Aviary is a psychological narrative that guts your core through that chill in your bones and leaves you thinking about it for days. A queer narrative that deconstructs the horrors of societal expectations. A modern gothic with a Korean American perspective that is rich in diction and riveting loud register. Maria Dong’s voice shines brightly through her protagonist that deconstructs the western social norms. The Korean-American perspective is explored through the character’s psyche and her language. This delivers a bloody wrench into the throes of a narrative that experience otherness within the horrors of the human condition.
The monster’s around us are hidden in plain sight because they appear to be hidden behind charm and excessive deceit. Hee-Young is determined to discover her truth and that comes with gut curdling shocks that will twist your insides. The sheer detail of the narrative is both descriptive and horrifying at each discovery with the protagonist. There is something riveting about the way writing can both gross you out with its description but intrigue you to discover the horrors of the monster within. There is always something inherently speculative when you discuss the human condition and the way it destroys your body physically and mentally.
What does it mean to be stuck in a mystery that drives you through leagues of madness? There is a toll to pay when we discover secrets that were mean to say buried. That is the nature of a Shelley style monster that exists within the human condition. There is this need to question our environment because our intuition is warning us of the wave of horror. That is the predicament our protagonist finds herself in when she takes the US passport to unravel the secrets. The sapphic longing will have you on the edge of your seat wondering when it will happen – if it happens.
Truly an eerie novel that shines brightly in the aviary of horrors and wonder. I enjoyed every moment of this narrative and read it in a day. But I have still been thinking about it and anticipate it may be lingering for a hot moment. This is the horror to dive in before the season gets spooky. Take a walk this spring into the dark side of humanity and how we battle those demons around us. Thank you Maria Dong, Severn House, and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy. All opinions are my own.

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incredibly ominous with some super effectively horrific vibes throughout. would recommend this one. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Wow. This one touches on so many topics. Trauma, folklore, cultural appropriation/fetishizing, body horror, LGBTQIA, femme rage, oppression, racism, sexism, it’s got it all. I was engaged from the start of the book and clinging on to the words until the very end. Hee-Jin finds her sisters disfigured body at her doorstep, where she is living as an undocumented citizen in South Korea, she’s horrified, but her sister has a passport and a ticket to America that’s about to leave, so she sees this as her chance to be free. But when she arrives in America, she gets wrapped up in the place that “rescued” her sister and “rescues” artists from other countries. The women are being drugged, things get culty VERY FAST. So many twists and turns, I really loved this one. It tugged at my heartstrings in all the ways. Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC!