean to the unmasking of love as pain; and he sure aims for that "WTF?" moment, so precious and so rare at the best of times, even with an unpredictable tyrant currently in power. LaRocca has already proven he can do all that and more; so what's new with the first book of the Burnt Sparrow trilogy?

In a sense, everything. This felt like Poppy Z. Brite (now Billy Martin), Jeff VanDerMeer, and Thomas Ligotti had a brainstorming session hosted by Barker, and came up with a deceptively simple premise: let's show them readers how a small town, haunted by the event of a mass shooting, deals with its collective trauma. Then let's invite them to witness how, bit by bit, the story subtly deconstructs the event, revealing the town itself to be the true horror (and there's my spoiler!). And, my stars, that's just the premise!

The deconstruction is a slow, torturous hell full of the weird and the uncanny, the horrific and the disturbing, the shocking and the perverse. From birds with human faces, born out of teenage spunk, to corpses left rotting in the street, protected by the townies in daily shifts, the journey has a lot, and I mean A LOT of distressing, nay even alarming, imagery.

Perhaps the Burnt Sparrow trilogy will reinvent the literature of the transgressive; perhaps not. With the first volume, an audacious and insightful foray into the savage world of screams and dreams, it's already shaking up small town horror metafictional tropes, in my humble opinion. I can't recommend it highly enough.

LaRocca has done it again. This book is their signature from cover to cover, the blunt emotion, the unwavering gore, the truth hidden within it all. But on a far larger scale. Truly a modern master of horror.