A modern classic of horror. Full stop.
I was approved to receive an e-Galley ARC of The Shipbuilder Of Bellfairie, authored by M. Rickert, cover artwork by Tithi Luadthong, cover design by Vince Haig, interior design, editing and layout by Courtney Kelly and proof-reading by Carolyn Macdonell-Kelly, from Edelweiss and Undertow Publication. What follows below is my honest review, freely given.
I rated this novel 5 stars. This is a title I pre-ordered, and it has arrived before release date; I want to mention how gorgeous the physical copy came out! The craftsmanship and care the publisher put into the title helped bring this story to the height it deserves to reach, just a beautiful pairing.
This is a novel that leaves a soreness that radiates like a bruise perpetually pressed by an unseen hand, a wound from which your emotion fountains, a forever weeping part of you now. The main character Quark is the lost child that can be found in so many of us, where a bruised smile and faraway eyes are part of the everyday dress. To hear remarks to the more painful remembrances of his childhood from Bellfairians, not even uttered with affection or apology, more almost in an offhand way after not seeing him in town for years, it just gouged something from me. The impression, this claustrophobic panic that grips you as the reader, is that you can never escape the corner you've been backed into when you've live in a small town. Even if you have left, as Quark did, all that is reset to how they remember and treated you. And he is a disadvantage, poor Quark, a gentle giant without emotional armour to deflect even the softest of volleys. But as his initial reason for returning to Bellfairie lead to an unexpected result, and then dubious happenings cause the town folk to look to him in distrust, the volleys do not remain soft, growing barbed and poisoned.
The author's voice is magical and mournful in turn, I found myself swept up in the 'truestory' of Bellfairie with Coral one chapter, and rudderless beside Quark turning over a new corner of his own forgotten history the next. "Grief is a ship without a captain" will be a phrase I remember to the ends of my nights, even now it brings a prick of tears to my eyes because it immediately causes me to think of Quark, tipping his hat. His hat, oh how my heart dropped over his hat too (when you know, you'll understand)! Even now, I am horrified, broken by the indecision I have over Quark. And that final chapter, leading me to the most poignant, just brutal final two sentences. They ended the book so beautifully, I adore and abhor them with the very essence of my being, I am that extra over this, when I finished the book and I honestly just teared up again dammit. I closed the book and couldn't do anything for several minutes, I didn't want to end the moment. This is horror that is tied to our humanity, it will not shake from your shoulders easily, but you may find you welcome it as I did. The Shipbuilder of Bellfairie is a modern classic of horror, mark my words, and M. Rickert will be a lasting voice.
