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morgansb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Gore, Body horror, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Murder and Mental illness
Minor: Blood, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Grief, Excrement, and Death
moss_martii's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, and Torture
devilledgreggs's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Self harm and Homophobia
avelyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Suicide
Minor: Grief
scrambled_meggs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, Gore, Torture, and Toxic relationship
aaround132's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cannibalism, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Excrement, and Domestic abuse
katbamkapow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Self harm, Animal cruelty, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content
_chelseachelsea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
My biggest issue with this story is that it’s written by a male author, but the characters - Zoe and Agnes - are queer women. I would hardly imply that men are incapable of writing queer female characters, but when the sordid and twisted romance at the core of the story is between two queer women, it does beg the question as to whether Eric LaRocca is in any position to be writing it.
On one hand, the trope of the evil lesbian is tired and played out. On the other, Zoe and Agnes are unique in that both seem to be desperate for something that sounds better in fantasy than it does in reality, and neither is truly prepared for the fallout of what they’re asking for. It’s not so much a story about an evil lesbian manipulating a vulnerable young woman as it is a story about two strangers - who could almost be of any gender - toying with the bounds of codependency and pushing each other to the breaking point. It could have been about two men, or a man and a woman, and still played out the same way. However, there is no getting around the fact that LaRocca chose to use a queer relationship to tell this tale, and I find something very ugly about that.
I tried very hard not to let that ugliness influence my review too much. In terms of the story itself - the vivid descriptions provided in every email, the steadily increasing sense of dread that creeps in with every new instant message exchange - the writing is excellent. By limiting the narrative of the story to email and message conversations, we’re left in the dark about what the characters are thinking, saying, and doing while they were away from the screen. We don’t know who Zoe is, what she does for a living, or what her days look like when she’s not dominating her virtual slave. We don’t know what Agnes‘s relationship with her roommate is like, who she interacts with when she’s not emailing Zoe, or many of the details from her past that may have fed her seemingly irrational behavior over the course of the story. The reader is forced to answer those questions entirely on their own, and there is a lot of power in that.
LaRocca is remarkably well-paced, carefully threading small details throughout the novella, and he does it with the fluidity of a tennis match. The power shifts from one side of the relationship to the other very quickly, and just when you think you know the direction the story is headed in, LaRocca takes another sharp turn to the left or right. It’s jarring, it’s upsetting, and it’s indisputably impressive.
Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Homophobia
rosesofthespring's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
I put "pregnancy" as a content warning because it's discussed in detail, but for further clarification:harley_sage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Torture, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Grief
Minor: Vomit, Slavery, Sexism, and Misogyny