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Tatratea
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Expected 20 Oct 26From Shirley Jackson Award-nominated editor Alex Woodroe, comes an eco-horror novel of hyperactive flora, ancient manors, and the terrifying wilderness of Transylvania.
Tatratea, a manor home reclaimed by nature deep in the Romanian wilderness, has stood in isolation for decades. Researcher Errata's sole mission is to track down the strange signals coming from inside and uncover why the whole world's gone insane.
With the doors locking shut behind her, and the local flora very much determined to keep her from leaving, her sanity check protocols, voice recorder, and a bit of camping gear are all she can use to figure out what's crashed in the hedge maze, and why it's disrupting reality. Relying on her intuition, Errata must solve the mystery and escape Tatratea before it’s too late.
With an unsettling and dread-filled atmosphere, Woodroe crafts a novel about a researcher trying to make sense of the unexplainable and survive the deadly manor.
Tatratea, a manor home reclaimed by nature deep in the Romanian wilderness, has stood in isolation for decades. Researcher Errata's sole mission is to track down the strange signals coming from inside and uncover why the whole world's gone insane.
With the doors locking shut behind her, and the local flora very much determined to keep her from leaving, her sanity check protocols, voice recorder, and a bit of camping gear are all she can use to figure out what's crashed in the hedge maze, and why it's disrupting reality. Relying on her intuition, Errata must solve the mystery and escape Tatratea before it’s too late.
With an unsettling and dread-filled atmosphere, Woodroe crafts a novel about a researcher trying to make sense of the unexplainable and survive the deadly manor.
- GenresHorror
120 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 20, 2026
About the author
Alex Woodroe
44 books127 followersRomanian writer and editor of dark speculative fiction. Editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press and writer of WHISPERWOOD, THE NIGHT SHIP, and TATRATEA, as well as short stories and articles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 14, 2026
I love it when reality takes a flying leap. This novella is weird. The plants are weird. The creatures are weird. Reality is weird. The atmosphere is *chefs kiss* foggy dark and weird. As soon as the plot is “goes to creepy abandoned manor on forlorn damp island to investigate” sign me up.
It would be nice to make this a novella duology, hint hint. I have so many follow up questions.
P.S. I almost forgot about the funky botanical illustrations. <3 I wish more books had accompanying artwork.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance reader copy it was right up my alley.
It would be nice to make this a novella duology, hint hint. I have so many follow up questions.
P.S. I almost forgot about the funky botanical illustrations. <3 I wish more books had accompanying artwork.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance reader copy it was right up my alley.
August 27, 2026
3.5 stars
A really weird (in the best way) horror novella with the creepiest and most unsettling environment. I liked the writing a lot, it was uneasy and the impeding doom/unknown element was executed well. A great mini horror.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Tatratea #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
A really weird (in the best way) horror novella with the creepiest and most unsettling environment. I liked the writing a lot, it was uneasy and the impeding doom/unknown element was executed well. A great mini horror.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Tatratea #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
August 12, 2026
First, and I cannot be more clear here, Alex Woodroe is becoming one of my favorite authors.
This book is super cool. I love how little information we’re given upfront. Instead, we’re thrown into the world and left to figure things out as we go. That, I would contend, is strong worldbuilding. I don’t need an encyclopedia’s worth of information before I’m allowed to get into the story.
The general vibe is that it’s the 2080s, some cosmic-horror mind bug is taking over people’s brains, and a small order of individuals is trying to find the source so they can destroy it. Might this be commentary on AI? Maybe a more general statement about brainrot? Who’s to know!
Anyway, I totally dug this one. 4/5, mostly because I felt like there was still some meat left on the bone by the end. But for a tight novella, this rocked.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC. All opinions are my own.
This book is super cool. I love how little information we’re given upfront. Instead, we’re thrown into the world and left to figure things out as we go. That, I would contend, is strong worldbuilding. I don’t need an encyclopedia’s worth of information before I’m allowed to get into the story.
The general vibe is that it’s the 2080s, some cosmic-horror mind bug is taking over people’s brains, and a small order of individuals is trying to find the source so they can destroy it. Might this be commentary on AI? Maybe a more general statement about brainrot? Who’s to know!
Anyway, I totally dug this one. 4/5, mostly because I felt like there was still some meat left on the bone by the end. But for a tight novella, this rocked.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC. All opinions are my own.
July 27, 2026
This book has Annihilation vibes in the best way. Set in the end of the world, this book does creepy mind control monsters in a scary way. I like to read stories where humans act the way humans would actually act in this scenario.
Creepy monsters, mind control terror, old castles, and suspicious plants? Yes, please!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Creepy monsters, mind control terror, old castles, and suspicious plants? Yes, please!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
In this relatively short read we follow Errata, one of the few surviving humans of a plague of unknown origin which has driven most of the population insane. She's been sent to investigate a possible source of this mind virus and see if there is anything to be done about it, even though it seems much too late to save humanity from extinction. Alone, with only a voice recorder to talk to and a set of sanity protocols to try and keep her grounded in reality, she enters an abandoned mansion that has been invaded by plants that appear to have their own agenda, which is slowly revealed as the story progresses.
The author does a terrific job of creating a melancholy mood as well as describing the increasingly fantastical scenes both within and without the old house. Errata's lonely plight is upsetting but also uplifting in her refusal to simply give in to what seems an inevitable fate. Her name alone sets the tone as she attempts to be the correction to an error/monster that is wiping out the world's population not only through its own influence, but through the inept and even evil response by governments and moneyed individuals pursuing their own selfish goals. Adding extra weight to the dystopian feel are the obvious shades of the way the Covid pandemic played out around the world, which left many of us feeling rather hopeless about how humanity would respond to ever greater threats in future.
My main complaint (which is really a compliment in its way) is that the story feels too truncated. The author drops us into the middle of a big, sprawling narrative with intriguing hints of what has led up to this point and struggles going on across the globe (the manor house is not the only source that must be explored and defeated), but then gives us only a very small taste of it all in Errata's tale. This feels in some ways like a sketch that begs to be expanded into either a longer novel or a series of novellas exploring more of this world. There is a bonus short story at the end that shows us what happens to a character mentioned only in passing in the main tale, but there is so much more that the reader is left wondering about. It's certainly no sin to leave us wanting more, but just a warning for readers who prefer a less open-ended experience.
Overall, this is a well-written combination of eco, cosmic, body... well, let's just say a lot of different horrors all bundled into one. There are some charming, if occasionally disturbing, botanical illustrations sprinkled throughout that reinforce Errata's role as first and foremost a researcher, and indeed, the sentient plant life she encounters was by far the highlight of the story for me. This tale is unsettling and even psychedelic at points, for how do you know what is real in a world gone mad when you can't believe the evidence of your own eyes? A question that seems ever more pertinent in this period in history and an ambitious but important theme for today's horror writers.
This review is based upon a NetGalley ARC provided by the publisher.
The author does a terrific job of creating a melancholy mood as well as describing the increasingly fantastical scenes both within and without the old house. Errata's lonely plight is upsetting but also uplifting in her refusal to simply give in to what seems an inevitable fate. Her name alone sets the tone as she attempts to be the correction to an error/monster that is wiping out the world's population not only through its own influence, but through the inept and even evil response by governments and moneyed individuals pursuing their own selfish goals. Adding extra weight to the dystopian feel are the obvious shades of the way the Covid pandemic played out around the world, which left many of us feeling rather hopeless about how humanity would respond to ever greater threats in future.
My main complaint (which is really a compliment in its way) is that the story feels too truncated. The author drops us into the middle of a big, sprawling narrative with intriguing hints of what has led up to this point and struggles going on across the globe (the manor house is not the only source that must be explored and defeated), but then gives us only a very small taste of it all in Errata's tale. This feels in some ways like a sketch that begs to be expanded into either a longer novel or a series of novellas exploring more of this world. There is a bonus short story at the end that shows us what happens to a character mentioned only in passing in the main tale, but there is so much more that the reader is left wondering about. It's certainly no sin to leave us wanting more, but just a warning for readers who prefer a less open-ended experience.
Overall, this is a well-written combination of eco, cosmic, body... well, let's just say a lot of different horrors all bundled into one. There are some charming, if occasionally disturbing, botanical illustrations sprinkled throughout that reinforce Errata's role as first and foremost a researcher, and indeed, the sentient plant life she encounters was by far the highlight of the story for me. This tale is unsettling and even psychedelic at points, for how do you know what is real in a world gone mad when you can't believe the evidence of your own eyes? A question that seems ever more pertinent in this period in history and an ambitious but important theme for today's horror writers.
This review is based upon a NetGalley ARC provided by the publisher.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Tatratea
By Alex Woodroe
Published by CLASH Books.
Copy provided via NetGalley for an honest review.
Publishing Date: 3rd December 2026 (UK)
Welcome to the end of humanity.
Tatratea is Alex Woodroe’s third book, following on from The excellent dark fantasy Whisperwood and the brilliant weird horror The Night Ship, the latter which was launched in January of this year. Alex is a native Romanian author and Shirley Jackson award-nominated editor, living and working in her home in the beautiful Transylvanian region. She is one half of the Independent New Weird Horror upstarts of Tenebrous Press.
Errata arrives at the Manor called Tatratea on a mission that she may not live to fulfil. Set in the near future, the population of the planet has been decimated by a mind-virus, and she is part of a dwindling group of survivors, dedicated to finding out why we’re facing certain extinction.
What she finds there are ecological and mental terrors as she tries to get to the heart of the problem. To say more would be too much of a spoiler, but before the end, Errata has to push herself physically and mentally to her limits.
This novella is firmly in the world of weird horror, with Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation clearly having a strong influence. Tatratea is definitely its own thing, with added references to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and even a sneaky call-back to The Night Ship is buried in here. The prose is unsettling, with the strange occurrences in the manor giving the sense that the world has changed, where there are unexpected alliances to be found as well as an existential nightmare as a enemy.
Overriding it all is a strong theme of nihilism, and there are strong hints that this is the last roll of the dice for humans. Life will go on without us, and a short story at the end of the novella rounds this out. There isn’t a happy ending for the future, but there’s a happy right now to be found.
Errata is a very interesting character, and we learn little about her. The exception to this being a jaw-dropping sequence that neatly up-turns everything we know about her up to that point. She’s engaging – smart and competent, but with an air of desperation. She takes risks because she has no alternative, is well aware that she is living on borrowed time, and I found myself cheering her on the whole way.
Alex has a great skill in handling mundane incidents with as much aplomb as the dramatic, and I found scenes where Errata using bushcraft in her camp just as interesting as when she was risking her life and sanity against the protagonist. There’s a charm in the minutiae of her methods of survival, even when she’s not certain that what she’s doing is going to keep her alive.
I read this in roughly one sitting, and it flows, even skips along at times. The pacing is excellent and Tatratea is definitely a page turner.
As with Alex Woodroe’s previous books, I would highly recommend Tatratea.
By Alex Woodroe
Published by CLASH Books.
Copy provided via NetGalley for an honest review.
Publishing Date: 3rd December 2026 (UK)
Welcome to the end of humanity.
Tatratea is Alex Woodroe’s third book, following on from The excellent dark fantasy Whisperwood and the brilliant weird horror The Night Ship, the latter which was launched in January of this year. Alex is a native Romanian author and Shirley Jackson award-nominated editor, living and working in her home in the beautiful Transylvanian region. She is one half of the Independent New Weird Horror upstarts of Tenebrous Press.
Errata arrives at the Manor called Tatratea on a mission that she may not live to fulfil. Set in the near future, the population of the planet has been decimated by a mind-virus, and she is part of a dwindling group of survivors, dedicated to finding out why we’re facing certain extinction.
What she finds there are ecological and mental terrors as she tries to get to the heart of the problem. To say more would be too much of a spoiler, but before the end, Errata has to push herself physically and mentally to her limits.
This novella is firmly in the world of weird horror, with Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation clearly having a strong influence. Tatratea is definitely its own thing, with added references to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and even a sneaky call-back to The Night Ship is buried in here. The prose is unsettling, with the strange occurrences in the manor giving the sense that the world has changed, where there are unexpected alliances to be found as well as an existential nightmare as a enemy.
Overriding it all is a strong theme of nihilism, and there are strong hints that this is the last roll of the dice for humans. Life will go on without us, and a short story at the end of the novella rounds this out. There isn’t a happy ending for the future, but there’s a happy right now to be found.
Errata is a very interesting character, and we learn little about her. The exception to this being a jaw-dropping sequence that neatly up-turns everything we know about her up to that point. She’s engaging – smart and competent, but with an air of desperation. She takes risks because she has no alternative, is well aware that she is living on borrowed time, and I found myself cheering her on the whole way.
Alex has a great skill in handling mundane incidents with as much aplomb as the dramatic, and I found scenes where Errata using bushcraft in her camp just as interesting as when she was risking her life and sanity against the protagonist. There’s a charm in the minutiae of her methods of survival, even when she’s not certain that what she’s doing is going to keep her alive.
I read this in roughly one sitting, and it flows, even skips along at times. The pacing is excellent and Tatratea is definitely a page turner.
As with Alex Woodroe’s previous books, I would highly recommend Tatratea.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A big thank you to Alex, for providing me with a digital ARC. All views and opinions are my own.
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An anthropocentric view of our world, of the cosmos, leads us to expect that intelligence takes a human like form. Call it a classic Star Trek mode of thinking. As a conglomerate civilization, as a species, we have taught ourselves to expect something that looks akin to what we see in a mirror, or reflected in a pool of water. This is our hubris, our evolutionary blindness. Beneath the surface, at our core we are simply a brain, with a complex nervous system branching out from that point of origin. A Mycorrhizal network, that delicate, and widespread web of interconnecting plants and fungi, begins to look not so alien, when viewed besides a diagram of our own nervous system.
For the human animal, that’s a troubling thing to consider, difficult to process. Such things activate deeply rooted survival instincts, those hidden tools we keep buried deep inside. We ignore it, we cover our eyes. Because if we can’t see it, it can’t hurt yes. In Tatratea, Alex Woodroe, bids us look at one way, in which humans seek to survive, when faced with the shattering of that illusion of anthropocentrism. How do we as a minuscule species, in a vast cosmos, hold a grip on survival, in the face of intelligence that is deadly to perceive?
Reading this book, I found myself thinking about displays of human Nervous systems, the preserved nervous system of Harriet Cole (1888) and the preserved nervous system of a medical cadaver of medical students in Missouri in 1925. that Complex organic computer, resting in our skulls, moving with it’s web of filaments, navigating the perceived world. At the same time I was thinking about those experiments, now viral on the web, where plants and fungi are wired to sensors, and play music. The petri dish of 200k human brain cells, taught to play doom, and that same game set to run via e-coli.
Tatratea is a bleak reminder that, despite our presuppositions of dominance, and advancement. That intelligence, simple or complex, is not the sole purview of humanity, let alone mammalian life. Yet even so, Alex’s book is full of examples of how, due to that deeply ingrained desire to survive, humans will craft tools to survive, and expand their thinking to more accurately understand the world around them. For good or ill, we will always attempt to ascribe human characteristics, to the inhuman. Be they inanimate objects, animals or plants.
The scope of plant life on earth, is itself full of complexity. Plant evolution has brought forth species that attract pollinators. That pollinator attraction, may also keep certain predators. as is with the case of the Titan Arum, which produces a smell similar to decaying flesh. Georgia O’Keefe didn’t just paint pictures of flowers, because they were pretty. Ask yourself how often you’ve glanced at a tree, and due to pareidolia, thought you saw a face. Can you be sure you didn’t?
A thought struck me, early into reading this book. It continued to haunt me, as Tatratea unspooled before me, page by page. Writing about it now, I know it’s still lingering in my mind. Were there any people at all in this book. Was it perhaps all plants interacting with plants. Anthropocene mimicry. I kept picturing a Mycorrhizal network in miniature, bound together like a Brain, eyes and human nervous system, navigating Tatratea, playing out an absorbed memory of human life, a simulacrum of the past. In the end I don’t think that’s what happened in Alex’s book...yet part of me can never be sure. That lack of total confidence, is the mark of a good book. Because I’ll be returning to this story, this world, for awhile. In those moments in the middle of the night, when my nervous system sparks, my synapses fire, and I lie awake in bed at 2am, awash in momentary existential horror.
-
An anthropocentric view of our world, of the cosmos, leads us to expect that intelligence takes a human like form. Call it a classic Star Trek mode of thinking. As a conglomerate civilization, as a species, we have taught ourselves to expect something that looks akin to what we see in a mirror, or reflected in a pool of water. This is our hubris, our evolutionary blindness. Beneath the surface, at our core we are simply a brain, with a complex nervous system branching out from that point of origin. A Mycorrhizal network, that delicate, and widespread web of interconnecting plants and fungi, begins to look not so alien, when viewed besides a diagram of our own nervous system.
For the human animal, that’s a troubling thing to consider, difficult to process. Such things activate deeply rooted survival instincts, those hidden tools we keep buried deep inside. We ignore it, we cover our eyes. Because if we can’t see it, it can’t hurt yes. In Tatratea, Alex Woodroe, bids us look at one way, in which humans seek to survive, when faced with the shattering of that illusion of anthropocentrism. How do we as a minuscule species, in a vast cosmos, hold a grip on survival, in the face of intelligence that is deadly to perceive?
Reading this book, I found myself thinking about displays of human Nervous systems, the preserved nervous system of Harriet Cole (1888) and the preserved nervous system of a medical cadaver of medical students in Missouri in 1925. that Complex organic computer, resting in our skulls, moving with it’s web of filaments, navigating the perceived world. At the same time I was thinking about those experiments, now viral on the web, where plants and fungi are wired to sensors, and play music. The petri dish of 200k human brain cells, taught to play doom, and that same game set to run via e-coli.
Tatratea is a bleak reminder that, despite our presuppositions of dominance, and advancement. That intelligence, simple or complex, is not the sole purview of humanity, let alone mammalian life. Yet even so, Alex’s book is full of examples of how, due to that deeply ingrained desire to survive, humans will craft tools to survive, and expand their thinking to more accurately understand the world around them. For good or ill, we will always attempt to ascribe human characteristics, to the inhuman. Be they inanimate objects, animals or plants.
The scope of plant life on earth, is itself full of complexity. Plant evolution has brought forth species that attract pollinators. That pollinator attraction, may also keep certain predators. as is with the case of the Titan Arum, which produces a smell similar to decaying flesh. Georgia O’Keefe didn’t just paint pictures of flowers, because they were pretty. Ask yourself how often you’ve glanced at a tree, and due to pareidolia, thought you saw a face. Can you be sure you didn’t?
A thought struck me, early into reading this book. It continued to haunt me, as Tatratea unspooled before me, page by page. Writing about it now, I know it’s still lingering in my mind. Were there any people at all in this book. Was it perhaps all plants interacting with plants. Anthropocene mimicry. I kept picturing a Mycorrhizal network in miniature, bound together like a Brain, eyes and human nervous system, navigating Tatratea, playing out an absorbed memory of human life, a simulacrum of the past. In the end I don’t think that’s what happened in Alex’s book...yet part of me can never be sure. That lack of total confidence, is the mark of a good book. Because I’ll be returning to this story, this world, for awhile. In those moments in the middle of the night, when my nervous system sparks, my synapses fire, and I lie awake in bed at 2am, awash in momentary existential horror.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚊 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝙶𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢. 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗. This book was marked as Request on NetGalley and I'm so glad the publishers were kind enough to grant me a digital copy of the ARC.
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Tatratea by Alex Woodrue is a supernatural, eco horror novel where a researcher named Errata is sent to a manor called Tatratea, which was once a focal point for botanical research.
────────────────────────────────────────────────
𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜?:
- Story set in Transylvania in the future with futuristic technology.
- A sickness that alters the way the brain works.
- Blair Witch Project vibes (kind of). You have your voice recorder and your sanity as the means to live and document what happened.
- An FMC alone in a former health facility that is overgrown with plants that won't allow you to leave. Doors shut and lock by themselves and indoors looks more forest like and are damp or submerged with water in some areas.
- Every two or three chapters there is a hand drawn artwork of a plant in Tatratea mansion.
- Plants that seem to have a mind of their own.
- This story was like a drug addicts fever dream. Something is happening slowly and you feel you are imagining things.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍:
- I was glad to read something based in Transylvania. Usually we have books that are based in UK or US or may be Australia. But books with a Transylvanian setting are rare.
- he story was crazy and weird. It was like you are filled in a vacuum of silence amongst plants and the only thing that can save or kill you are the plants.
- The plants having a mind of their own was great to read. (Spoiler) The scene where the animals with barely hanging eyes eating at the dinner table was wild to read.
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𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑:|
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────────────────────────────────────────────────
Tatratea by Alex Woodrue is a supernatural, eco horror novel where a researcher named Errata is sent to a manor called Tatratea, which was once a focal point for botanical research.
────────────────────────────────────────────────
𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜?:
- Story set in Transylvania in the future with futuristic technology.
- A sickness that alters the way the brain works.
- Blair Witch Project vibes (kind of). You have your voice recorder and your sanity as the means to live and document what happened.
- An FMC alone in a former health facility that is overgrown with plants that won't allow you to leave. Doors shut and lock by themselves and indoors looks more forest like and are damp or submerged with water in some areas.
- Every two or three chapters there is a hand drawn artwork of a plant in Tatratea mansion.
- Plants that seem to have a mind of their own.
- This story was like a drug addicts fever dream. Something is happening slowly and you feel you are imagining things.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍:
- I was glad to read something based in Transylvania. Usually we have books that are based in UK or US or may be Australia. But books with a Transylvanian setting are rare.
- he story was crazy and weird. It was like you are filled in a vacuum of silence amongst plants and the only thing that can save or kill you are the plants.
- The plants having a mind of their own was great to read. (Spoiler) The scene where the animals with barely hanging eyes eating at the dinner table was wild to read.
-
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑:|
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Finished Reading:
Tatratea by Alex Woodroe
__________
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️,75/5
Format: e-book
Pages: 150
Genre: Sci-fi / Horror
LGBTQIA+ rep
__________
Synopsis:
Tatratea, a manor home reclaimed by nature deep in the Romanian wilderness, has stood in isolation for decades. Researcher Errata's sole mission is to track down the strange signals coming from inside and uncover why the whole world's gone insane.
With the doors locking shut behind her, and the local flora very much determined to keep her from leaving, her sanity check protocols, voice recorder, and a bit of camping gear are all she can use to figure out what's crashed in the hedge maze, and why it's disrupting reality. Relying on her intuition, Errata must solve the mystery and escape Tatratea before it’s too late.
__________
First of all, thank you @netgalley for gifting me a free copy of this book, in return for an honest review and my honest opinion about this book.
I have really been liking my sci-fi reads the last couple of weeks and this one definitely became one of my favourites! It's a quick and interesting read, that immediately gripped my attention and did not let go anymore until the end.
One thing I particularly loved about this story? The Flora! It was sentient, it could communicate and for once, it was NOT out to get us and kill us, but it wanted the MC to help them and in return, it would help humanity. I really liked that!
The mind-bug that is living in the humans and how it worked was also a very interesting concept to me. How people had to isolate themselves to save what was left of humanity, how you were constantly checking whether or not what you were seeing and experiencing is true,...
The story was equally fascinating as it was dreadful. The feeling of hopelessness was acutely present but you couldn't help rooting for the MC and that she would succeed in her mission!
The short-story at the End of Tatratea (Adrift) was also very impactful and left you with the same dread and hopelessness as Tatratea, which I appreciated a lot.
The only reason it didn't get 5 stars was because I really wanted the story to keep going, or to be longer and more fleshed out. It ended way too soon 🥺
Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read, filled with a lot of dread but where you feel the passion of the author in every nook and cranny of the story!
Tatratea by Alex Woodroe
__________
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️,75/5
Format: e-book
Pages: 150
Genre: Sci-fi / Horror
LGBTQIA+ rep
__________
Synopsis:
Tatratea, a manor home reclaimed by nature deep in the Romanian wilderness, has stood in isolation for decades. Researcher Errata's sole mission is to track down the strange signals coming from inside and uncover why the whole world's gone insane.
With the doors locking shut behind her, and the local flora very much determined to keep her from leaving, her sanity check protocols, voice recorder, and a bit of camping gear are all she can use to figure out what's crashed in the hedge maze, and why it's disrupting reality. Relying on her intuition, Errata must solve the mystery and escape Tatratea before it’s too late.
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First of all, thank you @netgalley for gifting me a free copy of this book, in return for an honest review and my honest opinion about this book.
I have really been liking my sci-fi reads the last couple of weeks and this one definitely became one of my favourites! It's a quick and interesting read, that immediately gripped my attention and did not let go anymore until the end.
One thing I particularly loved about this story? The Flora! It was sentient, it could communicate and for once, it was NOT out to get us and kill us, but it wanted the MC to help them and in return, it would help humanity. I really liked that!
The mind-bug that is living in the humans and how it worked was also a very interesting concept to me. How people had to isolate themselves to save what was left of humanity, how you were constantly checking whether or not what you were seeing and experiencing is true,...
The story was equally fascinating as it was dreadful. The feeling of hopelessness was acutely present but you couldn't help rooting for the MC and that she would succeed in her mission!
The short-story at the End of Tatratea (Adrift) was also very impactful and left you with the same dread and hopelessness as Tatratea, which I appreciated a lot.
The only reason it didn't get 5 stars was because I really wanted the story to keep going, or to be longer and more fleshed out. It ended way too soon 🥺
Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read, filled with a lot of dread but where you feel the passion of the author in every nook and cranny of the story!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really enjoyed The Ruins, so I was hoping more out of this story. We are thrown into a world that we quickly discover has been ruined/taken over by something called a 'mind bug' that causes loss of sanity. Our main character, Errata, is introduced whilst being assigned to 'The Mansion', where she is going to look for the source of the problem.
Unfortunately, this would have done well to be far more fleshed out. We know very little about Errata except that she is one of the few remaining survivors, she has some colleagues that are named but barely described, and she comes from a group of Sisters that started as religious and are now just dedicated to the eradication of the Mind Bug. Learning more about the state of the world, what exactly the mind bug does and how it's affected society, who these colleagues are, who ERRATA is, would have brought me more fully into the story. She is essentially a blank slate protagonist.
The tone of the book I found somewhat jarring. We are moved from scene to scene, introduced almost immediately to a sentient plant, and I found it extremely funny that Errata goes from shouting "holy heck!" to "FUCK!"
The instances where Errata find herself taken by the mind bug and experiencing delusions were interesting; however, when she returns to herself, it is written choppily and I never really found myself experiencing a sense of Place in the Mansion, which I feel like for a novel centered around a Creepy Place, is very important to grounding the reader. She falls through multiple floors and wakes up and the entire experience seems somewhat reset.
The main climax of the story seems to take place somewhat off screen, only for us to be hit with a "...but it's not over YET! The heroes must PERSIST!" and a few scraped together reflections on the events of the story before we continue. The sentient plant seems to have disappeared, and Errata does not seem to make any real note of this.
I think the concept was absolutely fascinating but needed far more flesh on its bones to make it effective. I read it in less than 45 minutes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Unfortunately, this would have done well to be far more fleshed out. We know very little about Errata except that she is one of the few remaining survivors, she has some colleagues that are named but barely described, and she comes from a group of Sisters that started as religious and are now just dedicated to the eradication of the Mind Bug. Learning more about the state of the world, what exactly the mind bug does and how it's affected society, who these colleagues are, who ERRATA is, would have brought me more fully into the story. She is essentially a blank slate protagonist.
The tone of the book I found somewhat jarring. We are moved from scene to scene, introduced almost immediately to a sentient plant, and I found it extremely funny that Errata goes from shouting "holy heck!" to "FUCK!"
The instances where Errata find herself taken by the mind bug and experiencing delusions were interesting; however, when she returns to herself, it is written choppily and I never really found myself experiencing a sense of Place in the Mansion, which I feel like for a novel centered around a Creepy Place, is very important to grounding the reader. She falls through multiple floors and wakes up and the entire experience seems somewhat reset.
The main climax of the story seems to take place somewhat off screen, only for us to be hit with a "...but it's not over YET! The heroes must PERSIST!" and a few scraped together reflections on the events of the story before we continue. The sentient plant seems to have disappeared, and Errata does not seem to make any real note of this.
I think the concept was absolutely fascinating but needed far more flesh on its bones to make it effective. I read it in less than 45 minutes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
2.75/5 rounded up.
First impression (after chapter one): Initially, I loved the atmosphere, the creativity, and thought this might end up being a great Halloween read. There were some typos (like extra commas), the prose was a bit rough around the edges, and we got a lot of world-building details told to us one after another versus being shown them - but it was the scene-setting chapter after all. I could forgive all that if the story kept my interest.
It didn't. It only went downhill from there.
By all counts I should have at least liked this book. The described premise fit my taste exactly - weird biology, exploring a creepy house, nature going off the surreal rails, a reality-bending mind virus, an amazing cover, comparisons to Annihilation (which, having read this, is blasphemy), author connected to Tenebrous Press (which has published books I have very much enjoyed - so I might be shooting myself in the foot here as a reviewer). But unfortunately, the whole thing read more like an early draft or outline of a really good weird horror novel versus actually being a really good weird horror novel. All the prose read like the author was just taking notes for the amazing book she intended to write someday.
Scenes felt summarized, I didn't know enough about Errata to care about what happened to her, major developments arrived and left without any fanfare (so much so that I had to reread to make certain they happened). The confrontation at the end read like someone was giving me a play-by-play of the conclusion of a survival horror video game.
And the worst part was that there were *SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS IN HERE* - so many - but they were crammed together willy nilly and deprived of any room to breathe.
The short story after the novella was written in the same style, so I suspect Woodroe's work is just not for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#Tatratea #NetGalley
First impression (after chapter one): Initially, I loved the atmosphere, the creativity, and thought this might end up being a great Halloween read. There were some typos (like extra commas), the prose was a bit rough around the edges, and we got a lot of world-building details told to us one after another versus being shown them - but it was the scene-setting chapter after all. I could forgive all that if the story kept my interest.
It didn't. It only went downhill from there.
By all counts I should have at least liked this book. The described premise fit my taste exactly - weird biology, exploring a creepy house, nature going off the surreal rails, a reality-bending mind virus, an amazing cover, comparisons to Annihilation (which, having read this, is blasphemy), author connected to Tenebrous Press (which has published books I have very much enjoyed - so I might be shooting myself in the foot here as a reviewer). But unfortunately, the whole thing read more like an early draft or outline of a really good weird horror novel versus actually being a really good weird horror novel. All the prose read like the author was just taking notes for the amazing book she intended to write someday.
Scenes felt summarized, I didn't know enough about Errata to care about what happened to her, major developments arrived and left without any fanfare (so much so that I had to reread to make certain they happened). The confrontation at the end read like someone was giving me a play-by-play of the conclusion of a survival horror video game.
And the worst part was that there were *SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS IN HERE* - so many - but they were crammed together willy nilly and deprived of any room to breathe.
The short story after the novella was written in the same style, so I suspect Woodroe's work is just not for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#Tatratea #NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Tatratea Alex Woodroe is a dreamy, surreal novella about one of the last humans on Earth exploring an abandoned manor house, in order to investigate a strange signal that has driven nearly everyone else around her insane. With only a tape recorder and the local plant life to talk to, Errata struggles to keep her sanity intact as she confronts humankind’s undoing.
More than anything else, this story is brief. Everything happens so quickly, and by the time you get your bearings and begin to understand the world presented, it’s already over. Tatratea feels like a video game in both story beats and mechanics, and I found myself wishing I was playing it and interacting with the world for myself. The sketches of the anomalous plant life are beautiful and really add to the vibe, and as always I’m a sucker for parasitic body-sharing. The short story after the main novella was my favorite, and I really wish we got more of that story as well.
Overall, this is a neat exploration of a type of post-apocalyptic horror that I haven’t seen much, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the manor itself, with its rich plant and fungus life and its winding hedge maze. The book is at its strongest when it’s setting the scene. If you like sentient plants, cosmic horror, Twin Peaks references, pandemics driving humanity to the brink of extinction, or queer ladies who get shit done, this book is a good time.
Thank you CLASH Books for providing this advance copy for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
More than anything else, this story is brief. Everything happens so quickly, and by the time you get your bearings and begin to understand the world presented, it’s already over. Tatratea feels like a video game in both story beats and mechanics, and I found myself wishing I was playing it and interacting with the world for myself. The sketches of the anomalous plant life are beautiful and really add to the vibe, and as always I’m a sucker for parasitic body-sharing. The short story after the main novella was my favorite, and I really wish we got more of that story as well.
Overall, this is a neat exploration of a type of post-apocalyptic horror that I haven’t seen much, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the manor itself, with its rich plant and fungus life and its winding hedge maze. The book is at its strongest when it’s setting the scene. If you like sentient plants, cosmic horror, Twin Peaks references, pandemics driving humanity to the brink of extinction, or queer ladies who get shit done, this book is a good time.
Thank you CLASH Books for providing this advance copy for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As the book begins we are already in the midst of the world ending. There are approximately 200 humans left on the Earth. An unknown plague swept across the globe driving the people infected insane.
"The sanity bug generated hallucinations that were rich, complex, and real, but not perfect. They still had to draw from the victim's experiences and known imagery in order to create anything at all."
Errata is one of the remaining survivors living with the Mother's at the Institution. All the survivors will be sent on a mission with only a voice recorder for company to investigate a place where unknown phenomenon has taken place. For Errata that means Tatratea. The goal is to eradicate the source of the plague.
Upon arrival it appears the mansion has been overtaken with flora, flora that is sentient. Errata is unnerved to say the least but then they begin to communicate.
"We are not here for you. Nothing is here for you."
This is a weird horror sci-fi mash up that was short in page count but packed a big punch. I was completely invested even if I felt a little lost in this world Woodroe created. At the end there is another short story attached following another survivor that has been sent to a space station and that one was out of this world, no pun intended! 😉🚀 Having read that last story it gave me a better grip on what was actually happening and that bumped up my star rating. If you like weird trippy stories then maybe give this one a try. 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Clash Books for my complimentary copy.
"The sanity bug generated hallucinations that were rich, complex, and real, but not perfect. They still had to draw from the victim's experiences and known imagery in order to create anything at all."
Errata is one of the remaining survivors living with the Mother's at the Institution. All the survivors will be sent on a mission with only a voice recorder for company to investigate a place where unknown phenomenon has taken place. For Errata that means Tatratea. The goal is to eradicate the source of the plague.
Upon arrival it appears the mansion has been overtaken with flora, flora that is sentient. Errata is unnerved to say the least but then they begin to communicate.
"We are not here for you. Nothing is here for you."
This is a weird horror sci-fi mash up that was short in page count but packed a big punch. I was completely invested even if I felt a little lost in this world Woodroe created. At the end there is another short story attached following another survivor that has been sent to a space station and that one was out of this world, no pun intended! 😉🚀 Having read that last story it gave me a better grip on what was actually happening and that bumped up my star rating. If you like weird trippy stories then maybe give this one a try. 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Clash Books for my complimentary copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
deeply satisfying horror that lets nature reclaim everything with abandoned buildings swallowed by bizarre plant life, reality quietly slipping sideways, and the feeling that the world has already ended, we’re just arriving late to witness what’s left - Tatratea does atmosphere beautifully. 🕷️
as our fmc ventures deeper into an overgrown manor, never quite certain whether what she’s experiencing is real or another symptom of the “mind plague”. this creates this constant low hum of unease and i especially enjoyed recurring sanity checks.
there’s an entire world sitting just beneath the surface here between the lurking madness, strange religious order and bizarre ecology slowly overtaking civilisation. within a novella there’s only enough room to brush against those ideas before moving on so i found myself far more interested in everything surrounding the central story than the story itself.
ambiguity absolutely has its place in horror, but here there were scenes that did feel less intentionally disorientating and more as though pieces of the puzzle had simply been left behind (again likely due to length/format). i’d happily spend another three hundred pages wandering this strange, overgrown world and learning far more.
·༻𐫱༺·
4 stars. 🤍
i really enjoyed this creepy crawly lil read. if anything, my biggest criticism is simply that i wanted a novel instead of a novella, because I’m greedy and this world absolutely had enough roots to grow into something much bigger!! 🕸️
as our fmc ventures deeper into an overgrown manor, never quite certain whether what she’s experiencing is real or another symptom of the “mind plague”. this creates this constant low hum of unease and i especially enjoyed recurring sanity checks.
there’s an entire world sitting just beneath the surface here between the lurking madness, strange religious order and bizarre ecology slowly overtaking civilisation. within a novella there’s only enough room to brush against those ideas before moving on so i found myself far more interested in everything surrounding the central story than the story itself.
ambiguity absolutely has its place in horror, but here there were scenes that did feel less intentionally disorientating and more as though pieces of the puzzle had simply been left behind (again likely due to length/format). i’d happily spend another three hundred pages wandering this strange, overgrown world and learning far more.
·༻𐫱༺·
4 stars. 🤍
i really enjoyed this creepy crawly lil read. if anything, my biggest criticism is simply that i wanted a novel instead of a novella, because I’m greedy and this world absolutely had enough roots to grow into something much bigger!! 🕸️
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Tatratea is a post-apocalyptic horror novella following the character Errata, on a last-ditch mission. She goes to a giant, mysterious Transylvanian manor, Tatratea, to figure out what slowly killed humanity, for closure and maybe revenge. It’s very inspired by the Southern Reach series, specifically the first book, Annihilation, so if you’ve read that you know what you’re in for.
The book plays out like a tabletop game, with Errata acting as an audience surrogate to exploring this nightmare landscape. The prose is a bit purple, so mileage may vary there. For me, the story was good enough that I was able to excuse it by the end.
My absolute favorite parts of this book are spoilers. There was basically a moment about 2/3 of the way through this book where I just went “oh HELL yeah,” and locked in. It’s enough to say that the creatures featuring are so deeply cool, with some great body horror in the last scenes. If you’re an animorphs fan, maybe check this out.
This book does have a lack of tension and long-term consequences at points, which I find frustrating in the horror genre, especially if that choice isn’t supported by strong characterization. I especially didn’t think the epilogue was necessary for a horror standalone.
Overall I had a really good time with this book. Its highs were very high, and it was short enough that its lows didn’t bother me all that much.
Tatratea is a post-apocalyptic horror novella following the character Errata, on a last-ditch mission. She goes to a giant, mysterious Transylvanian manor, Tatratea, to figure out what slowly killed humanity, for closure and maybe revenge. It’s very inspired by the Southern Reach series, specifically the first book, Annihilation, so if you’ve read that you know what you’re in for.
The book plays out like a tabletop game, with Errata acting as an audience surrogate to exploring this nightmare landscape. The prose is a bit purple, so mileage may vary there. For me, the story was good enough that I was able to excuse it by the end.
My absolute favorite parts of this book are spoilers. There was basically a moment about 2/3 of the way through this book where I just went “oh HELL yeah,” and locked in. It’s enough to say that the creatures featuring are so deeply cool, with some great body horror in the last scenes. If you’re an animorphs fan, maybe check this out.
This book does have a lack of tension and long-term consequences at points, which I find frustrating in the horror genre, especially if that choice isn’t supported by strong characterization. I especially didn’t think the epilogue was necessary for a horror standalone.
Overall I had a really good time with this book. Its highs were very high, and it was short enough that its lows didn’t bother me all that much.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Part Hazelthorn, part Annihilation, part The Ruins, I found there was a lot to love about this little book! We follow our MC to a mysterious manor that's believed to be the origination point of a mysterious mind bug that causes people to lose their minds and kill people. Fun!
My favorite character was probably Flora, a mysterious talking vine who wants to take down The Source and help save the world. Aw! And I enjoyed the drawings of other flora found within the manor, that was a really nice touch! I also really liked the bonus story that took place at the space station.
I wanted to rate this higher but the climax happens off page and I wanted to see a battle between The Source (the originator of the mind bug) and the MC/Flora, is that so wrong?! Also I kinda wanted to know more about the mind bug and how it infected other people, I wasn't really clear on that. It didn't seem like that was the focus of the book and we followed the fallout of the mind bug, but I can't help that I'm nosy! C'mon, just give us 100 more pages and flesh this story out, I beg!!
Overall this was a really fun & interesting book that didn't do what I expected at any point. I'm definitely interested in reading more from this author!
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for this advance DRC. All opinions are my own.
My favorite character was probably Flora, a mysterious talking vine who wants to take down The Source and help save the world. Aw! And I enjoyed the drawings of other flora found within the manor, that was a really nice touch! I also really liked the bonus story that took place at the space station.
I wanted to rate this higher but the climax happens off page and I wanted to see a battle between The Source (the originator of the mind bug) and the MC/Flora, is that so wrong?! Also I kinda wanted to know more about the mind bug and how it infected other people, I wasn't really clear on that. It didn't seem like that was the focus of the book and we followed the fallout of the mind bug, but I can't help that I'm nosy! C'mon, just give us 100 more pages and flesh this story out, I beg!!
Overall this was a really fun & interesting book that didn't do what I expected at any point. I'm definitely interested in reading more from this author!
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for this advance DRC. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This novella felt like stepping into a fever dream where nature has completely reclaimed the world. It's beautiful, surreal, and deeply unsettling.
The abandoned manor, hidden deep in the Romanian wilderness, the overgrown hedge maze, the strange signals distorting reality, and the sentient, invasive plant life… all combine to create an eerie, dreamlike sense of dread that never really lets up. The setting honestly felt unnerving.
Errata was such an interesting protagonist to follow. Isolated with only her recorder, fragmented thoughts, and survival instincts to rely on, her descent into confusion and uncertainty made the entire story feel intensely immersive. The unreliable narrator aspect was handled so well because you’re never entirely sure what’s real, what’s being manipulated, or whether reality itself is unravelling.
The writing is vivid and strange in a way that feels almost hypnotic. At times it genuinely read like a psychedelic survival horror game... wandering through decaying halls and overgrown paths while trying to piece together what happened to the world before losing your mind completely.
Despite its brief length, it leaves a lasting impression and I can't wait to read more from Alex Woodroe!
Thank you CLASH Books, NetGalley, and Alex Woodroe for the #gifted earc.
All opinions are my own 🖤
The abandoned manor, hidden deep in the Romanian wilderness, the overgrown hedge maze, the strange signals distorting reality, and the sentient, invasive plant life… all combine to create an eerie, dreamlike sense of dread that never really lets up. The setting honestly felt unnerving.
Errata was such an interesting protagonist to follow. Isolated with only her recorder, fragmented thoughts, and survival instincts to rely on, her descent into confusion and uncertainty made the entire story feel intensely immersive. The unreliable narrator aspect was handled so well because you’re never entirely sure what’s real, what’s being manipulated, or whether reality itself is unravelling.
The writing is vivid and strange in a way that feels almost hypnotic. At times it genuinely read like a psychedelic survival horror game... wandering through decaying halls and overgrown paths while trying to piece together what happened to the world before losing your mind completely.
Despite its brief length, it leaves a lasting impression and I can't wait to read more from Alex Woodroe!
Thank you CLASH Books, NetGalley, and Alex Woodroe for the #gifted earc.
All opinions are my own 🖤
September 6, 2026
Tatratea was a really interesting read! I was already invested in the story by the end of the first chapter. I loved the detailed setting of the book and the suspenseful atmosphere that the author was able to develop. The illustrations and plant descriptions were also a really nice detail.
This could have been higher than 3 stars but unfortunately, there are a few places where it fell short.
I think the author could have given us a bit more information throughout the story that would have helped the readers invest in the characters and their endings. Things like a backstory for how the characters and the world ended up in the state we see in the book that’s more than a couple sentences long. Or better characterization so the characters and their fates feel more impactful.
Even though the story was fun to follow and suspenseful it still felt a bit rushed. I was invested in knowing what happened but the ending didn’t feel very rewarding. Everything happened so fast it lessened the impact of what was happening.
Despite those bumps I still enjoyed the story and I think this author can only get better from here. I look forward to checking out more of their work in the future!
This could have been higher than 3 stars but unfortunately, there are a few places where it fell short.
I think the author could have given us a bit more information throughout the story that would have helped the readers invest in the characters and their endings. Things like a backstory for how the characters and the world ended up in the state we see in the book that’s more than a couple sentences long. Or better characterization so the characters and their fates feel more impactful.
Even though the story was fun to follow and suspenseful it still felt a bit rushed. I was invested in knowing what happened but the ending didn’t feel very rewarding. Everything happened so fast it lessened the impact of what was happening.
Despite those bumps I still enjoyed the story and I think this author can only get better from here. I look forward to checking out more of their work in the future!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Thank you to Clash Books and Edelweiss for the advanced reader copy of Tatratea.
In the forests of Romania, a self-driving car drops a woman off at a dilapidated manor that is overgrown with vines and foliage. She’s there looking for something, but she doesn’t have a lot of time and she only has some basic camping equipment with her. It’s imperative that she follows protocol, by documenting her sanity checks into a voice recorder because she’s one of the last few humans left.
This was impressively atmospheric and it had some fantastic surreal and unsettling imagery that just creeped me out. I love a book that keeps me in a state of uncertainty, but it has to be done right, and this one does it so well. There are some full-page natural science illustrations that were a really nice touch and added to the creepiness factor. There’s also an additional scifi short story included and it’s set in the same world, which was also great. I really liked this and I look forward to reading more from Alex Woodroe.
In the forests of Romania, a self-driving car drops a woman off at a dilapidated manor that is overgrown with vines and foliage. She’s there looking for something, but she doesn’t have a lot of time and she only has some basic camping equipment with her. It’s imperative that she follows protocol, by documenting her sanity checks into a voice recorder because she’s one of the last few humans left.
This was impressively atmospheric and it had some fantastic surreal and unsettling imagery that just creeped me out. I love a book that keeps me in a state of uncertainty, but it has to be done right, and this one does it so well. There are some full-page natural science illustrations that were a really nice touch and added to the creepiness factor. There’s also an additional scifi short story included and it’s set in the same world, which was also great. I really liked this and I look forward to reading more from Alex Woodroe.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
"Finger check: one, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five. Finger count normal."
Tatratea drops us into a post-apocalyptic world where alien lifeforms have caused the near extinction of humankind. The final remnants of humankind have to stay away from each other to prevent further infection.
Both the main and short story at the end are quick reads, but do a wonderfull job of creating an engaging world that only leaves you wanting more. We follow survivors going out into key locations to try and find a way to battle the infection endangering the last vestiges of human kind.
The stories are wonderfully written, evoking dread, hope, disgust, and doubt in equal measure. For anyone looking for a quick and original post-apocalyptic read, this one is definitely not one to skip.
The only negative I share with others is that I want more of this world.
Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tatratea drops us into a post-apocalyptic world where alien lifeforms have caused the near extinction of humankind. The final remnants of humankind have to stay away from each other to prevent further infection.
Both the main and short story at the end are quick reads, but do a wonderfull job of creating an engaging world that only leaves you wanting more. We follow survivors going out into key locations to try and find a way to battle the infection endangering the last vestiges of human kind.
The stories are wonderfully written, evoking dread, hope, disgust, and doubt in equal measure. For anyone looking for a quick and original post-apocalyptic read, this one is definitely not one to skip.
The only negative I share with others is that I want more of this world.
Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2026
Viral insanity has spread throughout the world, Errata (a researcher) is sent to the decaying Tatratea manor (deep in the Romanian wilderness) to explore a signal and she could potentially stop the virus.
The use of plants and insects to create the imagery and atmosphere were amazing. The story kept me wanting to learn and know more. I love that we glimpse back into the Institute before Errata goes on their mission. The overall feeling of decay mixed with sentient flora and questioning what is real or not was a great combo.
I loved the flora illustrations throughout as I feel it really drew me into the book being able visualize little details as intended. Overall this was a quick, interesting, and eerie read. I really enjoyed it!
Read this if you like:
🌱 Eco Horror
🍄🟫 Decaying Manors
🌱 Isolation
🍄🟫 Questionable Reality
🌱 Cosmic/Weird Horror
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The use of plants and insects to create the imagery and atmosphere were amazing. The story kept me wanting to learn and know more. I love that we glimpse back into the Institute before Errata goes on their mission. The overall feeling of decay mixed with sentient flora and questioning what is real or not was a great combo.
I loved the flora illustrations throughout as I feel it really drew me into the book being able visualize little details as intended. Overall this was a quick, interesting, and eerie read. I really enjoyed it!
Read this if you like:
🌱 Eco Horror
🍄🟫 Decaying Manors
🌱 Isolation
🍄🟫 Questionable Reality
🌱 Cosmic/Weird Horror
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Fans of Premee Mohamed's Butcher of the Forest will be right at home in this psychedelic post-apocalyptic fantasy. Rarely has an author played with the unreliable narrator mechanism as effectively as Woodroe does here. The periphery of this Wonderland world is always a little blurry, but that keeps the reader's tunnel vision focused squarely on the madness they're witnessing. If the Haunting of Hill House took place in Area X of the Southern Reach, it would look something like this addictive novella and its accompanying short, which hails from the same intriguing near-future realm. The plot moves quickly and there are marvels and horrors in equal measure around every corner. A compulsively readable fantasy adventure.
Count your fingers and check your reflection, it's all about set and setting in Tatratea.
Count your fingers and check your reflection, it's all about set and setting in Tatratea.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Clash Books for the opportunity to read and review this novella.
Tatratea is an interesting blend of cosmic/dystopian/eco horror. I don't think I've anything like this.
3 years after a devastating plague that drives people insane, researcher Errata is sent to Tatratea a manor taken over by nature. to determine who was causing the odd reports of "improbable plant growth, drones falling from the sky, phantoms and disappearances" from the area. As Errata explores and searches Tatratea, reality slips and Errata will have to determine what is actually real and how they can escape.
Not a bad little novella, I would have preferred a lot more background. I love a good dystopian/cosmic horror but I found this lacking a bit. Still a strong story that perfectly toes the line between scary and ridiculous. 4 out 5 stars.
Tatratea is an interesting blend of cosmic/dystopian/eco horror. I don't think I've anything like this.
3 years after a devastating plague that drives people insane, researcher Errata is sent to Tatratea a manor taken over by nature. to determine who was causing the odd reports of "improbable plant growth, drones falling from the sky, phantoms and disappearances" from the area. As Errata explores and searches Tatratea, reality slips and Errata will have to determine what is actually real and how they can escape.
Not a bad little novella, I would have preferred a lot more background. I love a good dystopian/cosmic horror but I found this lacking a bit. Still a strong story that perfectly toes the line between scary and ridiculous. 4 out 5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley for this read! I enjoyed this story tremendously. I simultaneously wish it was longer and also feel like it was the perfect length. The storyline was gripping from the beginning. It was almost like a combination of Annihilation and Bird Box. I think this novella would make the perfect tv show or movie. I loved how it left you with unanswered questions. The sentience of the flora was unnerving but also thought provoking. The author had a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat while leaving you wanting more. It was mind bending enough to make you question the reality of the situation all along the way...what was real and what was not real? Overall, this was a great read. This was the first time I read something from this author, but I already want to read her other works.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Not a bad book.
The writing style is easy to read and follow. I am not too much of a fan of the repeating aspects within the story.
Overall, not a bad story. Things are a little confusing at first as your thrown into the story with no backstory, but things slowly reveal them self as things move on.
Mid paced story with some faster paced sections, over all a slower style but not slow burn story line.
No over the top gore or horror topics and no shock aspects for the sake of it.
Well written, hardly any overly wordy, unneeded explanations or descriptions of things.
Just a good set out story, worth a read if you find the topic or blurb interesting.
I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley. this review is of my own thoughts.
The writing style is easy to read and follow. I am not too much of a fan of the repeating aspects within the story.
Overall, not a bad story. Things are a little confusing at first as your thrown into the story with no backstory, but things slowly reveal them self as things move on.
Mid paced story with some faster paced sections, over all a slower style but not slow burn story line.
No over the top gore or horror topics and no shock aspects for the sake of it.
Well written, hardly any overly wordy, unneeded explanations or descriptions of things.
Just a good set out story, worth a read if you find the topic or blurb interesting.
I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley. this review is of my own thoughts.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Hands down 5 stars. Absolutely roped me in from chapter 1. I wish it would of been longer honestly! I sped through this and couldn't wait to see what happened next. The descriptions of the flora were just grotesque enough sprinkled in with humor from Erratas monolog. Genuinely chuckled. Everything felt like it was a trap and it kept you wanting to read. I loved her interactions with the flora. I loved her second show down with source and when shes coming back to reality. I highly recommend you giving this a read and im really looking forward to more work from Alex Woodroe.
I did receive this booknas an ARC and left this review voluntarily. All opinions are honest and my own.
I did receive this booknas an ARC and left this review voluntarily. All opinions are honest and my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
i'd say 3.5 rounded up to 4 - this was a slow starter but i stuck with it. once the flora was introduced i definitely found myself more invested, that strange eco-body horror stuff is definitely up my alley. i do wish it was perhaps a bit longer or expanded upon further somehow about the Source and what happened, since although i do love dystopias and post-apoc stories, i enjoy reading about HOW things got to that point
The Flora is babygirl <3
thanks to netgalley and CLASH books for this arc
The Flora is babygirl <3
thanks to netgalley and CLASH books for this arc
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological, sci-fi horror. Scientists banding together at the end of days to try to figure out how to save humanity from this consuming mind-bug. This book has heavy psychological horror, some gothic horror, body horror, some flora horror, some space horror. It's basically the book you want to pickup when you can't decide on one specific horror and just want to have a little freakout over everything. This book releases Oct 20, 2026. Thank-you, CLASH books and Alex Woodroe, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I actually enjoyed the short story at the end of the novella more than Tatratea but you do need to read Tatratea first for context.
Woodroe doesn't set out the whole situation at the start of the novel and instead drops in information about the state of the world and humanity which I think was effective but did also make the story a little confusing at times. Some of the text felt a little over-written but I had a good time with this overall and will be looking at Woodroe's other works.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc
Woodroe doesn't set out the whole situation at the start of the novel and instead drops in information about the state of the world and humanity which I think was effective but did also make the story a little confusing at times. Some of the text felt a little over-written but I had a good time with this overall and will be looking at Woodroe's other works.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This weird, gothic, cosmic, eco/climate-horror fever dream will stick with you.
Alex Woodroe's writing is eloquent and provocative, touching on issues like bodily autonomy and climate disaster, in a deeply interesting way. Tatratea is a mix of cosmic and eco-horror, but it's also got elements of body and psychological horror that will have you counting your fingers and looking in the mirror.
This was a truly original, deeply unsettling read, which I really enjoyed.
Out October 20th!
Thanks to Tenebrous Press and Alex Woodroe for the advance review copy.
Alex Woodroe's writing is eloquent and provocative, touching on issues like bodily autonomy and climate disaster, in a deeply interesting way. Tatratea is a mix of cosmic and eco-horror, but it's also got elements of body and psychological horror that will have you counting your fingers and looking in the mirror.
This was a truly original, deeply unsettling read, which I really enjoyed.
Out October 20th!
Thanks to Tenebrous Press and Alex Woodroe for the advance review copy.
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