I've been dying to jump into Jeffrey Ford's work, and perhaps this wasn't the best one to do that with. Out of Body is quite binge-worthy, and at 176 pages easily consumed in one sitting. The idea here is excellent, and I'm not sure if it just needed to be fleshed out a little more, or if the portion that was written needed to be condensed, and where the story ends becomes the actual taking off point for a really cool adventure, but either way this felt middle of the line for me. There is true t...

Book 1 of 30 for my 30 day reading challenge!I think I enjoyed this but need a little more time to think on it and write a full review. Thanks to Tor for providing this to me!

3.5 starsGiven the ratings, I was surprised at how much in enjoyed this slim novel about dream walking and monsters. It’s a odd one. Concept: ★★★★Pacing: ★★★Memorability: ★★★Out of Body is definitely a polarizing novella. For me, it was a clear winner—but that's because it felt like the darker, grown up version of one of my favorite young reads. This reminds me SO MUCH of Scott Westerfeld's The Midnighters. Owen is a librarian living out his days of monotony in a haze of repetition. He's 35, but...

Owen is an introverted small town librarian who, following a traumatic event, gains the ability to astral project into the “night world” while he sleeps. At first his disembodied observations offer him a deeper connection to the neighbors he mostly avoids in his waking life, but soon he discovers a hidden world of secret societies and horrifying monsters and must put his life on the line to save his small corner of the world from evil. Ford takes time exploring the nooks and knacks of his night

This is way too short and seems to skim through its entire story, beginning to end. Every chapter includes 3x as many scenes as it should and they're all summarized rather than told immersively. Nothing else about it really matters given that it feels more like reading a synopsis than a book.

I wanted to like this more than I did. After all, Jeffrey Ford has generally been a fantastic writer for me and I jumped on this ARC expecting some solid creepiness or twists or thoughtful fantasy.But this one? Eh... it was fine for what it is, but it reads more like a snippet taken out of a White Wolf Mage CoreBook regarding astral projection and some of the dangers therein. Add a dash of normal, a bit of peeping tom, and a big bad with a penchant for paint, and the entire tale ends where it pr...

I have a lot of mixed thoughts on this book. On one hand I was intrigued and entertained enough to read this in one night, but at the same time it seemed like not a whole lot happened? The horror aspect wasn’t very spooky either, but that could just be me. If you go into it not knowing much about the book you’ll probably like it more.* I was sent an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my writing on www.grimdarkmagazine.com or www.beforewegoblog.comSomething wicked this way comes.I am new to the church of Jeffrey Ford. Pretty much any die-hard horror fans will be familiar with his massive catalog of work. His stories have appeared everywhere, from anthologies of fantasy to his stand-alone novels. Knowing all that, I still hadn't picked up one of his stories and jumped in. It was always a convergence of wrong time, wrong b...

It feels weird saying that something from Tor felt too short, but here we are. It felt that this work didn't get a chance to feel attached to the characters or the plot because of how quickly the story needed to progress. That being said, the author does have a very enjoyable writing style that makes you want to keep reading. I received an ecopy of this through Netgalley; however, all opinions are my own.

I liked this horror story - it was a quick read and was engaging from the start. I liked the fact that the deli owner had some paranormal powers and was able to help find serial killer.

i read this within 2 hours. it was really fast paced and interesting, and i really wanted to read until the end to find out what happens. this is a really strange but interesting book, and not at all what i expected. i anticipated this to be more horror, and while there are horror elements in it, it’s more like an action-horror (if that makes sense?) while this is a good short story, i wonder if it being longer would have helped develop it more. i wish we got more information about the character...

Jeffrey Ford is one of my favorite speculative fiction authors. His book The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque is on my top 20 best ever list. This little novella was good, but not one of my favorites by him. The main character, a small town librarian was never fully realized as a character. Or, maybe I just didn’t fall for him the way I wanted to. The story is absurd and fun, and goes somewhere I really didn’t expect. Without giving any spoilers, all I will say is that the title gives a bit away. The

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.The nitty-gritty: This short novella was disappointing, unfortunately, due to a disjointed plot and bland characters.I’m afraid this book just didn’t work for me at all, which is a shame because I loved the idea and I was looking forward to reading something from Jeffrey Ford. Unfortunately, this novella reads almost like a first draft, with a...

2.5/5It felt like all events were summarized instead of actively happening.Technically interesting things were taking place but they were described in the most boring and nonchalant way possible. This makes for a very puzzling reading experience.Overall this book wasn’t bad, it just also wasn’t good.

This slim novel tells the story of Owen, a librarian who witnesses a horrific event which causes his sleep paralysis to start up again. Then during an episode he finds himself outside of his body and able to wander through the night, slipping in and out of people's houses and lives. It's fantastic and amazing and addictive. He soon finds he isn't the only one, however. A woman who is also a sleeper takes him on to mentor, telling him some of the things she has learned from her own mentor... and

“What’s the point of this special power if not to see what is otherwise unseen?”Out Of Body by Jeffrey Ford is a dark tale about a small town librarian who witnesses a murder at a local deli. From that day he begins to experience sleep paralysis which leads him to something unsettling. A town he once knew becomes foreign once he sees what really dwells there, a serial killer.This novella begins with a shocking event which quickly leads to something unthinkable. The story has that claustrophobic

The rules of the magic are revealed pretty much as they're needed for the story, and the ending comes quickly and suddenly (enough so that I feel like this should have been developed into a novel), but damn, I was caught up in the characters and the plot so much that it was hard to care at the time. This is probably more a 3.5-star book, but I rounded up because it was so gripping.I need to move his fiction closer to the top of my TBR list.

I really wanted to like this book. I found the concept really interesting and I’ve never read anything that has to do with outer body experiences. I was disappointed though, sadly.My main issue with the book is that it was very fast paced. I don’t mean that in the sense where there’s a lot of things going on and you’re speeding through the pages in excitement. I mean it in a way that it seems like the author was telling the story in a hurry as if he just wanted to get it over with. It lacked det...

I don't know whether to give this three or four stars. Hear me out.I first heard about Out of Body in a video by BooksandLala, who didn't seem to love it. However, when she talked about not liking it because creature horror wasn't for her, this immediately started to call to me. When I then saw it at my local bookshop some months later, I was immediately drawn to it, but it was impossibly expensive for a 160-page novella with, apparently, some critical reviews. So I left it there, until I sudden...

Librarians, out of body experiences triggered by sleep paralysis, and strange vampire-like monsters? Out of Body by Jeffrey Ford had everything I wanted and more. Like many novellas from Tor, this one packs so much into so few pages.The story follows Owen, a small town librarian who, in the first chapter, witnesses a murder at his local deli. This is obviously traumatizing, and Owen begins to feel mixed emotions: sadness, grief, and guilt, among others. He’s suffered bouts of sleep paralysis in