One of the best-kept secrets of horror literature in 2025 was Irish author Sarah Maria Griffin’s Eat the Ones You Love. The obscure and absurd novel about a flower shop worker and the shop’s sentient, gaslighting, murderous plant was extremely poignant, resonant, and downright creepy, despite its sometimes silly premise. This year, Griffin released Strange Is the Light, which turns somewhat away from the horror genre (but not completely) and dives more into a coming-of-age narrative.
More than anything, Strange Is the Light is a character study that admittedly took Griffin a decade to concoct and finely tune, which pays off beautifully with a close-knit cast of characters you’ll remember long after the last page ends.
Strange Is the Light Never Settles in One Genre
Strange Is the Light mostly centers around Daphne, a young Dubliner who annually vacations on the remote Valentia Island with her family, building yearly camaraderie with her childhood friends, Ronan, Leonie, and Finn. As the group grows together, they create a bonding game of imagination and spectacle, until a chain of events causes Daphne to have to leave and stay away, fracturing their bond.
Five years later, Daphne returns to Valentia for a funeral, hopeful but nervous to rekindle her lost friendships. As the group comes together again and Daphne begins to revive feelings she thought were gone, she quickly realizes that a lot can change in five years, and chaotic moments from her past start to catch up and interfere with the reunion.
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At its core, Strange Is the Light sits as a drama, but it continuously dabbles and switches between multiple genres throughout its storytelling. From aspects of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi to the important coming-of-age themes we all learn as we grow, Griffin’s novel does a wonderful job of reminding the reader that friendships, whether healthy or unhealthy, are difficult to maintain. That life is hard. That one moment can and will change everything.
Griffin’s character development is masterful in this book. As the reader, I can plainly tell that it took a decade to craft and sculpt this story’s friend group. Every little moment between them brings up feelings of nostalgia and connection for those of us who grew up with our own cohesive circles, through the good and the bad, including the friendships we’ve lost and held onto throughout the years.
Strange Is the Light’s Story Isn’t for Those Who Want a Riveting Thriller
Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some intense and thrilling moments in Strange Is the Light, but as a whole, the story is a slow, steady build to a satisfying finale. Some hearts are broken, some friendships have healed, and some characters have never been as they seem.
The book certainly has its share of life drama, but at no point could I call it a thriller, and it never pretends to be, but being marketed as horror, fantasy, and science fiction tends to turn heads in the thriller direction.
Even taking the genre direction into consideration, the overall story pacing does drag a bit. There were several moments when I was waiting for something bigger or more life-altering to happen, but was hit with less impactful moments. With that being said, what is life if not waiting for significant, meaningful moments to come, to show us where to go and what to do next, and then they never show up? Griffin wrote this book to represent life, and sometimes, life isn’t exciting.
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I will say that the story and intensity pick up in the final act. Once some answers start revealing themselves, some characters’ masks begin to unravel, and a new aspect is brought to their imaginative game; things start to get extremely interesting and a little nerve-racking.
Most importantly, aside from the fantastic character depth, Griffin nails the book’s ending. We get conclusions that make sense for every character, good and bad, and a satisfaction that often doesn’t come with players that are so finely constructed.
I look at Strange Is the Light as more of a hot cup of coffee or tea that you can slowly enjoy and savor, rather than something needed to quench a quick thirst. Everything doesn’t need to be instant and in front of us. That isn’t what life is, no matter how much society likes to force it onto us, and Griffin shows us the truth of that with her story. I recommend giving this one a go.
Strange Is the Light is published by Tor Books and is available at all major book retailers.
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