Reviews with content warning for Child death - Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

20 reviews

kitsuneheart's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Cross-cultural relationships rely on clear communication and not making assumptions. Shesheshen, a blob monster, learns this when she realizes her new human girlfriend, Homily, doesn’t consider laying your eggs in your partner so they may be eaten alive by your young…to be the logical goal of dating.

Somehow, as a reader, I’m with Shesheshen on this. Infest me, Mommy.

This is definitely a pick for queer readers with family trauma. Despite this book being about a ravenous blob-monster on the run, so much of the real drama and interest is about Homily’s ruthless family, and how they have left scars on her past.

It’s also a rather asexual romance, where the asexuality is not a point of tension, which I really appreciate.

Somehow, I found this book almost cozy. The horror definitely comes through in the end, but I was so much more invested in Homily and Shesheshen’s romance and latching onto their every scrap of domestic bliss. I loved the end, and felt quite satisfied. There doesn’t need to be more. It’s just…nice. Very nice.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

Content Warnings

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

this was so fun and sad and unique and gory and strange and sweet and heartwarming and gut wrenching and whimsical and… you get the gist, I LOVED this.

heavier subject matter than I expected, but I think it balances well with the comedy and gore. this gave me the same “I’ve never read anything like this before” feeling as Walking Practice; I’m so pleased to have found another book for that mental shelf

I’d write forever if I had to say all the reasons I liked this, so I’ll leave it at: 5 stars, favorite shelf, so fresh and so so hard to put down.

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keen's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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doodletaco's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This might be my new favorite book. Somehow combines wholesomeness and body horror into a package written with an incredible amount of compassion for the characters. Finished this in a day.

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lets_b_libros's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, just WOW. Where to even start— this needs to be THE new blueprint for monster romance.

I loved seeing the story through the eyes of a monster that has good intentions but inhuman morals… From the start, when

Shesheshen assumed the gory death of her “father” was an act of love on his part... That she saw no other possibility than being a creature born out of selfless love… AGGHHHHH.

That immediately had me hooked. I had to know how a being whose perspective on human life was so skewed could eventually fall in love with a human herself.

And the book just got better and better, with such a satisfying and wholesome ending. The best book I’ve read all year, best wlw book I’ve read in a WHILE.

If anyone knows of any books that are anything similar, message me!!

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tisjenna's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

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snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

Cosy fantasy isn’t normally my cup of tea but the healthy dashes of good weirdness, horror, satire and humour have made this reading experience very enjoyable.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In follows Shesheshen, the resident shapeshifter monster of Underlook who falls in love with a kind human girl named Homily. However, despite Homily reciprocating Shesheshen’s feelings, their romance is not an easy one because:

a) Homily is part of the intense, complicated, toxic and extreme Wulfyre family who has made it their duty to slay wyrms like Shesheshen because her kind has somehow ‘cursed’ their family.
b) No matter how well Shesheshen mimics and learns, at the end of the day, she’s no human and a relationship built on lies is not something she can vibe with — and heavens, there are a lot of lies from all sides that need to be dealt with first.

So, what can a monster in love do but try her best anyway, am I right? Which, brings us this oddly lovable story that has humans VS monsters interwoven into everything, everywhere, all at once.

Wiswell has done a brilliant job telling this story through the perspective of a monster. It truly reads and feels alien, but as admirable as I find this (and as much as I enjoyed the other aspects of the story), I feel this has created a great emotional disconnect as well. I get that this is due to Shesheshen’s character and when she becomes more human in feeling and thinking, her narrative reflects that. However, the emotions in her narrative also stop coming to life after the climax and the story returns to this state of emotional disconnectivity. This could just be me, though, as I found the entire bit post-climax too neat. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the care Wiswell has in exploring different types of trauma, love, relationships and identity here.

If romance between a human and monster paired with a direct, unflinching narrative (remember, this is a horror fantasy too) doesn’t give you the ick, I think you’ll enjoy Someone You Can Build a Nest In too.

Thank you so much DAW and Wunderkind PR for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell will be available at all good bookstores.

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sarrie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

TL;DR: Wow the abuse was rampant - while this looks cute and quirky I would not recommend it for anyone who doesn’t enjoy borderline trauma porn.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In has such a fun idea behind it. Shesheshen is a monster that awakes from her hibernation to monster hunters in her lair. She handles them as best she can but she’s awake and cold and most get food. Ultimately she’s having a truly bad day that day and ends up hurtling off a cliff. From there a woman who mistakes her for a human patches her up. She (instantly) falls in love and drama follows.

This started out as a very cute, quirky type of novel but then quickly showed it’s colors as more of a emotional horror show. The biggest conflict in this is that Homily’s family is wildly abusive, physically and emotionally and are hunting Shesheshen while abusing Homily. Shesheshen is caught between helping Homily (eating her family) and avoiding revealing herself to Homily while doing so. If you have any problems reading emotional abuse to wild levels, avoid this. It goes well and truly over the top in some situations and Homily takes it for most of the novel quietly and reacts as you’d expect. It was very rough to read.

Besides that horror show, I also have questions. The more I sit and think on the story the more I’m confused on how things work. For example, Shesheshen is essentially a slime. She constructs forms out of objects around her (a chain for a spine, chair legs for bones). How did Homily not notice this when she sewed up Shesheshen’s wounds at the bottom of that cliff? Also, where did Shesheshen learn to not be… well monstrous in personality. Where did she come up with the idea of her parents ‘love story’?

Overall this was a fast, and… sometimes fun read. It doesn’t stand up to any kind of close examination, which is a shame. But it’s interesting enough.

3 out of 5 bloody ‘hearts’

Content Warnings

diken's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The safety of being disguised, and of not being wholly known, melted away as though by the heat of her blood. There was no reclaiming the safety of anonymity. What she yearned for was unity.
There was no deception to keep her safe from whatever Homily thought of her. If she wanted to be in love, then she had to grow used to it.

I read this book in one sitting, eating and petting my cat intermittently without being able to tear myself away. It's a very, very good book.

There's a lot I love here: queer romance, obviously, but also a completely unique and fascinating plot with just enough world-building and terribly lovable characters. The writing is straightforward and still poetic.

We know Shesheshen is a monster from the first page, and we never know too much about the kind of monster to make it boring or predictable. There is something to be said for fantasy books that have a deep, detailed taxonomy of monsters (and infodump that exposition right away in some compendium), but one of the highlights of this book for me was how organically the lore was introduced. We learn about Shesheshen as she learns about herself, and it feels really satisfying going on that journey with her.

There are a few heavy-handed moments discussing trauma and abuse, but they are accompanied by some really meaningful insights and beautiful prose. I highly recommend this book with the advance warning that there is a metric ton of body horror and horrible family dynamics; for me, it was absolutely worth it. If this turns out to be a series, I will definitely read the next one; regardless, I'll be waiting for the next John Wiswell release with bated breath.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

Content Warnings

maryellen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

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