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funsizelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Creatures of Want and Ruin takes readers back to the era of pulp fiction with its gothic atmosphere and horror-filled storyline. The main characters are Fin and Ellie, two strong heroes who fight for their homes in the face of demonic evil in prohibition-era Long Island. These two strong female characters are well developed and likeable, but in no way are they perfect. Their faults and weaknesses motivate their actions just as much. Unusually, the secondary characters are also very thoroughly drawn and play a large part in the story.
Tanzer’s novel is fantastic and thrilling but doesn’t move quickly. Instead of being action-filled, the focus is on the characters and the concept and battle of the over-reaching evil. The setting and time period lend credence to the story and instigate the events at the beginning of it, but are not a major part of the plot itself.
I recommend Creatures of Want and Ruin for fans of 1920’s and 30’s pulp fiction such as Weird Tales or H.P. Lovecraft.
Tanzer’s novel is fantastic and thrilling but doesn’t move quickly. Instead of being action-filled, the focus is on the characters and the concept and battle of the over-reaching evil. The setting and time period lend credence to the story and instigate the events at the beginning of it, but are not a major part of the plot itself.
I recommend Creatures of Want and Ruin for fans of 1920’s and 30’s pulp fiction such as Weird Tales or H.P. Lovecraft.
espressobean's review against another edition
2.0
There were a lot of reasons I didn't like this book. The plot was uninteresting and didn't make much sense, the pacing was off and the characters felt extremely fake, but all of these issues and others all lead back to the same thing. There was no heart and no passion in this book. It didn't feel as if the author cared about the story or it's characters so I didn't care about them either.
heres_the_thing's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Tanzer's "Creatures of Want and Ruin" is a sequel to a previous work, which I haven't read, but I found it immersive and compelling. Set on Long Island during Prohibition, it encircles Ellie, a fisher and booze runner, and Fin, a socialite summering on the island. These two very different women are drawn together when a charismatic preacher comes to town--along with demons, creeping mushrooms, and revival meetings decrying immigrants to the island. Creepy and populated with a host of interesting characters and relationships, "Creatures of Want and Ruin" should appeal to fans of Kelley Armstrong, Mercedes Lackey, Naomi Novik, and historical fantasy that's firmly grounded in everyday life.
Netgalley review.
Netgalley review.
vita_zeta's review against another edition
2.0
*sigh* Well. That sure was a book.
See, that's the thing. It's very obvious that Molly Tanzer is a very capable writer. Her primary characters are well-drawn, she's clearly devoted to capturing the atmosphere of the setting and the period. Tanzer wrote this story as well as she could, but what she was writing just wasn't very interesting.
Ellie is a bootlegger trying to make enough money to send her brother to medical school. Fin (I was deeply confused about this nickname for a while, its short for Delphine and pronounced as such) is a bookish upper class woman who's husband inherited a bunch of money and wants to spend it all partying. Somehow Ellie and Fin and some people they know get tangled up in a plot by a group of racists lead by a so-called reverend to take back Long Island, or whatever, and Reverend Hunter has been using the essence of demon to help him do it. It takes a good long while to get to that point, even though all of the pieces are telegraphed very plainly. It felt very paint-by-numbers with little heart, and by the end I was just going through the motions with them.
I think the main problem is that none of the characters are really going anywhere. Ellie has a goal - send her brother to medical school - and at first that is used pretty well to get her into the good kind of trouble the story needed her to be in. But after that the character's own motivations have to take over - it can't always just be about saving everyone else. But I don't really know how this journey was meaningful to Ellie at all. There was no path she was taking, no change she really experienced. She and her fiance, Gabriel, learn some stuff about their relationship, but honestly I thought they were far too good communicators for two people their age and era. Their emotional maturity made for rather stale reading. I guess she learns to separate herself from the toxicity in her family but, like, she was going to move out anyway.
I think the only thing that I really know about Ellie is that she is really freaking horny, and while I appreciate the healthy polyamory on display here, Ellie ogling other men when she had a perfectly wonderful fiance at home felt very distracting and pointless. It was completely unnecessary for Jones, her cop contact, to be a love interest. Nothing is really revealed about Ellie through their relationship, and its just left hanging at the end.
Fin faired a little better. She had a history that lead to her understanding of the whole demon thing that was unique. She also had a rather unusual home life going on, with her husband and their friends constantly partying and likely sleeping together, while she gets increasingly ignored. The vibe of the scenes with her husband and their friends gave me the impression that they were going to be involved in the overarching plot somehow but, spoiler, apparently they were just set dressing. Bobbie, Fin's former close friend who seemed content to be slowly stealing Fin's husband and upper class life, in particularly had a rather devious vibe to her that I thought was going somewhere. Apparently, a vibe was all it was.
Yeah, I don't know, all I can feel in regards to this book is one big shrug. The characters were there, they did stuff, they used slang that made them sound like they were from the 1920s but mostly they were all way too smart and well-balanced to make the conflicts interesting. The villain was barely even there. There was a lot of forced chemistry, particularly between Fin and Ellie. Tanzer seemed to like mentioning their girlish giggling when a joke or a sarcastic remark or something would have gone a lot further to show they enjoyed each other's sense of humor. I'm giving this two stars because, I mean, it was very readable (as stated Tanzer, is a very good writer), and goddamn I loved Creatures of Will and Temper so much. But the charm and cleverness and style of that book is nowhere near here.
See, that's the thing. It's very obvious that Molly Tanzer is a very capable writer. Her primary characters are well-drawn, she's clearly devoted to capturing the atmosphere of the setting and the period. Tanzer wrote this story as well as she could, but what she was writing just wasn't very interesting.
Ellie is a bootlegger trying to make enough money to send her brother to medical school. Fin (I was deeply confused about this nickname for a while, its short for Delphine and pronounced as such) is a bookish upper class woman who's husband inherited a bunch of money and wants to spend it all partying. Somehow Ellie and Fin and some people they know get tangled up in a plot by a group of racists lead by a so-called reverend to take back Long Island, or whatever, and Reverend Hunter has been using the essence of demon to help him do it. It takes a good long while to get to that point, even though all of the pieces are telegraphed very plainly. It felt very paint-by-numbers with little heart, and by the end I was just going through the motions with them.
I think the main problem is that none of the characters are really going anywhere. Ellie has a goal - send her brother to medical school - and at first that is used pretty well to get her into the good kind of trouble the story needed her to be in. But after that the character's own motivations have to take over - it can't always just be about saving everyone else. But I don't really know how this journey was meaningful to Ellie at all. There was no path she was taking, no change she really experienced. She and her fiance, Gabriel, learn some stuff about their relationship, but honestly I thought they were far too good communicators for two people their age and era. Their emotional maturity made for rather stale reading. I guess she learns to separate herself from the toxicity in her family but, like, she was going to move out anyway.
I think the only thing that I really know about Ellie is that she is really freaking horny, and while I appreciate the healthy polyamory on display here, Ellie ogling other men when she had a perfectly wonderful fiance at home felt very distracting and pointless. It was completely unnecessary for Jones, her cop contact, to be a love interest. Nothing is really revealed about Ellie through their relationship, and its just left hanging at the end.
Fin faired a little better. She had a history that lead to her understanding of the whole demon thing that was unique. She also had a rather unusual home life going on, with her husband and their friends constantly partying and likely sleeping together, while she gets increasingly ignored. The vibe of the scenes with her husband and their friends gave me the impression that they were going to be involved in the overarching plot somehow but, spoiler, apparently they were just set dressing. Bobbie, Fin's former close friend who seemed content to be slowly stealing Fin's husband and upper class life, in particularly had a rather devious vibe to her that I thought was going somewhere. Apparently, a vibe was all it was.
Yeah, I don't know, all I can feel in regards to this book is one big shrug. The characters were there, they did stuff, they used slang that made them sound like they were from the 1920s but mostly they were all way too smart and well-balanced to make the conflicts interesting. The villain was barely even there. There was a lot of forced chemistry, particularly between Fin and Ellie. Tanzer seemed to like mentioning their girlish giggling when a joke or a sarcastic remark or something would have gone a lot further to show they enjoyed each other's sense of humor. I'm giving this two stars because, I mean, it was very readable (as stated Tanzer, is a very good writer), and goddamn I loved Creatures of Will and Temper so much. But the charm and cleverness and style of that book is nowhere near here.
aardwyrm's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
Slow, spooky, and atmospheric, more build up than payoff, perhaps, but the story might not work without it. For a book with demons, it avoided a lot of the traps of "hey, demons!" as a shortcut to make things automatically serious and scary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Biphobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Violence
vlynnk89's review against another edition
4.0
I love that this doesn't necessarily have to be read as part of a series.
wardenkiko's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
annarella's review against another edition
4.0
A creepy, enthralling, and entertaining book. I loved the style of writing and the characters.
The plot hooked me since the beginning and I had to read it as fast as I can.
As far as I understand this is a series but I had no problems in understanding the plot or the characters and their relationship.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Netgalley for this ARC
The plot hooked me since the beginning and I had to read it as fast as I can.
As far as I understand this is a series but I had no problems in understanding the plot or the characters and their relationship.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Netgalley for this ARC
abookishtype's review against another edition
5.0
It’s hard out there for a young woman with a bitter, disabled father who has to support her family and help pay for her polio-stricken brother’s medical college fees. Her only marketable skills are her ability to pilot a ship around Long Island and a certain disregard for being strictly legal. Fortunately, with Prohibition in place, a woman like Ellie West can make a fair amount of money running alcohol if she’s careful. And, indeed, Ellie is muddling along quite well until a storm at sea causes her to bump into a supernatural problem way above her pay grade. Creatures of Want and Ruin, by Molly Tanzer, is the sequel to Creatures of Will and Temper. When I reviewed Creatures of Will and Temper, I called it a very slow burn of a novel. Creatures of Want and Ruin starts with a bang and never slows down. This book is a fantastic ride...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
ecath's review against another edition
4.0
MY SHIP DIDN'T HAPPEN, but I reckon this is still a mighty fine book.