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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was too long… the first 50% was exposition and nothing really ~happened~ until halfway through the book, which in audio form means 14 hours of listening until anything happens.
I understand why there was so much set up, but also it made the book feel a little mismatched in terms of pacing. The second half of the book was muuuuch more interesting IMO and things really picked up. I guess I just expected more plot from a book about a demonic cult.
I understand why there was so much set up, but also it made the book feel a little mismatched in terms of pacing. The second half of the book was muuuuch more interesting IMO and things really picked up. I guess I just expected more plot from a book about a demonic cult.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars
Set in 1960's-1990's Argentina, a man tries to protect his son from the magical cult of his in-laws, who tortured him as their most powerful source.
This is a horror, but it's also a long, slow historical family drama. In every section, we follow someone in or around this family at different points in time. We follow the father when Gaspar is a child, we follow the mother when the couple were teenagers, we follow Gaspar when he's a teenager taking the lead of the story. This book has alchemical, supernatural gothic horror, but that horror is used to show the cycle of abuse through the generations of a family. We see how much abuse the father goes through, and while he's trying to protect Gaspar, he's also passing on some of that abuse in different ways. The horror is also being used as metaphor for Argentina's Dirty War, which is an area of history I knew nothing about before reading this. Honestly, I think if I'd done (or known to do) a bit more prep work on that history, I likely would've gotten more out of this. The first half of this book, I wasn't as invested and felt like I was just skimming the surface. But once we got to the halfway point and Gaspar had taken the reins, I was much more involved in the story and rooting for him. This could possibly be because Gaspar is older and has a greater understanding of his surroundings, so I did as well - I enjoyed seeing the 90's setting. Or, perhaps I wasn't getting enough from the audiobook and should've taken my time with the print book. I also thought that the short POV that we get from the researcher was a great piece of short fiction inserted in the story. I really liked the action and tension towards the end and was cheering for terrible people to get their just desserts.
Overall, this is a thorough metaphorical horror, but it did take me a while to really get invested in it.
Set in 1960's-1990's Argentina, a man tries to protect his son from the magical cult of his in-laws, who tortured him as their most powerful source.
This is a horror, but it's also a long, slow historical family drama. In every section, we follow someone in or around this family at different points in time. We follow the father when Gaspar is a child, we follow the mother when the couple were teenagers, we follow Gaspar when he's a teenager taking the lead of the story. This book has alchemical, supernatural gothic horror, but that horror is used to show the cycle of abuse through the generations of a family. We see how much abuse the father goes through, and while he's trying to protect Gaspar, he's also passing on some of that abuse in different ways. The horror is also being used as metaphor for Argentina's Dirty War, which is an area of history I knew nothing about before reading this. Honestly, I think if I'd done (or known to do) a bit more prep work on that history, I likely would've gotten more out of this. The first half of this book, I wasn't as invested and felt like I was just skimming the surface. But once we got to the halfway point and Gaspar had taken the reins, I was much more involved in the story and rooting for him. This could possibly be because Gaspar is older and has a greater understanding of his surroundings, so I did as well - I enjoyed seeing the 90's setting. Or, perhaps I wasn't getting enough from the audiobook and should've taken my time with the print book. I also thought that the short POV that we get from the researcher was a great piece of short fiction inserted in the story. I really liked the action and tension towards the end and was cheering for terrible people to get their just desserts.
Overall, this is a thorough metaphorical horror, but it did take me a while to really get invested in it.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nunca había leído algo de terror pero me gustó, lo recomiendo bastante
dnf @ 20%
Frustrating and not worth the slog through all 600 pages I suspect. Too many musings on how enchantingly beautiful our blond haired blue eyed protagonist and his son are and not nearly enough horror in my opinion...
Frustrating and not worth the slog through all 600 pages I suspect. Too many musings on how enchantingly beautiful our blond haired blue eyed protagonist and his son are and not nearly enough horror in my opinion...
4,6. No le doy más puntuación porque la inclemente Mariana no te deja respirar en casi las 667 páginas.Termino el libro exhausto y respiro tranquilo ¡Mariana que bestia eres!. ¡La Orden!
It was not what I wanted. I did not know it was going to have magic powers, and that ruined it for me.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Siempre habrá estrellas sobre este lugar. Aunque la casa que amamos y la calle que amamos esté perdida.