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stephanielee's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? No
4.0
This is a post apocalypse Little Red Riding Hood retelling. Red is a young woman with a prosthetic limb trying to make it to her grandma's house in the woods while trying to not be picked up by the government and taken to their quarantine camps or to not get killed or hurt by other people or animals on her way. We learn about Red's family and what happened to them and we meet some new characters along the way. I really liked how much Red grew- she was seen as disabled and therefore less than and was rightfully angry about it. She learned that while she did have limits, she was still able to do more than what people expected of her and how to use that to her advantage.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, and Ableism
aparker89's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.5
Ms Henry does it again! Red Riding Hood is just trying to get to grandma's house but many obstacles stand in her way: a pandemic, the loss of society, no easy method of transportation and so much more... Will she ever make it? Or will one of the wolves get her? This is one adventure you won't want to miss!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Abandonment, Biphobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Body shaming, Confinement, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Slavery
aely's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Hate crime, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Vomit
Minor: Torture, Sexual assault, Racism, Rape, War, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Medical content
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
gory and greatly entertaining!
a story that keeps you on your toes. reading this for the second time made me realize quite a few details that i hadn't noticed before.
the characters were great - diverse without feeling like some sort of caricature. i loved red and her attitude, loved the dynamic between her and adam (their conversations and banter were so painfully real for siblings) and her whole personality in general. her family was nice, and the two kids, too.
henry is just so good at writing children. they seem almost lovable when she writes them.
and i liked the story. sometimes the inevitable encounters with soldiers and so forth felt a little forced and unrealistic, maybe even a bit repetitive (but that might also just be because of my already having read the book once).
one of the major plot twists (these slug parasite monster thingies ) was a little random, i guess?? entertaining, but really random.
(i mean, these thingies were introduced in the middle of the book and then it wasn't even resolved in the slightest. just i know this book is about a deadly virus, but by the way, some government lab also created an otherworldly weird science-fiction ass, human-eating monster that nests in people's stomachs. like whuuut )
but whatever, it's fine. great book, great characters, great story.
a story that keeps you on your toes. reading this for the second time made me realize quite a few details that i hadn't noticed before.
the characters were great - diverse without feeling like some sort of caricature. i loved red and her attitude, loved the dynamic between her and adam (their conversations and banter were so painfully real for siblings) and her whole personality in general. her family was nice, and the two kids, too.
henry is just so good at writing children. they seem almost lovable when she writes them.
and i liked the story. sometimes the inevitable encounters with soldiers and so forth felt a little forced and unrealistic, maybe even a bit repetitive (but that might also just be because of my already having read the book once).
one of the major plot twists (
(
but whatever, it's fine. great book, great characters, great story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Medical content and Violence
Minor: Hate crime, Grief, Racism, Vomit, and Gun violence
ladykatka's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
First off, I love Christina Henry, I have purchased all of her books to date and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them including this one, even if I didn't really care for the ending. I think this was a really clever update and modern version of Red Riding Hood, it was well told and easy to read. That being said when I got to the penultimate chapter I was left thinking how is she going to wrap this up. And it turned out that it was more of a non-ending than an ending.
Red says a couple times in the book that she is not the main character in a movie, that becomes abundantly clear at the end when we are provided no answers what so ever on the virus, or the creatures, or the camps, or the lack of women, or anything really. This book is in desperate need of an epilogue.
Red says a couple times in the book that she is not the main character in a movie, that becomes abundantly clear at the end when we are provided no answers what so ever on the virus, or the creatures, or the camps, or the lack of women, or anything really. This book is in desperate need of an epilogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Racism, and Violence
aformeracceleratedreader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Overall really enjoyed it. I loved that our main character, Red, is mixed race and enjoyed the brief discourse on race and how some people, even in times of crisis, will gladly let their racism fly. In the beginning when one antagonist basically asks Red her ethnicity upon first meeting, it reminded me of so many people doing it to me. It's annoying to say the least.
I think as a retelling of a fairy tale, it was quite good too. Loved that it was a dystopian kind of setting although it wasn't the best idea for me to read a book on a respiratory pandemic while living through C19 and seeing parallels to how some fictional characters acted and how real life people are acting. Humans are predictable I guess.
<Spoiler>since Red and the kids were able to make it to grandma's safely and that the grandma seems to be alive and safe, I'm believing some of DJ's family made it to him as well. He was such a kind man and he deserved the best
I do wish we got a little more about thecreatures that burst out of people like how it escaped the lab, what even was the point in creating the creatures, how they got inside of people, how they would get rid of them but reading this after reading Near the Bone it seems the author likes to leave stuff like that pretty open.
This isn't a perfect book, there was a lot I feel could've been cut down since I could glance through paragraphs and still not miss any of the major story, and it was a little slow here and there, but I was def interested in it the whole time and needed to know what would happen.
I think as a retelling of a fairy tale, it was quite good too. Loved that it was a dystopian kind of setting although it wasn't the best idea for me to read a book on a respiratory pandemic while living through C19 and seeing parallels to how some fictional characters acted and how real life people are acting. Humans are predictable I guess.
<Spoiler>since Red and the kids were able to make it to grandma's safely and that the grandma seems to be alive and safe, I'm believing some of DJ's family made it to him as well. He was such a kind man and he deserved the best
I do wish we got a little more about the
This isn't a perfect book, there was a lot I feel could've been cut down since I could glance through paragraphs and still not miss any of the major story, and it was a little slow here and there, but I was def interested in it the whole time and needed to know what would happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Grief, Violence, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
kawooreads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
With every Christina Henry novel I devour, I grow to love the author even more. Her ability to take fairy tales, unravel them, and re-weave into new stories is unmatched. This one, if you can't tell by the cover, is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. Only this book is in modern times, and Red is trying to cross a plague-ridden land to get to her grandmother's house hidden in the woods, isolated from infection and vigilante survivors. This book was published in 2019, so reading about a societal collapse due to the killer "Cough" was chilling in a post-Covid world. Red is a badass, a young woman traveling through the woods with a survival pack, sharp hand-axe, and a prosthetic leg. As she comes upon survivors, she must vigilantly decide the risk of infection as well as the risk of attack. Convinced she is not a heroine, she performs some pretty heroic acts. As she gets closer to Grandma's house, she begins to gather clues as to what exactly this contagion is and why it's ripping people apart. Nothing is as it seems. I love that in this rendition, there is no damsel in distress, that Little Red Riding Hood fights the "wolves" herself! This book is horror science fiction, so the content warnings include a multitude of moments related to death, body trauma, blood, violence, grief, etc. It's not a pretty story, but it is a good one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent
scribblesbysammy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Ending felt a tad rushed, but still a great book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment
ericadawson's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The author's sparse and straight to the point writing style was great for a dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It was gorey without being over the top, and I enjoyed Red's character--her flaws were front and center, even if she could be harsh on herself, her family, and potential allies alike.
I enjoyed the voice and the pacing--the story is more about Red and the kind of woman she becomes than it is about her getting to her grandmother's house. Despite the sheer amount of loss she suffers through, the book ends on a very hopeful note. I enjoyed the fact that Red's opening up to other people and allowing herself kindness ends up leading to her making it to her grandmother's house. I like that the author also keeps the plot in perspective--whatever is going on with the world isn't for Red to figure out. She just needs to get somewhere safe.
I enjoyed the voice and the pacing--the story is more about Red and the kind of woman she becomes than it is about her getting to her grandmother's house. Despite the sheer amount of loss she suffers through, the book ends on a very hopeful note. I enjoyed the fact that Red's opening up to other people and allowing herself kindness ends up leading to her making it to her grandmother's house. I like that the author also keeps the plot in perspective--whatever is going on with the world isn't for Red to figure out. She just needs to get somewhere safe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Sexual violence, Cursing, and Racism
It's a very good but very dense and heavy book! Expect things like blood, stress, and anxiety throughout.evaag_2796's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Vomit