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Cover of The library at Mount Char

The library at Mount Char

Scott Hawkins

426 pages

A wildly inventive, blood-soaked fever dream that balances cosmic horror with pitch-black comedy.

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What it feels like

Reading this is a disorienting, exhilarating plunge into the deep end of weird fiction. The narrative moves with a propulsive, chaotic energy, grounding mind-bending cosmic horror in the mundane realities of guacamole and suburban America. The tone is masterfully deadpan, treating extreme violence and god-tier power struggles with a dark, wry detachment that makes the horror hit even harder. It is a dread-soaked, macabre atmosphere, yet surprisingly funny and ultimately heartbreaking as it explores the devastating toll of trauma and the erosion of empathy. The prose is sharp and unpretentious, pulling you through a labyrinth of secrets without ever holding your hand. It will absolutely delight readers who crave pitch-black fantasy, grotesque imagination, and stories that refuse to play by traditional genre rules.

Mood
  • surreal
  • dread-soaked
  • uncanny
  • macabre
  • chaotic
Tone
  • deadpan
  • darkly comedic
  • cynical
  • grotesque
  • wry
Pace
propulsive
Themes
the cost of power · surviving trauma and abuse · loss of humanity · vengeance and sacrifice · twisted family dynamics
The writing
Sharp, accessible, and masterfully deadpan, grounding cosmic horror and extreme violence in the mundane language of everyday life.
The arc
Begins in a state of disorienting, macabre shock and builds toward a devastatingly poignant realization about the sacrifices required to remake a broken universe.
Who it's for
Readers who crave wildly inventive, pitch-black weird fiction and don't mind a heavy dose of gore with their cosmic mysteries.
Content notes
  • graphic violence
  • child abuse
  • gore and mutilation
  • animal cruelty
  • sexual assault
  • torture

About the book

A missing God. A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts.

After all, she was a normal American herself once.

That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.

In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.

Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own.

But Carolyn has accounted for this.

And Carolyn has a plan.

The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

Description from Open Library.

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