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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
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.
- The atmosphere and goriness mixed with scientific and social parallels to real world events makes for a solid premise for an apocalyptic novel.
- However, the characters aren't developed enough to truly feel connected to the events that happen in the novel.
- The tone of the book is overly modern and simple but because of that sometimes it can be a little...too much?
Like when a character killed off a black character, the white character starts...making a hallucination(?) of the black character to absolve her from guilt. But really its just like "wow, you killed your only black friend during a pressuring time," and all the white girl says is something along the lines of "womp womp".
And dont get me started on these random, ignorant tangents only a white woman can make (mentions of Jeffrey Dahmer and talking about situations in developing countries in an ignorant and dismissive way. I mean that was like once but it was still kinda weird. She went specific in continents too LOL).
- Also the ending feels a bit weak but it could just be my dogshit memory. Like I know Dr Shapiro was important but idk what she'll do to stop this whole apocalypse thing. Maybe I'm just forgetting something.
- However, the characters aren't developed enough to truly feel connected to the events that happen in the novel.
- The tone of the book is overly modern and simple but because of that sometimes it can be a little...too much?
Like when a character killed off a black character, the white character starts...making a hallucination(?) of the black character to absolve her from guilt. But really its just like "wow, you killed your only black friend during a pressuring time," and all the white girl says is something along the lines of "womp womp".
And dont get me started on these random, ignorant tangents only a white woman can make (mentions of Jeffrey Dahmer and talking about situations in developing countries in an ignorant and dismissive way. I mean that was like once but it was still kinda weird. She went specific in continents too LOL).
- Also the ending feels a bit weak but it could just be my dogshit memory. Like I know Dr Shapiro was important but idk what she'll do to stop this whole apocalypse thing. Maybe I'm just forgetting something.
Gory. Thrilling. Intense. I genuinely had no idea where this book was going from start to finish, and the eerie atmosphere was so well-done it had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the way the threads all came together by the end. Definitely not one for the weak-stomached.
challenging
dark
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:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced