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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
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
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Saw a review that gave this book 4 stars but recommended not reading it. I am here to give the exact opposite review. It is probably one of the worst things I’ve ever spent my time with. But it was hilarious. It was like reading One Direction fanfiction written by a horny twelve year old. It was a struggle to get through but I am now seriously considering buying more of Lucy Snyder’s books for when I need my fill of that particular adrenaline rush I get when I read fucked up Wattpad thrillers written by a mentally ill child on their seventh Redbull at 4 a.m. the day before their Chemistry exam.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-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
Humanity, and the world itself, is fundamentally and irrevocably altered following the emergence of a new stomach virus, polymorphic viral gastroencephalitis (PVG), which initially presents itself as "the stomach flu on nightmare mode." Those who survive, initially at least, fall into one of three Types - the asymptomatic Type Ones, and Types Two and Three whose bodies and digestive systems have been so wracked and torn apart by disease they require daily supplements to manage the symptoms of their now-chronic illnesses, in the form of either fresh human blood if they're a Two or raw brains if they're a Three.
Told in three parts, Lucy A. Snyder's Sister, Maiden, Monster charts of the course of mankind's transformation through the eyes of three women. The first, Erin, is a recently engaged desktop support specialist who finds her body all but decimated by PVG. Savannah is a sex worker turned serial killer cannibal for the elder gods. Mareva's body, meanwhile, is prone to producing benign tumors even at the best of times, but in the face of PVG is forced to reconcile with even more horrific possibilities.
Based on her two previously published short stories, "My Knowing Glance" and "Magdala Amygdala," from the anthologies Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors and Dark Faith 2 respectively, Sister, Maiden, Monster allows Snyder to dig deeper into the lives of Savannah, and Erin and Betty, and expand on their stories with more expansive ways than those shorter works allowed. Through the four women making up the backbone of her narrative, Snyder smartly charts the growth of an unchecked pandemic as America sinks deeper into dystopia before sliding toward the shockingly apocalyptic. It's a narrative that is, by turns, beautiful, horrific, transgressive, and more than a little bit horny as we are taken into the changing natures of desires between two women and, later, life in a brothel. It's also an opportunity for Snyder to display some properly fucked-up Cronenberg-like depictions of sex and body horror as PVG grows and human bodies transmorgify and change in desultory ways, blurring the lines between lust and addiction. Around the time Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future release, an article from Collider noted "Blood. Guts. Sex. Horror. Disgusting bodily fluids. If you see all of these in one place, you're likely watching a David Cronenberg film." But if you're reading it in a book, it's gotta be Lucy A. Snyder's Sister, Maiden, Monster!
While the monstrous elements are certainly well done, at times uneasily so, it's the initial societal impacts PVG has on America that really drew me in. The world building and displays of a nation fracturing are top notch and wholly believable, particularly amidst still-fresh memories of COVID-19 lockdowns. At the risk of oversharing, I began reading Sister, Maiden, Monster while sick with diarrhea and stomach cramps while my youngest child is grappling with a COVID-19 infection and vomiting while combatting a high fever. The opening chapters dealing with Erin's infection, which certainly made my own symptoms pale in comparison, were brought to much too-vivid life for my liking and far too often gave the book it's own version of sensurround and smell-o-vision. It's not a route I would recommend to most readers, but it certainly helped make the narrative all the more personal and realized for your's truly. Reading this while ill was a nice mental escape, even if it didn't exactly help me feel any better physically, and I don't think I've been more empathetic with a character on the verge of shitting out their entire digestive system as I was while reading this on the throne with similar worries. Thankfully, I didn't have to eat anybody's brains to feel better!
Of course, it was the societal impacts that really got to me - the government's forcible restrictions of civil liberties, the basic imprisoning of women in their homes, the imbalance in medical treatments for the fairer gender and preferential treatments given to men (women who are lucky enough to survive PVG are advised to get an IUD to stave off troubling pregnancies, but telling men to get vasectomies is unheard of and met with skepticism). America quickly and easily becomes a police state, with people fearful of the 15% chance that Type Threes will turn into unstoppable cannibalistic maniacs at the drop of a hat. It's beautifully, horrifically done, and all-too real a possibility given present-day threats to our democracy. And we don't even need the encouragement of ancient cosmic horrors urging us toward our own extinction!
Sister, Maiden, Monster is so smartly constructed and intellectually stimulating, as engrossing as it is just gross, that I fully expect to see it cropping up on Year's Best Of and award lists following its Feb. '23 release. Such accolades would certainly be well-earned, and I would hate for horror fans to miss this one, because it really is quite likely to be one of the best books, not just of 2023 but of quite some time, I think.
Told in three parts, Lucy A. Snyder's Sister, Maiden, Monster charts of the course of mankind's transformation through the eyes of three women. The first, Erin, is a recently engaged desktop support specialist who finds her body all but decimated by PVG. Savannah is a sex worker turned serial killer cannibal for the elder gods. Mareva's body, meanwhile, is prone to producing benign tumors even at the best of times, but in the face of PVG is forced to reconcile with even more horrific possibilities.
Based on her two previously published short stories, "My Knowing Glance" and "Magdala Amygdala," from the anthologies Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors and Dark Faith 2 respectively, Sister, Maiden, Monster allows Snyder to dig deeper into the lives of Savannah, and Erin and Betty, and expand on their stories with more expansive ways than those shorter works allowed. Through the four women making up the backbone of her narrative, Snyder smartly charts the growth of an unchecked pandemic as America sinks deeper into dystopia before sliding toward the shockingly apocalyptic. It's a narrative that is, by turns, beautiful, horrific, transgressive, and more than a little bit horny as we are taken into the changing natures of desires between two women and, later, life in a brothel. It's also an opportunity for Snyder to display some properly fucked-up Cronenberg-like depictions of sex and body horror as PVG grows and human bodies transmorgify and change in desultory ways, blurring the lines between lust and addiction. Around the time Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future release, an article from Collider noted "Blood. Guts. Sex. Horror. Disgusting bodily fluids. If you see all of these in one place, you're likely watching a David Cronenberg film." But if you're reading it in a book, it's gotta be Lucy A. Snyder's Sister, Maiden, Monster!
While the monstrous elements are certainly well done, at times uneasily so, it's the initial societal impacts PVG has on America that really drew me in. The world building and displays of a nation fracturing are top notch and wholly believable, particularly amidst still-fresh memories of COVID-19 lockdowns. At the risk of oversharing, I began reading Sister, Maiden, Monster while sick with diarrhea and stomach cramps while my youngest child is grappling with a COVID-19 infection and vomiting while combatting a high fever. The opening chapters dealing with Erin's infection, which certainly made my own symptoms pale in comparison, were brought to much too-vivid life for my liking and far too often gave the book it's own version of sensurround and smell-o-vision. It's not a route I would recommend to most readers, but it certainly helped make the narrative all the more personal and realized for your's truly. Reading this while ill was a nice mental escape, even if it didn't exactly help me feel any better physically, and I don't think I've been more empathetic with a character on the verge of shitting out their entire digestive system as I was while reading this on the throne with similar worries. Thankfully, I didn't have to eat anybody's brains to feel better!
Of course, it was the societal impacts that really got to me - the government's forcible restrictions of civil liberties, the basic imprisoning of women in their homes, the imbalance in medical treatments for the fairer gender and preferential treatments given to men (women who are lucky enough to survive PVG are advised to get an IUD to stave off troubling pregnancies, but telling men to get vasectomies is unheard of and met with skepticism). America quickly and easily becomes a police state, with people fearful of the 15% chance that Type Threes will turn into unstoppable cannibalistic maniacs at the drop of a hat. It's beautifully, horrifically done, and all-too real a possibility given present-day threats to our democracy. And we don't even need the encouragement of ancient cosmic horrors urging us toward our own extinction!
Sister, Maiden, Monster is so smartly constructed and intellectually stimulating, as engrossing as it is just gross, that I fully expect to see it cropping up on Year's Best Of and award lists following its Feb. '23 release. Such accolades would certainly be well-earned, and I would hate for horror fans to miss this one, because it really is quite likely to be one of the best books, not just of 2023 but of quite some time, I think.
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Do not read on a full stomach.🤢
This was wild and very wtf and I loved it, obviously. Not for the faint of heart.