Non-Review: Strange Is The Light

Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin

Published By: Titan Books
Publication Date: September 8, 2026
Date Read: September 1, 2026
Genre: Adult – Sci-fi / Horror
Source: eARC from Netgalley
Format: E-Book
Pages: 400

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STRANGE IS THE LIGHT follows a passionately entangled group of childhood friends, fractured by the betrayals and secrets kept as they grew into adulthood.

Now, after twenty years, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn will finally have to face the consequences of cutting their last adventure short–having accidentally opened a rift into a dangerous alternate dimension while playing a mysterious RPG version of their childhood game.

Daphne never took her final turn… And there is a debt that must be paid.

I was so intrigued by the premise of Strange Is The Light, so when I saw it available on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read and review this early. I really enjoyed the idea of a childhood game come to life, with dangerous alternate dimensions. I’ve been trying to branch out into Horror a little bit more and have found that sci-fi horror is definitely the type I enjoy the most. So I was super excited to dive into this one. Sadly, it just didn’t work for me.

I was really looking forward to the sci-fi and horror elements of this book, but it just took far too long for it to get going for me. I ended up giving up on this one at around the 35% mark, and there was nothing horror like or sci-fi like that had happened yet. It was just following a group of friends as they grew up, and honestly I didn’t really like any of them. They were very unlikeable characters.

I really wish this one had worked for me, but for me if I’m going into a sci-fi/horror book, I want those vibes pretty soon once I’ve started reading. The fact that I was a good 35% into the book and there was no hints of either of those elements. Maybe this one is just a slow builder, but I was finding myself less and less invested the more I read, so decided to give up on this one. I’ve just decided this one is not for me. I won’t be swearing this author off, but I will definitely be checking out the reviews of any future work before deciding whether to give it a go.