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leahrosereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐
Start: ⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐
Atmosphere: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Ending: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Style: ⭐⭐⭐
What I liked
First, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Thematically, this story is so smart. I really liked the conversations it was bringing about and the themes it explored. Well done. The horror was perfect for YA. Creepy, a bit gory, but still tame enough that I think folks who don't love horror will still enjoy it. Also I'm always down for a Sapphic story! Unfortunately, outside of that, not much worked for me.
I don't mind slower paced stories usually but the first 50% of this was a slog to get through. The second half got better for about 70 pages but then the end fell apart again for me.
I felt like a lot of this was disjointed, specifically the main character and how she changes. It felt really slow and then incredibly sudden.
This is definitely going to be a favorite for a lot of folks, and I'm very interested in seeing what Legrand writes next.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
alli_the_bookaholic13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Religious bigotry
onceuponabookcase's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I have been really excited to read Extasia by Claire Legrand ever since it was first announced. I absolutely adored Sawkill Girls and how terrifying it was, so there was no doubt I would read Legrand's next horror novel. And as I expected, it was bloody brilliant!
Many years ago, in The World That Once Was, disease followed by war wiped out the majority of the population. Only a few survived. These few were saved by God, who spoke to them, and told them of a new way to live; if only they do as He says, there was a way to prosper and survive, a life without sin, a life of worship. He directed them to a place where they could build anew, a village named Haven. But evil still lurked in the world. The Devil that lives under the mountain. The only way to protect themselves from this evil, God told them, were the Saints. God would speak to the Elders of Haven, speaking the names of four girls yet to bleed, to be their Saints. They would keep the town safe from sin, by allowing them to unleash their anger and lustful depravities upon the Saints. They will keep the people of Haven of good, and pious, and safe.
Today, she will be anointed as a Saint, and named Amity. The day she has long been waiting for since her mother shamed the family five years ago in her sin. She will restore her family's honour. She will be Godly and good, and gladly take whatever the people of Haven land upon her during visitation. And she will defeat the Devil, who has taken the lives of nine Haven men, in gruesome and mysterious ways. She knows a story, one her mother once told her, of relics that call on the Devil. She will find these relics, and she will face the Devil and defeat him.
When her fellow Saints, Temperance and Mercy, talk of women living in the woods, women with power, Amity follows. Confused as to who these women are and where they come from, as the people of Haven are the only ones who survived The World That Once Was, Amity decides she will learn what she can of this power, this Extasia, and hope it helps her find the relics and defeat the Devil.
This book. This book! Extasia had me raging like you wouldn't believe. Right from the get go, we learn very quickly about the world, the religious fervour of the people of Haven, and Amity's excitement and pride at becoming a Saint, knowing until the day she bleeds, she will be subjected to the town's violence and worse. We quickly learn of the attitude towards women, who were of course responsible for the destruction of The World That Once Was because of their deceit and lustful, sinful ways. We learn it is the men who have the power, and that everyone has been brainwashed from birth that the way of the town is right and is good, and is how they are kept safe from the Devil. Extasia reminded me very strongly of elements of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Grace Year by Kim Liggett, with a little of Impossible Causes by Julie Mayhew - and though I've not yet read it, I think there will probably be similarities with The Seawomen by Chloe Timms. Haven is extremely cult-like, without anyone knowing they're living in a cult. Amity's belief and conviction is heartbreaking and unbelievably disturbing as we see exactly what it is she is expected to endure. I got so extremely angry very, very quickly.
I was reminded very much of how Puritans are shown on TV and films, not just their faith, but the way they speak - the ways Amity thinks, and narrates the story. Then she meets the witches in the Coven living in the woods, and these women speak like contemporary people, and the juxtaposition of the two, the Saints and the Coven, and their conversations is startling but brilliant. Slowly, slowly, Amity learns that things aren't necessarily as they seem. Haven obviously have got things wrong somewhere, because according to the Coven, there are small villages all over. It's strange, but it's not important. What is important is that the men of Haven are continually killed in more alarming and inexplicable ways. Amity's focus is on trying to save her people. And if it means sneaking out and meeting with these women and learning what she can in order to get the relics to face the Devil, then so be it.
Amity is seeing animals with white eyes, with patchy feathers or furs, looking like they're rotting. She's also seeing strange, giant grey women with only gaping mouths in their heads. Despite that, when we learn what's going on, they're not exactly things to be frightened of. Extasia wasn't the story I expected, considering it's a horror. There wasn't anything scary about this book for me, it felt more like a dystopian fantasy. I would have liked to have been scared by Extasia as I was by Sawkill Girls. But it is very much a horrifying story. It's disturbing and unsettling, sinister and uncomfortable, and completely messed up, and I felt very much like I do when I watch The Handmaid's Tale, when they've found another atrocious thing to do to women. But my main feeling throughout Extasia overwhelming anger, and had be screaming on social media that I hoped Amity would end up burning Haven right down to the ground.
It's incredible to see the change in Amity, as she learns more, as she witnesses things she never would have expected, and reacts to them in ways she never would have expected. She starts to question everything. She starts to consider what is truly important to her, what truly needs protecting. It's like a spark that falls on a trail of oil, the flame that follows its path, inching its way closer to the source, until it finally reaches the source, and explodes into a devastating inferno. That's what it's like watching Amity learn, and question, and finally has her eyes opened. Her rage is all-consuming, and it's beautiful. Hell hath no fury like a woman who is awakened to the truth. Her rage matched my own, and I reveled in it. There is a very sweet, very quiet sapphic romance in Extasia, and becomes one of very few lights in Amity's life, something that balances out the anger, and reminds her of her softness when her razor sharp edges.
The story took a turn I wasn't at all expecting, and it knocked me for six. Such a twist, and so much more anger and distgust! It's the final straw for Amity, and she knows what needs to be done, and she takes no prisoners. But, considering how the story ended, I might personally be a little more like Mercy than Amity, but the ending was brilliant. Had I been Amity, I think it might have taken me a little longer to get to where Amity ends up. But I also feel like there couldn't have been a better ending. And I completely adored the epilogue, and how there's a possibility of a sequel or companion novel.
As a woman living in this world, who has experienced as well as heard the violence we are subjected to, Extasia is a story that is very close to my heart. It's powerful, and important, and necessary. And it also made me feel incredibly seen, that the anger I feel is valid and an understandable reaction to everything. It's something I take a huge amount of comfort in. Though, as Legrand reminds me through Amity, it's what we do with that anger that counts.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism
Minor: Torture
dernhelms_bag's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Vomit
RELIGIOUS TRAUMAleahjanespeare's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Infidelity and Cannibalism