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cassimiranda's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I received an eARC of this book for review from Redhook Books via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting
miss_vonnegut's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
You know, I'm not sure exactly how to rate this. On one hand, I flew through it and finished it in just a couple of days. On the other hand, it's really dark (definitely check the content warnings) and I'm not sure if it was homophobic or if the queer representation was done very poorly. I'll give a bit more detail on that here, trying to keep it as spoiler-free as possible: One of the characters is found kissing someone of the same gender and feels shame, and bad things happen to the other person shortly after. I had hoped that the character would get the chance to unlearn that lesson later in the book, to feel pride, or at least be told there's nothing to be ashamed of, but that never happens. Plus, the character ends up with someone who's not the same gender as them. And when they're kissing that new person, they actually mention wanting without shame. Now, they could be bi/pan/etc, but the fact that it was never touched on makes it feel homophobic to me. Or at least really poorly done.
Thank you to Hachette for the ARC!
Thank you to Hachette for the ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Homophobia