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crondeau_yvr's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Ugh… I managed to finish it but just barely. The story was interesting enough but so slow and tedious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry
shelfdeprecation's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Body horror, and Child abuse
Moderate: Colonisation, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault
aseel_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
2.5
Kind of odd to mix a super patriarchal society/witches with a dystopian type of world. Not really sure how I feel about that. I liked the witchy and queer elements of it but the overall plot wasn't as smooth as It could have been.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Lesbophobia, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Torture, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry
ghostlyprince's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal death, Cannibalism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Confinement, and Self harm
Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
Honestly there is so much heavy stuff in this book it'd be impossible to list it all, this book is not for the feint of heart and if any of the tw's contain a trigger of yours I'd advise to steer clear from the book, it's a good book but it's extremely heavy and disturbingarchaicrobin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
I was a little weary after hearing this was YA because every YA I read usually ends up being some cliche love triangle filled with tropes, so I was happily surprised when Extasia was so visceral and original.
Set in a misogynistic utopia of the future called Haven, Amity is a devout follower of God, even allowing herself to be beaten weakly to atone for her womanly sins. However, once she stumbles upon a coven in the woods and her own powers, Amity starts to realize that everything she once believed is a lie.
Extasia does not shy away from the horror in Haven, and at times I had to remind myself that yes even though I just read about someone’s bones being snapped in half this is a YA book! It was genuinely eerie and disturbing, and the characters were not only lovable but diverse! So much representation in this book, and it’s done so well.
I highly recommend this one! Only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars, is because towards the end the story tends to drag on and I feel like it could have ended much
Set in a misogynistic utopia of the future called Haven, Amity is a devout follower of God, even allowing herself to be beaten weakly to atone for her womanly sins. However, once she stumbles upon a coven in the woods and her own powers, Amity starts to realize that everything she once believed is a lie.
Extasia does not shy away from the horror in Haven, and at times I had to remind myself that yes even though I just read about someone’s bones being snapped in half this is a YA book! It was genuinely eerie and disturbing, and the characters were not only lovable but diverse! So much representation in this book, and it’s done so well.
I highly recommend this one! Only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars, is because towards the end the story tends to drag on and I feel like it could have ended much
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Domestic abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Sexual violence, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse
kingrosereads's review against another edition
challenging
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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
CHECK YOUR TRIGGER WARNINGS
The big ones: misogyny and religious trauma
This is a YA horror sci-fi fantasy that’s witchy and sapphic, and extremely traumatizing and it’s got ghosts!
TLDR: Bunch of white guys are murdered in this very Salem circa 1600s village where women are treated like trash and a young girl finds out she’s a witch. She thinks she can fight the Devil but eventually she wants to join him, because men have taken the sins of the world out on women for far too long. Give it a read. It’s got some Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver vibes to it.
Extasia follows 16-year-old Amity (we don’t know her given name from birth) who lives in a walled community, Haven, in a time period after a Great War caused by devious women has destroyed the world centuries before. Haven is God’s chosen people. Amity has completed a serious of traumatizing and torturous trials to become a saint of Haven. There are 4 saints and they’re all teenaged girls who haven’t started their menstrual cycles yet (because now women have them much later due to poison in the air from the war). Her father is an Elder and her mother was killed for adultery when she was 11.
When she is anointed, she is given the name Amity. Alongside saints Mercy, Silence, and Temperance, the girls take on the sins of the women of the past and the sins of their fellow citizens in the form of beatings (people literally line up and beat the crap out of these girls to get “out their sins”) so that they will not hit each other or their spouses (though plenty of men beat their wives and children in this town). Amity’s adornment is supposed to stop the disturbing and mysterious murders of the town’s men (I think it’s 10 have been murdered at this point).
Everything is going as expected until a boy is killed on the day she’s anointed. Hours before, Amity catches Temperance and Mercy in the woods, kissing and speaking of dark things and a woman named Malice. As the killings continue, Amity decides she must collect relics to summon the Devil and either sell her soul to save Haven or defeat the Devil to do it. Later, Amity demands Temperance and Mercy take her to meet Malice. They take her to a magical forest called Avazel where Amity learns of witches and a power called extasia. Temperance and Mercy introduce Amity to their coven leader, Malice, who says that extasia has been calling for Amity and she promises to help her learn to wield the power. Amity also learns that Haven is not the only human settlement. The other witches are from other towns and cities.
Spoilers ahead at this point on. I’d say read it if you love a good feminine rage book.
It isn’t long before Amity discovers that the coven is responsible for the murders as they’re ritualistic killings to summon the Devil. They kill men who have harmed them. Amity bargains with the coven, asking to give her time to look for the relics so she can summon the Devil without anymore men dying. She’s given a week to complete her mission or they will continue the killings. At this point, Temperance has been burned by the people of Haven, and she’s enlisted her sister, Blessing, and Silence into the coven. The four change their names, Amity becomes Rage, Mercy becomes Vengeance, Blessing becomes Hunger, and Silence becomes Sorrow.
Rage has also enlisted the help of her best friend and betrothed, Samuel, to help in her quest to defeat the Devil. He also has to come to terms with how wrong things are in Haven. Women are subservient and taught to be meek, and they’re not taught to read or wield a weapon. They’re meant to only be wives and mothers. Rage’s father imprisons her after another Elder is killed and the townspeople blame her yet again for the evil in their town. Vengeance and Sorrow eventually rescue her, and just in time, as her father has Hunger tied to an altar, naked, and ready to sacrifice her in front of the other Elders (some are looking too happy). The girls save Hunger with Samuel’s help and they escape to Avazel.
When Rage’s time is up and the coven’s ritual is complete, the Devil still hasn’t come. Malice asks Rage to use her relics which leads them to the dark mountain where Haven believes is the home of the Devil. Only Rage, Vengeance , Sorrow, and Hunger are given passage into the mountain. The rest of the coven and Samuel hang back to fight the Haven men coming to kill the women. The girls learn there’s no Devil under the mountain, there’s a whole city of people. A girl Rage’s age, Jaime, tells her that 150 years ago, when the war destroyed much of the earth, their ancestors built this place. But Rage’s ancestors didn’t want to live under the mountain, so they broke off to “live out their lily-white, neo-Puritan, misogynistic fantasies” (p. 406), and her father was the only one left who knew the truth. The people under the mountain, other than those in charge, are unaware there are people living on the surface. Jaime’s mother, a governor, attempts to kill the girls to keep this secret but they escape.
Rage confronts her father, and kills him when he attempts to kill her and Hunger. She tells the Elders and the townspeople the truth and that things will be different. They work to heal and rebuild. Rage learns that extasia comes from the pain and deaths of the women before her, especially the women killed in Haven. Jaime and her friends are also able to seize control of their city.
The magic system/origins was a little weak, but I appreciated the symbolism. The irony of calling Haven “haven” and Azavel being created to actually be a safe haven for women through the deaths of women. It is a super white book, which is explained in one sentence towards the end (the ancestors of Haven were racist as well as misogynistic). Every other chapter was just trauma. Child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor, and just watching the women cast their gazes downwards, take their beatings, and Rage struggling to read was all really painful. Not to mention, it’s pretty gruesome and gory.
The fact that Hunger was 14 and Adam was 18 was driving me up the wall. And I know everything in this is supposed to be upsetting and 14 year olds are naïve and sexually curious, but I could’ve just gone without the pedophilia considering everything else going on the book. But I get the need for a righteous kill without feeling bad the guy was a child so we barely made him into an adult. Trust, there’s plenty of evil hearted 15 year olds in the world, I’d have been fine if they killed a minor aged Adam.
In my opinion, Rage seems to switch to the witches’ side a little quickly, not in their vendetta and mission to kill 16 men from Haven, but accepting she’s a witch and she will be this dark being forever. Also, her relationship with Sorrow kind of came out of nowhere. I mean there were subtle moments when she wanted to touch Sorrow’s cheek or her hair, but other than that they didn’t really talk or have more obvious signs of attraction towards her. It felt forced, no chemistry, and like there was no build up considering Rage hadn’t felt desire before or given into desire like Hunger had before. And what was wrong with her being bisexual and just not loving Samuel anymore after all that had happened?
I did very much like this book. It’s really dark for a YA but so is The Hunger Games, The Giver, and Night. In a lot of ways it’s a cautionary tale for where we’re heading if we keep up our crap, which is like “great, don’t remind me” and no one who needs to actually learn this will pick up with book. I’ll say it was very much giving The Village vibes right from the start for me, and I was expecting a reveal of other people with technology, and despite this expectation, it’s very difficult to reveal this in a way that doesn’t have you rolling your eyes. I think the reveal was fine but it still felt cringe. I like the righteous rage and the line between vengeance and becoming a monster yourself. When people are oppressed and backed up in such a tight corner, they lash out in whatever way they can and that can be difficult to reel it in.
Just overall a good book that was entertaining and interesting. I liked that the monster wasn’t like in The Village where it was to further suppress and control the townspeople but rather killing men that had harmed women.
The big ones: misogyny and religious trauma
This is a YA horror sci-fi fantasy that’s witchy and sapphic, and extremely traumatizing and it’s got ghosts!
TLDR: Bunch of white guys are murdered in this very Salem circa 1600s village where women are treated like trash and a young girl finds out she’s a witch. She thinks she can fight the Devil but eventually she wants to join him, because men have taken the sins of the world out on women for far too long. Give it a read. It’s got some Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver vibes to it.
Extasia follows 16-year-old Amity (we don’t know her given name from birth) who lives in a walled community, Haven, in a time period after a Great War caused by devious women has destroyed the world centuries before. Haven is God’s chosen people. Amity has completed a serious of traumatizing and torturous trials to become a saint of Haven. There are 4 saints and they’re all teenaged girls who haven’t started their menstrual cycles yet (because now women have them much later due to poison in the air from the war). Her father is an Elder and her mother was killed for adultery when she was 11.
When she is anointed, she is given the name Amity. Alongside saints Mercy, Silence, and Temperance, the girls take on the sins of the women of the past and the sins of their fellow citizens in the form of beatings (people literally line up and beat the crap out of these girls to get “out their sins”) so that they will not hit each other or their spouses (though plenty of men beat their wives and children in this town). Amity’s adornment is supposed to stop the disturbing and mysterious murders of the town’s men (I think it’s 10 have been murdered at this point).
Everything is going as expected until a boy is killed on the day she’s anointed. Hours before, Amity catches Temperance and Mercy in the woods, kissing and speaking of dark things and a woman named Malice. As the killings continue, Amity decides she must collect relics to summon the Devil and either sell her soul to save Haven or defeat the Devil to do it. Later, Amity demands Temperance and Mercy take her to meet Malice. They take her to a magical forest called Avazel where Amity learns of witches and a power called extasia. Temperance and Mercy introduce Amity to their coven leader, Malice, who says that extasia has been calling for Amity and she promises to help her learn to wield the power. Amity also learns that Haven is not the only human settlement. The other witches are from other towns and cities.
Spoilers ahead at this point on. I’d say read it if you love a good feminine rage book.
It isn’t long before Amity discovers that the coven is responsible for the murders as they’re ritualistic killings to summon the Devil. They kill men who have harmed them. Amity bargains with the coven, asking to give her time to look for the relics so she can summon the Devil without anymore men dying. She’s given a week to complete her mission or they will continue the killings. At this point, Temperance has been burned by the people of Haven, and she’s enlisted her sister, Blessing, and Silence into the coven. The four change their names, Amity becomes Rage, Mercy becomes Vengeance, Blessing becomes Hunger, and Silence becomes Sorrow.
Rage has also enlisted the help of her best friend and betrothed, Samuel, to help in her quest to defeat the Devil. He also has to come to terms with how wrong things are in Haven. Women are subservient and taught to be meek, and they’re not taught to read or wield a weapon. They’re meant to only be wives and mothers. Rage’s father imprisons her after another Elder is killed and the townspeople blame her yet again for the evil in their town. Vengeance and Sorrow eventually rescue her, and just in time, as her father has Hunger tied to an altar, naked, and ready to sacrifice her in front of the other Elders (some are looking too happy). The girls save Hunger with Samuel’s help and they escape to Avazel.
When Rage’s time is up and the coven’s ritual is complete, the Devil still hasn’t come. Malice asks Rage to use her relics which leads them to the dark mountain where Haven believes is the home of the Devil. Only Rage, Vengeance , Sorrow, and Hunger are given passage into the mountain. The rest of the coven and Samuel hang back to fight the Haven men coming to kill the women. The girls learn there’s no Devil under the mountain, there’s a whole city of people. A girl Rage’s age, Jaime, tells her that 150 years ago, when the war destroyed much of the earth, their ancestors built this place. But Rage’s ancestors didn’t want to live under the mountain, so they broke off to “live out their lily-white, neo-Puritan, misogynistic fantasies” (p. 406), and her father was the only one left who knew the truth. The people under the mountain, other than those in charge, are unaware there are people living on the surface. Jaime’s mother, a governor, attempts to kill the girls to keep this secret but they escape.
Rage confronts her father, and kills him when he attempts to kill her and Hunger. She tells the Elders and the townspeople the truth and that things will be different. They work to heal and rebuild. Rage learns that extasia comes from the pain and deaths of the women before her, especially the women killed in Haven. Jaime and her friends are also able to seize control of their city.
The magic system/origins was a little weak, but I appreciated the symbolism. The irony of calling Haven “haven” and Azavel being created to actually be a safe haven for women through the deaths of women. It is a super white book, which is explained in one sentence towards the end (the ancestors of Haven were racist as well as misogynistic). Every other chapter was just trauma. Child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor, and just watching the women cast their gazes downwards, take their beatings, and Rage struggling to read was all really painful. Not to mention, it’s pretty gruesome and gory.
The fact that Hunger was 14 and Adam was 18 was driving me up the wall. And I know everything in this is supposed to be upsetting and 14 year olds are naïve and sexually curious, but I could’ve just gone without the pedophilia considering everything else going on the book. But I get the need for a righteous kill without feeling bad the guy was a child so we barely made him into an adult. Trust, there’s plenty of evil hearted 15 year olds in the world, I’d have been fine if they killed a minor aged Adam.
In my opinion, Rage seems to switch to the witches’ side a little quickly, not in their vendetta and mission to kill 16 men from Haven, but accepting she’s a witch and she will be this dark being forever. Also, her relationship with Sorrow kind of came out of nowhere. I mean there were subtle moments when she wanted to touch Sorrow’s cheek or her hair, but other than that they didn’t really talk or have more obvious signs of attraction towards her. It felt forced, no chemistry, and like there was no build up considering Rage hadn’t felt desire before or given into desire like Hunger had before. And what was wrong with her being bisexual and just not loving Samuel anymore after all that had happened?
I did very much like this book. It’s really dark for a YA but so is The Hunger Games, The Giver, and Night. In a lot of ways it’s a cautionary tale for where we’re heading if we keep up our crap, which is like “great, don’t remind me” and no one who needs to actually learn this will pick up with book. I’ll say it was very much giving The Village vibes right from the start for me, and I was expecting a reveal of other people with technology, and despite this expectation, it’s very difficult to reveal this in a way that doesn’t have you rolling your eyes. I think the reveal was fine but it still felt cringe. I like the righteous rage and the line between vengeance and becoming a monster yourself. When people are oppressed and backed up in such a tight corner, they lash out in whatever way they can and that can be difficult to reel it in.
Just overall a good book that was entertaining and interesting. I liked that the monster wasn’t like in The Village where it was to further suppress and control the townspeople but rather killing men that had harmed women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Religious bigotry, Torture, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, and Racism
kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, Physical abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Confinement, and Infidelity
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual harassment
micaelamariem's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Last month, I ordered a one-time book box from the Unplugged Book Box. They are a book box focused on self-care, and in it I recieved beautiful smelling lotion and perfume as well as a copy of Extasia by Claire Legrand (published by Katherine Tegan Books). Due to the packaging, it made the read even more pleasant with a heady aroma on each page.
But more about the actual book.
Claire Legrand is a former musican turned author with eleven published novels under her belt. She tends to focus on darker and grittier subjects for middle grade and young adult audiences. However, her debut into the adult fantasy world is coming with the Middlemist trilogy, releasing in spring 2023.
Extasia is a young adult horror novel with a specific focus on religious trauma. When the World That Once Was came to an end, God spared one community of people to create Haven and live by His ways. The main character, who goes through a series of names, is about to be annointed a Saint. She hopes with her sainthood she can stop the evil that has been leaking into her village, killing men. But there are dark beasts that follow her and a dark power seeks her out.
I am quite new to the horror genre as a reader. I’ve always interacted with horror tv shows and haunted houses and reading dark fantasy, but I haven’t read a lot of actual horror. So, I’m not quite sure by what criteria I should review this by. It did have a great gothic dark atmosphere, perfect for the witchiness of the plotline. There were also plenty of gory scenes, for those more inclined to body horror. I will say that I personally didn’t find it scary so much as compelling and enticing, where I wanted to turn the pages to see what happens next. However, I’m weird and don’t scare by things that ought to be scary.
I also loved the themes of this book. As someone that has encountered a bit of religious trauma myself, I am curious and like to read about religious horror or books with religious themes–whether for good or for bad. But what really drew me in was the main character’s lesson that things in the world was not all black and white and that perhaps we all have a darkness inside of us.
I thought the main character’s development was really done as she went from someone blindly following what she’d been taught to opening her eyes and questioning everything, even herself. The other characters, however, were not as nuanced. Still, my favorite characters–Blessing and Samuel–didn’t disappoint me.
There were a few minor things that bothered me about this book. It bothered me that all the feminine names were nouns–Temperance, Rage, Hunger, Blessing, etc. It felt like we were too on the nose with these names, really overteaching the lessons of the book with their name changes. There were also a few minor inconsistencies–like when the girls had to write something and could despite saying they never learned their letters. And also, the main character’s father didn’t make sense to me, in some ways. There were a few scenes that made his whole arc confusing to me.
Overall, I’m giving this book three stars. It was good and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I’m obsessed with nor can I ignore the flaws.
Some other forms of art this book reminded of: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The 100.
Trigger warnings: body horror/gore; violence against women; domestic violence; forced imprisonment; attempted rape; torture; cannibalism; someone being burnt alive; death of a parent; religious trauma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Cannibalism, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Child death, and Sexual assault
mswarning's review
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.25
Finding it hard to rate this book. I liked some of the elements of the story: post-apocalyptic, feminism, patriarchy, high control society, witchcraft, and ghosts. But they didn't really fit together well in terms of plot. And the F/F romance feels a bit superficial, kinda insta-lovey in a disappointing way. Ending is left open for a sequel, but I'm unsure if we'll get one.
Check out the trigger warnings, there's a lot in this book.. Very misogynistic society.
Check out the trigger warnings, there's a lot in this book.. Very misogynistic society.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Body horror, Violence, Death, Murder, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood, Sexual assault, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, War, Death of parent, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury
midnightgremlin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Infidelity, Homophobia, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse