The Low, Low Woods #6

The Low, Low Woods #6

by Carmen Maria Machado, Joe Hill, Sam Wolfe Connelly (Cover Art)

There’s a fire burning deep within the ground in Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. There’s a river running through the mountains that makes you forget your life. There’s an old resort called Heaven on Earth, where a group of men like to make women forget. And there are two teenagers named Octavia and El who are determined to put an end to it all.
Time is running out.
See you soon.

Genres: Horror, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2020

About the author

Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, LA Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize, and the Crawford Award. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century."

Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Michener-Copernicus Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, the CINTAS Foundation, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She is the Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her wife.

Reviews

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great conclusion to a weirdly, wonderful, and memorably disturbing series. I absolutely loved the art work, it really suited the story. Both El and Octavia were solid characters, jumping right off the page. I hope this team will continue to make art.

4 stars

[Wesley Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The girls go up the mountain to find Jessica in rough shape. The boys are on top of the mountain, and we learn men were taking advantage of women in Shudder-To-Think for generations. Jessica eats a mushroom, and I don’t know what happens, but she causes the Earth to break open and kill the boys. El and Vee provide mushrooms to the women of the city and leave them with the decision to remember or not. Vee gets into college and leaves her best friend, and we don’t get to learn if she decides to remember her experiences or not.

This series has a powerful message about consent and assault, and how some voices are often heard and believed over others. While I wasn’t a fan of the first few issues, it did get better for me in the 4th and 5th. The finale issue was okay; it wrapped things up but felt a little rushed. Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of horror, but also people who want some meaning and grit to their horror stories.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great close to this series - it wrapped everything up neatly and was a great series. It did read like a fairy tale (a dark, disturbing fairy tale, but a fairy tale nonetheless). I wasn't sold on the art at first, but the more I read the series, the more I liked it and thought it fit very well with the story. I'll re-read this.

[Areadingsunflower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this mini series! I do wish we got more, though, and feel like things had a little open-ended meaning in the end, but I believe that's the point. I think Eldora (El) was my favorite, but I liked Octavia (Vee) too. The art style was very well done with the color schemes adding to the dread and atmosphere.

[Kay ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't too blown away by the ending but it was a good conclusion to the story. I am glad I picked this up to read! Now, I am on the hunt to read everything by Carmen Maria Machado.

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible ending

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like most comics written by people that don't generally write comics...this one is best read collectively in the TPB rather than in single issues. I really fucking loved the ending and I think it visually worked well to have it in the comic medium, but definitely midway I was like "what is going on... and is it worth it" It is.

Bout to DIY a cool thing

[Alexa Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my least favorite Hill House stories.
I understand the thought process behind this narrative, but I think the execution was poor.
There is a reason it took me so long to finish it, and it was mainly because I wasn't enjoying it very much.
I am happy that the woman of Shudder-to-think got the ending they deserved, but the entire series was so underwhelming I didn't feel overly connected with it. The art wasn't to my taste as well.
Maybe with a different artist and clearer lettering and script, the story would have shined because the idea is great.

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 2 out of 5]

So we know all the men are evil, the whole teach women not to be raped versus teach men not to rape, but things are still too nebulous. I guess that the evils perpetrated don’t HAVE to be delineated but not doing that leaves everything so unresolved. This whole series has been driving me slightly mad with all that is unsaid. Evil happens, explain it more. Hence why I liked the last issue, everything was explained.

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent ending to an okay series. Wasn't a huge fan of the art and while I enjoyed the concept, the execution didn't always hit for me. This was a better issue in the series, however.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange comic series but I enjoyed it! I doubt I will come across a coming of age story quite like this again!

[Youmna · Rating 5 out of 5]

نهاية رائعة لقصة مؤلمة
الأختيار كان بداية حرية نساء البلدة واختيار التذكر ومواجهة الماضي بآلامه كان قوة

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a strange series, but at least it had an ending.

[Chad Bunch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel that this series really took a turn for the worse and finished the same, both in story and art....

[Stephanie]

Yes! It was SO GOOD!

[Kelly Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

See review for full volume

[Eric Novello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como o mistério sobrenatural se resolve no 5, aqui foi só um encerramento conciso em termos de ação que acontece logo no início. Heroínas vs Vilões. O que existe por trás da história é que dá todo o peso à HQ e isso se mantém. Ter isso em mente e ver as personagens tomando as decisões gera todo um impacto.

Não é tão bom quanto o miolo, mas considerando o tema espinhoso e sua importância, até que terminou de um jeito interessante.