Scan barcode
liltakeawaygirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Suicide
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Sexual content
svnsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
1.75
I do wonder though, if the German edition, which I read, was somehow dragged out much longer than the english one for example - it has about 300 pages more I think.
The story jumps from here to there, it feels like it's lacking structure.
The first chapter was honestly the only time I was spooked, after that it was all sort of whatever.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Death
Minor: Child death
atalea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Confinement, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, and Child death
shadowspinner's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Car accident
bunniv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Car accident, and Self harm
erinmjustice's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Gore
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Self harm
smahlcat's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
marleens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I like Olde Heuvelt’s writing style, but in this book it was a bit odd. Very stream of consciousness sometimes, and a strange mixture of first and second person, often switching mid-sentence. It made sense, because you could definitely feel the characters losing their grip on reality, but it did make it hard to read sometimes. Also, I think it was a bit longer than it needed to be. But I liked our main POVs and the weirdness did often work for me.
Still, that brilliant creepy opening paragraph might have been the best part for me…
Graphic: Suicide, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, and Self harm
Minor: Child death
lottevanderpaelt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
Minor: Child death
rachelunabridged's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
not gonna lie, i read the first few chapters of this and thought i was going to have a bad time. the beginning felt really jumbled and confusing. paired with my immediate dislike of one of the main characters, i thought i was setting myself up for a rough read; or worse, a dnf. that ended up not being the case as the story snatched my attention around the 20% mark and would not let me go until the end.
this story has three primary characters: nick (a journalist and outdoorsman), sam (nick's city slicker boyfriend), and the maudit (a mountain with a sinister will of its own). after a climb with fellow mountaineer augustin goes south, nick barely escapes with his life. now heavily disfigured and haunted by his memories of the doomed climb, nick begins to suspect that he didn't return from the mountain alone.
i'm a huge fan of folk horror, and this book really scratched that itch for me. it was incredibly atmospheric (after the mess that was the beginning) and full of some great moments that left me chilled.
i should go ahead and warn that this book has a heavy romance subplot. as someone that doesn't enjoy reading romance, i was worried that this would be a deal breaker for me, but it ended up being significant thematically and fit in the plot enough that it didn't feel out of place. (though there were some bits toward the beginning that really had me wanting to throw sam off a cliff, tbh.)
overall, i was surprised by how much i enjoyed this read. i was so invested once the plot picked up and started moving. it definitely could've benefited from an extra editing session or two since it's quite long for what it is, but it wasn't distractingly so. definitely give it a read if you enjoy folk horror!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Child death