5⭐️ for Japanese Gothic. This is one of those books that makes reading worth it. Beautiful setting: a house among the swordferns in Japan that slowly makes you lose your mind.

This is a story that makes you question the narrative, what is real and what is not, and unravels in the most haunting way.

Will for sure pick up other books by this author.

This was my first Kylie Lee Baker book, but I knew the author’s name and the praise she received for her previous novel Bat eater. This new book of hers was such a surprise to me. Honestly, I’ve never read anything like it. It was so strange and tragic, like a fever dream. It had an emotional impact on me during the whole reading process. It is about the tragic lives of two people, separated by hundreds of years, but finding each other in an ancient house behind the sword ferns in Japan. I find the magical elements so well executed, the writing is exquisite, the characters are so well done, layered and raw.
Right from the begging Lee is the unreliable narrator – “A man, a murderer, a stain”, but his story is very complex. His thoughts are compulsive and dark, and finding out the reason for it had the emotional damage I always appreciate when a book gives me that trauma.
Sen is the other main character; her whole reality is filled with violence and parental abuse, which is to prepare her to be the last samurai, despite her being a girl and the samurai being dismissed. “You are not a mind. You are a weapon. You have no soul, no heart, nothing to forfeit to death. You are already dead.”
But the writing, my lord - perfection and the story - perfection, and the relationship between Sen and Lee - perfection. This is not a romance, this is so much more. The last chapter gives you the payoff for all of the mystery throughout, for the reasoning, for the rules of the reality they share. I am floored by this author’s talent to write and create a story that I yearned for. I didn’t wish it to end, despite being hard to read in some parts about the abuse Sen was put through. I don’t want to say more, so not to spoil anything. I can’t wait for this to be published and for you all to rave about it. Japanese Gothic is simply a masterpiece that you should not miss to read when it comes out.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with the ARC.

I don’t have many intelligent words to say beyond this was DEVASTATING and I loved every second of it.

Japanese Gothic follows Sen, a training samurai beneath her abusive father who’s recently returned from a rebellion one of its only survivors, and came home a changed man. Across from Sen is Lee who lost his mother mysteriously years ago, and now is haunted by the loss of his roommate a bit less mysteriously (absolutely didn’t flip a lid over room etiquette.) They discover they can traverse timelines and help each other take to pieces the future and past to solve each other’s mysteries.

At the core of it, JG is about the lengths humanity will go to when under abusive relationships and this was both extremely well done in my opinion and horrendously relatable. (I wasn’t taking tips… yet.)

With dual POV stories like this one I usually find myself drawn to one over the other, katana held to my throat (see what I did there?) I couldn’t tell you who I liked more. Sen and Lee are absolute standouts as main characters. And I would pay money to see the iciest of hearts still frozen after reading this whole story.

Sen is agonising to read, someone who only wants to do right by her family and please her father. You feel every character note, her grief, her fear, the little light moments where she should just get to be a kid stolen from her. They were addictive and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Lee was difficult to read in just the best way. He’s done these horrible things but as the story unfolds and you see him struggle with just every aspect of his life, you can’t help but relate to him.

The two father characters are examples of one of the most brilliant literary parallels I think I’ve ever read. Watching Baker warp Lee’s dad into something monstrous in Lee’s eye but till the very end you still think Jim wants the best until the reality gets picked to pieces. Then the arrogance and selfishness of Sen’s father.

I don’t have daddy issues and I’m glad cos this book might well have given me some by osmosis.

I loved the history aspects of this book, I don’t know tonnes about the time period but I felt fully immersed but it never felt exposition-y, Baker did a great job of organically getting the historical context across. The paranormal aspects to JG aren’t overly explained and I think that’s really to the book’s benefit.

Baker has a belief in her readers that I really struggle to find in the modern writer, so much is left up to interpretation and she works doubt into her writing so well. I found the same of Bateater (which happened to be the book to kick off my Horror spree this year) and in JG I found it only double delicious. Sen and Lee both were incredibly unreliable, and left me second guessing everything, which worked so unbelievably well for a murder-mystery like this.

The hallucinations and flashbacks weren’t just a gimmick but worked brilliantly into the plot. I loved the little side stories with the sailor and the turtle, they were lovely splashes of whimsy (well dark whimsy but you take what you can get) against a very dark foreground.

JG is definitely a book that demands and keeps your attention, and I found it quite easy to get lost but that’s more by design than by flaw. The confusion is a feature not a bug, and the beautiful writing (how Baker makes visceral so beautiful is terrifying too me) and incredible dual-timeline plots were more than enough to keep my invested. This will definitely be one I’ll read a few times and spot more things I missed the first round.

Hint if you decide, (as you well should) to read this- if it makes you feel like the world just fell out from under you - probably happening. If you feel like the book just slapped you across the face and called your mother a dirty name? Definitely happening.

I love an author with a range. But it is also kind of incomprehensible to me how Kylie Lee Baker writes stories suitable for younger readers and then the most horrific and tense horror novels ever. And when I say 'horrific', I mean it. Almost every chapter had the main characters doing terrible things or thinking the darkest thoughts possible, or it was just straight-up bloodshed and gore. There were many scenes that made me sick to my stomach, but I also didn't know if I wanted to gag or to cry. What I did know was that I needed to keep reading. It was an experience.

The story follows two main characters in different timelines that are impossibly intertwined. In present day there is Lee Turner. His father just moved to a remote house in Japan, his mother is missing, presumed dead and Lee himself just killed his roommate without really knowing why he did it or where he put the dead body. He is more or less constantly sedated and has a twisted perception of reality, but he is sure that his father's new house is strangely otherworldly. In 1877, Sen, the daughter of a samurai, lives in the very same house, and while she tries her best to become the soulless warrior that her father trains her to be, she's often struggling with his way of life. The beginning of the book really was a lot, but I was intrigued by literally everything that was mentioned. Kylie Lee Baker somehow does more character work for Lee and Sen in their respective first chapters than other authors manage in an entire book. It's definitely a character-focused story and both characters live in a horrible reality. Lee is clearly struggling with his mental health and a broken family that no one even tries to repair. And Sen is learning an honorable but bloody craft in a time where the samurai are already annihilated and the desperately needed validation of her father might as well be unreachable.

It's a time-bending ghost story, both modern and historical, and it's full of supernatural and real-life horrors. It was difficult to predict how everything will connect, because the book offers a whole variety of themes and plot elements. From lost parents and dead roommates to existential fear to an impossible doorway through time to the meaning of the ocean and turtles. There was a Japanese tale imbedded into the story and I was sure that it would play a big role in the reveals, but I ultimately didn't love the way how it was connected to Lee and Sen. The last 20% were pretty confusing to me, because characters were dying but not really and then for real, and while some things were definitely unexpected, it just wasn't super satisfying to me. This issue might be resolved upon re-read when I can look for the right hints from the start. I still only remove half a star from my rating, because the other 80% of the book were so very powerful, yet tragic in every way. "Japanese Gothic" kinda felt like the sad (bawling-my-eyes-out) parts in a Makoto Shinkai movie, but if it were really twisted, bloody and covered in gore. I say that because there is also an undeniable romantic quality to this book. As I said, it is an experience.

I now greedily await more horror books by Kylie Lee Baker, because both "Bat Eater" and "Japanese Gothic" were outstanding highlights that left a lasting impression on me. In the meantime I'm definitely gonna tackle her YA backlist and I know that she won't disappoint me there either.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Beautitfully written and totally unsettling. I absolutely loved this!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an early reading copy.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

One thing you must know about me is that 'Japanese' and 'Gothic' are two of my favourite words ever. That, and the fact that Kylie Lee Baker's adult debut 'Bat Eater' is one of my favourite horror novels ever meant that my expectations could not have been higher. 'Japanese Gothic' surpassed my expectations in every way and I have to say that for me, KLB has singlehandedly raised the bar for what horror should be.

As befits any good gothic novel, the atmosphere here was exquisitely crafted. The house behind the sword ferns, a place that seemed almost suspended in time, had the perfect claustrophobic feel and eeriness that just so blurred the line between what was real and what wasn't. What really stood out to me was Baker's ability to bring even the tiniest motion to life- every swish of the sword ferns, every sunray that struck the floorboards, every whisper of the wind gliding through the house when its sliding doors were left open. I've become very nitpicky when it comes to atmosphere and aesthetics in books (having read so many good ones before), but 'Japanese Gothic' succeeded in every way. The prose was mesmerizing and hypnotic. The tension in the narrative was palpable and it had an almost...breathless quality to it. I'm sure this will appeal to many fans of the horror genre. I don't exaggerate when I say that this is the most cinematic reading experience I've ever had. This book literally read like a film unfolding in front of my eyes; it was that immersive.

Both Lee and Sen were memorable characters in their own right. Lee's mental health struggles, isolation and almost-invisibility were well-written. Sen, on the other hand, was honed to become a human weapon, unfeeling and without a soul. Both found the one person who truly saw them in a different timeline. It's easy to butcher stories involving time travel or timelines colliding, in my opinion, but KLB pulled it off brilliantly. I also learned about a period of Japanese history that I knew absolutely nothing about, and I appreciate KLB for tackling some important themes in her book. Please don't overlook the author's note, it's definitely worth reading.

What I loved the most about both of KLB's horror novels is that they don't just offer thrills and scares, they have an emotional depth to them. I felt connected to the protagonists and my heart broke for them over and over again. Like 'Bat Eater', 'Japanese Gothic' features gore and scenes that may not be suitable for the squeamish. I wouldn't say it's gratuitous, though. As for the readers curious about how Japanese mythology comes into play in all of this, I'd recommend that they go in blind. That will make the plot twist hit harder. I will say that the way Baker incorporated a pretty famous Japanese legend into a horror novel was nothing short of genius.

You know a book is good when you feel like rereading it right after turning the last page. I think I may have missed certain clues leading to the ending that I may discover only after a reread. There's one plot point where once I realized what was happening, I actually gasped and proceeded to stare at a wall for the longest time.

Right from the first page to the last, 'Japanese Gothic' maintained a perfect pacing, was well-written and deeply atmospheric, and had a haunting ending that'll stay with me for a long time. I cannot give this anything less than a solid 5. I'd highly recommend this to fans of Japanese history and mythology, gothic horror, and Marcus Kliewer's 'We Used to Live Here'.

I really loved Bat Eater, it was one of my favourite horrors from this year, so I jumped on the chance for this ARC! And tbh, I don’t think I could possibly list all the things I loved about it, but I’ll try!!

Positives
- Kylie Lee Baker’s prose is so beautiful - I already thought so in Bat Eater but even since then, I can tell how much she’s improved
- The two intertwined stories were both so intriguing and the mystery of it all had me glued to the page - I literally stayed up until 2am to finish this bc I needed answers!!
- The horror is suitably horrifying - just the right side of gory and grotesque but not without reason or to be gratuitous, while also being creepy and unsettling
- I’m going to have nightmares about suitcases now

Negatives
- None!

Kylie Lee Baker is quickly becoming one of my favourite horror writers, I can’t wait to see what she does next