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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Really interesting premise but honestly, what did I just read
weirdest book I have ever read, unexpectedly thrust into my hands by an enthusiastic hot queer bookshop employee
This book was so weird and so gross and so visceral and I loved ever what the fuck is happening moment of it. I mean really what's not to love about a sapphic apocalyptic horror book loosely inspired by the apocryphal gospel of Mary Magdalene? 10/10 recommending to all my friends.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
October 2023. Loved it. A grotesque and compelling body horror nightmare with multiple points of view set into motion by a gruesome pandemic that changes the body of some recipients in ways that goes far beyond mere illness.
Our three points of view (Part 1, 2, and 3) are from women who take pivotal roles in the plot and let me tell you I love some women-centered horror and death that isn’t about revenge for assault or just the daily horrors of womanhood (as much as I love those well-done).
Themes of bodily autonomy and reproduction do come up and are handled well but the story focuses on much bigger, gorier, and more grotesque horror fitting of a five star horror novel.
Not for the faint of stomach; the ravages of a pandemic and illness as well as the many changes to those who survive are beyond unpleasant at times, but always fascinating. This evoked less nausea than “Tender is the Flesh” but I read and loved that so my threshold is pretty high. Gives new meaning to the phrase braingasm.
Side note: I posted the quote “Eating her cerebrum is a whole lot less fun than eating her pussy was” in a sapphic/WW readers group I’m in and quite a few said they’d go check this out
Our three points of view (Part 1, 2, and 3) are from women who take pivotal roles in the plot and let me tell you I love some women-centered horror and death that isn’t about revenge for assault or just the daily horrors of womanhood (as much as I love those well-done).
Themes of bodily autonomy and reproduction do come up and are handled well but the story focuses on much bigger, gorier, and more grotesque horror fitting of a five star horror novel.
Not for the faint of stomach; the ravages of a pandemic and illness as well as the many changes to those who survive are beyond unpleasant at times, but always fascinating. This evoked less nausea than “Tender is the Flesh” but I read and loved that so my threshold is pretty high. Gives new meaning to the phrase braingasm.
Side note: I posted the quote “Eating her cerebrum is a whole lot less fun than eating her pussy was” in a sapphic/WW readers group I’m in and quite a few said they’d go check this out
I wanted to love this book, but all this book did was leave me pissed off and disturbed, and not in the way I was expecting to be disturbed.
I love Eldritch horror, I love body horror, I love (fictional!) fucked-up morally unsound gay sex and relationships. I was SO INTO THIS! While reading it!
And then two things happen:
1) The author invokes 14-year-old victim, Konerak Sinthasomphone, a victim of Jeffrey Dahmer, by name, in the most dehumanizing, stigmatizing way you possibly can. The PoV character is comparing herself and the things she wants to do to others, for her own sexual gratification, to what Dahmer did to this child, who was ultimately murdered after sexual torture. I will not transcribe the words used in the book, but it did include describing Sinthasomphone "bleeding from his ass."
This added nothing to the story, the narrative, or the character. You could remove that entire paragraph and nothing would be changed at all regarding the paragraphs before or after it. Why was it included? Extreme edginess for edginess' sake? The only impression this left me with is that the author saw a story of an extremely violent, racist pedophilic murder and thought it'd be funny to use it to enhance the grimdark shock-factor of her novel.
2) There is one (1) entire implied trans character in the entire book. This implied trans character is a character introduced as a cisgender man, and giving one (1) very brief sentence about how the PoV character gets the feeling he "hates being in a male body." That's it. Then that implied-trans character attempts to murder the PoV character, gets violently murdered by her, she orgasms from his murder, and that's the end of it.
You could remove that line about his possible gender dysphoria and nothing would be changed. There's no other reference to trans people existing in the entire book, beyond the author sometimes throwing the word "cis" before man and woman. What did that possibly add to the character? All I saw as a trans reader was one of the most common transphobic tropes- the crazed, violent trans woman who has sex/relationship issues- and then the usual treatment of trans characters: being the only one in the entire cast, then killed off with no emotional fanfare and immediately discarded by the narrative.
I was enjoying it for 50-60% of the story until I hit these. I stopped reading it at 50% of the way in because of these. These two points are so short in the grand scheme of the story, but so thoughtlessly handled that they soured the entire book for me and make me regret picking it up at all.
I love Eldritch horror, I love body horror, I love (fictional!) fucked-up morally unsound gay sex and relationships. I was SO INTO THIS! While reading it!
And then two things happen:
1) The author invokes 14-year-old victim, Konerak Sinthasomphone, a victim of Jeffrey Dahmer, by name, in the most dehumanizing, stigmatizing way you possibly can. The PoV character is comparing herself and the things she wants to do to others, for her own sexual gratification, to what Dahmer did to this child, who was ultimately murdered after sexual torture. I will not transcribe the words used in the book, but it did include describing Sinthasomphone "bleeding from his ass."
This added nothing to the story, the narrative, or the character. You could remove that entire paragraph and nothing would be changed at all regarding the paragraphs before or after it. Why was it included? Extreme edginess for edginess' sake? The only impression this left me with is that the author saw a story of an extremely violent, racist pedophilic murder and thought it'd be funny to use it to enhance the grimdark shock-factor of her novel.
2) There is one (1) entire implied trans character in the entire book. This implied trans character is a character introduced as a cisgender man, and giving one (1) very brief sentence about how the PoV character gets the feeling he "hates being in a male body." That's it. Then that implied-trans character attempts to murder the PoV character, gets violently murdered by her, she orgasms from his murder, and that's the end of it.
You could remove that line about his possible gender dysphoria and nothing would be changed. There's no other reference to trans people existing in the entire book, beyond the author sometimes throwing the word "cis" before man and woman. What did that possibly add to the character? All I saw as a trans reader was one of the most common transphobic tropes- the crazed, violent trans woman who has sex/relationship issues- and then the usual treatment of trans characters: being the only one in the entire cast, then killed off with no emotional fanfare and immediately discarded by the narrative.
I was enjoying it for 50-60% of the story until I hit these. I stopped reading it at 50% of the way in because of these. These two points are so short in the grand scheme of the story, but so thoughtlessly handled that they soured the entire book for me and make me regret picking it up at all.
dark
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