05/29/2025: Sonja Ska Reviews ‘Root Rot’
- spookycurious
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Root Rot by Saskia Nislow is a horrific fever dream that will lull you into a hypnotic haze. It's lyrical, surreal, and constantly shifting under the surface, making it impossible to pin down.
We follow nine kids - never named, only defined - The Oldest, The Baby, The Boy Twin, The Girl Twin, The Crybaby, The Secret Keeper, The One Who Runs Away, The One With The Beautiful Voice, and The Liar - as they spend the weekend at their grandfather's lake house where things immediately feel wrong. But is it just a collective unraveling of kids left to their own secret devices, or is something slowly infecting the house and everyone in it?
Trying to explain Root Rot is impossible, so let's break it down to what makes it amazing.
The atmosphere: Nislow crafts an atmosphere that feels like a living, breathing thing. The air feels thick with presence. The forest squirms. It's impossible to shake the feeling that some inescapable thing is waiting.
The Body Horror: Babes, Root Rot is a masterclass in body horror. It starts with a baby in a tree - or does it? As reality crumbles, faces melt, bodies contort, and is it the children, or is an eye blinking from the bottom instead of the top? Small, subtle changes began to grow more pronounced, and by the end, I was torn between squirming in discomfort and rereading everything because I wanted more.
It's actually scary: Don't expect jump scares, but the slow creeping dread did a number on my nervous system. At one point, I was convinced if I looked up, I'd see a ghost sitting at my table. I don't remember the last time I was this unnerved by a book.
If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with this book. It's weird and lyrical and abstract and digs into your skin until you can't stop thinking about it. Yes, it's a bit grotesque, but it's also beautiful that you kind of want to root around in all the ugly bitseven if you lose pieces of yourself in the process.
Root Rot is perfect for people who love slow, creeping gothic stories, fungal horror, body horror, and weird, strange books that will leave you floating.
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