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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5/5
I would first like to thank Eric LaRocca for providing me with an ARC of this novella via ebook in exchange for an honest review. This novella will be released on June 24th, 2022.
I had really high expectations for this novella due to the fact that I rated the two LaRocca works that I've read previously 5 stars respectively; however, I feel that my expectations may have brought down my rating of this novella.
This novella just seemed to drag on for me in the first 3/4s of the work; it wasn't bad... but it wasn't as good as I anticipated it being. It took me twenty days to read this novella that is less than 100 pages long; the other two LaRocca works that I've read were super quick reads for me, so I think the rate at which I read this shows just how slow the first 3/4s were for me.
I really enjoyed the commentary on grief and generational trauma, and I think the reveal at the end was... oof, so wild! I truly loved the last quarter of the story, and I wish the entire novella had the same momentum. I'm still INCREDIBLY excited to read more from LaRocca, and I'm still a HUGE fan of his work. I think that there are elements of this novella that could work for others; the story just wasn't 100% my cup of tea.
I would first like to thank Eric LaRocca for providing me with an ARC of this novella via ebook in exchange for an honest review. This novella will be released on June 24th, 2022.
I had really high expectations for this novella due to the fact that I rated the two LaRocca works that I've read previously 5 stars respectively; however, I feel that my expectations may have brought down my rating of this novella.
This novella just seemed to drag on for me in the first 3/4s of the work; it wasn't bad... but it wasn't as good as I anticipated it being. It took me twenty days to read this novella that is less than 100 pages long; the other two LaRocca works that I've read were super quick reads for me, so I think the rate at which I read this shows just how slow the first 3/4s were for me.
I really enjoyed the commentary on grief and generational trauma, and I think the reveal at the end was... oof, so wild! I truly loved the last quarter of the story, and I wish the entire novella had the same momentum. I'm still INCREDIBLY excited to read more from LaRocca, and I'm still a HUGE fan of his work. I think that there are elements of this novella that could work for others; the story just wasn't 100% my cup of tea.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Eu já tive pesadelos assim
“What are you afraid of?” he asked. “Letting go, or being left with nothing to hold?”
In a militia dystopian environment, Mara, a young girl with a vivid imagination, is trying to survive alongside her resentful mother. When her father’s body gets dropped off at their front door by a couple militia soldiers, the structure of her family begins to crumble. Furthermore, her mother has started to invite some unwanted guests in their home in a poor attempt to mitigate the family’s stress. Or maybe just to relieve her own. Only, these guests don’t help. No, they take.
LaRocca’s new novella is imaginative and unlike anything I’ve ever read. It’s a fever dream of grief and sorrow tied together with an infinite possibility of metaphors. I think some of it went over my head, I might not have totally grasped the moral in the end, but I felt an array of emotions while reading—anxiety, sorrow, pain. The house guests were sufficiently creepy and I was enraged by their unwanted entry. The mother reminded me a bit of other mother but worse and I wanted the best for Mara despite all the sharp obstacles thrown her way. Truly one to pull at the black and white spectrum of emotions.
We Can Never Leave this Place is set to release June 24th from JournalStone. If you’re a fan of LaRocca, surreal nightmare worlds, and grief horror, be sure to stay on the lookout!
In a militia dystopian environment, Mara, a young girl with a vivid imagination, is trying to survive alongside her resentful mother. When her father’s body gets dropped off at their front door by a couple militia soldiers, the structure of her family begins to crumble. Furthermore, her mother has started to invite some unwanted guests in their home in a poor attempt to mitigate the family’s stress. Or maybe just to relieve her own. Only, these guests don’t help. No, they take.
LaRocca’s new novella is imaginative and unlike anything I’ve ever read. It’s a fever dream of grief and sorrow tied together with an infinite possibility of metaphors. I think some of it went over my head, I might not have totally grasped the moral in the end, but I felt an array of emotions while reading—anxiety, sorrow, pain. The house guests were sufficiently creepy and I was enraged by their unwanted entry. The mother reminded me a bit of other mother but worse and I wanted the best for Mara despite all the sharp obstacles thrown her way. Truly one to pull at the black and white spectrum of emotions.
We Can Never Leave this Place is set to release June 24th from JournalStone. If you’re a fan of LaRocca, surreal nightmare worlds, and grief horror, be sure to stay on the lookout!
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
We can never leave this place is truly a fever dream book with a bizarre, dark, disturbing, and heavy subject of grief, trauma, and survival of a young girl.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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Thank you to the author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eric LaRocca has once again written a novella to "bug" all my friends with...pun intended. Much like in "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke", this book makes you wonder - where is this going? And when you get there, everything clicks into place in the most horrifying way.
The writing in this is quick-paced, blink and you might miss it. There is a level of understanding of the dystopian world that's been built out without ever directly explaining itself, which is genuinely a level of writing expertise I praise highly. The things that occur in this book are jarring, causing one to feel tense during the entire experience. And once you get to the ending, there is a moment of feeling pleased but also shocked at everything that's occurred.
Much like Eric's other works, I would absolutely recommend reading the content and trigger warnings that other reviewers have provided.
as cawpile:Characters: 8 | Atmosphere: 10 | Writing: 9 | Plot: 8 | Intrigue: 8 | Logic: 6 | Enjoyment: 9
Merged review:
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|TWITTER|YOUTUBE
Thank you to the author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eric LaRocca has once again written a novella to "bug" all my friends with...pun intended. Much like in "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke", this book makes you wonder - where is this going? And when you get there, everything clicks into place in the most horrifying way.
The writing in this is quick-paced, blink and you might miss it. There is a level of understanding of the dystopian world that's been built out without ever directly explaining itself, which is genuinely a level of writing expertise I praise highly. The things that occur in this book are jarring, causing one to feel tense during the entire experience. And once you get to the ending, there is a moment of feeling pleased but also shocked at everything that's occurred.
Much like Eric's other works, I would absolutely recommend reading the content and trigger warnings that other reviewers have provided.
as cawpile:Characters: 8 | Atmosphere: 10 | Writing: 9 | Plot: 8 | Intrigue: 8 | Logic: 6 | Enjoyment: 9
Thank you to the author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eric LaRocca has once again written a novella to "bug" all my friends with...pun intended. Much like in "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke", this book makes you wonder - where is this going? And when you get there, everything clicks into place in the most horrifying way.
The writing in this is quick-paced, blink and you might miss it. There is a level of understanding of the dystopian world that's been built out without ever directly explaining itself, which is genuinely a level of writing expertise I praise highly. The things that occur in this book are jarring, causing one to feel tense during the entire experience. And once you get to the ending, there is a moment of feeling pleased but also shocked at everything that's occurred.
Much like Eric's other works, I would absolutely recommend reading the content and trigger warnings that other reviewers have provided.
as cawpile:Characters: 8 | Atmosphere: 10 | Writing: 9 | Plot: 8 | Intrigue: 8 | Logic: 6 | Enjoyment: 9
Merged review:
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|TWITTER|YOUTUBE
Thank you to the author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eric LaRocca has once again written a novella to "bug" all my friends with...pun intended. Much like in "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke", this book makes you wonder - where is this going? And when you get there, everything clicks into place in the most horrifying way.
The writing in this is quick-paced, blink and you might miss it. There is a level of understanding of the dystopian world that's been built out without ever directly explaining itself, which is genuinely a level of writing expertise I praise highly. The things that occur in this book are jarring, causing one to feel tense during the entire experience. And once you get to the ending, there is a moment of feeling pleased but also shocked at everything that's occurred.
Much like Eric's other works, I would absolutely recommend reading the content and trigger warnings that other reviewers have provided.
as cawpile:Characters: 8 | Atmosphere: 10 | Writing: 9 | Plot: 8 | Intrigue: 8 | Logic: 6 | Enjoyment: 9