Divine in Essence

Divine in Essence: Stories by Yarrow Paisley is a fascinatingly unique volume of surrealist horror/fantasy shorts that are sure to leave you dazed and possibly confused long after you finish reading them. Even with ten deliciously short stories to devour this book isn’t a very long read, but bookworm beware: these tales have teeth of their own and you won’t be putting it down without a little blood offering. Paisley’s writing is unapologetically concentrated and in no way straightforward. His lyrical density pulls you beneath his proffered stream of consciousness to flash dreamlike narratives in the sunlit dappled water lapping above your head before you are lost to a darkness and oblivion of his making. Honestly, many of these stories are quite dark and deal with very mature subject matter, a recurring one is being or feeling trapped by circumstance or other characters, so it’s not too much of a stretch to describe his meandering passages as purposefully suffocating. This is absolutely an R rated collection that I would say could be incredibly triggering for many readers. I myself had a hard time getting through a few of them because of the intensely vivid descriptions of graphic subject matter; some of which include child abuse, rape, and murder. However, it’s not as if traditional fairy tales have a pristine track record for their treatment of some of the same content and themes. But if you’re planning on reading a surreal horror collection that clearly states that it contains triggering subject matter, then you’re already prepared for what you’re getting into with Paisley’s collection. While I myself might not be re-reading this one anytime soon as more than a couple of the stories were a little too heavy for me and caused a smidge of psychic damage, I would absolutely recommend this collection to fans of both the horror and fantasy genres or anyone looking to pick up something a little different. If you’re stuck in a reading slump because everything you pick up lately seems like the same recycled garbage sandwiched in a new cover that looks suspiciously AI generated, I highly suggest grabbing this book and sampling Paisley’s weird darkness. Not only will it disturb and thrill you in equal measures, but regardless of whether you enjoy it or not, I guarantee there’s no way you’re not putting it down and thinking “what on earth did I just read?!”.