Scan barcode
heatherinthenether's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
This is a delightfully unsettling thriller that explores family and love, societal expectations, culture and history, colonization and generational trauma. It's a powerful and truly haunting story that stays with you long after you finish the book. For anyone with a bug phobia, this is not the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Blood, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
hobbithopeful's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? No
4.75
Sapphic colonization horror!?? LIKE WHAT! This was such an engaging and creepy read. I couldn't put it down, even as I had goosebumps from the suffocating imagery. I don't think there are many authors that can pull off writing about race and colonisation for a horror book, but Trang Thanh Tran NAILED it! I am a grade A weenie, so this wasn't too scary for me to read. I was guessing the whole time, and I loved the twists and turns.
I absolutely loved how race was talked about, it was just done so well and seamlessly. Honestly still cracking up about the line "this woman has a PHD in colonization.." . Jade feels so out of place in Vietnam, like a banana she mentions, and honestly I relate so much to her with my own race struggles.
Also this book is sapphic!
A truly creepy and tense tale about a hungry house, and too many bugs!
If you like thriller books you will definitely like this one!
I absolutely loved how race was talked about, it was just done so well and seamlessly. Honestly still cracking up about the line "this woman has a PHD in colonization.." . Jade feels so out of place in Vietnam, like a banana she mentions, and honestly I relate so much to her with my own race struggles.
Also this book is sapphic!
A truly creepy and tense tale about a hungry house, and too many bugs!
If you like thriller books you will definitely like this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 stars rounded up!
this started off super interesting but the haunting within a haunting threw me off a bit and the family dynamics were a bit too heavy for the haunting plot to balance out. the “scares” felt a bit cheesy and 2D in comparison to the commentary on race/colonization in Vietnam and the crumbling family
that being said the relationships, especially between sisters were lovely! as an oldest sister i deeply felt all the heavy lifting Jade did and how she felt she had to pay everyone before herself. Lily was a really accurate 2nd child; old enough to remember the rosy “before” but too young to understand or process the fucked up “after”. I have a sister just like that & our different approaches to our deadbeat father have driven a wedge between us over time just like this. really affirming to see on a page, as sad as it was
the ending was a bit cheesy & grand gesture-y so minus some points for that
anyways gotta love a book that ends with a deadbeat dad on fire!
this started off super interesting but the haunting within a haunting threw me off a bit and the family dynamics were a bit too heavy for the haunting plot to balance out. the “scares” felt a bit cheesy and 2D in comparison to the commentary on race/colonization in Vietnam and the crumbling family
that being said the relationships, especially between sisters were lovely! as an oldest sister i deeply felt all the heavy lifting Jade did and how she felt she had to pay everyone before herself. Lily was a really accurate 2nd child; old enough to remember the rosy “before” but too young to understand or process the fucked up “after”. I have a sister just like that & our different approaches to our deadbeat father have driven a wedge between us over time just like this. really affirming to see on a page, as sad as it was
the ending was a bit cheesy & grand gesture-y so minus some points for that
anyways gotta love a book that ends with a deadbeat dad on fire!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Racism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
tahsintries's review against another edition
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Racism, Murder, and Colonisation
Minor: Alcoholism
pey333's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Biphobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder
ashcrash's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
i really wanted to love this book. the premise sounded amazing and i’m always down for food/bug/haunted house horror, but it really fell flat across the board. the main character is a teen in a complicated situation and i get that she’s meant to be an unreliable narrator once the house gets its claws in her but it definitely feels like none of her decisions relate to her internal monologue or any characterization we get of her. speaking of internal monologue, there’s a LOT of it. i love scene setting and atmospheric books, especially horror, and it could totally just be the audiobook, but the way the description/prose/jade’s thoughts are weaved in with actual plot is very confusing and slows down the book a lot. there are lots of great plot elements here but way too many, so by the end it feels like none of them amounted to anything, and the central “mystery” also feels unresolved. because of all of that, the ending is completely underwhelming and doesn’t feel earned. also surprisingly disappointed by the romance, which feels forced and rushed though there are some nice moments. the theme of colonialism is a super important thing to bring into the haunted house trope, and i do feel like it works well in regards to the business partner couple, but at other points it feels like like it gets lost in the confusing narrative rather than working as an actual force in the story the way the haunting itself is. overall really disappointing, unfortunately :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Abandonment
dimolkova's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
i think i would have enjoyed the book more if i read it in print. the audiobook was not good, unfortunately, narration was pretty monotone which made it difficult to follow, so the scary/chilling parts were undermined. some parts—like flashbacks to the best friend—felt underdeveloped to the point where i wasn’t sure they were needed. all this being said, this is a promising first novel, and if/when the author published the next one, i am likely to give it a go!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Creepy insects!carolined314's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
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? It's complicated
3.75
Food and love and ghosts and control all intertwine in this book, which I found almost revolting and yet fascinating. The main character's queer journey kept me grounded even as the situation got worse and worse and then... wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Cannibalism, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Addiction
modernmatilda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
Things I love
-female character who aren't perfect and who's flaws and mistakes are a struggle
-books with covers featuring girls faces with flowers growing out of their mouths
-explorations on topic like what parents owe their children, what older siblings do to project their younger siblings and is it good, first vs second generation kids, cultural identify, belong/not belonging
This book was a wild ride with cottageGORE vibes that I treasure. But more than that, it was this gorgeous exploration of families, parents, multigeneration trauma, colonization, and ghosts. I don't think I understood everything, but I loved everything.
The dream/not dream scenes were wonderful because I did not know which parts were real and which ones weren't. The sleep paralysis creeped me the F out. The bug scenes were fantastically gorey but I think I needed more explanation.
I feel like this would make a fantastic book discussion choice and I'm so thankful to my local bookstore employee for recommending it.
-female character who aren't perfect and who's flaws and mistakes are a struggle
-books with covers featuring girls faces with flowers growing out of their mouths
-explorations on topic like what parents owe their children, what older siblings do to project their younger siblings and is it good, first vs second generation kids, cultural identify, belong/not belonging
This book was a wild ride with cottageGORE vibes that I treasure. But more than that, it was this gorgeous exploration of families, parents, multigeneration trauma, colonization, and ghosts. I don't think I understood everything, but I loved everything.
The dream/not dream scenes were wonderful because I did not know which parts were real and which ones weren't. The sleep paralysis creeped me the F out. The bug scenes were fantastically gorey but I think I needed more explanation.
I feel like this would make a fantastic book discussion choice and I'm so thankful to my local bookstore employee for recommending it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
lqvekanej's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Murder