Scan barcode
skullheadface's review
5.0
Man oh man....
This story grabbed me by my throat and squeezed harder and harder with each chapter until I thought my head was gonna pop right off!! IT WAS AWESOME!! Relentless, aggressive, I felt like I was experiencing a panic attack with each turn of the page. I love this story, everything about it is perfect. Everything. Pure insanity.
5/5 Duster Skulls
This story grabbed me by my throat and squeezed harder and harder with each chapter until I thought my head was gonna pop right off!! IT WAS AWESOME!! Relentless, aggressive, I felt like I was experiencing a panic attack with each turn of the page. I love this story, everything about it is perfect. Everything. Pure insanity.
5/5 Duster Skulls
drakaina16's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Thank you to Encylopocalypse Publications for providing a review copy.
This psychological thriller/bizarro mashup really worked for me. It keeps you on your toes guessing how unreliable the narrator really might or might not be up until the very end. I had a great time with it and Renee S. DeCamillis is definitely on my radar now. 4 stars
This psychological thriller/bizarro mashup really worked for me. It keeps you on your toes guessing how unreliable the narrator really might or might not be up until the very end. I had a great time with it and Renee S. DeCamillis is definitely on my radar now. 4 stars
laurelinwonder's review
3.0
Really fresh idea, not so much creepy as fun. If you like when people turn on one another and act like zombies, who are completely alive, this is good. It was a little too short to fully flesh out what I wanted, but that's just me.
howlinglibraries's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I was sold on the premise of The Bone Cutters as soon as I first heard of it, and had looked forward to reading it for quite a while, but unfortunately, it was more of a letdown than anything else. The premise sounds so twisted and dark that I expected a much darker and more violent story, but the bulk of this brief novella focuses on mundane exchanges between the main character and a specific side character, and the plot felt lost along the way.
The main character is difficult to get a solid read on because there is a lot of self-contradiction in how she views her mental illness (and how others view it) vs. how it actually plays out, and I'm not certain about how I feel regarding the mental illness representation in general here. There's a lot of internalized misogyny and slut-shaming (including a statement that "no rape victim can possibly have rape fantasies", despite that being a very common and widely acknowledged response to SA trauma), and I also don't remember the last book I read that featured this much body-shaming and fatphobia (with most of it coming from the main character). All of this combined made the main character impossible to root for because she was just so awful that I wanted out of her head as soon as possible.
While the base plotline is cool, it simply wasn't executed well enough to redeem this story from any of my major issues with it.
The main character is difficult to get a solid read on because there is a lot of self-contradiction in how she views her mental illness (and how others view it) vs. how it actually plays out, and I'm not certain about how I feel regarding the mental illness representation in general here. There's a lot of internalized misogyny and slut-shaming (including a statement that "no rape victim can possibly have rape fantasies", despite that being a very common and widely acknowledged response to SA trauma), and I also don't remember the last book I read that featured this much body-shaming and fatphobia (with most of it coming from the main character). All of this combined made the main character impossible to root for because she was just so awful that I wanted out of her head as soon as possible.
While the base plotline is cool, it simply wasn't executed well enough to redeem this story from any of my major issues with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape
inky_bat's review
4.0
Full speed anxiety
What a raw and gripping portrayal of panic and anxiety from the very start. It was chaotic, messy, stressful, suspenseful, and didn't allow a pause to catch your breath. It had this slight nostalgic 80s feel to me in an odd way, but I cannot elaborate on that without spoilers.
What a raw and gripping portrayal of panic and anxiety from the very start. It was chaotic, messy, stressful, suspenseful, and didn't allow a pause to catch your breath. It had this slight nostalgic 80s feel to me in an odd way, but I cannot elaborate on that without spoilers.
exorcismofemilyreed's review
2.0
"Every one of them is scarred."
2.5⭐
As soon as I read the synopsis for The Bone Cutters, I had to snag a copy. This book has a unique premise, and I was very interested in seeing what happened. The synopsis sounds like a speculative fiction version of Unsane, which is awesome.
I'm not sure how to explain my feelings on this book. It starts off well, and then is not focused on the bone cutters as much as I expected. They aren't even in the book as much as other characters, which was odd to me.
The book is not written in a scary tone. There was no building dread for me, and it was not as dark as the synopsis sounded. I thought it was going to be a fairly grim book, but it ended up being on the lighter side. the horror aspect was just sort of tucked in at the end, and it was too late for me by then. There was no suspense, and then it was over. Dusting is explained through exposition instead of actually fitting into the story. I felt that the ending was silly, and didn't really fit with the rest of the book.
2.5⭐
As soon as I read the synopsis for The Bone Cutters, I had to snag a copy. This book has a unique premise, and I was very interested in seeing what happened. The synopsis sounds like a speculative fiction version of Unsane, which is awesome.
I'm not sure how to explain my feelings on this book. It starts off well, and then is not focused on the bone cutters as much as I expected. They aren't even in the book as much as other characters, which was odd to me.
The book is not written in a scary tone. There was no building dread for me, and it was not as dark as the synopsis sounded. I thought it was going to be a fairly grim book, but it ended up being on the lighter side. the horror aspect was just sort of tucked in at the end, and it was too late for me by then. There was no suspense, and then it was over. Dusting is explained through exposition instead of actually fitting into the story. I felt that the ending was silly, and didn't really fit with the rest of the book.
More...