Scan barcode
larbster90's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Grief, and Mental illness
Minor: Murder, Religious bigotry, War, Violence, and Sexual assault
mworrell's review against another edition
The Lovecraft genre is not my boat, but this is a semi-interesting take on some of the tropes. I find this book similar to Gideon the Ninth in my reaction to it. I like the characters, I like their relationships, it doesn’t grab me.
What spoils this as an audiobook is one: the narrator and two: the japanese american characters.
One: the narrator uses a bad japanese accent for the japanese american characters, even for a younger nisei character.
Two: The younger nisei character is named Neko. (???) I’m calling her Kitty from here on out.
I only listened to this book; I haven’t read it without the filter of the narrator, so I genuinely can’t tell what Kitty’s characterization is supposed to be. I suspect the narrator is reading her as far more timid then she actually is. Her lines are read in the same, stilted manner. There’s the bad accent, as well as the slow, plodding pace. The narrator pauses between every sentence. It gets in the way of Kitty as a character. It’s also annoying. No other character gets this treatment except for the JA’s.
But um. Anyway I do not recommend this, though I do like the author’s most recent book.
What spoils this as an audiobook is one: the narrator and two: the japanese american characters.
One: the narrator uses a bad japanese accent for the japanese american characters, even for a younger nisei character.
Two: The younger nisei character is named Neko. (???) I’m calling her Kitty from here on out.
I only listened to this book; I haven’t read it without the filter of the narrator, so I genuinely can’t tell what Kitty’s characterization is supposed to be. I suspect the narrator is reading her as far more timid then she actually is. Her lines are read in the same, stilted manner. There’s the bad accent, as well as the slow, plodding pace. The narrator pauses between every sentence. It gets in the way of Kitty as a character. It’s also annoying. No other character gets this treatment except for the JA’s.
But um. Anyway I do not recommend this, though I do like the author’s most recent book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Sexism
Moderate: War, Misogyny, Acephobia/Arophobia, Blood, Body horror, and Antisemitism
Minor: Sexual assault
This is set after japanese internment, and while the main character is not japanese, they spent an extended time in the camps. Their adoptive family is japanese american, so the camps and the xenophobia is prominent in the book. The main character’s original family wererubybastille's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I found it a bit too slow at the end, otherwise it would have been 5 stars. Reading this book feels like missing, or thinking fondly about, your loved ones. It’s a slow-paced look at families found and born, and what kind of legacy we choose to leave. It’s also about Lovecraftian monsters, though having never read any Lovecraft I’m guessing many references went over my head. Still, it was a great winter read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Antisemitism
achillea's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
found family through cosmic horror my beloved <3
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny
Minor: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, and Confinement
wordsareworlds's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? No
3.5
Emrys turns Lovecraftian lore on its head in a way that defies his bigotry and hatred on every level. Horrors still exist, but they are perpetrated by Men of Air as often as any others. As one of the characters says, "We're all monsters here."
This book is a slow burn, but that pace enhances the tension and allows for welcome character development and revelations within them all. There are no perfect solutions to the problems presented, but the book ends on a hopeful, if bittersweet, note.
This book is a slow burn, but that pace enhances the tension and allows for welcome character development and revelations within them all. There are no perfect solutions to the problems presented, but the book ends on a hopeful, if bittersweet, note.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Racism
Minor: Blood
The books has flashback scenes describing the MC being kept in a US concentration camp. While not graphic, the abuses of the guards and soldiers who originally took them there are referenced. The book is set in 1947, and the author does not shy away from acknowledging the casual racism and misogyny of the time, but there are no hate crimes committed on page, and the anti-Asian slur is called out in the moment. A secondary character is Jewish, and there is some surface-level discussion of the Israeli state, as it relates to his position in the US. Rituals in the book require drops of blood, but in the climatic scene
More...