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Book: “What Feeds Below” by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Publishing Info: Bindery Books, October 2026
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: The darkness isn’t empty. It’s hungry.
At the edge of the City of the Void, a massive chasm extends miles into the earth, its treacherous terrain overrun with vicious monsters and carnivorous plants. For orphaned best friends Petra and Jade, guiding treasure-seeking tourists down into the Void is the only way to earn enough to pull themselves up out of the slums for good.
Petra prefers to play it safe and take jobs only in the Void’s upper levels, where the dangers are better understood, while Jade wants to risk a descent to the deepest and most mysterious Sixth Layer. Because the deeper they go, the better the payout, and the sooner their dreams can become reality. Their friendship is Petra’s whole world, and Jade’s approval means everything—so Petra agrees to do it Jade’s way.
When their job goes wrong and Jade is lost in the Void, Petra must plunge deeper than she’s ever dared to save her friend. But she doesn’t know the truth of the Void . . . or what really waits for her in its depths.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!
I admittedly know nothing about it outside of a number of people in my life who love it, but I have not read “Dungeon Crawler Carl” even though I have been told by said people that I need to read it. Even my Mom sent me a New York Times piece about the books with the message ‘have you read this?’ (just to note, she is always sending me NYT or Guardian articles about pop culture things she thinks I will know things about/like and I really like getting these emails). I haven’t read it, but I will say that when I was reading the description of Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s newest horror novel “What Feeds Below” I was thinking it sounded like DCC but horror and on PCP to amplify the horror. But I absolutely knew I wanted to read it. The idea of a weird cosmic chasm forming, and then becoming a demented tourist destination for the wealthy in a hugely wealth gapped and stricken society where ‘divers’ take people in on tours (though there’s a good chance they won’t come out) and treasure hunts, is so cool.
The world building in this book is incredibly well done. We follow Petra and Jade, two young women in a place called City of the Void, who as ‘divers’ lead people on the aforementioned tours into the aforementioned Void. We are thrown into The Void and City of the Void well into the setting being established and well known and understood for those who live there, but the framing of Petra and Jade being divers taking tourists down means that we get information in a way that isn’t overwrought or jammed in. And what a world that has been created! The mythology of The Void and the people who love near it/in it is so engrossing, and it is incredibly thought out. It is dungeon exploring Sci-Fi Fantasy with lots of nasty body and cosmic horror bits, and Schlote-Bonne has some REALLY gnarly moments that had me squirming in my seat as I read. The flora and fauna are so creative, and I also liked getting little tidbits about the Void in the chapter headings through diary entries or textbooks from that world. It’s just so fun. The entire race down the levels as Petra hopes to help Jade is just so fast faced and addictive, I couldn’t put it down.
But I also really liked our protagonist Petra, who has been making money with her best friend Jade (whom she credits with saving her life/being the only person who cares about her) as a Void diving team in hopes of making enough money to be able to open a health and healing clinic for the community, which has a lot of poverty and suffering in spite of the tourist dollars that come in. Petra is tenacious and spunky but unsure of herself, and I liked that when faced with the horrible concept of Jade being in danger after a bad dive, she finds strength, courage, and assurance within herself to be able to try and save the one person that she feels she owes everything. I also really enjoyed seeing Petra’s relationships with not just Jade, but also childhood friend turned chilly acquaintance Flint, who Petra feels spurned by and Jade is happy to keep at arm’s length, though he may be the only person who can help her when she needs it most. And as we see these relationships evolve, we also see how Petra may have some preconceived notions that may not be fully correct… I think the only qualm I had with this was a twist that felt like a twist for twist’s sake, but it’s important to remember that that is very much a ‘me’ kind of hang up and doesn’t necessarily say anything about the twist itself. Do with that what you will.
But frustrating twist aside, “What Feeds Below” is another fun horror tale from Tatiana Schlote-Bonne! Her creativity knows no bounds and I definitely recommend it!
Rating 8: Incredibly addictive and creative to boot, “What Feeds Below” is another fun horror novel from Tatiana Schlote-Bonne with some dungeon diving and gnarly body horror.
Reader’s Advisory:
“What Feeds Below” is included on the Goodreads list “Weird Botany”.
