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Hinterland
Kestrel awakes in the woods without a real name or his memories. Before him are twelve strangers, an altar on fire, and bones hanging from the trees like wind chimes. He’s to be initiated into their group so they may fulfill their purpose: head to the mountain of the so-called gods, have a feast, and bring about the end of the world. Kestrel is willing to risk it all to escape, but without any memories, he knows he must play along until he finds a way out.
It won’t be easy. Winter is on their heels, hunters are searching for them, and the strange rituals they perform will rip his humanity from his flesh. But Kestrel isn’t alone. One of the strangers claims to be his friend from before, and there are others willing to join his side and leave the wilderness... if the gods let them.
It won’t be easy. Winter is on their heels, hunters are searching for them, and the strange rituals they perform will rip his humanity from his flesh. But Kestrel isn’t alone. One of the strangers claims to be his friend from before, and there are others willing to join his side and leave the wilderness... if the gods let them.
Unknown Binding
Published December 6, 2025
13 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
About the author
Logan Spurgeon
5 books18 followersLogan Spurgeon is a speculative fiction author living in Lexington, Kentucky. After leaving a doomsday cult, he revived his dream of being a writer. He is the author of HINTERLAND (December 6, 2025), SOURWOOD (March 24, 2026), and THE HOUSE ON GARENT HILL (December 2026).
When he’s not crafting new stories, Logan loves spending time hiking, taking care of plants, cooking, making art, or having good conversations around the table.
When he’s not crafting new stories, Logan loves spending time hiking, taking care of plants, cooking, making art, or having good conversations around the table.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
November 5, 2025
In a nutshell, ‘Hinterland’ has a great premise, but ends poorly.
The book starts really, really well, with lots of potential with all that cultish theme and isolating winter wilderness setting, but close to the end it’s absolutely chaos and frankly ruined it completely. It was absolutely frustrating. The story starts with Kestrel, our protagonist waking up in the Hinterlands woods with no memory of his life or how he got there. He's soon approached by a very peculiar group of people, all nicknamed after an animal, which was the most blatant foreshadowing for their nature, but our protagonist doesn't see it until later when they engage in cannibalism.
The atmosphere is very claustrophobic, isolating, perhaps due to the bleak setting and their struggle to survive or maybe because our protagonist has absolutely no idea who he is, much like many other characters in the story. Because we barely know anything about Kestrel I could not connect in any way with him, nor with the others. We’re not even offered his real name at the end so at least we could finally give our protagonist a respectful closure and erase the awful memories under that cursed name.
As they journey through the woods to reach the sacred mountains, they will have many strange adventures (mostly repetitive), Kestrel will have to accept his new life as he is initiated by the group into their weird dynamics, though he plots with others to escape. Weirdly enough, he accepts his fate a little too fast and unrealistically easily.
Perhaps the only real thing we learn about Kestrel is his sexual orientation, as he reunites with his actual lover in this strange group, learning later on that Kestrel’s reason to be in that forest was precisely because he was looking for him. It was sweet to see that he did know something about his true self.
The novel is loaded with mysticism, and occultism, can't say I'm a fan of that, and maybe that also affected my connection with the plot and characters. Truth be told, the most disgusting thing in the book is the cultists’ actions of convincing Kestrel to be there with them, to convert him, to change him, to brainwash him (typical cultist shite) and not the cannibalistic acts or the kills (which in my opinion are not that awful as other people state, I’ve read far, far worse than this, like extremely, deranged graphic stuff).
By the end of it I simply couldn’t wrap my head around this book and it was very hard to rate it. What the hell is actually happening in this book? Was this just a crazy cult kidnapping children and people to brainwash them into believing their delusional beliefs? Were those gods on the sacred mountain real? (They seemed real, at least in the way they were described at the end and the whispers and their shapeless forms demanded sacrifices to get physical forms themselves). And if so, this point actually makes the story even worse, because the very existence of these gods comes as a justification for the cult’s horrible acts and their demented belief.
Then we’re told that they all died in that forest and on that mountain and that the gods brought them back to life? What for? For the sacrifice? If they already died, couldn’t the gods just take the bodies? Apparently not. And what’s with the hunger for human flesh? You’re telling me someone who eats human flesh after one or two weeks, will get feral about it and crave only that sort of meal? The last part throws out so many contradictory questions about the cult's methods, the nature of the ‘gods’ and the rules of the world itself (was it all real or is it all just limbo, the afterlife– some sort of ‘Lost’ or ‘From’ stuff?), that I felt like I was reading the conclusion to a completely different story. It leaves you with zero closure and a ton of confusion.
I see this is a debut novel, so I'd say this is a big start. It's a good book, in terms of writing style and atmosphere, it has suspense, a constant sense of dread and uneasiness, creepy characters and weird rituals in a very isolated world setting. However, the final act feels completely disjointed, ruining the strong foundation that the author spent so much time building in the first two thirds of the book.
Many, many thanks to Logan Spurgeon, Quill & Crow Publishing House, and NetGalley for the ARC. This is a voluntary review, reflecting solely my opinion.
The book starts really, really well, with lots of potential with all that cultish theme and isolating winter wilderness setting, but close to the end it’s absolutely chaos and frankly ruined it completely. It was absolutely frustrating. The story starts with Kestrel, our protagonist waking up in the Hinterlands woods with no memory of his life or how he got there. He's soon approached by a very peculiar group of people, all nicknamed after an animal, which was the most blatant foreshadowing for their nature, but our protagonist doesn't see it until later when they engage in cannibalism.
The atmosphere is very claustrophobic, isolating, perhaps due to the bleak setting and their struggle to survive or maybe because our protagonist has absolutely no idea who he is, much like many other characters in the story. Because we barely know anything about Kestrel I could not connect in any way with him, nor with the others. We’re not even offered his real name at the end so at least we could finally give our protagonist a respectful closure and erase the awful memories under that cursed name.
As they journey through the woods to reach the sacred mountains, they will have many strange adventures (mostly repetitive), Kestrel will have to accept his new life as he is initiated by the group into their weird dynamics, though he plots with others to escape. Weirdly enough, he accepts his fate a little too fast and unrealistically easily.
Perhaps the only real thing we learn about Kestrel is his sexual orientation, as he reunites with his actual lover in this strange group, learning later on that Kestrel’s reason to be in that forest was precisely because he was looking for him. It was sweet to see that he did know something about his true self.
The novel is loaded with mysticism, and occultism, can't say I'm a fan of that, and maybe that also affected my connection with the plot and characters. Truth be told, the most disgusting thing in the book is the cultists’ actions of convincing Kestrel to be there with them, to convert him, to change him, to brainwash him (typical cultist shite) and not the cannibalistic acts or the kills (which in my opinion are not that awful as other people state, I’ve read far, far worse than this, like extremely, deranged graphic stuff).
By the end of it I simply couldn’t wrap my head around this book and it was very hard to rate it. What the hell is actually happening in this book? Was this just a crazy cult kidnapping children and people to brainwash them into believing their delusional beliefs? Were those gods on the sacred mountain real? (They seemed real, at least in the way they were described at the end and the whispers and their shapeless forms demanded sacrifices to get physical forms themselves). And if so, this point actually makes the story even worse, because the very existence of these gods comes as a justification for the cult’s horrible acts and their demented belief.
Then we’re told that they all died in that forest and on that mountain and that the gods brought them back to life? What for? For the sacrifice? If they already died, couldn’t the gods just take the bodies? Apparently not. And what’s with the hunger for human flesh? You’re telling me someone who eats human flesh after one or two weeks, will get feral about it and crave only that sort of meal? The last part throws out so many contradictory questions about the cult's methods, the nature of the ‘gods’ and the rules of the world itself (was it all real or is it all just limbo, the afterlife– some sort of ‘Lost’ or ‘From’ stuff?), that I felt like I was reading the conclusion to a completely different story. It leaves you with zero closure and a ton of confusion.
I see this is a debut novel, so I'd say this is a big start. It's a good book, in terms of writing style and atmosphere, it has suspense, a constant sense of dread and uneasiness, creepy characters and weird rituals in a very isolated world setting. However, the final act feels completely disjointed, ruining the strong foundation that the author spent so much time building in the first two thirds of the book.
Many, many thanks to Logan Spurgeon, Quill & Crow Publishing House, and NetGalley for the ARC. This is a voluntary review, reflecting solely my opinion.
January 9, 2026
A strong debut in the horror genre!
I was enthralled from page one by this strange and creepy story. The beginning is both puzzling and completely horrific, and the answers to the mysteries are really slow to trickle in as the story progresses.
The unsettling atmosphere is the best part of the book in my opinion. The main character has lost his memory so we're as clueless as he is about how he got there and who is this group of strangers that travels with him. The winter wilderness setting gives an extra layer of harshness to the survivalism side of the story.
There’s a constant feeling of dread and suspicion since it’s really difficult to know who to trust, and the progressive changes in the main character's mindset are subtle and well done, to the point that we can’t even trust him. I really enjoyed that the book kept me guessing at all times where the plot was going to go.
While many of the mysteries end up being answered, the ending still left me with a lot of questions. This is not a bad thing per se, some readers will want more explanations and others will enjoy this somewhat open ending. Personally I love stories that leave room for the reader to complete with their own assumptions. I must say that reading the author’s bio helped me understand the metaphorical side of this book a lot more.
I'd say a book that keeps me thinking about its ending for days is a good book, I'm definitely intrigued to read future works from this author!
Thanks to Quill & Crow Publishing House via NetGalley for providing an eARC
I was enthralled from page one by this strange and creepy story. The beginning is both puzzling and completely horrific, and the answers to the mysteries are really slow to trickle in as the story progresses.
The unsettling atmosphere is the best part of the book in my opinion. The main character has lost his memory so we're as clueless as he is about how he got there and who is this group of strangers that travels with him. The winter wilderness setting gives an extra layer of harshness to the survivalism side of the story.
There’s a constant feeling of dread and suspicion since it’s really difficult to know who to trust, and the progressive changes in the main character's mindset are subtle and well done, to the point that we can’t even trust him. I really enjoyed that the book kept me guessing at all times where the plot was going to go.
While many of the mysteries end up being answered, the ending still left me with a lot of questions. This is not a bad thing per se, some readers will want more explanations and others will enjoy this somewhat open ending. Personally I love stories that leave room for the reader to complete with their own assumptions. I must say that reading the author’s bio helped me understand the metaphorical side of this book a lot more.
I'd say a book that keeps me thinking about its ending for days is a good book, I'm definitely intrigued to read future works from this author!
Thanks to Quill & Crow Publishing House via NetGalley for providing an eARC
October 13, 2025
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*
Quick Recommendation/Overview
If you like atmospheric horror and/or religious horror then this book is a good fit. It builds the feeling of dread, suspicion and urgency of escape well. The novel starts right off by Kestrel who remembers nothing after he hit his head. Strangers tell him his name, his purpose and his fate without him being sure if this is all even true. There is a lingering psychological dread when Kestrel realises who the people he is accompanied by really are. His internal conflicts are about escaping or staying to protect the innocent but also by feeling skeptical to the ancient gods named Eidolons who live in the mountain at the Hinterland but also wanting to have faith in them at the same time. Not only makes this Kestrel feel helpless, knowing that he has no real free will or choice but also the readers who want him to find his home and return safely.
The eerie atmosphere turns even more unsettling and tense when the season changes from autumn to winter over the course of the story. The survival in the wilderness starts to become a challenge. Thick snow makes them unable to walk like they used to, the temperature is a threat to their health and finding food is more time-consuming. One hopes that they make through it. Will they be the hunters or the one's being hunted?
The Review
Themes
There are ancient gods which demand many things including offerings and sacrifices. In return they give gifts, blessings, feasts and much more. Visions and whispers are strange things in the woods, only heard and seen by the one's with purposes for the gods. Thirteen people share their fate, they are bond together to fulfil their purposes to the gods.
Themes include: Finding a place to call home, memory loss, death, forests/woods, spirits, cannibalism, cruel fates, escaping from one's own fate, starvation, unstoppable hunger (polyphagia), survival in the wilderness, losing control/being out of control, faith vs skepticism, freedom vs fate, fulfilling purposes vs choosing one's own path, familiarity vs alienation, abandonment vs sense of belonging and dependency vs independency.
Characters & Plot
Characters
I noticed quickly that I felt detached from the characters, probably 'cause the protagonist feels detached from them too. He doesn't remember anything and even when he interacts with the others in the group he never talks to them like friends 'cause he doesn't know them. They are just strangers. And we readers sense that, which I think is great as it shows how much the memory loss impacts Kestrel. It adds to the atmospheric dread as the reader doesn't have the certainly like usually to trust somebody, to start liking them. We stay away from the other characters, sure that they will disappoint us later on if we become attached to them.
Even after trying to understand the characters and getting to know them they I still felt detached to them, but I think that was done on purpose. The only thing that actually bothered me was how I also felt indifferent to the protagonist, this was an issue for me. Kestrel was the only one the reader could have felt attached to since he wasn't really a stranger, we followed his point of view the whole time. Near the end I started to sense that the detachment starts to go away but then the ending of the book came. His internal struggles made me able to feel a bit closer to him, but he felt just like another stranger who started to develop issues later on.
Plot
I enjoyed the atmospheric horror going on, I belive it was done pretty well. I felt the sensation of dread and fear and also a bit of hope near the end. When the winter started to come I was excited 'cause I'm such a snow lover until I realised that snow isn't really good when living in the woods, especially if it's thick. Summer can give one a heat stroke, but I think winter is way more scary. Yes, most animals sleep in that time, so no bear to attack you, but the snow and the cold will hurt your lungs and before you see it coming you freezed to death. That's why most people camp in the summer, it's just not that dangerous. I always root for a book filled with tension and as soon as the winter came it hit me immediately.
I was anticipating for something to happen since it's medium- to slow-paced to build the dread. The unknown made me curious. At the 70-80% mark I finally got what I wanted, all the build-up for it, finally happening. So many things happened at the same time but it didn't feel rushed, it was exactly how it was supposed to be. Unfortunately it was very predictable which made the enjoyment while reading go down, but I still enjoyed the mysterious touch to this story.
What disappointed me the most was how similar this book was to other cult-like media, it didn't read like something new and since I also felt detached from the characters I was disappointed. Obviously not every book has to come up with a new concept but since I watched so many ritual stuff already it feels not special to watch or read another.
Final thoughts
It's important to note that this book not only includes gore as a shock factor but also body horror. It's also more focused on the atmospheric feeling than a horror who focuses on jumpscares or the like. The horror also lies in unusual cravings, ancient gods and a cult. It's both atmospheric horror and religious horror. One shouldn't expect too much from this book as it adds nothing new to the atmospheric horror or religious horror sub-genre. It's perfect to be read in the winter season to feel the dread even better.
Thank you NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the advanced reader copy of Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon.
StoryGraph review
Started the book: 13. October 2025
Finished the book: 13. October 2025
Wrote the review: 13. October 2025
Quick Recommendation/Overview
If you like atmospheric horror and/or religious horror then this book is a good fit. It builds the feeling of dread, suspicion and urgency of escape well. The novel starts right off by Kestrel who remembers nothing after he hit his head. Strangers tell him his name, his purpose and his fate without him being sure if this is all even true. There is a lingering psychological dread when Kestrel realises who the people he is accompanied by really are. His internal conflicts are about escaping or staying to protect the innocent but also by feeling skeptical to the ancient gods named Eidolons who live in the mountain at the Hinterland but also wanting to have faith in them at the same time. Not only makes this Kestrel feel helpless, knowing that he has no real free will or choice but also the readers who want him to find his home and return safely.
The eerie atmosphere turns even more unsettling and tense when the season changes from autumn to winter over the course of the story. The survival in the wilderness starts to become a challenge. Thick snow makes them unable to walk like they used to, the temperature is a threat to their health and finding food is more time-consuming. One hopes that they make through it. Will they be the hunters or the one's being hunted?
The Review
Themes
There are ancient gods which demand many things including offerings and sacrifices. In return they give gifts, blessings, feasts and much more. Visions and whispers are strange things in the woods, only heard and seen by the one's with purposes for the gods. Thirteen people share their fate, they are bond together to fulfil their purposes to the gods.
Themes include: Finding a place to call home, memory loss, death, forests/woods, spirits, cannibalism, cruel fates, escaping from one's own fate, starvation, unstoppable hunger (polyphagia), survival in the wilderness, losing control/being out of control, faith vs skepticism, freedom vs fate, fulfilling purposes vs choosing one's own path, familiarity vs alienation, abandonment vs sense of belonging and dependency vs independency.
Characters & Plot
Characters
I noticed quickly that I felt detached from the characters, probably 'cause the protagonist feels detached from them too. He doesn't remember anything and even when he interacts with the others in the group he never talks to them like friends 'cause he doesn't know them. They are just strangers. And we readers sense that, which I think is great as it shows how much the memory loss impacts Kestrel. It adds to the atmospheric dread as the reader doesn't have the certainly like usually to trust somebody, to start liking them. We stay away from the other characters, sure that they will disappoint us later on if we become attached to them.
Even after trying to understand the characters and getting to know them they I still felt detached to them, but I think that was done on purpose. The only thing that actually bothered me was how I also felt indifferent to the protagonist, this was an issue for me. Kestrel was the only one the reader could have felt attached to since he wasn't really a stranger, we followed his point of view the whole time. Near the end I started to sense that the detachment starts to go away but then the ending of the book came. His internal struggles made me able to feel a bit closer to him, but he felt just like another stranger who started to develop issues later on.
Plot
I enjoyed the atmospheric horror going on, I belive it was done pretty well. I felt the sensation of dread and fear and also a bit of hope near the end. When the winter started to come I was excited 'cause I'm such a snow lover until I realised that snow isn't really good when living in the woods, especially if it's thick. Summer can give one a heat stroke, but I think winter is way more scary. Yes, most animals sleep in that time, so no bear to attack you, but the snow and the cold will hurt your lungs and before you see it coming you freezed to death. That's why most people camp in the summer, it's just not that dangerous. I always root for a book filled with tension and as soon as the winter came it hit me immediately.
I was anticipating for something to happen since it's medium- to slow-paced to build the dread. The unknown made me curious. At the 70-80% mark I finally got what I wanted, all the build-up for it, finally happening. So many things happened at the same time but it didn't feel rushed, it was exactly how it was supposed to be. Unfortunately it was very predictable which made the enjoyment while reading go down, but I still enjoyed the mysterious touch to this story.
What disappointed me the most was how similar this book was to other cult-like media, it didn't read like something new and since I also felt detached from the characters I was disappointed. Obviously not every book has to come up with a new concept but since I watched so many ritual stuff already it feels not special to watch or read another.
Final thoughts
It's important to note that this book not only includes gore as a shock factor but also body horror. It's also more focused on the atmospheric feeling than a horror who focuses on jumpscares or the like. The horror also lies in unusual cravings, ancient gods and a cult. It's both atmospheric horror and religious horror. One shouldn't expect too much from this book as it adds nothing new to the atmospheric horror or religious horror sub-genre. It's perfect to be read in the winter season to feel the dread even better.
Thank you NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the advanced reader copy of Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon.
StoryGraph review
Started the book: 13. October 2025
Finished the book: 13. October 2025
Wrote the review: 13. October 2025
December 29, 2025
Wow, this was an excellent debut novel! Atmospheric horror isn’t what I typically gravitate to, but I was hooked from the first page, and it continued to grab me all the way through.
Thanks to Quill and Crow Publishing House and NetGalley for the ARC!
Hinterland is about Kestrel, who wakes up in the woods with no memories, surrounded by members of a cannibalistic cult on a quest to climb the mountain, fulfill their purpose for the old gods, and bring about the end of the world. It is the dead of winter, and these strangers are dangerous, so he has no choice but to follow them up the mountain to survive while keeping an eye out for an escape path. Escape is not guaranteed, however, and the journey itself may change him forever.
The bleak tone and sinister atmosphere are extremely well done here. Right from the start, you, the reader, are ripped from any sense of time or space, just like Kestrel is with his amnesia. All there is now is the grim reality before you, and your focus narrows to each step Kestrel takes up the mountain. This is not a story with a lot of plot – it’s a rather simple quest, after all – but the intensity that bleeds into every second of this story more than makes up for it. Each member of the cult has their own secrets and agenda, and what will occur once they reach the top is a mystery, and that’s if they even survive the climb. The journey is intense, violent, and deeply disturbing at times, and it becomes increasingly clear that whether or not Kestrel makes it out of this alive, he will be a different person than he was before.
The prose is evocative and elegant, weaving a strong sense of sinister foreboding and eeriness throughout the entire unsettling journey. More than anything, the descriptions of the frigid mountain with its relentless blizzards really whipped me across the face – nature itself is a character here, and a ruthless and uncaring one at that. The author really nails the descriptions of everything so that the reading experience is truly visceral, for better or worse (there are some things I can’t unsee!)
I really appreciated the focus on religion and the questions the book asks about the power of faith, what humanity actually entails, and what we owe to one another in a community. The author clearly has a lot to say about doomsday cults, given his personal experience, and I think this was a fascinating exploration of that. The story can be read as an allegory (which is how I read it), but it also leaves much up for interpretation by the end, which I did not see coming. Overall, the ending is appropriately dark, violent, and philosophical, though perhaps slightly dragged out for 10-20 pages.
I would recommend this to any fans of atmospheric and religious horror, especially as a winter read, given the setting, and I will be following the author’s future works.
Note: The cannibalism and body horror in this book are no joke. There are very, very detailed descriptions of ritualistic sacrifice, and one of the most disturbing depictions of cannibalism I’ve ever read (I had to put the book down for a couple of days at one point), so note the content warnings if you are picking this up!
Thanks to Quill and Crow Publishing House and NetGalley for the ARC!
Hinterland is about Kestrel, who wakes up in the woods with no memories, surrounded by members of a cannibalistic cult on a quest to climb the mountain, fulfill their purpose for the old gods, and bring about the end of the world. It is the dead of winter, and these strangers are dangerous, so he has no choice but to follow them up the mountain to survive while keeping an eye out for an escape path. Escape is not guaranteed, however, and the journey itself may change him forever.
The bleak tone and sinister atmosphere are extremely well done here. Right from the start, you, the reader, are ripped from any sense of time or space, just like Kestrel is with his amnesia. All there is now is the grim reality before you, and your focus narrows to each step Kestrel takes up the mountain. This is not a story with a lot of plot – it’s a rather simple quest, after all – but the intensity that bleeds into every second of this story more than makes up for it. Each member of the cult has their own secrets and agenda, and what will occur once they reach the top is a mystery, and that’s if they even survive the climb. The journey is intense, violent, and deeply disturbing at times, and it becomes increasingly clear that whether or not Kestrel makes it out of this alive, he will be a different person than he was before.
The prose is evocative and elegant, weaving a strong sense of sinister foreboding and eeriness throughout the entire unsettling journey. More than anything, the descriptions of the frigid mountain with its relentless blizzards really whipped me across the face – nature itself is a character here, and a ruthless and uncaring one at that. The author really nails the descriptions of everything so that the reading experience is truly visceral, for better or worse (there are some things I can’t unsee!)
I really appreciated the focus on religion and the questions the book asks about the power of faith, what humanity actually entails, and what we owe to one another in a community. The author clearly has a lot to say about doomsday cults, given his personal experience, and I think this was a fascinating exploration of that. The story can be read as an allegory (which is how I read it), but it also leaves much up for interpretation by the end, which I did not see coming. Overall, the ending is appropriately dark, violent, and philosophical, though perhaps slightly dragged out for 10-20 pages.
I would recommend this to any fans of atmospheric and religious horror, especially as a winter read, given the setting, and I will be following the author’s future works.
Note: The cannibalism and body horror in this book are no joke. There are very, very detailed descriptions of ritualistic sacrifice, and one of the most disturbing depictions of cannibalism I’ve ever read (I had to put the book down for a couple of days at one point), so note the content warnings if you are picking this up!
November 19, 2025
Hinterland was kind of a challenge for me to get through.
The story starts when a man named Kestrel wakes up to find that he's been captured by a cannibalistic cult (whose members are all named after semi-obscure animals) with no memories of his past or how he got there. It's a solid concept, but I think the author put so much focus on the mystery of it all that the plot and characters fade into the background. It's possible for strange, surreal books that leave readers in the dark to stick the landing (such as I Who Have Never Known Men or The Memory Police), but in this case, there wasn't a substantial theme, stunning prose, or compelling character dynamics to bring it all together. Kestrel experiences horrors beyond comprehension, but upon finishing this book, I honestly couldn't tell you how those experiences changed him on a fundamental level.
That being said, a lot of the horror elements genuinely made my skin crawl (i.e. everything about Cottontail), but aside from that, this one unfortunately fell flat for me.
The story starts when a man named Kestrel wakes up to find that he's been captured by a cannibalistic cult (whose members are all named after semi-obscure animals) with no memories of his past or how he got there. It's a solid concept, but I think the author put so much focus on the mystery of it all that the plot and characters fade into the background. It's possible for strange, surreal books that leave readers in the dark to stick the landing (such as I Who Have Never Known Men or The Memory Police), but in this case, there wasn't a substantial theme, stunning prose, or compelling character dynamics to bring it all together. Kestrel experiences horrors beyond comprehension, but upon finishing this book, I honestly couldn't tell you how those experiences changed him on a fundamental level.
That being said, a lot of the horror elements genuinely made my skin crawl (i.e. everything about Cottontail), but aside from that, this one unfortunately fell flat for me.
October 15, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Okay, I loved this ARC of Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon. It’s dark, intense, and completely consuming. I was hooked from the first chapter. The characters really make the story for me. Shrew, Cottontail, and Gannet were my absolute favourites.
The writing makes the Hinterland itself feel alive, pressing in on the story, which makes the tension almost unbearable at times. At the same time, the connections between the characters give it heart. I felt for them, cheered for them, and sometimes my stomach just… wanted to heave.
If you like survival horror mixed with strange, otherworldly elements and characters who really matter, this one is definitely worth it. I can’t wait to see the final version!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ (rounded up for NetGalley)
Genre: Horror, MM
Tropes: Survival, cults,
CW: violence, blood, cannibalism
Steam: open-door, a handful of scenes
Okay, I loved this ARC of Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon. It’s dark, intense, and completely consuming. I was hooked from the first chapter. The characters really make the story for me. Shrew, Cottontail, and Gannet were my absolute favourites.
The writing makes the Hinterland itself feel alive, pressing in on the story, which makes the tension almost unbearable at times. At the same time, the connections between the characters give it heart. I felt for them, cheered for them, and sometimes my stomach just… wanted to heave.
If you like survival horror mixed with strange, otherworldly elements and characters who really matter, this one is definitely worth it. I can’t wait to see the final version!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ (rounded up for NetGalley)
Genre: Horror, MM
Tropes: Survival, cults,
CW: violence, blood, cannibalism
Steam: open-door, a handful of scenes
December 6, 2025
With many thanks to both Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Competently and yet not, sadly, dazzlingly written, ultimately this book fell short for me in a number of ways.
Kestrel, the protagonist, finds himself in a bizarre cannibalistic cult whose ultimate aim, it is gradually revealed, is to recruit thirteen members in order to ascend the holy mountain, perform an unspecified although hinted at ritual which will liberate the gods, known as the Eidolons. All other members of this group likewise have animal names and an assigned role in the execution of the group's mission. As the story unfolds, we discover that the group is also being pursued by hunters who wish to stop them in this endeavour and who occupy "the human world". Thus as they travel on their quest they must also battle and defeat these hunters who pose a significant obstacle in their path.
We don't know exactly when or where the action takes place, but it would appear to be near future and some sort of dystopian event has yielded the situation now unfolding. Again, we have no information about what has happened, origins of the cult, backstory of any of the members or anything of the kind. While dispensing with all such detail enables the author to keep the book short and, presumably, focus on the action, I would prefer to have some knowledge of such history in order to enrich my experience in the world which they have created. Indeed, none of the group appears to have any recollection of their past lives and nor are we told how they lost those memories. What we do learn over the course of the narrative is both scant and arrived at in piecemeal fashion.
On the whole, as a consequence, I found it difficult to get fully immersed in the story and both Kestrel's character development and the eventual denouement were frustrating and disappointing. In some places it felt as if it were about to take off, but those hopes were dashed in the ensuing pages.
However, I should note that Hinterland is a debut novel which shows promise and I will certainly be interested in future offerings from this author where their talent will, hopefully, be more fully realised and showcased.
Competently and yet not, sadly, dazzlingly written, ultimately this book fell short for me in a number of ways.
Kestrel, the protagonist, finds himself in a bizarre cannibalistic cult whose ultimate aim, it is gradually revealed, is to recruit thirteen members in order to ascend the holy mountain, perform an unspecified although hinted at ritual which will liberate the gods, known as the Eidolons. All other members of this group likewise have animal names and an assigned role in the execution of the group's mission. As the story unfolds, we discover that the group is also being pursued by hunters who wish to stop them in this endeavour and who occupy "the human world". Thus as they travel on their quest they must also battle and defeat these hunters who pose a significant obstacle in their path.
We don't know exactly when or where the action takes place, but it would appear to be near future and some sort of dystopian event has yielded the situation now unfolding. Again, we have no information about what has happened, origins of the cult, backstory of any of the members or anything of the kind. While dispensing with all such detail enables the author to keep the book short and, presumably, focus on the action, I would prefer to have some knowledge of such history in order to enrich my experience in the world which they have created. Indeed, none of the group appears to have any recollection of their past lives and nor are we told how they lost those memories. What we do learn over the course of the narrative is both scant and arrived at in piecemeal fashion.
On the whole, as a consequence, I found it difficult to get fully immersed in the story and both Kestrel's character development and the eventual denouement were frustrating and disappointing. In some places it felt as if it were about to take off, but those hopes were dashed in the ensuing pages.
However, I should note that Hinterland is a debut novel which shows promise and I will certainly be interested in future offerings from this author where their talent will, hopefully, be more fully realised and showcased.
November 17, 2025
The prose of this one is perfectly decent, though there’s nothing about it that stands out – it’s not beautiful, lyrical, descriptive, the kind of writing I like best. But nothing to object to, either.
I was just bored, not because the book is boring but because it was telling a story I wasn’t interested in. I was hoping for secondary-world fantasy, but references to jeans and other modern things make this sound potentially post-apocalyptic or something instead; the cult that has our MC captive are all named after different animals and birds (major props for utilising several rarely-mentioned-in-English-fiction, even one I had to look up!) but none of the characters stood out, there was nothing that interested me about any of them (though I want to stress that they were all decently fleshed-out). This is a cult that’s big on cannibalism, for some reason I didn’t discover; they want Kestrel to eat human flesh too, to be ‘initiated’ into their group. Naturally he’s horrified.
As I’ve mentioned many times, horror doesn’t land well for me unless it’s very descriptive, and I needed a lot more sensory details re the cannibalism for it to be more than just gross. The setting is very bare; the cult are travelling through a harsh landscape, so there’s nothing to do or see and not much to think about, since Kestrel has no memories and doesn’t see any way to escape. They’re on their way to the Sacred Mountain, where the gods hang out, but most of them don’t know much about it and the ones who do aren’t telling Kestrel (and thus us) anything. If the prose had been more beautiful I could have stuck with it and waited for things to start happening, maybe? But with nothing holding my interest, I didn’t make it past 20% before I called it.
I think plenty of other readers will enjoy this, but I was hoping for a different story and didn’t click with what this one turned out to be. No harm, no foul.
I was just bored, not because the book is boring but because it was telling a story I wasn’t interested in. I was hoping for secondary-world fantasy, but references to jeans and other modern things make this sound potentially post-apocalyptic or something instead; the cult that has our MC captive are all named after different animals and birds (major props for utilising several rarely-mentioned-in-English-fiction, even one I had to look up!) but none of the characters stood out, there was nothing that interested me about any of them (though I want to stress that they were all decently fleshed-out). This is a cult that’s big on cannibalism, for some reason I didn’t discover; they want Kestrel to eat human flesh too, to be ‘initiated’ into their group. Naturally he’s horrified.
As I’ve mentioned many times, horror doesn’t land well for me unless it’s very descriptive, and I needed a lot more sensory details re the cannibalism for it to be more than just gross. The setting is very bare; the cult are travelling through a harsh landscape, so there’s nothing to do or see and not much to think about, since Kestrel has no memories and doesn’t see any way to escape. They’re on their way to the Sacred Mountain, where the gods hang out, but most of them don’t know much about it and the ones who do aren’t telling Kestrel (and thus us) anything. If the prose had been more beautiful I could have stuck with it and waited for things to start happening, maybe? But with nothing holding my interest, I didn’t make it past 20% before I called it.
I think plenty of other readers will enjoy this, but I was hoping for a different story and didn’t click with what this one turned out to be. No harm, no foul.
December 10, 2025
A perfectly serviceable horror novel, with a little bit of everything. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
I was a bit underwhelmed at the beginning of this novel. Some of the prose felt overwritten, I was a little disappointed that this seemingly took place in the modern day (I thought it was based in a fantasy world), and I found the number of characters introduced at first to be intimidating. I did stick with it, and I'm glad I did. Aside from occasional moments of purple, the prose is solid enough. The shift that Kestrel undergoes during the book is interesting. In general, the characters are decent, though I did get some of them confused at times. That might have been because I read the bulk of this in one sitting after midnight, so your mileage may vary. The romance was a bit anemic; "we knew each other pre-amnesia" did not hook me enough with this couple. At least it was gay! I liked the ending, but
It was deeply fine, and there aren't any glaring flaws, but it isn't spectacular.
I was a bit underwhelmed at the beginning of this novel. Some of the prose felt overwritten, I was a little disappointed that this seemingly took place in the modern day (I thought it was based in a fantasy world), and I found the number of characters introduced at first to be intimidating. I did stick with it, and I'm glad I did. Aside from occasional moments of purple, the prose is solid enough. The shift that Kestrel undergoes during the book is interesting. In general, the characters are decent, though I did get some of them confused at times. That might have been because I read the bulk of this in one sitting after midnight, so your mileage may vary. The romance was a bit anemic; "we knew each other pre-amnesia" did not hook me enough with this couple. At least it was gay! I liked the ending, but
It was deeply fine, and there aren't any glaring flaws, but it isn't spectacular.
January 2, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!
I'm looking forward to the sequel so I can find out what the hell I just read. The weird forest cult vs. preppers/military vs. possibly supernatural beings was compelling and I appreciated how complex the characters were, even the ones who weren't on page for very long.
I'm looking forward to the sequel so I can find out what the hell I just read. The weird forest cult vs. preppers/military vs. possibly supernatural beings was compelling and I appreciated how complex the characters were, even the ones who weren't on page for very long.
December 18, 2025
2 stars; I wished a lot of things turned out differently in this book. I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley.
A man wakes up to 12 people staring at him, and he can't remember anything - his name or where he's from. They call him Kestrel. A body gets cooked right in front of him, cannibalism happens (he doesn't partake), and he is forced to go with them on their journey into the Hinterlands. Kestrel discovers there must always be 13 of them, and their goal is to meet their gods up in the Hinterlands. Can he trust them, or will he do his best to work against them?
Honestly, the cannibalism and self-harm was the least of my worries for this book. I liked the first few chapters of Kestrel being confused, because I was also confused so we were on the same page there. The atmosphere was tense and despite Kestrel asking questions, no one was answering him. I was expecting a reveal of what exactly was going on with the group, why they were cannibals, who were the Hunters following them and preventing their goal, etc., just some kind of payoff from what Kestrel was going through. And I was still waiting on these questions by the end of the book.
Everyone in this group apparently has a purpose, and we learn Kestrel's Liberator, which he interprets to mean liberating everyone from Lynx, the leader of this weird group. And Kestrel goes through a rapid character evolution of an amnesiac unclear of what's going on to becoming somebody convinced they have to lead the others out of this situation. His characterization felt inconsistent, there were a lot of random jokes he would make out of nowhere - but he's the newest member of the group, and he was acting nervous and shy before. He thinks the group's gods aren't real, and yet experiences visions and urges that are definitely not from himself. By the end of the book, I was fed up with Kestrel.
There's also a lack of worldbuilding, or some sort of context to what was going on throughout the events of the book. By the end of the book, we find out that Lynx has been alive for a long time and there are a lot of references to the gods resurrecting the group when they died? I think? The book also ends with Kestrel reflecting on what happened, and it plays off as a "Oh, that happened." instead of a, I don't know, "Thank God I'm alive!!!". The only thing that made sense was when I read the author's bio at the end of the book and I found out they escaped a doomsday cult??? Which, looking at the whole of this story, would be a good metaphor of someone's emotional and mental state of getting into a cult, being in the cult, and attempting to escape it. I just wished I enjoyed actually knowing what the story is instead of being in someone's head.
As this was an unproofed copy, some things that I hope are corrected in the final version:
- Someone was worried and ran up to see if someone else was alright, and then the next sentence they talked was described as cold, or standoffish.
- Many times, characters are smirking out of nowhere or also described as speaking coldy.
- A character is given a knife in one chapter, and another character makes reference to it in the next, but it was confusing when they brought it up because they weren't present in the previous chapter.
Perhaps the parts I most enjoyed was a scene that reminded me a lot of Thanos with the Infinity Stones circling around him, and a scene that, I kid you not, is when someone tries to open something and can't, and someone else goes to do it and succeeds and I literally thought "They loosened it for them.".
A man wakes up to 12 people staring at him, and he can't remember anything - his name or where he's from. They call him Kestrel. A body gets cooked right in front of him, cannibalism happens (he doesn't partake), and he is forced to go with them on their journey into the Hinterlands. Kestrel discovers there must always be 13 of them, and their goal is to meet their gods up in the Hinterlands. Can he trust them, or will he do his best to work against them?
Honestly, the cannibalism and self-harm was the least of my worries for this book. I liked the first few chapters of Kestrel being confused, because I was also confused so we were on the same page there. The atmosphere was tense and despite Kestrel asking questions, no one was answering him. I was expecting a reveal of what exactly was going on with the group, why they were cannibals, who were the Hunters following them and preventing their goal, etc., just some kind of payoff from what Kestrel was going through. And I was still waiting on these questions by the end of the book.
Everyone in this group apparently has a purpose, and we learn Kestrel's Liberator, which he interprets to mean liberating everyone from Lynx, the leader of this weird group. And Kestrel goes through a rapid character evolution of an amnesiac unclear of what's going on to becoming somebody convinced they have to lead the others out of this situation. His characterization felt inconsistent, there were a lot of random jokes he would make out of nowhere - but he's the newest member of the group, and he was acting nervous and shy before. He thinks the group's gods aren't real, and yet experiences visions and urges that are definitely not from himself. By the end of the book, I was fed up with Kestrel.
There's also a lack of worldbuilding, or some sort of context to what was going on throughout the events of the book. By the end of the book, we find out that Lynx has been alive for a long time and there are a lot of references to the gods resurrecting the group when they died? I think? The book also ends with Kestrel reflecting on what happened, and it plays off as a "Oh, that happened." instead of a, I don't know, "Thank God I'm alive!!!". The only thing that made sense was when I read the author's bio at the end of the book and I found out they escaped a doomsday cult??? Which, looking at the whole of this story, would be a good metaphor of someone's emotional and mental state of getting into a cult, being in the cult, and attempting to escape it. I just wished I enjoyed actually knowing what the story is instead of being in someone's head.
As this was an unproofed copy, some things that I hope are corrected in the final version:
- Someone was worried and ran up to see if someone else was alright, and then the next sentence they talked was described as cold, or standoffish.
- Many times, characters are smirking out of nowhere or also described as speaking coldy.
- A character is given a knife in one chapter, and another character makes reference to it in the next, but it was confusing when they brought it up because they weren't present in the previous chapter.
Perhaps the parts I most enjoyed was a scene that reminded me a lot of Thanos with the Infinity Stones circling around him, and a scene that, I kid you not, is when someone tries to open something and can't, and someone else goes to do it and succeeds and I literally thought "They loosened it for them.".
November 15, 2025
A huge thank you to Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley for the ARC!
A man with no memories, a cult worshipping ancient gods, cannibalism-as-communion, visions, and a bleak, frozen dystopia… on paper, this should’ve been everything I love in a horror novel. But it just didn’t deliver what I’d hoped. The story leaves far too many questions hanging, and while ambiguity can sometimes elevate a narrative, here it only left me annoyed and confused. The characters felt more like sketches than people: Partly because of their animalistic names, and partly because the MMC’s arc boiled down to “descending into hunger and madness - or does he?”. And while his connection with another character was clearly meant to be central, the insta-lust angle felt flimsy and deeply unsatisfying, especially with the half-hearted explanation near the end. Overall, I felt like the book really needed richer world- and character-building, and a steadier hand on the pacing, as it was painfully slow for the first 75–80%, then suddenly racing to the finish.
A man with no memories, a cult worshipping ancient gods, cannibalism-as-communion, visions, and a bleak, frozen dystopia… on paper, this should’ve been everything I love in a horror novel. But it just didn’t deliver what I’d hoped. The story leaves far too many questions hanging, and while ambiguity can sometimes elevate a narrative, here it only left me annoyed and confused. The characters felt more like sketches than people: Partly because of their animalistic names, and partly because the MMC’s arc boiled down to “descending into hunger and madness - or does he?”. And while his connection with another character was clearly meant to be central, the insta-lust angle felt flimsy and deeply unsatisfying, especially with the half-hearted explanation near the end. Overall, I felt like the book really needed richer world- and character-building, and a steadier hand on the pacing, as it was painfully slow for the first 75–80%, then suddenly racing to the finish.
November 19, 2025
4.5 ⭐️
This was so interesting! At no point did I truly know what the hell was going on and I couldn’t predict what would come next. I love the details about each characters personality and how they contributed to the overall plot. This was such a unique take on cannibalism with a culty vibe going. I would love to read a sequel or something similar where we see the main character take over for the leader.
I’ll be honest I was REALLY scared that the main character lovers we will call them were gonna end up being siblings or something since they both lost their memories. SO HAPPY THEY WERENT.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.
This was so interesting! At no point did I truly know what the hell was going on and I couldn’t predict what would come next. I love the details about each characters personality and how they contributed to the overall plot. This was such a unique take on cannibalism with a culty vibe going. I would love to read a sequel or something similar where we see the main character take over for the leader.
I’ll be honest I was REALLY scared that the main character lovers we will call them were gonna end up being siblings or something since they both lost their memories. SO HAPPY THEY WERENT.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.
December 8, 2025
4,5 stars!
i was so lucky to receive an ARC for this through netgalley!
this was such an interesting book and so exciting and fun to read! probably my first horror book i read and so worth it! this book was twisted and brutal at times but it really reflected the reality they were in! i wasnt able to fully feel the 5 stars as it took me a little while personally to properly get into it, but i definitely recommend this! absolutely loved the different traits of characters and the complexity of the different relationships!
i was so lucky to receive an ARC for this through netgalley!
this was such an interesting book and so exciting and fun to read! probably my first horror book i read and so worth it! this book was twisted and brutal at times but it really reflected the reality they were in! i wasnt able to fully feel the 5 stars as it took me a little while personally to properly get into it, but i definitely recommend this! absolutely loved the different traits of characters and the complexity of the different relationships!
October 2, 2025
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
I was honestly expecting this to be more horror than it was. I also felt pretty detached from what was going on. The writing felt a bit mechanical in a way that made the story and characters lack emotion and personality, and the world-building really wasnt there for a world dealing with gods and cult humans with animalistic features. But the premise was fun. I enjoyed Shrew and Cottentail.
I was honestly expecting this to be more horror than it was. I also felt pretty detached from what was going on. The writing felt a bit mechanical in a way that made the story and characters lack emotion and personality, and the world-building really wasnt there for a world dealing with gods and cult humans with animalistic features. But the premise was fun. I enjoyed Shrew and Cottentail.
November 19, 2025
This is a fantastic debut novel! It’s a fascinating and atmospheric cult horror novel that feels like a claustrophobic fever dream. Spurgeon’s writing is fantastic as he creates a truly eerie and unsettling world where the reader feels just as trapped as the characters.
I will say that character development leaves to be desired and it was difficult to connect with any of them. The main character, Kestrel, was especially unlikable which is unfortunate as he had the most promising character arc, but his moral dilemma fell flat because of his absence of redeeming qualities.
Overall a very interesting and captivating read! I look forward to see what Spurgeon writes next!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
I will say that character development leaves to be desired and it was difficult to connect with any of them. The main character, Kestrel, was especially unlikable which is unfortunate as he had the most promising character arc, but his moral dilemma fell flat because of his absence of redeeming qualities.
Overall a very interesting and captivating read! I look forward to see what Spurgeon writes next!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
December 19, 2025
Although I didn’t hate this book, and there were things I even did enjoy, there were too many other problems for this to be an actual good book. It was a good idea with a bad execution on top of bad editing.
First, there were so many plot holes. I mean so many parts of this book contradicted itself. The blizzard is so bad, but footprints are easy to follow? The mc doesn’t trust anyone but almost questions nothing? It just wasn’t making sense.
Second, too much was never explained. There were definitely parts that were fine leaving up to the imagination but there were pretty significant things happening, specifically to the biology of the characters that were never addressed. It was brought up so much that it should have had some sort of explanation. It was really hard to understand a lot of what was happening through most of the story which I don’t mind, but there was zero payoff at the end. Nothing really explained.
Another problem were the characters. I felt nothing for any of them. Not a care for what happened to any of them. No one could remember anything so there really wasn’t any kind of backstory to give the reader insight to any of them so I couldn’t connect to any of them.
Also, the dialogue was like from a bad soap opera. It was very surface level and it made me cringe at times. And most of the internal dialogue was just repetitive.
Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend this, BUT I also wouldn’t mind giving this author another try because I really did like the concept for this and this seems to be a debut novel.
***Thank you NetGalley, Logan Spurgeon, and Quill & Crow Publishing House for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.***
First, there were so many plot holes. I mean so many parts of this book contradicted itself. The blizzard is so bad, but footprints are easy to follow? The mc doesn’t trust anyone but almost questions nothing? It just wasn’t making sense.
Second, too much was never explained. There were definitely parts that were fine leaving up to the imagination but there were pretty significant things happening, specifically to the biology of the characters that were never addressed. It was brought up so much that it should have had some sort of explanation. It was really hard to understand a lot of what was happening through most of the story which I don’t mind, but there was zero payoff at the end. Nothing really explained.
Another problem were the characters. I felt nothing for any of them. Not a care for what happened to any of them. No one could remember anything so there really wasn’t any kind of backstory to give the reader insight to any of them so I couldn’t connect to any of them.
Also, the dialogue was like from a bad soap opera. It was very surface level and it made me cringe at times. And most of the internal dialogue was just repetitive.
Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend this, BUT I also wouldn’t mind giving this author another try because I really did like the concept for this and this seems to be a debut novel.
***Thank you NetGalley, Logan Spurgeon, and Quill & Crow Publishing House for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.***
November 16, 2025
Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon
I received a ARC for a honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.5/5 stars)
I genuinely have no idea what to say about this book. None. Zero. My brain is standing in a corner somewhere, quietly rocking back and forth, because what did I just read? I think I might still be in shock… or denial… or some post-apocalyptic trauma state. Hard to tell.
Let me put it this way:
This is the first book in a long, long time where I actually considered DNF-ing purely because of how graphic some scenes were. And I’m not someone who gets squeamish easily. I’ve read horror. I’ve read gore. I’ve read things that should probably get me on a government watchlist.
But this book?
Yeah… I felt my stomach physically protest. Multiple times.
And yet — AND YET — the story somehow grabbed me by the hair and dragged me along anyway. I kept thinking, “Okay, after this chapter I’ll stop.” But then I didn’t. So clearly, something was happening here.
The plot itself?
Absolutely wild.
Chaotic. Deranged. Confusing in a way that made me ask out loud, “What the actual fuck is going on?” at least ten times. I still don’t understand what happened to the humans. I still don’t understand half of what I witnessed. And the ending??
No.
That wasn’t an ending, that was the author walking away mid-sentence and expecting us to just… cope.
So many questions left unanswered. So many things unresolved. So much brain destruction.
And yet… it wasn’t a bad book.
Just… trauma-inducing.
Important warning:
If cannibalism and hardcore violence don’t bother you?
Go for it.
If they do bother you?
Run. Run far.
I received a ARC for a honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.5/5 stars)
I genuinely have no idea what to say about this book. None. Zero. My brain is standing in a corner somewhere, quietly rocking back and forth, because what did I just read? I think I might still be in shock… or denial… or some post-apocalyptic trauma state. Hard to tell.
Let me put it this way:
This is the first book in a long, long time where I actually considered DNF-ing purely because of how graphic some scenes were. And I’m not someone who gets squeamish easily. I’ve read horror. I’ve read gore. I’ve read things that should probably get me on a government watchlist.
But this book?
Yeah… I felt my stomach physically protest. Multiple times.
And yet — AND YET — the story somehow grabbed me by the hair and dragged me along anyway. I kept thinking, “Okay, after this chapter I’ll stop.” But then I didn’t. So clearly, something was happening here.
The plot itself?
Absolutely wild.
Chaotic. Deranged. Confusing in a way that made me ask out loud, “What the actual fuck is going on?” at least ten times. I still don’t understand what happened to the humans. I still don’t understand half of what I witnessed. And the ending??
No.
That wasn’t an ending, that was the author walking away mid-sentence and expecting us to just… cope.
So many questions left unanswered. So many things unresolved. So much brain destruction.
And yet… it wasn’t a bad book.
Just… trauma-inducing.
Important warning:
If cannibalism and hardcore violence don’t bother you?
Go for it.
If they do bother you?
Run. Run far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2025
Thank you to Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley!
This book started out very promising and did a lot of things right, but unfortunately, it didn't really stick the landing for me. On a positive note, the characters were all diverse and interesting. I enjoyed Kestral as a narrator and felt very invested in figuring out what happened to him. The whole novel felt very atmospheric; it does a good job building dread and suspense throughout. It was all just really well done. Until it wasn't.
Like I said, I felt very invested in these characters and the book did an incredible job building suspense, but when it's time to actually release that suspense the ball is majorly dropped. Compared to the first 80% of the book, the climax feels a little rushed and confusing. I am all for an ambiguous ending and have definitely enjoyed that--especially in other horror books--it just didn't work for me here. It felt like a let down to not get any real conclusion to these characters or the plot we've followed throughout the entire story. I feel like an ambiguous ending could have worked really well for this book, just not in the way it was executed. It was very disappointing for me with how much I loved the rest of the book.
Notably, this is a debut novel, and for a debut I definitely think it's a strong start. I would pick up other books by this author based on how well he executed the majority of the book.
This book started out very promising and did a lot of things right, but unfortunately, it didn't really stick the landing for me. On a positive note, the characters were all diverse and interesting. I enjoyed Kestral as a narrator and felt very invested in figuring out what happened to him. The whole novel felt very atmospheric; it does a good job building dread and suspense throughout. It was all just really well done. Until it wasn't.
Like I said, I felt very invested in these characters and the book did an incredible job building suspense, but when it's time to actually release that suspense the ball is majorly dropped. Compared to the first 80% of the book, the climax feels a little rushed and confusing. I am all for an ambiguous ending and have definitely enjoyed that--especially in other horror books--it just didn't work for me here. It felt like a let down to not get any real conclusion to these characters or the plot we've followed throughout the entire story. I feel like an ambiguous ending could have worked really well for this book, just not in the way it was executed. It was very disappointing for me with how much I loved the rest of the book.
Notably, this is a debut novel, and for a debut I definitely think it's a strong start. I would pick up other books by this author based on how well he executed the majority of the book.
December 20, 2025
One day in April 1856, in what is now South Africa, a 15-year-old girl from the native Xhosa tribe named Nongqawuse claimed to have seen the spirits of two of her dead relatives, who told her the Xhosa should destroy all their crops and kill their cattle herds. If this was done by a specific date the following year, the spirits vowed that all of their deceased ancestors would return to expel the European settlers from their lands and usher in a prosperous New World, a ‘heaven-on-earth’ without sickness or old age, where healthy cattle and fields of ripe corn would instantly appear to replace what was destroyed.
A frenzy gripped the Xhosa clans as word of the prophecy spread. During the next ten months an estimated 300,000-400,000 cattle were killed. Fields were burned and granaries were destroyed. The reasonable farmers who refused to slaughter their animals were persecuted, but when the preordained day arrived and the ancestors failed to resurrect, fervency turned to disbelief. The fabled date was readjusted, yet after this too passed uneventfully, the prophetic movement finally fell apart. But the damage to Xhosa society was done: approximately 40,000 people starved to death in the resultant famine, leaving the survivors at the mercy of their British colonial overlords.
Nongqawuse herself lived until the end of the 19th century, and until her dying day blamed the failure of her prophecy on the unbelievers who had not obeyed her instructions. Millennialist movements such as the one that affected the Xhosa, however, are far from isolated incidents; the apocalyptic idea that a fundamental societal transformation by divine means is imminent has recurred throughout history, from the days of John the Baptist, to the Native American Ghost Dance movement of the 1890’s and the notorious modern-day death cults of Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven’s Gate and the Solar Temple.
Cults, in one form or another, have existed since the earliest recorded civilizations, and while the assertion can be made that all religions initially start as cults, where does the line between one end and the other begin? What exactly is the difference between a false prophet and a real one? These are but two of the questions posed by author Logan Spurgeon in his exceptional debut Quill & Crow Publishing House horror novel, Hinterland.
A nameless young man awakens with amnesia in a remote mountainside forest surrounded by twelve strangers. Given the moniker Kestel by his captors, he’s quickly indoctrinated into what he learns is a horrifying cannibal cult. Headed by the group’s charismatic female leader Lynx, the grotesque prophetess Hoatzin, and the brute enforcer Caiman, the cultists have been desperate to fill out their ranks with thirteen members in order to complete the complex rites that, Lynx proclaims, will revive their long-banished primordial gods and enable them to wreak destruction upon humankind.
Kestrel immediately begins planning his escape, but his attempt is hindered not only by memory loss, constant surveillance, and an isolated locale, but a newly awakened appetite for human flesh. His cannibalistic induction ritual involved devouring the body of the member he replaced, and while Kestrel is initially sickened by the act, a ravenous hunger slowly overtakes him to the point that ordinary food is no longer satisfying.
Compounding Kestrel’s problems are the military hunters on the cult’s trail that Lynx says are trying to prevent their gods’ ascension. But the deeper Kestrel is drawn into the cult’s machinations, the more determined he becomes to flee; dubbed ‘The Liberator’ after a hallucinogenic vision, Kestrel plots to overthrow Lynx with the aid of several other members—the friendly Stoat, perpetual screw-up Gannett, and Cottontail, the group’s only child. Most notable among Kestrel’s co-conspirators, however, is Shrew, a man Kestrel feels an instinctual attraction to, and whom he may have known prior to being abducted. But will Kestrel’s plans bear fruit before he’s betrayed by one he trusts? Will the hunters catch them before he can escape? Or will Lynx’s frightening gods actually turn out to be real?
There’s an undeniable authenticity that informs much of Hinterland. Spurgeon explains in the novel’s introduction about his years spent as a member of a radical evangelical Christian sect that later degenerated into a doomsday cult, as well as the part religion played in stifling his sexual identity as a gay man. His experiences are reflected in the novel’s core theme, namely the examination and understanding of belief: belief in oneself, belief in others, the belief in abstract concepts such as divinity, the law, national identity, and political ideology. What people become willing to do, both for good and for ill, demonstrates the sheer power belief wields. After all, saints and suicide bombers are driven by the same basic urge—dedication to God—and it can be uncomfortable to think how quickly devotion can devolve into fanaticism.
Beyond any high-minded explorations of religion and its effects, though, Hinterland functions most as a page-turner of the highest order. Spurgeon infuses a sense of urgency into every scene that keeps readers on edge and ever-eager to learn what happens next. Channeling the vibe of the late horror great Jack Ketchum, whose infamous splatter novel Off Season (and its later sequels Offspring and The Woman)—about a clan of nomadic, cave-dwelling cannibals terrorizing a group of friends at a seaside cabin in Maine—became the scourge of bookshelves during the 1980’s, Hinterland indulges in enough graphic violence and grotesque imagery to make even the most jaded gorehound giggle with glee. Within these pages, bodies are shot, hacked, maimed, impaled, dissected, disintegrated, bludgeoned, blown up, butchered and consumed, and Spurgeon’s precise prose ensures nothing, however disturbing or stomach-turning it may be, is left to the imagination.
If one expects tidy, clear-cut resolutions, however, Hinterland may prove frustrating. Facts regarding the origins of the cannibal cult, their prophetess, their strange deities, and the original identities of Kestrel and his fellow cult members are hinted at but never satisfactorily explained. This is perhaps intentional; Spurgeon’s characters—and thus, the reader—are so firmly entrenched in Lynx’s bizarre worldview that her particular madness becomes the audience’s sole, inescapable point of reference. Kestrel’s amnesia highlights another important question: how much of our sense of self is based upon memory? Are we, on some primal level, the same individual with or without remembering our pasts? Or are we like a computer, capable of having new personalities programmed onto our consciousness after the old ones are deleted? The brainwashing techniques utilized by some real-world destructive cults lends credence to the latter theory, but as Kestrel illustrates repeatedly throughout Hinterland, gut intuition can often override conditioning.
Whether one picks up Hinterland for the lurid thrills, the gore, or the LGBTQA+ romance, they will undoubtedly close its covers with much to ponder. Spurgeon has skillfully provided one of the year’s most visceral, thought-provoking, heart-stopping novels, and for that I am compelled to grant Hinterland the full 5 (out of 5) here onGoodreads. With releases like this and many others, Quill & Crow Publishing House has come fully into its own in 2025. I can’t wait to see where the new year takes them, and Spurgeon.
A frenzy gripped the Xhosa clans as word of the prophecy spread. During the next ten months an estimated 300,000-400,000 cattle were killed. Fields were burned and granaries were destroyed. The reasonable farmers who refused to slaughter their animals were persecuted, but when the preordained day arrived and the ancestors failed to resurrect, fervency turned to disbelief. The fabled date was readjusted, yet after this too passed uneventfully, the prophetic movement finally fell apart. But the damage to Xhosa society was done: approximately 40,000 people starved to death in the resultant famine, leaving the survivors at the mercy of their British colonial overlords.
Nongqawuse herself lived until the end of the 19th century, and until her dying day blamed the failure of her prophecy on the unbelievers who had not obeyed her instructions. Millennialist movements such as the one that affected the Xhosa, however, are far from isolated incidents; the apocalyptic idea that a fundamental societal transformation by divine means is imminent has recurred throughout history, from the days of John the Baptist, to the Native American Ghost Dance movement of the 1890’s and the notorious modern-day death cults of Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven’s Gate and the Solar Temple.
Cults, in one form or another, have existed since the earliest recorded civilizations, and while the assertion can be made that all religions initially start as cults, where does the line between one end and the other begin? What exactly is the difference between a false prophet and a real one? These are but two of the questions posed by author Logan Spurgeon in his exceptional debut Quill & Crow Publishing House horror novel, Hinterland.
A nameless young man awakens with amnesia in a remote mountainside forest surrounded by twelve strangers. Given the moniker Kestel by his captors, he’s quickly indoctrinated into what he learns is a horrifying cannibal cult. Headed by the group’s charismatic female leader Lynx, the grotesque prophetess Hoatzin, and the brute enforcer Caiman, the cultists have been desperate to fill out their ranks with thirteen members in order to complete the complex rites that, Lynx proclaims, will revive their long-banished primordial gods and enable them to wreak destruction upon humankind.
Kestrel immediately begins planning his escape, but his attempt is hindered not only by memory loss, constant surveillance, and an isolated locale, but a newly awakened appetite for human flesh. His cannibalistic induction ritual involved devouring the body of the member he replaced, and while Kestrel is initially sickened by the act, a ravenous hunger slowly overtakes him to the point that ordinary food is no longer satisfying.
Compounding Kestrel’s problems are the military hunters on the cult’s trail that Lynx says are trying to prevent their gods’ ascension. But the deeper Kestrel is drawn into the cult’s machinations, the more determined he becomes to flee; dubbed ‘The Liberator’ after a hallucinogenic vision, Kestrel plots to overthrow Lynx with the aid of several other members—the friendly Stoat, perpetual screw-up Gannett, and Cottontail, the group’s only child. Most notable among Kestrel’s co-conspirators, however, is Shrew, a man Kestrel feels an instinctual attraction to, and whom he may have known prior to being abducted. But will Kestrel’s plans bear fruit before he’s betrayed by one he trusts? Will the hunters catch them before he can escape? Or will Lynx’s frightening gods actually turn out to be real?
There’s an undeniable authenticity that informs much of Hinterland. Spurgeon explains in the novel’s introduction about his years spent as a member of a radical evangelical Christian sect that later degenerated into a doomsday cult, as well as the part religion played in stifling his sexual identity as a gay man. His experiences are reflected in the novel’s core theme, namely the examination and understanding of belief: belief in oneself, belief in others, the belief in abstract concepts such as divinity, the law, national identity, and political ideology. What people become willing to do, both for good and for ill, demonstrates the sheer power belief wields. After all, saints and suicide bombers are driven by the same basic urge—dedication to God—and it can be uncomfortable to think how quickly devotion can devolve into fanaticism.
Beyond any high-minded explorations of religion and its effects, though, Hinterland functions most as a page-turner of the highest order. Spurgeon infuses a sense of urgency into every scene that keeps readers on edge and ever-eager to learn what happens next. Channeling the vibe of the late horror great Jack Ketchum, whose infamous splatter novel Off Season (and its later sequels Offspring and The Woman)—about a clan of nomadic, cave-dwelling cannibals terrorizing a group of friends at a seaside cabin in Maine—became the scourge of bookshelves during the 1980’s, Hinterland indulges in enough graphic violence and grotesque imagery to make even the most jaded gorehound giggle with glee. Within these pages, bodies are shot, hacked, maimed, impaled, dissected, disintegrated, bludgeoned, blown up, butchered and consumed, and Spurgeon’s precise prose ensures nothing, however disturbing or stomach-turning it may be, is left to the imagination.
If one expects tidy, clear-cut resolutions, however, Hinterland may prove frustrating. Facts regarding the origins of the cannibal cult, their prophetess, their strange deities, and the original identities of Kestrel and his fellow cult members are hinted at but never satisfactorily explained. This is perhaps intentional; Spurgeon’s characters—and thus, the reader—are so firmly entrenched in Lynx’s bizarre worldview that her particular madness becomes the audience’s sole, inescapable point of reference. Kestrel’s amnesia highlights another important question: how much of our sense of self is based upon memory? Are we, on some primal level, the same individual with or without remembering our pasts? Or are we like a computer, capable of having new personalities programmed onto our consciousness after the old ones are deleted? The brainwashing techniques utilized by some real-world destructive cults lends credence to the latter theory, but as Kestrel illustrates repeatedly throughout Hinterland, gut intuition can often override conditioning.
Whether one picks up Hinterland for the lurid thrills, the gore, or the LGBTQA+ romance, they will undoubtedly close its covers with much to ponder. Spurgeon has skillfully provided one of the year’s most visceral, thought-provoking, heart-stopping novels, and for that I am compelled to grant Hinterland the full 5 (out of 5) here onGoodreads. With releases like this and many others, Quill & Crow Publishing House has come fully into its own in 2025. I can’t wait to see where the new year takes them, and Spurgeon.
October 27, 2025
Folk horror with teeth… and an appetite
Note to self: read HINTERLAND on an empty stomach.
This story delivers on body horror, 100 percent. I had to squint to read certain passages, and I mean this in the most appreciative way possible! HINTERLAND is not gory to be gory; the author uses the body horror to firmly plant the reader in Kestrel’s perspective, and to drive home just how monstrous his situation is.
I enjoyed the way reality warps for Kestrel. At first, we’re just as confused as he is. He navigates a world where he has no memories, no anchor to a world beyond the dangerous strangers around him and the desire to get away. Not only are these people feral, but Kestrel faces treachery, too. Who can he trust? And even if he does trust them, he can’t be sure he’s safe.
Kestrel often walks between what is real and what is not, that confusion comes through loud and clear. I almost wanted more of delineation between the visions he had and what truly happened in some scenes, but it’s not really that detrimental to understanding the story as a whole. The uncertainty added another layer of tension to the supernatural aspect of the plot.
Speaking of supernatural, I loved the Eidolons. Honestly, these old gods are terrifying and refreshing—creepy as all heck—and they are some seriously insidious old buggers. I wish there had been more of them. Maybe, if we’re really good readers, Logan Spurgeon will take us back into their world and scare us even more!
I had the opportunity to read a free advance review copy of HINTERLAND, with thanks to Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley. My review is honest and given freely.
Note to self: read HINTERLAND on an empty stomach.
This story delivers on body horror, 100 percent. I had to squint to read certain passages, and I mean this in the most appreciative way possible! HINTERLAND is not gory to be gory; the author uses the body horror to firmly plant the reader in Kestrel’s perspective, and to drive home just how monstrous his situation is.
I enjoyed the way reality warps for Kestrel. At first, we’re just as confused as he is. He navigates a world where he has no memories, no anchor to a world beyond the dangerous strangers around him and the desire to get away. Not only are these people feral, but Kestrel faces treachery, too. Who can he trust? And even if he does trust them, he can’t be sure he’s safe.
Kestrel often walks between what is real and what is not, that confusion comes through loud and clear. I almost wanted more of delineation between the visions he had and what truly happened in some scenes, but it’s not really that detrimental to understanding the story as a whole. The uncertainty added another layer of tension to the supernatural aspect of the plot.
Speaking of supernatural, I loved the Eidolons. Honestly, these old gods are terrifying and refreshing—creepy as all heck—and they are some seriously insidious old buggers. I wish there had been more of them. Maybe, if we’re really good readers, Logan Spurgeon will take us back into their world and scare us even more!
I had the opportunity to read a free advance review copy of HINTERLAND, with thanks to Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley. My review is honest and given freely.
January 15, 2026
This is tough one for me to review. I’ll start with what I enjoyed. I love the Initial setup of this. Love a good mystery where no one really knows what’s going on and what to believe. I really enjoy cultish stories. The writing is to the point and not loaded with tons of flourish which I love and which makes the story feel briskly paced. There’s some really cool action and horror elements. Been seeing a lot of horror with cannibalism lately. Must be trendy. The problem is that the author gave themselves a somewhat insurmountable obstacle by writing a story where most of the characters have amnesia about who they were before this exact moment or are willfully concealing things which leads to none of them having any kind of depth or history. So it’s hard to find a way in or connect to anyone because the characters feel like cardboard cutouts being moved around for a plot and not like fully formed people. Even the main character Kestral doesn’t really feel like a person and he’s hard to care about. There’s also a somewhat predictable shoulder shrug of a love story here. Overall I found it somewhat entertaining but ultimately didn’t really click for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
December 4, 2025
I'd like to thank Logan Spurgeon, NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
A Short Summary:
Kestrel wakes up with no memory of who or where he is. There are a dozen other all standing around him, telling him he's one of them now, but what does that mean and who are they? They plan to initiate him, and then head up the mountain to fulfill their gods (called Eidolons) desires. A woman says she's a friend, but he's not sure if he can trust her or the handsome man he seems drawn to.
My Thoughts:
Pros-
The imagery is well described, I could picture each setting the characters were in, and it was my favorite part of the book. The plot is very unique, and it's advertised as similar to Yellowjackets and it manages to involve some aspects of the show without feeling like it was just a retelling, or that the author borrowed a lot from the plot, and I appreciate that. As well that its not just queer characters stuck in the woods that eat people, it has more nuanced plot devices that are inspired by the show.
Cons-
The dialogue and interactions are very stilted, they lack depth and emotion. There are no bonds that are formed, it felt like reading a list of bullet points where things happened very suddenly with little to no explanation. The romance in the book appeared suddenly as well and felt extremely insta-lovey as the book takes place throughout a little more than a week. The characters don't converse, and when they do it feels as though its the second half of a thought, like the reader is missing the first half of the conversation and the context to what the characters are saying and where the words came from. Unless they can all magically read each others minds. I wanted more of an explanation of the plot, I feel as though I would have no idea this was about a doomsday cult without the author having explaining it in his advertisements of his book. It feels like a bunch of strange people who believe they're actually animals wandering through the forest and drinking psychedelics. The ending was abrupt and unexplained, there's no aftermath or examples of thought or change in the characters.
Review:
I was really excited for this book, and actively looked forward to reading it with snow on the ground outside, but once I started I was a bit unsatisfied. The way Hinterland is written feels very stilted, robotic, and like a list of points, with little to no explanation between points. Characters suddenly did things, said things and felt things, often times even the mystery of the plot took sudden unexplained turns that made little to no sense. Even after all that's said, I didn't dislike it, I just feel like something was missing from the plot. The author has talked on TikTok about his time in a doomsday cult and how he put some of that experience he had into this book, I was expecting more shocking events. After the first bout of "oh god they're eating people" the horror dissipates because Kestrel stops reacting in a seemingly normal way, he underreacts if anything. He makes some decisions as well that make me think he thinks of himself as the savior or as the main character of his own world, even when he finds someone he wants to protect. Not sure how to describe what I mean by that without spoiling anything, so that bland explanation will have to do. I was really excited for a queer cannibal cult in the woods, it's very hard to mess that up in my opinion. I just needed something more from this, and I'm not even sure what it is that it needs, besides maybe a slower burn feeling, to both the action and romance. It's a very short read, and could probably be longer with more in depth explanations of what's going on.
Trigger Warnings I Gathered: Cannibalism, self harm, violence, gun violence, body horror, sexual content (not graphic)
A Short Summary:
Kestrel wakes up with no memory of who or where he is. There are a dozen other all standing around him, telling him he's one of them now, but what does that mean and who are they? They plan to initiate him, and then head up the mountain to fulfill their gods (called Eidolons) desires. A woman says she's a friend, but he's not sure if he can trust her or the handsome man he seems drawn to.
My Thoughts:
Pros-
The imagery is well described, I could picture each setting the characters were in, and it was my favorite part of the book. The plot is very unique, and it's advertised as similar to Yellowjackets and it manages to involve some aspects of the show without feeling like it was just a retelling, or that the author borrowed a lot from the plot, and I appreciate that. As well that its not just queer characters stuck in the woods that eat people, it has more nuanced plot devices that are inspired by the show.
Cons-
The dialogue and interactions are very stilted, they lack depth and emotion. There are no bonds that are formed, it felt like reading a list of bullet points where things happened very suddenly with little to no explanation. The romance in the book appeared suddenly as well and felt extremely insta-lovey as the book takes place throughout a little more than a week. The characters don't converse, and when they do it feels as though its the second half of a thought, like the reader is missing the first half of the conversation and the context to what the characters are saying and where the words came from. Unless they can all magically read each others minds. I wanted more of an explanation of the plot, I feel as though I would have no idea this was about a doomsday cult without the author having explaining it in his advertisements of his book. It feels like a bunch of strange people who believe they're actually animals wandering through the forest and drinking psychedelics. The ending was abrupt and unexplained, there's no aftermath or examples of thought or change in the characters.
Review:
I was really excited for this book, and actively looked forward to reading it with snow on the ground outside, but once I started I was a bit unsatisfied. The way Hinterland is written feels very stilted, robotic, and like a list of points, with little to no explanation between points. Characters suddenly did things, said things and felt things, often times even the mystery of the plot took sudden unexplained turns that made little to no sense. Even after all that's said, I didn't dislike it, I just feel like something was missing from the plot. The author has talked on TikTok about his time in a doomsday cult and how he put some of that experience he had into this book, I was expecting more shocking events. After the first bout of "oh god they're eating people" the horror dissipates because Kestrel stops reacting in a seemingly normal way, he underreacts if anything. He makes some decisions as well that make me think he thinks of himself as the savior or as the main character of his own world, even when he finds someone he wants to protect. Not sure how to describe what I mean by that without spoiling anything, so that bland explanation will have to do. I was really excited for a queer cannibal cult in the woods, it's very hard to mess that up in my opinion. I just needed something more from this, and I'm not even sure what it is that it needs, besides maybe a slower burn feeling, to both the action and romance. It's a very short read, and could probably be longer with more in depth explanations of what's going on.
Trigger Warnings I Gathered: Cannibalism, self harm, violence, gun violence, body horror, sexual content (not graphic)
December 15, 2025
⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (3/5 stars)
Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon is one of those books that starts strong, builds an incredible sense of unease… and then kind of loses its footing by the end.
The opening hooked me immediately. Kestrel wakes up injured in the woods with no memory of who he is or how he got there, surrounded by a strange group of people who all go by animal names. The isolated wilderness setting, the cult-like vibes, and the slow drip of unsettling details create a really effective atmosphere. The dread is constant, quiet, and claustrophobic- especially as the seasons shift and survival in the woods becomes more desperate.
Where this book really shines is in mood. The author nails that feeling of not knowing who to trust, not even yourself. Because Kestrel has no memory, you feel just as disoriented and detached as he does, which works really well at first. The problem is that the emotional distance never fully closes. I never quite connected to Kestrel or the rest of the group, and by the time things escalated, I realized I didn’t actually care who made it out.
The cult elements and religious horror were interesting, but not particularly fresh if you’ve read or watched a lot in this space. There’s cannibalism, ritual, ancient gods, and lots of talk about fate versus free will. All of that could have worked, but the final act throws so much at the reader that it starts to feel chaotic rather than revelatory. Instead of answers, I was left with a pile of questions that didn’t feel intentional so much as unresolved.
By the end, I honestly wasn’t sure what I was meant to take away. Were the gods real or symbolic? Was this a cult delusion, some kind of afterlife, or something else entirely? Ambiguous endings can be powerful, but here it felt like the story shifted into a different book altogether, which was frustrating after such a carefully built setup.
That said, this is clearly a strong debut in terms of writing and atmosphere. The tension is steady, the setting is bleak and memorable, and the sense of dread is well maintained throughout most of the book. I just wish the conclusion had matched the promise of the beginning.
Overall, Hinterland is a solid read if you’re into atmospheric, cult-heavy horror and don’t mind ambiguity. I liked it, but didn’t love it- and I walked away wishing the ending had been as strong and grounded as the opening.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon is one of those books that starts strong, builds an incredible sense of unease… and then kind of loses its footing by the end.
The opening hooked me immediately. Kestrel wakes up injured in the woods with no memory of who he is or how he got there, surrounded by a strange group of people who all go by animal names. The isolated wilderness setting, the cult-like vibes, and the slow drip of unsettling details create a really effective atmosphere. The dread is constant, quiet, and claustrophobic- especially as the seasons shift and survival in the woods becomes more desperate.
Where this book really shines is in mood. The author nails that feeling of not knowing who to trust, not even yourself. Because Kestrel has no memory, you feel just as disoriented and detached as he does, which works really well at first. The problem is that the emotional distance never fully closes. I never quite connected to Kestrel or the rest of the group, and by the time things escalated, I realized I didn’t actually care who made it out.
The cult elements and religious horror were interesting, but not particularly fresh if you’ve read or watched a lot in this space. There’s cannibalism, ritual, ancient gods, and lots of talk about fate versus free will. All of that could have worked, but the final act throws so much at the reader that it starts to feel chaotic rather than revelatory. Instead of answers, I was left with a pile of questions that didn’t feel intentional so much as unresolved.
By the end, I honestly wasn’t sure what I was meant to take away. Were the gods real or symbolic? Was this a cult delusion, some kind of afterlife, or something else entirely? Ambiguous endings can be powerful, but here it felt like the story shifted into a different book altogether, which was frustrating after such a carefully built setup.
That said, this is clearly a strong debut in terms of writing and atmosphere. The tension is steady, the setting is bleak and memorable, and the sense of dread is well maintained throughout most of the book. I just wish the conclusion had matched the promise of the beginning.
Overall, Hinterland is a solid read if you’re into atmospheric, cult-heavy horror and don’t mind ambiguity. I liked it, but didn’t love it- and I walked away wishing the ending had been as strong and grounded as the opening.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 11, 2025
Hinterland by Logan Spurgeon is a tough one to rate. I wanted to enjoy it more than I did, and I think a great deal of that comes down to the fact that this is a debut novel, which unfortunately reads like one.
The setup and hook is engaging, with the main character waking to find himself lost in the woods and without any memories prior to that moment. The uneasy atmosphere continues to build as we're introduced to more characters and their purpose. But that is basically where the good times end.
The cultish, paganistic aspect is well done in tone, but I still don't understand the point of anything that happened by the end. What and where is the Hinterland located? Who are the hunters? Who are these random mountain gods apparently driving the antagonists? Why does everyone behave like their designated animal namesake?
And that doesn't even cover the spoiler-y questions and things that are never addressed: how did Caiman "work" the stones to err in his favor? If the gods can bring those of the thirteen back to life, why bother worrying about the hunters? Speaking of, how do the hunters and military know of the group's quest? Are they aware of the gods' plans?
The book presents so many questions and promising ideas, but frustratingly doesn't actually answer a single thing presented to the reader.
I found myself fairly detached from everyone--the main cast is named after and personify very specific animals, making for predictable situations that should have been obvious to the other characters. Despite the odd names, however, there were multiple instances where I realized I'd conflated or mixed people up due to the lack of personalities. Muskox and Bowhead were interchangeable, with the brothers Thinhorn and Pronghorn practically being the same entity. Kestrel is way too accepting of the situation he finds himself in given the timeframe, and I'm not convinced his descent into madness would've happened so quickly. I would have liked to see more development between Kestrel and Shrew's relationship--their "connection" is used as an excuse for what essentially amounts to instalove and sudden bouts of lust.
Overall, an interesting premise and concept with a great hook, but Hinterland could do with a ton more worldbuilding and some hefty developmental editing. Disjointed descriptions and choppy, repetitive scenerios bog the pacing down, making for a slow, confusing read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Quill and Crow Publishing house, and the author Logan Spurgeon for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
The setup and hook is engaging, with the main character waking to find himself lost in the woods and without any memories prior to that moment. The uneasy atmosphere continues to build as we're introduced to more characters and their purpose. But that is basically where the good times end.
The cultish, paganistic aspect is well done in tone, but I still don't understand the point of anything that happened by the end. What and where is the Hinterland located? Who are the hunters? Who are these random mountain gods apparently driving the antagonists? Why does everyone behave like their designated animal namesake?
And that doesn't even cover the spoiler-y questions and things that are never addressed: how did Caiman "work" the stones to err in his favor? If the gods can bring those of the thirteen back to life, why bother worrying about the hunters? Speaking of, how do the hunters and military know of the group's quest? Are they aware of the gods' plans?
The book presents so many questions and promising ideas, but frustratingly doesn't actually answer a single thing presented to the reader.
I found myself fairly detached from everyone--the main cast is named after and personify very specific animals, making for predictable situations that should have been obvious to the other characters. Despite the odd names, however, there were multiple instances where I realized I'd conflated or mixed people up due to the lack of personalities. Muskox and Bowhead were interchangeable, with the brothers Thinhorn and Pronghorn practically being the same entity. Kestrel is way too accepting of the situation he finds himself in given the timeframe, and I'm not convinced his descent into madness would've happened so quickly. I would have liked to see more development between Kestrel and Shrew's relationship--their "connection" is used as an excuse for what essentially amounts to instalove and sudden bouts of lust.
Overall, an interesting premise and concept with a great hook, but Hinterland could do with a ton more worldbuilding and some hefty developmental editing. Disjointed descriptions and choppy, repetitive scenerios bog the pacing down, making for a slow, confusing read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Quill and Crow Publishing house, and the author Logan Spurgeon for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
December 19, 2025
Kestrel awakens deep in the woods with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He’s not alone though, as a group of 12 strange and mysterious individuals, all of whom have masks and names like Lynx, Stout, Gannet and others, immediately begin a horrific sacrificial ritual. Soon he discovers he will be initiated via a similar anthropophagic rite, and journey with them through the hinterlands to the seat of cabalistic old gods. As Kestrel desperately tries to piece together what is happening to him, why no one seems to have any memories of their ‘former’ lives, why there are hunters tracking them, and what will really happen at their destination, he also must plot his escape from the cult.
The overall tone of the novel was a folksy, mysterious one that was at times frustrating. The writing is serviceable, doing a better than decent job of evoking the cold, inhospitable wilderness the small group must traverse to the appointed ‘sacred mountain’. And my curiosity about the meaning and objective of the group was definitely piqued. But the character interactions often felt deliberately obtuse and vague and rarely believable – I was hoping for more from the individuals. And because none of the characters seem to have any real memories it’s nearly impossible to care for any of them or their actions. They’re just propelled by this unwavering faith in a sort of rapture they’ll be in when they reach their destination.
The inclusion of a peculiar para-military group of hunters who are tracking them with an apparent goal of outright killing them was also bizarre. There’s a lot of enigmatic hints and whiffs of symbolism going on (a girl who carries her severed foot around her neck = a ‘lucky’ rabbit’s foot so that means she brings luck, and each of the group member’s names are supposed to evoke something about their personality or purpose), but in the end none of this ever really gelled for me.
The novel starts out promisingly enough but failed to engage me with either the finale or the characters themselves, none of which seemed to have any great development.
My thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy which was provided in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The overall tone of the novel was a folksy, mysterious one that was at times frustrating. The writing is serviceable, doing a better than decent job of evoking the cold, inhospitable wilderness the small group must traverse to the appointed ‘sacred mountain’. And my curiosity about the meaning and objective of the group was definitely piqued. But the character interactions often felt deliberately obtuse and vague and rarely believable – I was hoping for more from the individuals. And because none of the characters seem to have any real memories it’s nearly impossible to care for any of them or their actions. They’re just propelled by this unwavering faith in a sort of rapture they’ll be in when they reach their destination.
The inclusion of a peculiar para-military group of hunters who are tracking them with an apparent goal of outright killing them was also bizarre. There’s a lot of enigmatic hints and whiffs of symbolism going on (a girl who carries her severed foot around her neck = a ‘lucky’ rabbit’s foot so that means she brings luck, and each of the group member’s names are supposed to evoke something about their personality or purpose), but in the end none of this ever really gelled for me.
The novel starts out promisingly enough but failed to engage me with either the finale or the characters themselves, none of which seemed to have any great development.
My thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy which was provided in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
November 12, 2025
If you’re looking for a horror novel that speaks the language of desolate, icy, apocalyptic winters, then Hinterland is exactly what you’re looking for. There’s a mystical riddle at the heart of the plot of this story that asks what’s real and what’s not while a greater philosophical battle over whether or not giving in to selfish, base, animal urges and letting one’s humanity go is better than fighting to hold on and heal from the trauma so you can possibly be whole again someday. It’s also about sacrifice: Not only about what parts of yourself you’re willing to lose in order to survive something so traumatic you don’t think you’ll ever be able to talk about it, but also what you’re going to have to give up to be able to look at your face in the mirror every day once the ordeal is over.
Hinterland isn’t a book for the sensitive reader. It’s bleak, sinister, piercingly cold, and burns with desperation as this death cult of an unknown time and origin carefully makes their way through a truly isolated, winterized, mountainous backcountry. They want to believe they’re more animal than human, but some of the cult’s members retain far too much of humanity’s duplicitous traits for that metaphorical synergism to take. This dichotomy reveals each character’s weaknesses–the crack that might be wedged open to help bring the cult down.
Kestrel, our protagonist, fights to hold onto his humanity even as he works to earn the cult’s trust, having known from the time he wakes up in their midst that he doesn’t belong amongst them and what they are doing is wrong. The problem is his hunger: for knowledge, warmth, rescue, safety, sanity, his past, his memories, power, health, escape, revenge, and for meat, of course. (Huge, huge TW for cannibalism.) 4⭐️
I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Cult Horror/Folk Horror/Found Family/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/Standalone
Hinterland isn’t a book for the sensitive reader. It’s bleak, sinister, piercingly cold, and burns with desperation as this death cult of an unknown time and origin carefully makes their way through a truly isolated, winterized, mountainous backcountry. They want to believe they’re more animal than human, but some of the cult’s members retain far too much of humanity’s duplicitous traits for that metaphorical synergism to take. This dichotomy reveals each character’s weaknesses–the crack that might be wedged open to help bring the cult down.
Kestrel, our protagonist, fights to hold onto his humanity even as he works to earn the cult’s trust, having known from the time he wakes up in their midst that he doesn’t belong amongst them and what they are doing is wrong. The problem is his hunger: for knowledge, warmth, rescue, safety, sanity, his past, his memories, power, health, escape, revenge, and for meat, of course. (Huge, huge TW for cannibalism.) 4⭐️
I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Cult Horror/Folk Horror/Found Family/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/Standalone
December 1, 2025
As much as I really wanted to like this, for me this was a book that had crazy vibes but didn't fully deliver on them in a way that satisfied me as a reader.
I want to start by saying that the premise is fascinating—we have an amnesiac protagonist who wakes up in some unknown woods with a cultlike group of cannibalistic individuals he doesn't seem to know, and is immediately drawn into their plot to reach the top of a sacred mountain and resurrect the old gods of the world. The language and word choices that create setting are gorgeous, and they paint a vivid picture of the stark, claustrophobic, unfamiliar landscape through which the characters are moving. The way the cannibalism scenes (of which there are *many*) are described in a way that genuinely turned my stomach a couple of times, and I'm a pretty unflinching reader in general.
Unfortunately, I think it's in the very limited character perspective that things start to fall apart for this book. We have no information about our protagonist, Kestrel, whch makes it immediately difficult to connect with him as a reader. We don't get a ton of insight into his actual personality even as the book progresses—for the most part it seems like Kestrel's main personality traits are 1) determination to escape (valid), 2) affection for Shrew (also valid, but sort of out of left field and not interrogated very deeply), and 3) his growing desire to eat human flesh (gross, and also really not the cause of very much reflection). I think there were a lot of opportunities to do the character work and create a more compelling protagonist even from our amnesiac friend, but the author brushes past them in favor of moving the cast along, so ultimately I was left not really caring about the stakes or the action.
Overall I would say that this book is wonderfully atmospheric and genuinely creepy in some places, but it doesn't hit the mark for me in terms of making me invested in the way the story is going to play out.
Thank you to Quill & Crow and NetGalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review!
I want to start by saying that the premise is fascinating—we have an amnesiac protagonist who wakes up in some unknown woods with a cultlike group of cannibalistic individuals he doesn't seem to know, and is immediately drawn into their plot to reach the top of a sacred mountain and resurrect the old gods of the world. The language and word choices that create setting are gorgeous, and they paint a vivid picture of the stark, claustrophobic, unfamiliar landscape through which the characters are moving. The way the cannibalism scenes (of which there are *many*) are described in a way that genuinely turned my stomach a couple of times, and I'm a pretty unflinching reader in general.
Unfortunately, I think it's in the very limited character perspective that things start to fall apart for this book. We have no information about our protagonist, Kestrel, whch makes it immediately difficult to connect with him as a reader. We don't get a ton of insight into his actual personality even as the book progresses—for the most part it seems like Kestrel's main personality traits are 1) determination to escape (valid), 2) affection for Shrew (also valid, but sort of out of left field and not interrogated very deeply), and 3) his growing desire to eat human flesh (gross, and also really not the cause of very much reflection). I think there were a lot of opportunities to do the character work and create a more compelling protagonist even from our amnesiac friend, but the author brushes past them in favor of moving the cast along, so ultimately I was left not really caring about the stakes or the action.
Overall I would say that this book is wonderfully atmospheric and genuinely creepy in some places, but it doesn't hit the mark for me in terms of making me invested in the way the story is going to play out.
Thank you to Quill & Crow and NetGalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2025
I wanted to like Hinterland more than I did. The books strengths lie in the atmosphere created. Reading about the Hinterlands makes you feel cold and hungry. You feel horrified reading about charred flesh and hanging bones. It's a very spooky and harsh setting that is a great read for October.
However, the book has a lot of flaws.
The biggest flaw for me was the characters. Specifically the main character, Kestrel. I found Kestrel to be a pretty bland character. He comes across as a bit of a male Mary Sue to me. Despite his lost memory he finds himself trusting people he needed to trust and wanting to save everyone he can. His blandness winds up leaking into his relationships, causing me to be apathetic. I didn't care about his relationship with Shrew, I didn't care about his tragic friendship with Stoat, and I didn't care about his struggles with the cult leaders either. Perhaps if Kestrel was more charasmatic or witty or...something, I would have a different opinion.
This next flaw is going to come across as very nitpicky, but it bothered me a lot. The story has 13 characters that are important, Kestrel being the main one. These characters all have some kind of name like that. Stoat, Shrew, Gannet, etc. That itself isn't a problem. The problem is that with the way the story is structured the prose becomes overly saturated with proper nouns, making reading the text feel very choppy.
There's nothing inherently wrong with using a lot of proper nouns, but the way in which they are used felt unnatural., like the author is constantly re-telling us who is doing what in case the reader forgot by the next sentence. I was hard pressed to find a page with seven or less pronouns, it was immersion breaking for me.
Part of the reason why I'm a little harsh on Hinterland is because I think it had a ton of potential. And while some of it was satisfying, I think there's a lot of room for improvement.
However, the book has a lot of flaws.
The biggest flaw for me was the characters. Specifically the main character, Kestrel. I found Kestrel to be a pretty bland character. He comes across as a bit of a male Mary Sue to me. Despite his lost memory he finds himself trusting people he needed to trust and wanting to save everyone he can. His blandness winds up leaking into his relationships, causing me to be apathetic. I didn't care about his relationship with Shrew, I didn't care about his tragic friendship with Stoat, and I didn't care about his struggles with the cult leaders either. Perhaps if Kestrel was more charasmatic or witty or...something, I would have a different opinion.
This next flaw is going to come across as very nitpicky, but it bothered me a lot. The story has 13 characters that are important, Kestrel being the main one. These characters all have some kind of name like that. Stoat, Shrew, Gannet, etc. That itself isn't a problem. The problem is that with the way the story is structured the prose becomes overly saturated with proper nouns, making reading the text feel very choppy.
There's nothing inherently wrong with using a lot of proper nouns, but the way in which they are used felt unnatural., like the author is constantly re-telling us who is doing what in case the reader forgot by the next sentence. I was hard pressed to find a page with seven or less pronouns, it was immersion breaking for me.
Part of the reason why I'm a little harsh on Hinterland is because I think it had a ton of potential. And while some of it was satisfying, I think there's a lot of room for improvement.
October 21, 2025
Atmospheric horror that leaves you unsettled throughout the whole journey.
The book immediately starts off with the protagonist, Kestrel, waking up from a traumatic brain injury in a group of strangers in the middle of the woods. He discovers the purpose of this group (of which he is apparently part of) is to ascend the sacred mountain to bring the gods' plan into fruition. From there, the urgency for escape and for secrecy war inside Kestrel as he attempts to figure out who could be an ally while fleeing from outsiders attempting to prevent the group from carrying out their plan.
Character-wise, there is the general feeling of detachment. Due to Kestrel's amnesia, there is no strong character bonding. Each member of the group has a few particular traits but feel wholly strange to the reader, motivations and thoughts shadowed and hidden. It creates an air of distrust as we cannot easily decipher who may be an ally to Kestrel.
The plot mostly follows the group as they journey toward their end goal: the sacred mountain where the gods dwell. As the season changes from autumn to winter, the survival factor kicks into high gear as they have to contend with starvation and lack of warmth in addition to the hunters stalking them. The climax hits around the 80% mark - I wasn't hoping for something different. There wasn't anything overtly wrong with the presentation and climax itself, but it started to lose the atmospheric horror elements for me.
I did feel disappointed in the abruptness of the ending, even if it's tinged with hope for better things. It made me feel like we are left waiting for more.
Overall, a solid read filled with horror of various types (including body horror and cannibalism) and an eerie atmosphere that leaves you unsettled.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher Quill & Crow Publishing for allowing me an ARC to read and review.
The book immediately starts off with the protagonist, Kestrel, waking up from a traumatic brain injury in a group of strangers in the middle of the woods. He discovers the purpose of this group (of which he is apparently part of) is to ascend the sacred mountain to bring the gods' plan into fruition. From there, the urgency for escape and for secrecy war inside Kestrel as he attempts to figure out who could be an ally while fleeing from outsiders attempting to prevent the group from carrying out their plan.
Character-wise, there is the general feeling of detachment. Due to Kestrel's amnesia, there is no strong character bonding. Each member of the group has a few particular traits but feel wholly strange to the reader, motivations and thoughts shadowed and hidden. It creates an air of distrust as we cannot easily decipher who may be an ally to Kestrel.
The plot mostly follows the group as they journey toward their end goal: the sacred mountain where the gods dwell. As the season changes from autumn to winter, the survival factor kicks into high gear as they have to contend with starvation and lack of warmth in addition to the hunters stalking them. The climax hits around the 80% mark - I wasn't hoping for something different. There wasn't anything overtly wrong with the presentation and climax itself, but it started to lose the atmospheric horror elements for me.
I did feel disappointed in the abruptness of the ending, even if it's tinged with hope for better things. It made me feel like we are left waiting for more.
Overall, a solid read filled with horror of various types (including body horror and cannibalism) and an eerie atmosphere that leaves you unsettled.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher Quill & Crow Publishing for allowing me an ARC to read and review.
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