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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Really cringey writing felt like babies first fanfiction,
Also main character kept calling herself a raptor when she had flying dreams??
Raptors dont fly???
Kept making references to real life companies and icons, making the writing feel dated
For a horror book the melty gross body horror is only vaguely pointed at
Also main character kept calling herself a raptor when she had flying dreams??
Raptors dont fly???
Kept making references to real life companies and icons, making the writing feel dated
For a horror book the melty gross body horror is only vaguely pointed at
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
If you ask me to explain this book to you, I would say it's a coming of age mixed with body horror, but that would do it absolutely 0 justice. Lovely and horrifying all at once
challenging
dark
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Body horror
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
This started out as pandemic horror with undertones of vampirism and then it verged into religious apocalyptic horror and I didn't see that coming. The premise was interesting, I just wasn't really a fan of the sexual stuff because it's not something I'm remotely into. Also would have liked to get some more information on what the heck was going on and who those beings bringing about the apocalypse were but oh well, wasn't meant to be, I guess
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
bat shit crazy fever dream
dark
tense
medium-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
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Yes
challenging
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:
No
If you like "weird" books, Sister, Maiden, Monster is an absolute treasure trove. As someone who is a lover of the weird and wonderful, this was exactly up my alley.
Sister, Maiden, Monster is a story about the end of the world. It follows three different protagonists in three parts that describe this coming apocalypse. The first woman is Erin. Her story opens with her in a facility recovering from this mysterious disease that began spreading through the population and leaving some of its victims with permanent effects. Erin was quite unlucky, as her bout of the disease interrupted the night her boyfriend proposed, and left her as a Type 3. Type 1's escape the illness with seemingly no lingering side effects. Type 2's end up enjoying the taste of blood, but Type 3's develop a taste for human brains. Erin must be isolated from everyone around her, especially other people who have been infected, and is tracked by the government to ensure compliance. However, she begins to develop a secret relationship with a Type 2, behind her fiancé's back and away from the government's prying eyes.
Savannah is a sex worker in a brothel. In the world of Sister, Maiden, Monster, sex work is legal and heavily regulated by the government to avoid the spread of the contagion. When one of her clients visits her, but isn't himself, Savannah is forced to defend herself with lethal force. Fortunately for her, it's a massive turn on for Savannah, and she know that she'll kill again to satisfy herself and the higher beings that call to her.
Mareva has maybe the biggest role to play in the coming Armageddon. Her whole life she's been plagued by teratomas, tumors that contain partially developed eyes, teeth, and hair. She's always had these tumors removed before they can grow too large, but the eldritch masters might have use for her strange affliction.
I had such a blast with this book. It's weird, I was definitely a little horrified and grossed out the whole time, but I also couldn't stop reading. My main issues with the book were in regards to its pacing and its themes. The pacing is a little easier to explain, so I'll start there. Each character gets their own part, and while they appear in each other's parts we don't get back inside their head. Everything also keeps moving forward which I think was a good idea. If each character's perspective went back to the start of the outbreak it would very likely feel extremely repetitive. The weakest section, in my opinion, is Savannah's.
I like that the eldritch beings that are altering humanity play on our "pleasure" receptors, first with our pleasure in regards to food, and then with Savannah with sexual pleasure. The main issue with Savannah's section is that the author has to use her as a bridge from the first outbreak section to full on chaos, and there's a lot of work to do to get there. Savannah also has a higher purpose that she's been informed of, but the reader isn't. So through much of Savannah's section the audience has very little idea of what her motivations are beyond pleasure seeking. I also don't remember Savannah's section very well at all which is a bit of a problem because that's where all the apocalypse stuff is happening.
Then, we switch to Mareva's point of view, and right as the really apocalypse begins outside, she's whisked away to a secluded space where she's safe and comfortable. In a way, I felt a little cheated. The rest of the story had been building to this coming pandemonium and I was excited to see hell break loose. I wanted to watch the chaos going down, but instead we're pulled away from the action for Mareva's story. It's not that her story wasn't good! It's just that it sucked some of the building tension out of the climax.
With Erin's section, the pacing was also quite off. It started really well, giving the reader an idea of what her world was like before, during, and after being infected, but the end of the section really goes downhill. Erin is starting to loose a little bit of a grip on her self-control and sanity, but I would've expected a slower descent. Mareva actually worked with Erin, and in her perspective Erin seemed to be on the decline for weeks. From Erin's point of view, her descent seemed to happen almost instantaneously, in a single chapter. I would've liked to have see a bit slower of a decline. So much emphasis is also placed on the relationship between Erin and her new girlfriend, and unfortunately she doesn't factor very much into the end of Erin's section, or really the rest of the novel.
None of these are horrendous crimes, but all put together it feels a little bit like stumbling down the stairs. Clumsy, but with a lot of momentum. I still had an excellent time, and I was never bored because on every page some new insane development was happening. Believe it or not, there are actually some really great themes at play, too. I'm going to get a little bit into spoilers, but I don't think it's anything that will ruin the reading experience for you, if you decide you'd like to.
The primarily theme is about a woman's right to choose. Specifically about pregnancy, childbirth, and abortions. The first murmuring of this theme begins in Erin's section. The disease genetically modifies the body so that anyone who has been infected and becomes pregnant will produce rapidly multiplying tumors in their uterus instead of a fetus. Because of this all infected women are advised to get an IUD to prevent pregnancy, and Erin supposes aloud that the men are probably being recommended vasectomies. The worker looks blankly at her, asking why they would do that. It ties into the idea that women are responsible for "not getting themselves pregnant" while men are often absolved of the responsibility. Many men in relationships will pressure their partner into going on the pill or having an IUD inserted simply so they don't have to wear a condom. The idea of a fetus as a growing tumor instead of a child is also an interesting sentiment. It's not necessarily that "children are tumors." I would say it's more along the lines of "if you don't want a child and you're pregnant it can feel like there's a malignant tumor growing inside of you."
The theme of pregnancy and childbirth is especially prevalent in Mareva's story. I don't really want to spoil too much of it, because her entire section is an abortion, or sterilization, metaphor. I actually think these themes are very well done. Some of the best horror has a point to make, and using the imagery of things that disgust us is a great way to get an audience to think further on the ideas that are presented. Some of my issues lie within the secondary themes that aren't as explored. There's the idea of government overreach, and though this ties partially into the reproductive rights themes (ie. Texas trying to prevent pregnant women from travelling out of state), some of the ideas were a little "fly by."
Corporate greed was another theme that was touched on in a paragraph and never mentioned again. In the midst of the crisis companies were being bought by larger companies and then stripped for parts, and Congress refused to do anything about it because a few members had stock in these larger companies and were getting very rich. That's not too far off from what happens in the United States right now! BUT, it's not all that relevant to the story at hand. There was a very strong, opinioned ending to the reproductive rights theme, but not to these other themes. I'm also not sure if there were some religious themes I was missing. The Cleaving, I think it was called, was especially strange to me. I have no idea why that happened, except maybe to add some weirdness to a bit of a drier section.
I liked that we got a bit of an explanation for where the initial virus came from, and I liked that there was a bit of a hint about it in Erin's story. I do think the section explaining it was a bit long and dry, but I've read so many cosmic horror books that don't explain a thing. This was a bit of a refreshing change of pace. Having the scientist YouTube channel as a through line was a good idea. It allowed the author to drop little pieces of information and exposition without having to spell it out in the prose.
I really enjoyed Sister, Maiden, Monster, though I'm sure you wouldn't be able to tell by my face while I was reading. There's so much to talk about. I kind of want to force my boyfriend to read it so we can have a long, in depth discussion about it, though I think he might end up too traumatized to speak. I think it's a flawed book, but I'd recommend it if you have a reasonably strong stomach. It is GROSS at times, so grab a hazmat suit and dive in.
Sister, Maiden, Monster is a story about the end of the world. It follows three different protagonists in three parts that describe this coming apocalypse. The first woman is Erin. Her story opens with her in a facility recovering from this mysterious disease that began spreading through the population and leaving some of its victims with permanent effects. Erin was quite unlucky, as her bout of the disease interrupted the night her boyfriend proposed, and left her as a Type 3. Type 1's escape the illness with seemingly no lingering side effects. Type 2's end up enjoying the taste of blood, but Type 3's develop a taste for human brains. Erin must be isolated from everyone around her, especially other people who have been infected, and is tracked by the government to ensure compliance. However, she begins to develop a secret relationship with a Type 2, behind her fiancé's back and away from the government's prying eyes.
Savannah is a sex worker in a brothel. In the world of Sister, Maiden, Monster, sex work is legal and heavily regulated by the government to avoid the spread of the contagion. When one of her clients visits her, but isn't himself, Savannah is forced to defend herself with lethal force. Fortunately for her, it's a massive turn on for Savannah, and she know that she'll kill again to satisfy herself and the higher beings that call to her.
Mareva has maybe the biggest role to play in the coming Armageddon. Her whole life she's been plagued by teratomas, tumors that contain partially developed eyes, teeth, and hair. She's always had these tumors removed before they can grow too large, but the eldritch masters might have use for her strange affliction.
I had such a blast with this book. It's weird, I was definitely a little horrified and grossed out the whole time, but I also couldn't stop reading. My main issues with the book were in regards to its pacing and its themes. The pacing is a little easier to explain, so I'll start there. Each character gets their own part, and while they appear in each other's parts we don't get back inside their head. Everything also keeps moving forward which I think was a good idea. If each character's perspective went back to the start of the outbreak it would very likely feel extremely repetitive. The weakest section, in my opinion, is Savannah's.
I like that the eldritch beings that are altering humanity play on our "pleasure" receptors, first with our pleasure in regards to food, and then with Savannah with sexual pleasure. The main issue with Savannah's section is that the author has to use her as a bridge from the first outbreak section to full on chaos, and there's a lot of work to do to get there. Savannah also has a higher purpose that she's been informed of, but the reader isn't. So through much of Savannah's section the audience has very little idea of what her motivations are beyond pleasure seeking. I also don't remember Savannah's section very well at all which is a bit of a problem because that's where all the apocalypse stuff is happening.
Then, we switch to Mareva's point of view, and right as the really apocalypse begins outside, she's whisked away to a secluded space where she's safe and comfortable. In a way, I felt a little cheated. The rest of the story had been building to this coming pandemonium and I was excited to see hell break loose. I wanted to watch the chaos going down, but instead we're pulled away from the action for Mareva's story. It's not that her story wasn't good! It's just that it sucked some of the building tension out of the climax.
With Erin's section, the pacing was also quite off. It started really well, giving the reader an idea of what her world was like before, during, and after being infected, but the end of the section really goes downhill. Erin is starting to loose a little bit of a grip on her self-control and sanity, but I would've expected a slower descent. Mareva actually worked with Erin, and in her perspective Erin seemed to be on the decline for weeks. From Erin's point of view, her descent seemed to happen almost instantaneously, in a single chapter. I would've liked to have see a bit slower of a decline. So much emphasis is also placed on the relationship between Erin and her new girlfriend, and unfortunately she doesn't factor very much into the end of Erin's section, or really the rest of the novel.
None of these are horrendous crimes, but all put together it feels a little bit like stumbling down the stairs. Clumsy, but with a lot of momentum. I still had an excellent time, and I was never bored because on every page some new insane development was happening. Believe it or not, there are actually some really great themes at play, too. I'm going to get a little bit into spoilers, but I don't think it's anything that will ruin the reading experience for you, if you decide you'd like to.
The primarily theme is about a woman's right to choose. Specifically about pregnancy, childbirth, and abortions. The first murmuring of this theme begins in Erin's section. The disease genetically modifies the body so that anyone who has been infected and becomes pregnant will produce rapidly multiplying tumors in their uterus instead of a fetus. Because of this all infected women are advised to get an IUD to prevent pregnancy, and Erin supposes aloud that the men are probably being recommended vasectomies. The worker looks blankly at her, asking why they would do that. It ties into the idea that women are responsible for "not getting themselves pregnant" while men are often absolved of the responsibility. Many men in relationships will pressure their partner into going on the pill or having an IUD inserted simply so they don't have to wear a condom. The idea of a fetus as a growing tumor instead of a child is also an interesting sentiment. It's not necessarily that "children are tumors." I would say it's more along the lines of "if you don't want a child and you're pregnant it can feel like there's a malignant tumor growing inside of you."
The theme of pregnancy and childbirth is especially prevalent in Mareva's story. I don't really want to spoil too much of it, because her entire section is an abortion, or sterilization, metaphor. I actually think these themes are very well done. Some of the best horror has a point to make, and using the imagery of things that disgust us is a great way to get an audience to think further on the ideas that are presented. Some of my issues lie within the secondary themes that aren't as explored. There's the idea of government overreach, and though this ties partially into the reproductive rights themes (ie. Texas trying to prevent pregnant women from travelling out of state), some of the ideas were a little "fly by."
Corporate greed was another theme that was touched on in a paragraph and never mentioned again. In the midst of the crisis companies were being bought by larger companies and then stripped for parts, and Congress refused to do anything about it because a few members had stock in these larger companies and were getting very rich. That's not too far off from what happens in the United States right now! BUT, it's not all that relevant to the story at hand. There was a very strong, opinioned ending to the reproductive rights theme, but not to these other themes. I'm also not sure if there were some religious themes I was missing. The Cleaving, I think it was called, was especially strange to me. I have no idea why that happened, except maybe to add some weirdness to a bit of a drier section.
I liked that we got a bit of an explanation for where the initial virus came from, and I liked that there was a bit of a hint about it in Erin's story. I do think the section explaining it was a bit long and dry, but I've read so many cosmic horror books that don't explain a thing. This was a bit of a refreshing change of pace. Having the scientist YouTube channel as a through line was a good idea. It allowed the author to drop little pieces of information and exposition without having to spell it out in the prose.
I really enjoyed Sister, Maiden, Monster, though I'm sure you wouldn't be able to tell by my face while I was reading. There's so much to talk about. I kind of want to force my boyfriend to read it so we can have a long, in depth discussion about it, though I think he might end up too traumatized to speak. I think it's a flawed book, but I'd recommend it if you have a reasonably strong stomach. It is GROSS at times, so grab a hazmat suit and dive in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Abortion, Pregnancy
Moderate: Cancer
I didn't finish it. I'm all for horror and body horror but I'm particularly squeamish around head gore and this personally was just too much for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced