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readwithbells's review against another edition
4.0
That made my skin crawl. Folk horror (and turns out a pulp horror retelling, thanks authors note) done absolutely right. Sometimes the humour felt a little too much and there was a point between 60-80% where so many reveals were happening the storyline got totally convoluted for me. I took a six hour break and finished the book this afternoon and I’m so glad I did because that climax was fantastic. I haven’t had a horror book make me physically shudder in a long time and this was exactly what I was looking for: something spooky and horror-feeling where I’ll still be able to sleep at night. Potentially a bit long and certainly a bit repetitive, the atmosphere wasn’t great but the body horror was; I liked it. Never gonna look at rocks the same though.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
Moderate:shadowspinner's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Gun violence
Minor: Death of parent, Racism, and Emotional abuse
emzhay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I wasn’t too fond of the narrator either, but I also didn’t hate her. Mouse’s attempted southern jokes came off as sly classiest comments and that irked me. They did disappear in the later half, but there were enough comments early on for her to leave a bad impression.
I would rate lower, but I really did enjoy it a lot up until the end.
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Racism and Classism
elly29's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A but slow at the beginning, and bit fast at the end. Creepy all the way through. Seriously: Cotgrave and everything surrounding his death is sooo twisted.
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Death
Minor: Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Animal death
dreamy_demon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Dementia, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood
jasmine256's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Body horror
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Dementia
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Racism
chloseencounter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Even though the first half of the book was a bit slow, I really enjoyed getting to know our main character and her dog, as well as the relationships she forms with the people in town. The writing style was fun and even though I did find some small bits sorta…this is not how people talk but how the author imagines is a hip way to speak, I still thought a lot of the narration was humorous and I liked Mouse as a person. I’d definitely want to grab a coffee with her. Also the ongoing bit about NPR pledge week was hysterical.
I must say I did think some parts of this book where frightening.
The ending was where things kinda flipped for me but I didn’t hate it either, some bits where good and some bits felt meh.
Overall this was a solid read that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys folklore, a good mystery, tense but not too scary or gory, and some fun characters with good humor even in the face of horror. I’ll definitely be trying something else by T. Kingfisher in the future.
Graphic: Confinement, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Kidnapping
thekeytotheend's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy
Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Gun violence, Racism, and Torture
ashleycmms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Animal death
Minor: Child death
parkerluck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Mainly I wanted just a little more from the characters and maybe like... 10% less quip during the tense scenes. The humor waned after a bit and I felt myself getting tired after reading "Hon" for the 4th time on a page. Overall it definitely wasn't a dealbreaker by any means and I found the MC very likeable!! Just wish she had a bit more going on.
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Animal death, Slavery, and Miscarriage