Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt: Just What I’ve Been Looking For | Book Review

Hello, everyone! I’m so glad to finally have finished this book after talking about it for so many months — and I’m even happier to report that it was just what I’ve been craving all this time. That being said, I have a few things to comment on, hence this review!

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When I first heard about this book, the gorgeous cover insinuated nature-tied horror which is something I’ve been on the lookout for since reading and loving Autumn Krause’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Here. There’s something so harrowing and stunning to me about the ideas of rot, infestation, the homogenous fact of nature and physical existence, etc., and I’m happy to report that I quite liked Together We Rot‘s depiction of said features! The horror elements are delectable, and kept me thoroughly engaged.

Something I hadn’t realized upon picking it up was that this novel has been described as a “horrormance” which is a term I’d never heard of until this book. Retrospectively, I probably could’ve intuited that based on the cover but, ultimately, it wasn’t a turn off for me.

At the novel’s beginning, we’re introduced to fierce Wilhelmina and the more reserved Elwood. Initially, I found their characters a little frustrating because their juxtaposition almost seemed a little cartoonish. Wil is hot-headed, turbulent, and aggressive to the point of immaturity. Elwood is meek, subservient, and a major pushover. Having been apart of a friendship gone sour, their relationship as they’re pushed back together is loaded with mixed emotions causing Wil’s vitriol and Elwood’s battered awe to play into these extremes. The story made sure to depict their dichotomy almost to the point where I had to roll my eyes a little.

As the stories and character arcs go on, though, I grew to appreciate each of them more, separately and together. Wil’s anger is rooted in restlessness, grief, and a desire for justice while Elwood has been raised by parents and a world seeking to smother and suppress him. So as they undergo changes and revelations, they shift along with their realities and in their dedication to one another. Ultimately, it becomes more satisfying as they oscillate on respectively opposite sides of the spectrum.

We spend less time with the side characters but I was surprised how much I enjoyed when they were all together. It offered all the satisfying feelings of a hodgepodge group thrown together in a campy horror movie (which I’m always happy to see). Wil and Elwood’s respective friends felt maybe a little placeholder-y at times but there was enough there that it made the meshing of all of their individual dynamics engaging. I do think there could have been a little more done, though.

Along that vein, I wish there was a little more development in terms of the Garden of Adam, and the faithfulness of its leaders and members. This book is on the shorter side so I do understand why we have more of a surface-level understanding of these things. But I think that implementation would’ve brought this story from good to great.

This novel’s crown achievement has to be the depicted atmosphere of Pine Point, I think, particularly the eerie, festering Morguewood (I mean, that name, come on — so good!) and how its tendrils leak into the rest of the town. It’s exactly what I’ve been craving in a story for a while now. It, to me, was divine and superseded most of my qualms. It did feel a bit tamped by a sort of hokiness to the overall story but it is YA so I’ll be a little lenient on that.

It did feel like this book would’ve benefitted from a teensy bit more editing and some additional development. As it is, I’d say it’s adequate but it did feel like there was bountiful latent potential. That, of course, is a little disappointing though I did enjoy my time with this story overall.

If you have a proclivity to paranormal horror and/or YA romances with a speculative edge, Together We Rot may be the one for you! It’s also a quicker read if that’s something you’re on the lookout for.

Have you read Skyla Arndt’s Together We Rot? Did you like it? Why, or why not? Do you have any recommendations for nature-tied horror stories (YA or adult)? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!

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