Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Sort of a 3.5-4 star here. I really liked the majority of it, but man the second section about Savannah is like. Kinda bad. Explains way too much! Savannah herself sucks! The whole scene where she kills the doctor and speaks to her ghost is silly to the point of cringe - especially how they debate the issue of white women tears instead of yknow HER MURDERING A PERSON shaking my head. That whole part should have been removed, having Savannah simply show up, unexplained, in Mareva's section - it would have been much creepier and more threatening.
However! The first section about Erin, and the final piece of the story about Mareva are both very cool. Some parts regarding PVG feel over-explained (though the final plot twists on it help mystify it again) but that also might be me being very burnt out about reading about viruses and whatnot. Mareva was especially great and I loved the ending.
ETA after reading some reviews: the suggestion/reveal of a character being trans/nonbinary is an afterthought that does nothing for the rest of the story. While I don't personally find that offensive (not everything has to be for a reason), it feels badly edited - especially combined with the scenes of a murdered Black nurse, by a white woman who pretends to be a rape victim to get in (which they have a WHOLE debate about, despite it not coming up again or developing Savannah's character, or anything in fact, the most stupid scene in the whole book). Then with the fact that you have a sex worker who literally gets off on murder - there are pieces of this book that are very clumsy or not thought out with regard to the potential harm or weird stereotypes. I'd file under "trying to be inclusive but not considering how identities of characters change how certain typical horror scenarios are read."
However! The first section about Erin, and the final piece of the story about Mareva are both very cool. Some parts regarding PVG feel over-explained (though the final plot twists on it help mystify it again) but that also might be me being very burnt out about reading about viruses and whatnot. Mareva was especially great and I loved the ending.
ETA after reading some reviews: the suggestion/reveal of a character being trans/nonbinary is an afterthought that does nothing for the rest of the story. While I don't personally find that offensive (not everything has to be for a reason), it feels badly edited - especially combined with the scenes of a murdered Black nurse, by a white woman who pretends to be a rape victim to get in (which they have a WHOLE debate about, despite it not coming up again or developing Savannah's character, or anything in fact, the most stupid scene in the whole book). Then with the fact that you have a sex worker who literally gets off on murder - there are pieces of this book that are very clumsy or not thought out with regard to the potential harm or weird stereotypes. I'd file under "trying to be inclusive but not considering how identities of characters change how certain typical horror scenarios are read."
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This started really well, loved the idea of the virus and how people reacted to it differently, needing blood, brains etc. but then the whole ‘it came from a meteor that infected a bunch of octopus/squid that people then ate’ was just a bit much for me.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Three stars because I really only enjoyed the first half.... but I did REALLY enjoy that first half.
This book had so much potential for something I would love. I LOVED Severance by Ling Ma and this has similar pandemic-horror vibes that I was into...at first. Then it went ... I still don't even know where it went or was trying to go.
By the time we got to Part 3, I was totally lost. Unfortunately I don't want to get too into it for risk of spoilers, but it was simply just too much. Too much going on, too many questions, too many unanswered questions, too many Gregory's...
This book had so much potential for something I would love. I LOVED Severance by Ling Ma and this has similar pandemic-horror vibes that I was into...at first. Then it went ... I still don't even know where it went or was trying to go.
By the time we got to Part 3, I was totally lost. Unfortunately I don't want to get too into it for risk of spoilers, but it was simply just too much. Too much going on, too many questions, too many unanswered questions, too many Gregory's...
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
pandemic horror that veered into eldrich without much decent world-building. dr. kaz's youtube videos very conveniently info-dump how the pvg virus works and segues us into the problem being caused by octopi, which feels more like the author telling us what happened instead of showing it. actually, most of this book does "telling" rather than "showing," except for the gore and sex. those are in unnerving clarity compared to the literal plot of the book.
there's also a lot of religious imagery (and somehow everyone else has bible verses ringing in their heads despite apparently not being very religious) that creates parallels between the archivists and angels. however, this book can't even be close to catalogued as "religious horror." the motifs picked made no sense given the world.
the author also tries to do too many things with social commentary, so anything that gets mentioned (IUDs being non-anesthetized surgery, white woman kills her only poc friend, etc) has too little screentime to be truly meaningful. regurgitated issues about covid-19 and asserted that this virus was "worse," when it was basically the same thing. also, covid was still a persistent problem when the book was written. very dismissive about how the "pandemic is over" when people are still getting sick and dying from it.
the rant about opening up a relationships made no sense because in no way is trying to assuage your own guilt about potentially cheating on your fiancé like loving your daughter born a few years after your son. weirdest argument for open-relationships that i've ever read. some of the characters felt like mouthpieces for the author's own opinions...
tldr: this book felt like the author was trying to write a book with more pages, the pandemic>eldrich horror was nonsensical, and the ending too abrupt.
pros: readable, if a silly prose style at times.
there's also a lot of religious imagery (and somehow everyone else has bible verses ringing in their heads despite apparently not being very religious) that creates parallels between the archivists and angels. however, this book can't even be close to catalogued as "religious horror." the motifs picked made no sense given the world.
the author also tries to do too many things with social commentary, so anything that gets mentioned (IUDs being non-anesthetized surgery, white woman kills her only poc friend, etc) has too little screentime to be truly meaningful. regurgitated issues about covid-19 and asserted that this virus was "worse," when it was basically the same thing. also, covid was still a persistent problem when the book was written. very dismissive about how the "pandemic is over" when people are still getting sick and dying from it.
the rant about opening up a relationships made no sense because in no way is trying to assuage your own guilt about potentially cheating on your fiancé like loving your daughter born a few years after your son. weirdest argument for open-relationships that i've ever read. some of the characters felt like mouthpieces for the author's own opinions...
tldr: this book felt like the author was trying to write a book with more pages, the pandemic>eldrich horror was nonsensical, and the ending too abrupt.
pros: readable, if a silly prose style at times.