Review of Death Valley Blooms by S. M. Mack
S. M. Mack’s Death Valley Blooms (Neon Hemlock, 2025) is a contemporary fantasy novella that poses questions about family curses and inheritances when some members set out to break the curses by not continuing their family line. With gorgeous, lush, surreal descriptions and a relatable protagonist, it’s a quick and fascinating read.
Mar knows that the women in her family are the reason why Death Valley has its sporadic super blooms, literally. She watched the desert take her mother and return her aunt, and she expects to be next. But she and her brother, Kai, have decided that the curse will end with their generation, as neither of them plans to have children. But as Mar begins seeing and feeling the signs that it’s almost time for the desert to take her, she finds herself needing to know who will be next and how the few people with whom she’s close will react to her sudden disappearance.
Mar is a relatable character as she goes through her life with her family’s curse weighing on her, interacting with her aunt and grandmother (both survivors of the desert), her one colleague who she considers a friend, and a high school student in her class. The secondary characters are revealed more through snippets, from Mar’s perspective, but Mar really shines here.
The ending of the novella felt a bit abrupt to me, as it ends without really resolving the questions it presents. If you don’t mind endings like this and enjoy contemporary, surreal fantasy, check out Death Valley Blooms!
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