The Lyons of Rabbit

by Darby Guise

A Dark, Absurd, Weird, Feral Fable

A harrowing adventure of love, horror, comedy, and unhinged melodrama—featuring a cast of peculiar rabbits and an entourage of deranged characters.

Deep in the woods, a warren is preyed upon by a beast known as Jack. As the rabbits struggle to combat their newest foe, a stranger arrives unlocking a secret buried beneath the earth.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

322 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2022

About the author

A writer out of Montreal publishing gimcrack novels.

Reviews

[Emma]

I heard this was Lynchian, which is like catnip to me; I can't pass up a chance to read a book that might be able to capture some of the vibes of Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, or another of David Lynch's wonderful films. I can definitely see the comp here; this is unapologetic storytelling, expecting the reader to either get it or realize they don't get it but continue anyway, pulled in by the cadence and structure. I appreciate the confidence, and it was refreshing in some ways to read a book written by someone who didn't seem to want to pander to an audience at all.

I'm not sure the book is entirely successful, but I'm also not quite sure what the intention of the story is, and it feels like because it's told so confidently, maybe it is completely successful at fulfilling the author's vision. I struggled a bit with keeping the characters straight, with so many similar names, and the ultrashort chapters feel designed to disrupt any attempt to find flow in the story. It's a difficult book to skim because the rhythm shifts so quickly, which again feels fairly intentional. But there are some incredibly compelling moments, and the meat of the story feels just out or reach, like I'm only seeing around the edges and can't look directly at it.

This is a book to chew on, I think.

[Dave Kirschner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I would have benefited from some more concrete descriptions, the characters are rabbits but sometimes function as people in cities, and sometimes as animals in a den and it would disrupt me a little when it switched.

Also, the sub plot with the typewriter didn't really jump out to me, and I felt it kind of distracted from the main action.

The core story of the Jack, and the sheriff's descent and the disaster after disaster was really good. Eerie, and strange with all the random tragedy that makes every scene more intense.

You can only cautiously root for a character when you're not sure they're going to make it, and main characters and seemingly heroic types are introduced and killed off so quick it made me more genuinely afraid for the characters.

The Jack was terrifying, and well written, and the sheriff's fall was tragic and entertaining. This is more a 3.5 than a 4, but the parts I liked I liked so much I rounded up.

I'll follow up with Darby's other work, if this was cut down to one sharp story it would have really soared, still definitely worth reading, just be prepared to slog through some weirdness

[Steven Riola · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was certainly a book…
I love weird fiction, Rampo, Kobo Abe, Matthew Bartlett, Thomas Ligotti, Melick Jr. Throughout all of those works, no matter how random and bizarre, they felt cohesive in a way I didn’t find with The Lyons of Rabbit.

It could absolutely be a me thing, maybe Darby Guise just isn’t the writer for my taste.

Was it a story about rabbits, the room, the typewriter? Maybe it was the super quick changes in chapters, the lack of character development, with the exception of a few, even then it was pretty shallow and quick.
It could be I’ve spent too much time away from, or too much time with the brilliant absurdist works of Kobo Abe, and my view is changed since I’ve last read this type of novel.

Sadly, nothing about this book grabbed me, I continued on because I felt like I needed too, not because I was curious or driven too (maybe that says even more about the writing than I’m allowing myself to believe).

Thank you to Bear Skin Bob Press and NetGalley for the ARC, in return for an honest review.

[Bebo Saucier Carrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Super absurdist, but not in a way that I enjoyed or found meaning in. Imagine Twin Peaks, except it's not funny and charming, everyone is an anthropomorphic rabbit (or maybe a turtle, or the one singular human), BOB is some indescribable (literally never fully described) monster that eats the rabbits, and all the rabbits have generic names like Tim, Tom, Bob, and Jean and you can't keep them straight because their names are so nondescript. Oh, and there's no plot to speak of after the monster is killed and the rabbits celebrate that, so it just meanders along with no point for the last 30%.

Maybe there was a message in there somewhere about like the nature of humans (rabbits?) and the power of the author, but it was buried in weird wordy mush.

[Larke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eerie, absurd, and drove an unrelenting morbid curiosity about its world that made it hard for me to put down. By the end I was left with a lingering unease and even more lingering questions that I continue to percolate over. I hope this is not the last story we hear about the Room and its (un)fortunate passersby.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to the publishers - Victory Editing – for giving me access to this book as an E-ARC via Netgalley.

I like reading different genres, and weird fiction can be interesting to read and explore, but this book wasn’t for me. It just left me confused. I believe that has to to do with me, though, and not necessarily the book.

[Carol Bosselman]

What Did I Just Read?

Kept my attention but very confusing. I feel like I missed a huge metaphor.





I feel like I missed some huge metaphor, and I'm very confused. Were they rabbits or people? Either way I admit it held my attention.