Reviews

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury

kaerene's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I would like to thank Liselle Sambury for getting me out of a reading slump with Tender Beasts. I needed a book with a writing style and characters that I knew that I would enjoy to get out of the slump and she did not disappoint on that front.

With that being said, I'm still unsure on how I feel overall with Tender Beasts. The plot was enjoyable and I liked the pacing of the book but I felt like the characters (especially the main family characters) weren’t as well rounded as they could have been because there were so many of them. Maybe if it was a smaller cast then I would have felt differently. I also didn’t feel like the big reveal at the end was a big shock to me because I had predicted who was the big baddie from the get go. I think I also did the book a disservice by comparing my experience reading Beasts with Delicious Monsters (Liselle’s previous book) and I absolutely loved that book and never saw any of the plot twists coming. 

amzy's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

amandasnoseinabook's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

aosborne's review

I just could not get into this book! 

readwkc's review

4.0

Wasn't what I was expecting... but it wasn't awful either. There was just too much anticipation. We would learn different things but it just kept building up until we got to the very end and things came together. I wish we would have gotten some kind of resolve every so often before everything tied up at the end.

neshababe09's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

darumachan's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Thanks to Libro.fm for the ALC provided to educators.

all I can say is that after 80% of the narrative building up to some paranormal bear shit, all we got was

a hodgepodge of dairy-themed rituals in the kill room that we knew about for almost the whole book

. Why all the bear references if that's not going to be a part of the actual story?

More seriously: I can appreciate the statement about interrupting patterns of emotional abuse and generational trauma, but this metaphor was pretty weak-sauce and honestly does it more of a disservice in how shallow and pat the resolution ended up being. 

himalaya's review

3.5

 rich people sure are fucked up ! 

I thought this was ok, fine listening experience and some interesting themes explored but…idk. I simply can’t take the milkman seriously. im sorry 

I think could have gone harder on like. the supernatural elements. I guess maybe it’d trying to keep you guessing whether they exist or not but…. also just been creepier in general ?? like absolutely the gore and horror of certain scenes was done well, but I feel like the creepiness could have been through the other parts of the story

jessareader's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

elsecallerreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

After reading Delicious Monsters last year I was really excited for this release. I loved how it explored themes of privilege and family. The story was very engaging and Sunny's growth was the best part. Sunny was insufferable in the beginning and I loved seeing her become a real person.