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charlesbiglythethird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual violence and War
saturdayslaughter's review
4.25
(was kind of wild for the epilogue to put them back in an context I recognized where they weren’t being immediately threatened, it made the age dynamic suddenly way more apparent. not a bad thing! but an interesting thing)
I did find the inclusion of the super natural elements a bit lackluster. I think what I was feeling is that it wasn’t treated like a mystery. I liked the characters choices around Leslie’s reaction to it and the monster and the fact of his own murders, but I didn’t like how Little reaction to it there was. Like he finds a cave with a gorey flowerbed and two severed fingers and after running for his life in the moment he kinda just does not think about it. I would have been fine with that if it had been a bit more explicit that he was avoiding it because of the shellshock or the more immediate threats, but it just felt unaddressed. Overall I felt like something was up with the presentation of the supernatural horror bits. (also something compromised for me in how connected Stevie supposedly is to the forest, vs his ending. it felt like there could have been more there)
Graphic: Violence and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Rape
(it is a revenge story)bwoo's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.75
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Rape, Murder, and War
ash_36's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Abortion
ladyaleira's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror and Religious bigotry
poisoned_icecream's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry
naomidanae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I wasn't expecting sexual explicitness in this novella, and I do think those scenes have a place, but the juxtaposition of that with everything else that happens in the book is a bit off-putting. Being a survivor of sexual assault is not incongruous with still having desire by any means, but these scenes happened so quickly and suddenly that I wondered if they could have been handled a little more carefully or with a bit more nuance instead.
Some quotes:
"The forest whispered around him with a thousand holy mouths. As Woolf had written, Everything, in fact, was something else."
"He'd been a raw-blooded young thing once, and he understood the sweetness—the genuine security—of revenge. He even understood the desire to keep one's hometown, but the thing was, he also understood how dangerous Stevie's path of resistance would be. Sometimes survival meant ripping loose those domestic roots."
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
herelieshenry's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Racism, Sexual assault, and War
meagan123's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Medical content, and Abortion
Minor: Sexual violence
kat42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Rape and Abortion