What do you think?
Strange Is the Light
Strange is the Light follows a passionately entangled group of childhood friends, fractured by the betrayals and secrets kept as they grew into adulthood.
Now, after twenty years, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn will finally have to face the consequences of cutting their last adventure short--having accidentally opened a rift into a dangerous alternate dimension while playing a mysterious RPG version of their childhood game.
Daphne never took her final turn... And there is a debt that must be paid.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Now, after twenty years, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn will finally have to face the consequences of cutting their last adventure short--having accidentally opened a rift into a dangerous alternate dimension while playing a mysterious RPG version of their childhood game.
Daphne never took her final turn... And there is a debt that must be paid.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 8, 2026
About the author
Sarah Maria Griffin
9 books473 followersSarah Maria Griffin lives in Dublin, Ireland, in a small red brick house by the sea, with her husband and cat. She writes about monsters, growing up, and everything those two things have in common. Her first book, SPARE AND FOUND PARTS, is out now.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 21, 2026
every summer, at the starcade on ireland's valentia island, four children—daphne, ronan, leonie, and finn—sit down at a table and play wonder, wonder, a game of their own invention that serves as an escape from their troubled lives. as they grow together into adulthood, their imaginary world remains a precious secret they can disappear into whenever they please. but after one of their treasured summers turns violent, they realize that growing older means discovering they may have never known one another at all.
years later, in the wake of that pivotal summer, the four friends are invited back to the old starcade for one last game. only this time, nothing is what it seems. the world they left behind has changed in their time away, and each turn they take upends the fabric of reality. there has been something else at the table with them during their sessions, and there is a cosmic debt that needs to be paid, no matter the price.
sarah maria griffin's STRANGE IS THE LIGHT is a masterful exploration of friendship, love, betrayal, loss, and the unique horrors of being alive. imagining myself in these characters' positions—my greatest source of joy poisoned at the source and my dearest friends turned strangers before my eyes—made me nauseous with anxiety, and griffin's stellar prose made each beat of this story hit like a punch to the face. i cried, i laughed, i panicked, and i fell in love with the valentia gang as if i'd grown up with them myself.
visceral, strange, and utterly transporting, STRANGE IS THE LIGHT is a surreal and horrifying love letter to childhood friendship and adulthood hardships that will break your heart and change the way you treat one another. the truth is, there's precious little i want to tell you about this book at the end of the day. the late, great david lynch said that the work itself is the talking, and watching the secrets be revealed here is unbelievably rewarding. i ask you to trust me when i tell you that not a single one of you is ready for what's coming. STRANGE IS THE LIGHT hits shelves this september, and griff—with all her inimitable powers—is just getting started. i hope you'll join her at the table.
(eARC of STRANGE IS THE LIGHT provided by edelweiss+ and netgalley.)
years later, in the wake of that pivotal summer, the four friends are invited back to the old starcade for one last game. only this time, nothing is what it seems. the world they left behind has changed in their time away, and each turn they take upends the fabric of reality. there has been something else at the table with them during their sessions, and there is a cosmic debt that needs to be paid, no matter the price.
sarah maria griffin's STRANGE IS THE LIGHT is a masterful exploration of friendship, love, betrayal, loss, and the unique horrors of being alive. imagining myself in these characters' positions—my greatest source of joy poisoned at the source and my dearest friends turned strangers before my eyes—made me nauseous with anxiety, and griffin's stellar prose made each beat of this story hit like a punch to the face. i cried, i laughed, i panicked, and i fell in love with the valentia gang as if i'd grown up with them myself.
visceral, strange, and utterly transporting, STRANGE IS THE LIGHT is a surreal and horrifying love letter to childhood friendship and adulthood hardships that will break your heart and change the way you treat one another. the truth is, there's precious little i want to tell you about this book at the end of the day. the late, great david lynch said that the work itself is the talking, and watching the secrets be revealed here is unbelievably rewarding. i ask you to trust me when i tell you that not a single one of you is ready for what's coming. STRANGE IS THE LIGHT hits shelves this september, and griff—with all her inimitable powers—is just getting started. i hope you'll join her at the table.
(eARC of STRANGE IS THE LIGHT provided by edelweiss+ and netgalley.)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Strange Is The Light puts all other 'weird girl' books to shame by being the weirdest and wildest and angriest 🧿.
I looooove you Daphne, you don't always do things the right way but you are doing the RIGHT thing.
🎣🎣🎣
We follow our protagonist Daphne as she lives out these idyllic summer friendships on the island of Valentia. Her group (Finn, Leonie and Ronan) are a needed escape from her difficult relationship with her brother Daithi and her lacklustre friendships at home.
They develop a pretend game that fills up their summers-- Daphne fills journal after journal with her stories of Wonder Wonder, this game is the table the friends gather around year after year, shedding their regular selves and playing in this imaginary space together.
As they get older, their relationships with one another get more complicated, but these friends are stuck in a kind of stasis that comes from arms-length summer friendships, their ties cast and crystallized in youth, the bridge stretching too long between who they are the rest of the year and who they are in the summer time.
They are catapulted out of this stasis when someone plunders their dream world and forces them to come clean about 'shameful' secrets they are hiding from one another under the guise of a tabletop RPG created from Wonder Wonder.
This novel was well-paced, intriguing, I found myself reading it in snippets while I waited in line because I didn't want to put it down! It has similar eerie, nefarious vibes of Eat the Ones You Love, and a feature from a friend we know and love from that story.
I loved the continued imagery of the eye and the tie ins to Eat the Ones You Love, I see you Sarah Maria Griffin Cinematic Universe (SMGCU?)
So grateful for this ARC, I loved this strange and beautiful book. 5 stars!
Thank you so much to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC!
I looooove you Daphne, you don't always do things the right way but you are doing the RIGHT thing.
🎣🎣🎣
We follow our protagonist Daphne as she lives out these idyllic summer friendships on the island of Valentia. Her group (Finn, Leonie and Ronan) are a needed escape from her difficult relationship with her brother Daithi and her lacklustre friendships at home.
They develop a pretend game that fills up their summers-- Daphne fills journal after journal with her stories of Wonder Wonder, this game is the table the friends gather around year after year, shedding their regular selves and playing in this imaginary space together.
As they get older, their relationships with one another get more complicated, but these friends are stuck in a kind of stasis that comes from arms-length summer friendships, their ties cast and crystallized in youth, the bridge stretching too long between who they are the rest of the year and who they are in the summer time.
They are catapulted out of this stasis when someone plunders their dream world and forces them to come clean about 'shameful' secrets they are hiding from one another under the guise of a tabletop RPG created from Wonder Wonder.
This novel was well-paced, intriguing, I found myself reading it in snippets while I waited in line because I didn't want to put it down! It has similar eerie, nefarious vibes of Eat the Ones You Love, and a feature from a friend we know and love from that story.
I loved the continued imagery of the eye and the tie ins to Eat the Ones You Love, I see you Sarah Maria Griffin Cinematic Universe (SMGCU?)
So grateful for this ARC, I loved this strange and beautiful book. 5 stars!
Thank you so much to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This review (and many others) plus essays and booklists are now available on my blog!
Every summer while they were growing up, four friends converged on the island of Valentia to play a game of their own invention, the rules of which are defined only by the bounds of their imaginations. After a single night goes wrong and separates them, the game goes unplayed for many years until they are brought together again, this time with a gamemaster whose dark intentions and abilities might just blur the lines between reality and the world they created.
I have kind of ridiculously mixed feelings about this book because it's really brilliant at times, but when it fails, it fails hard. The first section jumping between summers and establishing the relationships between these characters was by far my favorite. There are some really beautiful descriptions, you really get the feeling of those intense childhood relationships, and the game itself is so enchanting. Weirdly, that first section was also really frustrating to read for me because it's all clearly lead up and it goes on for *so long*. You're almost halfway through the book by the time you get to the actual events described in the premise. If that first section had been a whole book of its own I probably would have loved it, but as it is it really drags because the whole time you're waiting for the plot you were promised.
After that first section, the whole thing really goes downhill for me. One of my pet peeves in books is when the POV character spend a lot of time drunk/high/hungover and genuinely probably 70% of the time Daphne is one of those three. The plot of the RPG that Arturo sets up really doesn't go anywhere, it's just a bunch of setup to pad out the time until his big reveal. It's also really hard to tell when something is happening in reality and when it's happening in the game because there often aren't even paragraph breaks to separate them. I assume this was an intentional choice to blur the lines between reality and the game, but in practice it just made me not care about anything that was happening because in the moment I didn't know if what was happening was consequential. The climax is super underwhelming, happens in about two paragraphs, and I don't really understand it (more on that below in the spoiler section). It just becomes kind of nonsensical and fever-dreamy in a way that I never enjoy and I was left with so many questions and so many dropped story threads. Leonie's actions never really make sense, Finn's personality completely changes for no clear reason, and Arturo's feelings just don't justify the extremity of his actions.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
I'm just kind of sad about this book because that first section had so much potential and I couldn't even enjoy it because I knew that it wasn't the story being told, and the story that was being told was just a mess. If you like more fever-dreamy stories I think you could give this a shot but I really don't know what to make of it.
Thank you to Sarah Maria Griffin and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review.
Happy reading!
Every summer while they were growing up, four friends converged on the island of Valentia to play a game of their own invention, the rules of which are defined only by the bounds of their imaginations. After a single night goes wrong and separates them, the game goes unplayed for many years until they are brought together again, this time with a gamemaster whose dark intentions and abilities might just blur the lines between reality and the world they created.
I have kind of ridiculously mixed feelings about this book because it's really brilliant at times, but when it fails, it fails hard. The first section jumping between summers and establishing the relationships between these characters was by far my favorite. There are some really beautiful descriptions, you really get the feeling of those intense childhood relationships, and the game itself is so enchanting. Weirdly, that first section was also really frustrating to read for me because it's all clearly lead up and it goes on for *so long*. You're almost halfway through the book by the time you get to the actual events described in the premise. If that first section had been a whole book of its own I probably would have loved it, but as it is it really drags because the whole time you're waiting for the plot you were promised.
After that first section, the whole thing really goes downhill for me. One of my pet peeves in books is when the POV character spend a lot of time drunk/high/hungover and genuinely probably 70% of the time Daphne is one of those three. The plot of the RPG that Arturo sets up really doesn't go anywhere, it's just a bunch of setup to pad out the time until his big reveal. It's also really hard to tell when something is happening in reality and when it's happening in the game because there often aren't even paragraph breaks to separate them. I assume this was an intentional choice to blur the lines between reality and the game, but in practice it just made me not care about anything that was happening because in the moment I didn't know if what was happening was consequential. The climax is super underwhelming, happens in about two paragraphs, and I don't really understand it (more on that below in the spoiler section). It just becomes kind of nonsensical and fever-dreamy in a way that I never enjoy and I was left with so many questions and so many dropped story threads. Leonie's actions never really make sense, Finn's personality completely changes for no clear reason, and Arturo's feelings just don't justify the extremity of his actions.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
I'm just kind of sad about this book because that first section had so much potential and I couldn't even enjoy it because I knew that it wasn't the story being told, and the story that was being told was just a mess. If you like more fever-dreamy stories I think you could give this a shot but I really don't know what to make of it.
Thank you to Sarah Maria Griffin and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review.
Happy reading!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book was different than expected to say the least. While I really enjoyed the characters, everything else here felt really half-baked. The framing of the narrative was about this game the group of friends were playing that was specifically not D&D. What this story essentially is, what if your high school bully blackmailed you into ruining in your not D&D campaign by letting him DM it. It’s difficult because, this book is like 80% flashback and I don’t think it worked in this case. I thought there was going to be a lot more of the friends playing, I really thought it was going to be some horror-isekai but instead it’s really just a drama story with a forgetable monster in the background and a “game” that you really see nothing of. It felt like everything I wanted more of got ignored and instead we just watched people suffer. Some things that happened also felt really unnecessary and uncomfortable, and seemed to mostly be there for shock factor. Overall, kind of an underwhelming experience.
October 8, 2026
What am I supposed to do now?
Wolf Worm kicked off the year, but I was all about Decomposition Book for Best Book of 2026, then came Rottenheart and threw me off-kilter. Now Sarah Maria Griffin saunters in and just massacres the whole situation.
This is it.
Is this it?
What else can 2026 throw at me?!
I think this is it.
Wolf Worm kicked off the year, but I was all about Decomposition Book for Best Book of 2026, then came Rottenheart and threw me off-kilter. Now Sarah Maria Griffin saunters in and just massacres the whole situation.
This is it.
Is this it?
What else can 2026 throw at me?!
I think this is it.
October 1, 2026
An engaging new novel by Griffin, set on Valentia Island off the coast of Kerry, it charts the dissolution of a friendship between four young people, and looks at the magic worlds we create inside ourselves, and the ways in which role-playing games tap into that imaginative space. The characters are interesting and varied, and the story is fill of mystery and atmosphere. I found it a really diverting read, with genuine emotional weight.
September 19, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ALC of Strange is the Light. The description of this book: “a group of estranged childhood friends…are called back to the island where they spent their summers; it’s time to play the next round of an uncanny tabletop RPG with a mind of it’s own..and a dangerously real cost to losing.” Had me pushing “request” quickly! I was envisioning Jumanji. Or even a LitRPG book.
But, by 40% in all we had read about was how the FMC, Daphne, got drunk a lot during the summers and hated one of the boys, Arturo, who was part of the group that was around. I kept waiting for the story to pull me in, and it never really happened.
The pacing felt slow, and I struggled to connect with the characters enough to become invested in what was happening. There are some intriguing ideas here, and I can see this working much better for readers who enjoy a slower, more atmospheric story. For me, though, there just wasn’t enough momentum or emotional connection to keep me engaged.
As for the narrator, Karen Cogan, I mostly enjoyed her performance but her Irish accent was pretty thick and sometimes I had trouble understanding what she was saying.
There’s nothing glaringly wrong with this one, and I can absolutely see it finding its audience. I’m just not that audience.
But, by 40% in all we had read about was how the FMC, Daphne, got drunk a lot during the summers and hated one of the boys, Arturo, who was part of the group that was around. I kept waiting for the story to pull me in, and it never really happened.
The pacing felt slow, and I struggled to connect with the characters enough to become invested in what was happening. There are some intriguing ideas here, and I can see this working much better for readers who enjoy a slower, more atmospheric story. For me, though, there just wasn’t enough momentum or emotional connection to keep me engaged.
As for the narrator, Karen Cogan, I mostly enjoyed her performance but her Irish accent was pretty thick and sometimes I had trouble understanding what she was saying.
There’s nothing glaringly wrong with this one, and I can absolutely see it finding its audience. I’m just not that audience.
September 15, 2026
big bag of cosmic horror with the lads
September 5, 2026
If you associate the best times of your childhood with one special, summer-sparkling place, pick this up. If you have friends who have seen you at your most shameful, and loved you anyway, pick this up. And if you’re fascinated by resilience in the face of life’s darkness, and the human sense of imaginative play that can bond us, shape us and transport us, pick. This. Up.
I really don’t know how to describe the plot to you. Part nostalgia for childhood best friendships, part D&D-style fantasy adventure, part supernatural horror-style confrontation of the thing in the dark that knows your secrets. Beautiful, striking, well-written chaos. It’s feverish, outlandish and dramatic but at the same time painfully, relatably human. It captures all the anger, moral greyness and confusion of trying to survive in the modern world, and throws it together with the bravery of choosing what you believe is right, and the beauty of those who have your back through thick and thin.
The author says this book took ten years to write, and you can feel the care put into each word. Every one chosen carefully to stir your feelings. I will undoubtedly read more by this author after this.
If you’re after a read unlike anything else you’ll have read this year, and if you can appreciate characters who keep going through the dark, however much they stumble, I’ll say it again: pick this up.
Thank you to @titanbooks and @sarahgriffski for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really don’t know how to describe the plot to you. Part nostalgia for childhood best friendships, part D&D-style fantasy adventure, part supernatural horror-style confrontation of the thing in the dark that knows your secrets. Beautiful, striking, well-written chaos. It’s feverish, outlandish and dramatic but at the same time painfully, relatably human. It captures all the anger, moral greyness and confusion of trying to survive in the modern world, and throws it together with the bravery of choosing what you believe is right, and the beauty of those who have your back through thick and thin.
The author says this book took ten years to write, and you can feel the care put into each word. Every one chosen carefully to stir your feelings. I will undoubtedly read more by this author after this.
If you’re after a read unlike anything else you’ll have read this year, and if you can appreciate characters who keep going through the dark, however much they stumble, I’ll say it again: pick this up.
Thank you to @titanbooks and @sarahgriffski for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2026
“We’re made of wine and smoke and love, Daph” … “Fuck them.”
Strange Is the Light felt like Jumanji, your favorite TTRPG, and Black Mirror were thrown into a blender, and somehow, the result just works. I was hooked by page 22 and genuinely unable to put it down from then on.
I’d regurgitate the blurb on the back for you, but I honestly don’t think it fully embodies what you’re about to experience once you dive into this book. The writing is immersive, eerie, and a bit offbeat. You’ll have questions upon questions, but I don’t think many of them are meant to be answered directly. And weirdly? That’s part of what makes it work.
Everyone is morally grey, some downright unredeemable. They all have secrets, they all carry shame, and the exploration of how they should be judged, or dealt with, was so interesting. Adding that extra layer of gameplay made the entire thing all the more intriguing.
This book is also a bit dark… darker than I anticipated. I received this as a physical ARC, so I don’t know if trigger warnings have been added to the finished copy, but I do want to note that animal cruelty is discussed/alluded to in detail later in the book. I didn’t find it particularly graphic, but it was jarring, so reader discretion is advised.
Overall, I found this to be a great book. The glitches in reality, the active role we get to play as observer as these characters play out their game, the weird girl lit of it all… I was obsessed.
It also reminded me of Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; in covering friendships and relationships as they develop over decades, the emotional depth, and yes.. the game aspect too.
Strange is the Light is angsty, engaging, horrific, and probably one of my new favorite sci-fi fantasy books of 2026. Five stars.
Thank you TOR publishing for the ARC, and happy release week, Sarah Maria Griffin. You’ll be seeing more of me.
September 9, 2026
2.75
I feel ~confused~ & ~conflicted~ about this book. It was sooo interesting & I was having a hard time putting it down, but I fear it was just so far outside of my comfort zone.
It gives Stranger Things (& maybe even Ready Player One) vibes & was quite unique. The setting (Ireland) was quite interesting & a lot of it made me feel nostalgic & also eerie. I really liked the initial chapters where we learned about the characters & the summers they spent together, but when we got into the fantasy elements, the story kind lost me.
If you like “strange” books, you should definitely read this one!!
Thank you to Tor for the ARC & finished copy!
I feel ~confused~ & ~conflicted~ about this book. It was sooo interesting & I was having a hard time putting it down, but I fear it was just so far outside of my comfort zone.
It gives Stranger Things (& maybe even Ready Player One) vibes & was quite unique. The setting (Ireland) was quite interesting & a lot of it made me feel nostalgic & also eerie. I really liked the initial chapters where we learned about the characters & the summers they spent together, but when we got into the fantasy elements, the story kind lost me.
If you like “strange” books, you should definitely read this one!!
Thank you to Tor for the ARC & finished copy!
October 7, 2026
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for gifted access to this audiobook. All opinions below my own.
This story follows a group of four kids as they grow up. Three of the four live on a remote Irish island and the fourth visits every summer. At first they are halcyon days of fun defined by a game they play using their imaginations. As they grow each summer their relationships evolve and change and in later years are defined by an incident with their adversary.
Going into this story, I had expected more magic or supernatural elements. It’s mostly just a coming of age story with the typical things kids do. I enjoyed the listen but not sure I “got” what it was trying to say.
This story follows a group of four kids as they grow up. Three of the four live on a remote Irish island and the fourth visits every summer. At first they are halcyon days of fun defined by a game they play using their imaginations. As they grow each summer their relationships evolve and change and in later years are defined by an incident with their adversary.
Going into this story, I had expected more magic or supernatural elements. It’s mostly just a coming of age story with the typical things kids do. I enjoyed the listen but not sure I “got” what it was trying to say.
September 21, 2026
This was brilliant! I loved how this was written, watching the kids grow up through the summers that shaped who they are in current day really gave this depth. I love when an ending gets you thinking, I’ll be thinking about the different ways this can go for a while. Perfect fall read even tho most of it takes place in the summer it just has that fall feel.
Did Not Finish
September 10, 2026I absolutely adore Sarah Griffin and her previous work but unfortunately I had to DNF this one due to seeing reviews about quite graphic animal cruelty.
She's an amazing writer but ultimately this one isn't for me.
She's an amazing writer but ultimately this one isn't for me.
September 30, 2026
I received this as an ARC from TOR Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4.25/5⭐️
I actually really enjoyed this! The description sounded super interesting and I honestly believe that it was executed very well! Was I confused for a bit? Yes. But it eventually all made sense and I enjoyed being swept along in the characters game over the summers!
4.25/5⭐️
I actually really enjoyed this! The description sounded super interesting and I honestly believe that it was executed very well! Was I confused for a bit? Yes. But it eventually all made sense and I enjoyed being swept along in the characters game over the summers!
September 19, 2026
This really wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, and it unfortunately didn’t work for me because of that. I feel like 75% of it was backstory, and the game that was outlined in the summary didn’t really come into play until the halfway point. Up until that point it was just flashbacks about the main characters and how their friendships came about. Which is fine in and of itself, just not really what I wanted from this.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, LGBTQ+
Geographical Setting: Ireland
Other Books by This Author
Appeal Factors
Geographical Setting: Ireland
Click Here for Content Warnings (may contain spoilers)
Book Blurb (Description): "STRANGE IS THE LIGHT follows a passionately entangled group of childhood friends, fractured by the betrayals and secrets kept as they grew into adulthood.
Other Books by This Author
Not Lost (2013)
Spare and Found Parts (2016)
Other Words for Smoke (2019)
The Book of Wisdom (2019)
› After loving Eat the Ones You Love I was ecstatic to receive an advance digital copy of Sarah Maria Griffin's new novel Strange is the Light. While reading I recognized a familiar character from Eat The Ones You Love. However, this new story is mainly told with new characters.
Sarah Maria Griffin is an excellent writer, and I'll implore you to search her up online to see her spoke word pieces and talks. She's inspiring. I liked this one about empathy.
› Strange is the Light is set on an island off the coast of Ireland called Valentia. This is a real place that the author has visited and she says it's special that just feels a little different than anywhere else she's been. This story takes place over thirty years and tells the story of four friends; Daphne, Ronan, Leonie, and Finn. In their childhood they played a make-belief game that they called "the game". Daphne had kept a diary of everything they did in the game, and as adults that diary was stolen and their game was turned into a table-top game called Wonder Wonder. They come back to Valentia for a funeral and feel obliged to play this new game with the person who stole it. In the process there are secrets revealed as they battle an ancient and horrible monster.
› These characters are unlikeable, some more than others. The atmosphere of the island is slightly claustrophobic and tense. I can hear the sound of the waves as the friends walk to the building to face their fears. Most of the story is told in third person, but we also get a first person perspective from a strange light. The writing style is beautifully weird and engaging. Although I did find the plot a little slow, the description, emotion, and readability kept the pages turning.
Appeal Factors
Storyline: character-driven, nonlinear, open-ended, unconventional, tragic
Pace: slow
Tone: angsty, mystical, dark, mysterious, sinister, haunting
Writing Style: conversational, compelling, descriptive
Character: awkward, complex, flawed, unlikeable, well-developed
2SLGBTQIA+ Representation: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer
Strange is the Light is a sci-fi fantasy novel about childhood friends, imagination, secrets, and betrayals. I love the wonderfully weird vibes and look forward to reading more from Sarah Maria Griffin.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
September 14, 2026
Properly unsettling and emotionally and psychologically, Strange Is the Light is one of those novels I struggle to put into a category. Horror, folklore, fantasy and science fiction intertwine in a beautifully strange story about friendship, shame and the worlds we create to escape our lives.
Every summer on Ireland’s Valentia Island, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn gather to play Wonder, Wonder, a game of their own invention. It becomes a private mythology, somewhere they can shed their everyday selves and disappear together. But as they grow older, their relationships become more complicated, and what once offered freedom begins to feel like something with rules, consequences and a cost.
The island setting is brilliant. Valentia feels both idyllic and threatening: sweets, friendship and summer freedom exist alongside storms, cliffs, ruins and buried secrets. Griffin sustains a sense of unease even in the quieter moments. There is always the feeling that something is watching, and that belonging to this place might demand more than anyone realises: “better to be a guest, better to go home”.
I loved the whole gang, and Daphne, our main character, was particularly compelling for me. Restless, imaginative and desperate for escape, she wants to be the storyteller, the observer and the creature people fear. Her repeated insistence, “I am the wolf”, becomes an increasingly troubling attempt to claim power over experiences in which she has felt trapped or powerless.
I also loved how the children’s game gradually becomes sacred and sinister. There’s the imaginative freedom of D&D or a tabletop RPG, with shared storytelling, private rules and characters to inhabit, but Griffin cleverly gives it another dimension: the boundary between playing in an invented world and being governed by it begins to dissolve. The game only exists when all four friends are together, making their connection feel precious but also precarious. Meanwhile, the creature’s voice is ancient, hungry and strangely amused. Its appetite for shame, anger and concealed emotions makes it particularly unsettling, blurring the boundaries between supernatural corruption and human wrongdoing.
The movement between childhood, adolescence and adulthood, island life, space opera and supernatural narration is ambitious and dreamlike. Yet recurring images and motifs give it a strong internal rhythm. Griffin’s lush, tactile prose holds these worlds together, returning us to questions of captivity, storytelling and whether escape is ever truly possible.
Dark, dazzling and painfully human, this is a novel about the refuge friendship offers, the secrets that threaten it and what happens when the darkness starts answering back. My first Sarah Maria Griffin novel, and now I want to read all her others.
#pudseyrecommends
Thank you to Titan Books and Sarah Maria Griffin for the ARC.
Every summer on Ireland’s Valentia Island, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn gather to play Wonder, Wonder, a game of their own invention. It becomes a private mythology, somewhere they can shed their everyday selves and disappear together. But as they grow older, their relationships become more complicated, and what once offered freedom begins to feel like something with rules, consequences and a cost.
The island setting is brilliant. Valentia feels both idyllic and threatening: sweets, friendship and summer freedom exist alongside storms, cliffs, ruins and buried secrets. Griffin sustains a sense of unease even in the quieter moments. There is always the feeling that something is watching, and that belonging to this place might demand more than anyone realises: “better to be a guest, better to go home”.
I loved the whole gang, and Daphne, our main character, was particularly compelling for me. Restless, imaginative and desperate for escape, she wants to be the storyteller, the observer and the creature people fear. Her repeated insistence, “I am the wolf”, becomes an increasingly troubling attempt to claim power over experiences in which she has felt trapped or powerless.
I also loved how the children’s game gradually becomes sacred and sinister. There’s the imaginative freedom of D&D or a tabletop RPG, with shared storytelling, private rules and characters to inhabit, but Griffin cleverly gives it another dimension: the boundary between playing in an invented world and being governed by it begins to dissolve. The game only exists when all four friends are together, making their connection feel precious but also precarious. Meanwhile, the creature’s voice is ancient, hungry and strangely amused. Its appetite for shame, anger and concealed emotions makes it particularly unsettling, blurring the boundaries between supernatural corruption and human wrongdoing.
The movement between childhood, adolescence and adulthood, island life, space opera and supernatural narration is ambitious and dreamlike. Yet recurring images and motifs give it a strong internal rhythm. Griffin’s lush, tactile prose holds these worlds together, returning us to questions of captivity, storytelling and whether escape is ever truly possible.
Dark, dazzling and painfully human, this is a novel about the refuge friendship offers, the secrets that threaten it and what happens when the darkness starts answering back. My first Sarah Maria Griffin novel, and now I want to read all her others.
#pudseyrecommends
Thank you to Titan Books and Sarah Maria Griffin for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Note: for the love of god check the trigger warnings for this one.
Another strange, sticky, magical horror from Sarah Maria Griffin - a writer who is working in a space no-one else is right now, I think. Her worlds are totally unique, and dazzling, and Strange is the Light, her seventh novel, is no exception.
Daphne McSharry is a lonely, quick-tempered townie who finds solace every summer on Valentia Island. Together with her best friends, she finds herself, year after year, throughout her childhood, on this island - until it all comes crashing down in the gang's early twenties. This ambitious novel is set across twenty years, largely in the middle period with our protagonists in their twenties. The winding, slow-burn horror is every bit as human as it is cosmic, and it is the horrors of what humans can do to one another that lingers in the mind long after reading.
Friendship is at the core of this novel; the close bond between Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn is formed across many childhood summers and lasts well into adulthood, but changes, too, curdling into something strange and dark. Forces beyond the gang’s control are manipulating their friendship, sure, but there is also a full and frank exploration of childhood friendships and the changes they go through as you grow up here. Griffin isn’t afraid to show her characters grow and change - often for the worse - as they become adults, and this warping impacts the friendships as much as any supernatural horror.
Strange is the Light is a real slow burn of a novel, meandering its way through plots and relationships in order to give us time to get to know the characters who really matter. Griffin is so, so good at imbuing her novels with a constant sense of unease, so that even the decidedly non-horror parts of this story are unsettling. Daphne, our main POV character, is the one we get to know best - obviously - and she is a ball of rage, righteous and demanding and at times, very very stupid. It’s phenomenal to read a female main character that’s full of anger without the novel hitting you over the head with it - Daphne’s anger is part of a bigger picture, here, not a marketing pull or a whole plot. I loved Daphne, even when I wanted to yell at her. I loved all the characters; they all feel whole and complex, like they could walk out of the pages of the book and ask you for a smoke.
Ambitious, sweeping, dangerous and weird, Strange is the Light is a wondrous novel about how love can create and destroy whole worlds. Sarah remains one of the most fascinating and courageous writers working today.
Another strange, sticky, magical horror from Sarah Maria Griffin - a writer who is working in a space no-one else is right now, I think. Her worlds are totally unique, and dazzling, and Strange is the Light, her seventh novel, is no exception.
Daphne McSharry is a lonely, quick-tempered townie who finds solace every summer on Valentia Island. Together with her best friends, she finds herself, year after year, throughout her childhood, on this island - until it all comes crashing down in the gang's early twenties. This ambitious novel is set across twenty years, largely in the middle period with our protagonists in their twenties. The winding, slow-burn horror is every bit as human as it is cosmic, and it is the horrors of what humans can do to one another that lingers in the mind long after reading.
Friendship is at the core of this novel; the close bond between Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn is formed across many childhood summers and lasts well into adulthood, but changes, too, curdling into something strange and dark. Forces beyond the gang’s control are manipulating their friendship, sure, but there is also a full and frank exploration of childhood friendships and the changes they go through as you grow up here. Griffin isn’t afraid to show her characters grow and change - often for the worse - as they become adults, and this warping impacts the friendships as much as any supernatural horror.
Strange is the Light is a real slow burn of a novel, meandering its way through plots and relationships in order to give us time to get to know the characters who really matter. Griffin is so, so good at imbuing her novels with a constant sense of unease, so that even the decidedly non-horror parts of this story are unsettling. Daphne, our main POV character, is the one we get to know best - obviously - and she is a ball of rage, righteous and demanding and at times, very very stupid. It’s phenomenal to read a female main character that’s full of anger without the novel hitting you over the head with it - Daphne’s anger is part of a bigger picture, here, not a marketing pull or a whole plot. I loved Daphne, even when I wanted to yell at her. I loved all the characters; they all feel whole and complex, like they could walk out of the pages of the book and ask you for a smoke.
Ambitious, sweeping, dangerous and weird, Strange is the Light is a wondrous novel about how love can create and destroy whole worlds. Sarah remains one of the most fascinating and courageous writers working today.
October 1, 2026
I really enjoyed this. It took me about 20 percent to really get a grasp on the characters, but then I was in love with them and I was feeling rage, joy, and love with Daphne. The third person omniscient narrator with aspects of first person from the non-human character was fantastic.
I listened to this, so you'll have to excuse any misspellings of names.
I don't know if I feel that the synopsis does this book justice so I'll summarize a bit of the plot here: Daphne and Ronan are invited back to the island that Ronan once called home and Daphne spent her most loved, and her worst, summers on. From here we get the backstory of their friendship and everything leading up to how we got here with two friends estranged from the core of their group. We spend time with Daphne as she grows up loving the island, hating her brother, and becoming best friends with Ronan, Finn, and Leonie. What Daphne loves most about the summer is the game they all play, privately she calls it Wonder Wonder and it is her most treasured memory. After a brutal summer that ended in a violent bang when Daphne lashes out at the group's childhood tormentor, Arturo, she remains away until tragedy brings her back. In that brief autumn she discovers her secret treasure has been stolen by Arturo, only for him to try to use those memories to destroy Ronan and Daphne and get what he sees as revenge. All in the background of this is the spirit child Arturo unknowingly called upon, a beast that feeds on shame.
Shame and grief together play a huge role in this story. As someone who had those nights in college where I woke up only knowing the Fear, I could at times really relate to the shame that Daphne felt creeping up on her and settling on her like a cloak. She was in so many ways, such a relatable character for me. Always having to stifle her anger, to fight back the rage, even knowing she was in the right.
The imagery in this was so well done, the use of water, of angler fish, of the sea. All set in this island that is at once a beautiful escape and a tremendous trap, depending on who's view you were looking at it from.
I could probably spend paragraphs discussing the metaphor of the ancient being for shame, the imagery of the Virgin Mary statues draped in what a third person chose to highlight as their most shameful moment, and how each of those choices was reflective of the person who chose them. And I loved how they set themselves free.
I listened to this, so you'll have to excuse any misspellings of names.
I don't know if I feel that the synopsis does this book justice so I'll summarize a bit of the plot here: Daphne and Ronan are invited back to the island that Ronan once called home and Daphne spent her most loved, and her worst, summers on. From here we get the backstory of their friendship and everything leading up to how we got here with two friends estranged from the core of their group. We spend time with Daphne as she grows up loving the island, hating her brother, and becoming best friends with Ronan, Finn, and Leonie. What Daphne loves most about the summer is the game they all play, privately she calls it Wonder Wonder and it is her most treasured memory. After a brutal summer that ended in a violent bang when Daphne lashes out at the group's childhood tormentor, Arturo, she remains away until tragedy brings her back. In that brief autumn she discovers her secret treasure has been stolen by Arturo, only for him to try to use those memories to destroy Ronan and Daphne and get what he sees as revenge. All in the background of this is the spirit child Arturo unknowingly called upon, a beast that feeds on shame.
Shame and grief together play a huge role in this story. As someone who had those nights in college where I woke up only knowing the Fear, I could at times really relate to the shame that Daphne felt creeping up on her and settling on her like a cloak. She was in so many ways, such a relatable character for me. Always having to stifle her anger, to fight back the rage, even knowing she was in the right.
The imagery in this was so well done, the use of water, of angler fish, of the sea. All set in this island that is at once a beautiful escape and a tremendous trap, depending on who's view you were looking at it from.
I could probably spend paragraphs discussing the metaphor of the ancient being for shame, the imagery of the Virgin Mary statues draped in what a third person chose to highlight as their most shameful moment, and how each of those choices was reflective of the person who chose them. And I loved how they set themselves free.
September 13, 2026
This is...not what I was expecting based on the description. I expected the game to loom much larger in the events than it ultimately did, for one. The majority of the novel is entirely mundane, and .
Look, I wanted to like this, I really did, but: a) More than 3/4 of the novel is mundane b) More than 3/4 of the novel features our protagonist drunk and/or drugged which does not, for me, make for an interesting tale. And, spoilers ahead, some things ultimately didn't make sense to me and/or were glossed over.
Look, I wanted to like this, I really did, but: a) More than 3/4 of the novel is mundane b) More than 3/4 of the novel features our protagonist drunk and/or drugged which does not, for me, make for an interesting tale. And, spoilers ahead, some things ultimately didn't make sense to me and/or were glossed over.
September 10, 2026
Source: I received an advanced copy of Strange is the Light from the publisher. These comments are left voluntarily, all opinions are my own.
I developed a bit of a Sarah Maria Griffin obsession in 2025 when I read Eat The Ones You Love, so I was thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of Strange is the Light. Strange is the Light is a very different story, and proved Griffin has the ability to draw me in and keep me guessing. She takes us to unique locations within Ireland and brings the settings to life.
In Strange is the Light, we get the isolation of island living combined with Ireland’s mythology. Did four friends disrupt a faerie ring? Did they somehow open a portal to another world or dimension?
At its heart, Strange is the Light explores friendships, loyalties, and forgiveness - forgiveness of yourself and others. My opinions about some characters changed throughout the story, and Griffin has mastered writing complex characters that elicit messy thoughts and conflicted feelings. I didn’t always like everyone, but that was part of the lure of the book, because there was no certainty about what they’d do next.
What stood out for me in Strange is the Light was the quiet stories woven in that weren’t the central focus. Don’t get me wrong; I was hooked on the core storyline. However, there were these hints about things happening in the background that piqued my curiosity and all the threads were tied off in the end.
Notes For The Audience:
This story is ideal for anyone who loves stories about how friendships change as people grow into adulthood, how circumstances can change loyalties. There are some elements of crime fiction in the fabric here, and there’s a paranormal aspect. But at the core, this is a story about four friends… and how their relationships change over time.
And how far some people are willing to go to get what they want. Or need.
I developed a bit of a Sarah Maria Griffin obsession in 2025 when I read Eat The Ones You Love, so I was thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of Strange is the Light. Strange is the Light is a very different story, and proved Griffin has the ability to draw me in and keep me guessing. She takes us to unique locations within Ireland and brings the settings to life.
In Strange is the Light, we get the isolation of island living combined with Ireland’s mythology. Did four friends disrupt a faerie ring? Did they somehow open a portal to another world or dimension?
At its heart, Strange is the Light explores friendships, loyalties, and forgiveness - forgiveness of yourself and others. My opinions about some characters changed throughout the story, and Griffin has mastered writing complex characters that elicit messy thoughts and conflicted feelings. I didn’t always like everyone, but that was part of the lure of the book, because there was no certainty about what they’d do next.
What stood out for me in Strange is the Light was the quiet stories woven in that weren’t the central focus. Don’t get me wrong; I was hooked on the core storyline. However, there were these hints about things happening in the background that piqued my curiosity and all the threads were tied off in the end.
Notes For The Audience:
This story is ideal for anyone who loves stories about how friendships change as people grow into adulthood, how circumstances can change loyalties. There are some elements of crime fiction in the fabric here, and there’s a paranormal aspect. But at the core, this is a story about four friends… and how their relationships change over time.
And how far some people are willing to go to get what they want. Or need.
Did Not Finish
September 27, 2026Strange Is The Light Review on K-Books
Strange Is The Light Review on Instagram
Strange Is The Light Review on TikTok
I was so intrigued by the premise of Strange Is The Light, so when I saw it available on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read and review this early. I really enjoyed the idea of a childhood game come to life, with dangerous alternate dimensions. I’ve been trying to branch out into Horror a little bit more and have found that sci-fi horror is definitely the type I enjoy the most. So I was super excited to dive into this one. Sadly, it just didn’t work for me.
I was really looking forward to the sci-fi and horror elements of this book, but it just took far too long for it to get going for me. I ended up giving up on this one at around the 35% mark, and there was nothing horror like or sci-fi like that had happened yet. It was just following a group of friends as they grew up, and honestly I didn’t really like any of them. They were very unlikeable characters.
I really wish this one had worked for me, but for me if I’m going into a sci-fi/horror book, I want those vibes pretty soon once I’ve started reading. The fact that I was a good 35% into the book and there was no hints of either of those elements. Maybe this one is just a slow builder, but I was finding myself less and less invested the more I read, so decided to give up on this one. I’ve just decided this one is not for me. I won’t be swearing this author off, but I will definitely be checking out the reviews of any future work before deciding whether to give it a go.
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Strange Is The Light Review on Instagram
Strange Is The Light Review on TikTok
I was so intrigued by the premise of Strange Is The Light, so when I saw it available on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read and review this early. I really enjoyed the idea of a childhood game come to life, with dangerous alternate dimensions. I’ve been trying to branch out into Horror a little bit more and have found that sci-fi horror is definitely the type I enjoy the most. So I was super excited to dive into this one. Sadly, it just didn’t work for me.
I was really looking forward to the sci-fi and horror elements of this book, but it just took far too long for it to get going for me. I ended up giving up on this one at around the 35% mark, and there was nothing horror like or sci-fi like that had happened yet. It was just following a group of friends as they grew up, and honestly I didn’t really like any of them. They were very unlikeable characters.
I really wish this one had worked for me, but for me if I’m going into a sci-fi/horror book, I want those vibes pretty soon once I’ve started reading. The fact that I was a good 35% into the book and there was no hints of either of those elements. Maybe this one is just a slow builder, but I was finding myself less and less invested the more I read, so decided to give up on this one. I’ve just decided this one is not for me. I won’t be swearing this author off, but I will definitely be checking out the reviews of any future work before deciding whether to give it a go.
October 4, 2026
I honestly wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise was promising, but the main event of the marketing teaser doesn’t happen until 90% of the way through the story. I would have enjoyed this listening experience more had the story been presented properly.
The beginning of the book starts with the establishment and backstory of a friendship between four kids, Daphne, Ronan, Finn, and Leonie. Getting to know the setting and learn about the childhoods of the four main characters was delightful. (Think along the lines of My Friends by Fredrick Backman). Honestly, the plot hook should have been the .*event* at the party when they were teenagers. That’s where the book takes a dark turn and motivates the introduction of the paranormal.
In the second half of the book, we learn the deepest darkest secrets of our four heroes, some more sinister than others. (Skip the next paragraph to avoid a major spoiler).
*****SPOILER HERE*****
Although why we hold the same emotional weight (rightfully) testifying against a revenge porn assailant with literally murdering puppies is beyond me.
*****END OF SPOILER*****
It’s overall very messy, and I think our main POV protagonist spends waaaay too much time throwing up. And yes, finally, in the last 10% of the book our protagonists to have to return to the island once again to atone for the choices they’ve made and what they have done, as the marketing suggests, but at that point we’ve already sat though over ten hours (or hundreds of pages) of the story already? Make it make sense.
While the story was misrepresented, the audiobook is fantastically done. The narrator is brilliant and has a lovely Irish accent that fully immerses you into the story and setting. Wow. Well done!
As always, I am grateful to Macmillan Audio for the advance audiobook via NetGalley in exchange for my thoughts. I think there’s an audience for this one somewhere, but it’s going to be really difficult for them to find it based on the marketing.
The beginning of the book starts with the establishment and backstory of a friendship between four kids, Daphne, Ronan, Finn, and Leonie. Getting to know the setting and learn about the childhoods of the four main characters was delightful. (Think along the lines of My Friends by Fredrick Backman). Honestly, the plot hook should have been the .*event* at the party when they were teenagers. That’s where the book takes a dark turn and motivates the introduction of the paranormal.
In the second half of the book, we learn the deepest darkest secrets of our four heroes, some more sinister than others. (Skip the next paragraph to avoid a major spoiler).
*****SPOILER HERE*****
Although why we hold the same emotional weight (rightfully) testifying against a revenge porn assailant with literally murdering puppies is beyond me.
*****END OF SPOILER*****
It’s overall very messy, and I think our main POV protagonist spends waaaay too much time throwing up. And yes, finally, in the last 10% of the book our protagonists to have to return to the island once again to atone for the choices they’ve made and what they have done, as the marketing suggests, but at that point we’ve already sat though over ten hours (or hundreds of pages) of the story already? Make it make sense.
While the story was misrepresented, the audiobook is fantastically done. The narrator is brilliant and has a lovely Irish accent that fully immerses you into the story and setting. Wow. Well done!
As always, I am grateful to Macmillan Audio for the advance audiobook via NetGalley in exchange for my thoughts. I think there’s an audience for this one somewhere, but it’s going to be really difficult for them to find it based on the marketing.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book does a phenomenal job at creating a realistic group of summer friends reminiscent of the whole kids on bikes trope you’d find in something like Stranger Things or It. But unlike those stories where the characters fit into tropes, this book does a fantastic job at making everyone feel fully realized. Their dynamics are very complexed and nuanced. You feel the love and the betrayal they feel throughout the course of the story. I really liked Daphne and Ronan. I felt so bad for Leonie and ended up really disliking Finn for things revealed in the plot (like damn kid that’s so messed up).
I also really liked how there was a sense of unease throughout the novel, like something was going to go wrong at some point, or something truly bad was going to happen to the characters. It made me second guess who to trust and what was going on. The books isn’t quite horror, but it does give this sense of foreboding, especially as the plot is slowly unravelled.
Now, while there was a lot to enjoy, this book is a serious slow-burn. We do not get to the RPG elements until like halfway through the novel. And the focus is more on the characters than the plot, so it really isn’t much like Stranger Things or Jumanji where the characters have to escape the world of the game. It’s sorta just there??
And the ending for me was a little bit meh. Like it felt rushed compared to the rest of the book. I liked what the ending meant for the characters and what they must do moving forward. But it kinda felt like the big bad came out of nowhere and everything wrapped up after Daphne’s choice.
If you are looking for a book like Stranger Things, Goonies, It, or Jumanji, you won’t really find it here. The RPG elements take a backseat to everything else, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because everything else is so well done. It’s just not for everyone!
I also really liked how there was a sense of unease throughout the novel, like something was going to go wrong at some point, or something truly bad was going to happen to the characters. It made me second guess who to trust and what was going on. The books isn’t quite horror, but it does give this sense of foreboding, especially as the plot is slowly unravelled.
Now, while there was a lot to enjoy, this book is a serious slow-burn. We do not get to the RPG elements until like halfway through the novel. And the focus is more on the characters than the plot, so it really isn’t much like Stranger Things or Jumanji where the characters have to escape the world of the game. It’s sorta just there??
And the ending for me was a little bit meh. Like it felt rushed compared to the rest of the book. I liked what the ending meant for the characters and what they must do moving forward. But it kinda felt like the big bad came out of nowhere and everything wrapped up after Daphne’s choice.
If you are looking for a book like Stranger Things, Goonies, It, or Jumanji, you won’t really find it here. The RPG elements take a backseat to everything else, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because everything else is so well done. It’s just not for everyone!
October 8, 2026
It feels hard to know how to rate this, because I enjoyed it but felt dissatisfied in some ways. (Half stars seem to be new - glad to have them!) I liked the setting and the premise of kids spending their summers together playing a fantasy game. In some ways it felt like there wasn't a ton of character development, although it also seemed like the four didn't exactly try to get to know each other at a deeper level either, which is a little odd given how much time they spent together. Daphne seems to be self-centered and drunk all the time, so it makes sense that she wasn't having deep personal conversations, but it was frustrating as a reader to feel like I was straining for some idea of what her friends were really like. I will say, though, that despite her self-centeredness, Daphne is unafraid to put herself at risk to stand up for other people, and she is the only one of the four who does this and doesn't really get enough credit for it.
Two-thirds of the way through things take a turn when the four are in their 20s and This gets a little confusing and changes the feel and structure of the book. The idea seemed to be that everyone was going to have their biggest secret revealed, but three of the secrets really weren't wrong, and the fourth one was not only horrendous but came out of left field. If the message had been about how people don't always pay close enough attention to the people they think they love, that would be fair, but I don't know what I was meant to take from it. To be fair, there is acknowledgement, through plot developments and the characters' words, that only one of the secrets is actually terrible.
Two-thirds of the way through things take a turn when the four are in their 20s and This gets a little confusing and changes the feel and structure of the book. The idea seemed to be that everyone was going to have their biggest secret revealed, but three of the secrets really weren't wrong, and the fourth one was not only horrendous but came out of left field. If the message had been about how people don't always pay close enough attention to the people they think they love, that would be fair, but I don't know what I was meant to take from it. To be fair, there is acknowledgement, through plot developments and the characters' words, that only one of the secrets is actually terrible.
September 14, 2026
"If, here, at the apex of one world and another you could not stand behind your actions, what could you say of the life you have lived?"
What an adventure!
I found the first part of the novel was slow paced as we got to know the characters and the context of their world. Towards the end of the first part I was very eager to get into the meat of the game, but once the whole novel came together it made sense to me why we spent quite a bit of time in the ordinary lives of the friends. It really allowed me to get to know each character, and the dynamic of the friendship.
They are all flawed and complex in their own way, which made them all feel believable and human. I felt like a fly on the wall witnessing this group of friends grow up together. The love they have for each other, and the push-and-pull between the desire for connection and the fear of being vulnerable, was palpable.
At the centre of this story is not just friendship, but grief in many different forms. Grief from the loss of loved ones yes, but also: grief from the loss of innocence, grief from the loss of what you once believed to be true, grief from time you wish you could get back.
The way The Game was written is thrilling, imaginative and immersive. It was a heady mix of whimsy and high stakes and I LOVED it. It reminded me of some of my favourite sci-fi books as well as D&D and Jumanji simultaneously. Once the game nights started I was absolutely HOOKED and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. A bit more weird or dark and it would be a perfect book! It was so much fun and the writing is excellent!
What an adventure!
I found the first part of the novel was slow paced as we got to know the characters and the context of their world. Towards the end of the first part I was very eager to get into the meat of the game, but once the whole novel came together it made sense to me why we spent quite a bit of time in the ordinary lives of the friends. It really allowed me to get to know each character, and the dynamic of the friendship.
They are all flawed and complex in their own way, which made them all feel believable and human. I felt like a fly on the wall witnessing this group of friends grow up together. The love they have for each other, and the push-and-pull between the desire for connection and the fear of being vulnerable, was palpable.
At the centre of this story is not just friendship, but grief in many different forms. Grief from the loss of loved ones yes, but also: grief from the loss of innocence, grief from the loss of what you once believed to be true, grief from time you wish you could get back.
The way The Game was written is thrilling, imaginative and immersive. It was a heady mix of whimsy and high stakes and I LOVED it. It reminded me of some of my favourite sci-fi books as well as D&D and Jumanji simultaneously. Once the game nights started I was absolutely HOOKED and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. A bit more weird or dark and it would be a perfect book! It was so much fun and the writing is excellent!
September 13, 2026
Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for the ARC!
I can’t remember the last time I just sat down and was this immersed in a book all day long, not looking up for hours. Every day I woke up, eager to dive back into this otherworldly story of a group of friends on an island, playing pretend in an old arcade and tempting their fate with something much bigger than themselves.
Completely captivating, suspenseful, with a quick wit and achingly beautiful friendships at its core, Strange in the Light was such a phenomenal read. I could have stayed with these characters for ages, particularly Ronan and Daphne — their love for one another really tapped into a special place in my heart familiar with the feeling of that no-matter-what unconditional friendship.
The betrayals, lust, rage, giddiness and every particular emotion that arose for the characters in the novel was so precise and well-written. With shifting timelines and storylines, multiple characters and voices, it could have been easy to get lost; but I was so immersed I was right there on board with every twist and strange turn the story took.
Whether you love friendship sagas, D&D, space operas, or sci-fi, or magical realism, there’s something special within this story that anyone can connect with. It’s bursting with love, nostalgic summers, late night mischief, childhood crushes, deep shame-filled secrets, and make-believe. I’ll be seeing this one in the shimmers out of the corner of my eye for a long time to come.
I can’t remember the last time I just sat down and was this immersed in a book all day long, not looking up for hours. Every day I woke up, eager to dive back into this otherworldly story of a group of friends on an island, playing pretend in an old arcade and tempting their fate with something much bigger than themselves.
Completely captivating, suspenseful, with a quick wit and achingly beautiful friendships at its core, Strange in the Light was such a phenomenal read. I could have stayed with these characters for ages, particularly Ronan and Daphne — their love for one another really tapped into a special place in my heart familiar with the feeling of that no-matter-what unconditional friendship.
The betrayals, lust, rage, giddiness and every particular emotion that arose for the characters in the novel was so precise and well-written. With shifting timelines and storylines, multiple characters and voices, it could have been easy to get lost; but I was so immersed I was right there on board with every twist and strange turn the story took.
Whether you love friendship sagas, D&D, space operas, or sci-fi, or magical realism, there’s something special within this story that anyone can connect with. It’s bursting with love, nostalgic summers, late night mischief, childhood crushes, deep shame-filled secrets, and make-believe. I’ll be seeing this one in the shimmers out of the corner of my eye for a long time to come.
September 21, 2026
Received an audiobook from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.
If you're going off based on the synopsis, you might be disappointed when the plot finally picks up.
The narrator did a good job esp with the irish accent (can't place which one though). It was in third person but I think the book would have been better in first person since we spent most of the time on Daphne.
We have a group of 4 friends who play a game every summer (basically a mix of DnD and Jumanji vibes). So the beginning is just their childhood with the main focus on one of them who was my least favorite.
I feel like the formating of the book should be different. It should start off as them as adults reuniting for the funeral then we have flashback chapters of their summers going up. Bc we start off when they are teens, it felt very slow to pick up the story so it felt ya at first until you get the time skip.
I think the downside was the first 40% bc it was basically the past until you get the aftermath of that party.
Daphne was my least favorite so I felt like having more povs esp since the other friends live on the island while Daphne was only there for the summer. Daphne was basically a drunk girl who is impulsive with Peter pan syndrome. Oh she can't believe she can't hang out with her guy friends without anyone thinking romance or how could her bff be making out with a boy she hates. The way she was thinking made me think how childish she was being.
If you're going off based on the synopsis, you might be disappointed when the plot finally picks up.
The narrator did a good job esp with the irish accent (can't place which one though). It was in third person but I think the book would have been better in first person since we spent most of the time on Daphne.
We have a group of 4 friends who play a game every summer (basically a mix of DnD and Jumanji vibes). So the beginning is just their childhood with the main focus on one of them who was my least favorite.
I feel like the formating of the book should be different. It should start off as them as adults reuniting for the funeral then we have flashback chapters of their summers going up. Bc we start off when they are teens, it felt very slow to pick up the story so it felt ya at first until you get the time skip.
I think the downside was the first 40% bc it was basically the past until you get the aftermath of that party.
Daphne was my least favorite so I felt like having more povs esp since the other friends live on the island while Daphne was only there for the summer. Daphne was basically a drunk girl who is impulsive with Peter pan syndrome. Oh she can't believe she can't hang out with her guy friends without anyone thinking romance or how could her bff be making out with a boy she hates. The way she was thinking made me think how childish she was being.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin is dark and emotional, a powerhouse of a narrative that has language that is evocative and bonds that are compelling. I love both the queer representation with Daphne and Ronan but I also like that the story is about the bonds of friendship and how we change as we get older. I love the complicated relationships and the secrets that reside within all four of the friends.
Within the game and the island, the darkness of the narrative emerges but there are fantastical elements that are both beautiful and emotional. I love the truths that emerge and how the friendship between the four is tested, especially when something within the island decides it wants their emotions. I really like how the narrative slowly unspins the story of their summers and the game, unfolding the layers like an origami creature.
If you like dark and emotional stories of friendship and secrets with queer characters, Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin is an absorbing read, a powerful narrative and a fantastic horror rolled into one. I love how the friendships are complicated, messy and emotional. I also like how trauma compounds all the darkness within all four. I love both the beauty and the darkness within this book. It was incredible.
Within the game and the island, the darkness of the narrative emerges but there are fantastical elements that are both beautiful and emotional. I love the truths that emerge and how the friendship between the four is tested, especially when something within the island decides it wants their emotions. I really like how the narrative slowly unspins the story of their summers and the game, unfolding the layers like an origami creature.
If you like dark and emotional stories of friendship and secrets with queer characters, Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin is an absorbing read, a powerful narrative and a fantastic horror rolled into one. I love how the friendships are complicated, messy and emotional. I also like how trauma compounds all the darkness within all four. I love both the beauty and the darkness within this book. It was incredible.
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