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bella613's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This book felt very unfinished and not just because of the ending.
Everything from the descriptions of the violence and the behavior and thoughts of the main character were very in-your-face, and didn't feel imaginative or realistically written. I loved the main character so I wish she had been allowed to just be, and not constantly overexplained by the author.
It read like someone decided to write a dystopia-style version of little red riding hood and stopped there, didn't put any more thought into it. I have no problem with open endings in general, or even with unanswered questions about large plot points. But this book doesn't feel like a story that's meant to make you think in the way that open endings usually do. It almost felt more like an unnecessarily long intro into the real story, than a story itself.
Everything from the descriptions of the violence and the behavior and thoughts of the main character were very in-your-face, and didn't feel imaginative or realistically written. I loved the main character so I wish she had been allowed to just be, and not constantly overexplained by the author.
It read like someone decided to write a dystopia-style version of little red riding hood and stopped there, didn't put any more thought into it. I have no problem with open endings in general, or even with unanswered questions about large plot points. But this book doesn't feel like a story that's meant to make you think in the way that open endings usually do. It almost felt more like an unnecessarily long intro into the real story, than a story itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
neon_red's review
adventurous
dark
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
It was not my first Christina Henry and it will not be my last. In a positive sense it what I expected, a dark/horror story inspired by a fairytale classic. I in particular liked the ending and like with Lost Boy and Alice after starting I didnt stop until I had finished. If you liked the other works of Henry, than you will like this one as well. The book that Henry created once again invited me to escape in to a dark semi fantastical world and I gladly followed the white rabbit...ops wrong book.
I really enjoyed that it was a survival story that focused and stayed with the main theme of survival. Sure the dystopian goverment conspiracies we're mentioned, but Red was not the choosen one who could save the world. I liked the "small" scale. What I didnt really like and why I can Not award 5 stars, were the grenade and the second encounter with Sirois. Okay, the grenade was later on explained and so I accepted it, somewhat. But the Chance that Sirois of all people would find them after fighting the monster is to forced, it does not help that the characters themselves poke fun at it. But I liked the ending evenmore, I had thousand ideas how the story some happy and some not. Also the Idea that Red is the Hunter was quite nice. Even though it was one that was already present in Dropouts.tv Ever After, which I can recommend to anyone who enjoy these dark fairytales.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia, Rape, Ableism, and Torture
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual 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
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