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sleepingwtlo's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
When his girlfriend leaves him, Modern Love frontman Mike takes it pretty hard. Like, messing-with-occult-stuff hard.
Plunging deep into the city’s dark underbelly, he meets with a mysterious figure who promises a salve for his pain. In exchange for three stories of love, Mike gets what he wants most. But at what cost to the storytellers?
Brian Asman’s Our Black Hearts Beat As One is a bloody blend of magical realism and urban horror, fronted by a lead character who - honestly - is a bit of an asshole. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Supported by an engaging cast of side characters, it’s a quick romp through a wonderfully dark and descriptive world. All good horror should tug on the emotions, and Our Black Hearts Beat As One sets its sights on love. And it largely succeeds, with Mike gradually coming to understand that heartbreak is a part of life - even if it did take an encounter with an ancient god to do it.
Could we have benefited more from seeing the ex-girlfriend’s perspective? Maybe. A plot line with Mike exploring and accepting why she left, rather than (spoiler) finding someone else might have said more and shown more character development.
There’s also scope for further exploration of the dark magic and mythologies at the heart of this novella. Trying to pack a wholly new system of gods and magic into such a small page count was perhaps too much of a tall order. But we’re dealing with a short - and not so sweet - horror here, so while Our Black Hearts Beat As One could have given us more, Asman still packs plenty into what we have.
Come for the dark arts, but stay for the love stories.
Supported by an engaging cast of side characters, it’s a quick romp through a wonderfully dark and descriptive world. All good horror should tug on the emotions, and Our Black Hearts Beat As One sets its sights on love. And it largely succeeds, with Mike gradually coming to understand that heartbreak is a part of life - even if it did take an encounter with an ancient god to do it.
Could we have benefited more from seeing the ex-girlfriend’s perspective? Maybe. A plot line with Mike exploring and accepting why she left
There’s also scope for further exploration of the dark magic and mythologies at the heart of this novella. Trying to pack a wholly new system of gods and magic into such a small page count was perhaps too much of a tall order. But we’re dealing with a short - and not so sweet - horror here, so while Our Black Hearts Beat As One could have given us more, Asman still packs plenty into what we have.
Come for the dark arts, but stay for the love stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Suicide
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