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4.52 AVERAGE
4.52 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Dysphoria
This book is good start to finish. White excels in making a cast of characters that you care about. Through the hurt and the comfort. I've felt as I've begun to read more, I've gotten more in touch with my empathy, and this book tested that. I was disturbed and touched, excited and shocked.
Every moment was either unpredictable in a good way or predictable in a good way.
What I noticed as well, after reading Hell Followed With Us, the bonus chapter, and the acknowledgments, is that White gives a voice to his characters. I don't imagine characters voices, but the way their minds are captured on a page is so well spun. Easily one of my favorite authors, and I'll have to pick up Compound Facture once it's released in paper back.
Every moment was either unpredictable in a good way or predictable in a good way.
What I noticed as well, after reading Hell Followed With Us, the bonus chapter, and the acknowledgments, is that White gives a voice to his characters. I don't imagine characters voices, but the way their minds are captured on a page is so well spun. Easily one of my favorite authors, and I'll have to pick up Compound Facture once it's released in paper back.
In this version of Victorian England, spirits are very much real, but only men are allowed to interact with them - with terrible consequences for women who are found out. Trans boy Silas, unaccepted as his real self, is discovered practicing spiritcraft publicly and sent to a girls school to become the "proper lady" he can never be. But this school is haunted, not only by its tortured tenants but by those girls who have been killed by those in charge for not becoming marriage material.
Despite reading the trigger warnings (very kindly) included in the book and being very uncomfortable with the first few chapters, I decided to finish this book because I really wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately, the unending medical gore made me so viscerally uncomfortable that I had to keep pausing because I was having physical reactions to it. I can't do gross-surgery-goes-wrong stuff, and our main character is always thinking about or performing it. I can read so many horrible things in books, but this one type of thing is the only one to physically upset me. Because of this, I won't be rating the book. If you're like me, I'd avoid this book. If that's something you can take, I do recommend this!
Now my otherwise thoughts on the book. I really enjoyed Silas as a main character. He was well characterized and I deeply wanted everything to be okay with him. The author is also trans and autistic, so those aspects are Own Voices. While it's great to be reading about trans, queer, and autistic characters in a historical setting, this is a more realistic book that depicts the horrible ways such people were treated in the past (and in some places, today). There is deep tragedy in the way that these children are treated and experimented on. I also appreciated that the author acknowledged the history of Black people particularly having horrifying medical experiments done on them. In terms of this being a speculative fiction book, I thought the magic and spirit stuff left some to be desired. I wanted to know more about how this world was affected by spirits being a part of life. I wasn't 100% on the relationship because they don't know each other well and have basically one thing in common, but for the sake of a HEA, I'll take it. I also am unsure that this should be categorized as YA; yes, it follows teen characters, but the content is so very adult.
Overall, I should have DNFed because of the medical gore, but otherwise I think it's a high quality book.
Despite reading the trigger warnings (very kindly) included in the book and being very uncomfortable with the first few chapters, I decided to finish this book because I really wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately, the unending medical gore made me so viscerally uncomfortable that I had to keep pausing because I was having physical reactions to it. I can't do gross-surgery-goes-wrong stuff, and our main character is always thinking about or performing it. I can read so many horrible things in books, but this one type of thing is the only one to physically upset me. Because of this, I won't be rating the book. If you're like me, I'd avoid this book. If that's something you can take, I do recommend this!
Now my otherwise thoughts on the book. I really enjoyed Silas as a main character. He was well characterized and I deeply wanted everything to be okay with him. The author is also trans and autistic, so those aspects are Own Voices. While it's great to be reading about trans, queer, and autistic characters in a historical setting, this is a more realistic book that depicts the horrible ways such people were treated in the past (and in some places, today). There is deep tragedy in the way that these children are treated and experimented on. I also appreciated that the author acknowledged the history of Black people particularly having horrifying medical experiments done on them. In terms of this being a speculative fiction book, I thought the magic and spirit stuff left some to be desired. I wanted to know more about how this world was affected by spirits being a part of life. I wasn't 100% on the relationship because they don't know each other well and have basically one thing in common, but for the sake of a HEA, I'll take it. I also am unsure that this should be categorized as YA; yes, it follows teen characters, but the content is so very adult.
Overall, I should have DNFed because of the medical gore, but otherwise I think it's a high quality book.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Completely blew my expectations out of the water. The perfect balance of horror and heart. Obsessed.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria
adventurous
dark
sad
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:
Complicated