Review: Cathedral of the Drowned (The Lunar Gothic Trilogy #2), by Nathan Ballingrud

Title: Cathedral of the Drowned

Author: Nathan Ballingrud

Series: The Lunar Gothic Trilogy #2

Publisher: Tor Nightfire

Genre: Horror/Science Fiction

Date of Publication: October 21st, 2025

Number of Pages: 144

See it on Goodreads: Cathedral of the Drowned

Summary

The sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, Cathedral of the Drowned is a dripping, squirming, scuttling tale of altered bodies and minds.

There are two halves of Charlie Duchamp. One is a brain in a jar, stranded on Jupiter’s jungle moon, Io, who just wants to go home. The other is hanging on the wall of Barrowfield Home on Earth’s own moon, host to the eggs of the Moon Spider and filled with a murderous rage.

On Io, deep in the flooded remains of a crashed cathedral ship, lives a giant centipede called The Bishop, who has taken control of the drowned astronauts inside. Both Charlies converge here, stalking each other in the haunted ruins, while a new Moon Spider prepares to hatch.

Review - Return to a Horror Dreamscape

Earlier this year, I picked Crypt of the Moon Spider on a whim without knowing that it was going to be a series. Only when I finished reading that novella, I discovered that not only it is book 1 in The Lunar Gothic Trilogy, but the second installment would be released soon. Just like the first book, Cathedral of the Drowned is also a novella that you can read in one sitting.

If you've read Crypt of the Moon Spider, you already know that the book is set in the 1920s. However, in this randition of the past, space travel is possible. The first book took part primarily on the moon, but book 2 takes us even further in our solar system, and more specifically at Io, one of Jupiter's moons. Despite this fact though, science takes the backseat. You will never learn how space travel works or how characters get from the Earth to the moon or Io. In that sense, the series takes inspiration from pulp novels (and I could see some similaries to William S. Burroughs's book I've read earlier this year).

Cathedral of the Drowned definitely has a larger scope compared to the first book of the series. However, I think that Nathan Ballingrud did an amazing job at bringing the world alive once more, and writing truly gothic and horrific scenes. The initial description of the Cathedral ship at Io, as well as the first description of The Bishop, the giant centipede, are imageries that have stuck with me.

Another thing I enjoyed quite a lot in this book is Charlie's character. In Crypt of the Moon Spider, I only viewed him as one of the bad guys. In this book, however, we get his two distinct sides that take two different forms. This created many interesting questions about what it means to be whole as person, loneliness, and having two contradicting sides inside of you.

Cathedral of the Drowned though doesn't take place solely on Io. In fact, the story mostly unfolds on Earth. Even though I quite liked Goodnight Maggie as a character, the final chapters that focused more on her dealing with the new sicilian mafia dulled my enjoyment. But when I started to feel disappointed with where the story was heading, the final pages happened, and oh boy! Again, I'm keeping my review completely spoiler free, but that ending was worth it. 

All in all, Cathedral of the Drowned turned out to be one of the best books I've read recently. I loved it more than boon 1 and I can't wait for the final installement of the series next October. If you are looking for a horror novella series, The Lunar Gothic Trilogy definitely delivers.

Read more of my reviews here.