Crypt of the Moon Spider: Overstuffed Horror

Crypt of the Moon Spider Abandons Its Plot In Its Own Wordbuilding Chaos

I went into Crypt of the Moon Spider not knowing two important things about it. The first is that it’s not a monster story, not really. It’s a medical horror book tinged with cosmic horror elements. Perhaps in the sequel, it’ll swing around more to the actual giant spiders, but it’s more alluded to for now. And, related to that, the second unknown factor is that this is part of a series. I had assumed this would be a quick, self-contained horror tale that I could read in a few sittings. It’s not. There’s already a lot of lore, characters, and events that will have some serious consequences later.

But to even get to that, you have to accept a lot of information that’s just casually introduced. Crypt of the Moon Spider isn’t bad about presenting exposition or anything—it’s easy to understand most of what’s happening—but getting through how outlandish those events are is a taller order. And this is coming from someone who regularly can keep up with Doctor Who lore.

Like—and this isn’t a spoiler—here’s a quick listing of some of the stuff that’s casually presented without justification. In an alternative history, it’s the early nineteenth century and humanity has somewhat colonized the moon with frequent planetary travel. This was presumably easier than one would expect, because there’s a normal atmosphere, likely on account of the massive forests. And, living in those forests, were giant spiders that had spawned a sort of religious order.

Still with me? Because that’s the background. That’s the setting—mostly. There’s way more happening for such a short page count, but just read the book if you want all of it. We’ve got to get to the plot happening.

And it’s here where the book is actually scary, or at least disturbing. I didn’t get any terror or anything, but the body horror present in Crypt of the Moon Spider is truly horrific, and gross. I was squirming at least once. And the main way it evokes body horror is brain surgery. Lots of rough, messy brain surgery. Our main character, Veronica, has been sent by her husband to some kind of old-timey mental facility (on the moon) for depression. And she’s not the only one there.

And it’s here that I have to give a second warning. The second place Crypt of the Moon Spider earns its horror status. Not only is this book graphically gory, but it’s also presenting not only people suffering from intense depression, suicidal ideation, and intrusive thoughts, but it’s also dealing with a female main character being treated for such things in the early nineteen century. Or, in other words, there’s rampant dehumanization, isolation, and more being inflicted on people who cannot leave, and no one is coming to save them. I cannot say with any confidence the historical accuracy of these moments, but they are gruesome and chilling to read.

The plot of Crypt of the Moon Spider doesn’t stick to this, though. In a few rapid turns around halfway through, it becomes a different tale entirely—and one with a lot less of a defined plotline or even mood. The POV switches, abruptly, to a different character right at the height of a narrative arc. And, starting my drift into negativity with this book, it wasn’t nearly as strong a section. I’m all for an evil doctor villain. I loved the implications of cosmic horror with dead gods and magic spiders. But I had just spent pages and pages seeing this woman gradually understand that these people are not trying to help her, that men are treating her like she’s not a person just because she won’t comply with their every demand. I had become invested in seeing her understand that she needed to escape. Only for that entire plotline to be abandoned for a shocking moment. A shocking moment so far out from normal story structure that I almost thought I had misread it.

A Twist Basically Ruins The Trajectory Of The Plot

But no. We really are jumping about. We’re dropping complicated, violent backstories and introducing new characters with barely any page time. Our main character doesn’t get to be herself anymore, and the plot doesn’t seem to want to fully acknowledge that. There’s a strong plotline in Crypt of the Moon Spider—that’s almost more a cyberpunk idea—about people’s memories, personalities, and even thoughts being altered and taken from them, but it doesn’t seem to agree that these people have been functionally killed by having that done to them. I like that Veronica gets back at people—it’s a very classic horror character arc—but I don’t actually agree it’s at all Veronica anymore.

The irregularities of Crypt of the Moon Spider continue, as well. I’m not sure if it always handles mental health respectfully, if it handles disability—both mental and physical—respectfully, especially with its violence-loving secondary antagonist, and I’m mostly unsure how well it handles its both subtle and more prevalent feminist themes. It’s a book with a lot of ideas, sure, but it’s so short length it’s always rushing about. It’s hard to get a grasp on it. And especially difficult to get narrative satisfaction from reading it. I’ll certainly remember Crypt of the Moon Spider, but the only summation I can say for sure is that it’s a dour, tragic story. It’s a novella about people treating other people poorly, in so many ways, for sometimes cartoonish, sometimes disturbingly realistic reasons, with the only winners being the cosmic horror spiders. And that, at least, does feel within the cosmic horror genre. I can say Crypt of the Moon Spider nailed that. It’s a unique book that’s scary in a lot of different ways.  

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