Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Well, that was disgusting. Loved it. Could have done without the repetition near the end of “rat brain”. It was funny at first and then by like the sixth time I was like ok, enough now. I’m glad Mareva got her birth control and knocked Savannah out. As much as Savannah thought she was helping, she was a cunt, which I think applies to many.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
I started reading this book as part of my effort to decide how I was going to vote in this year’s Hugo Awards. It wasn’t a nominee (although it probably should have been) but rather it was one of the books edited by one of the nominated long-form editors.
It is kinda hard to describe what this book is about because, quite frankly it is an ✨experience✨. Loosely speaking, this book is about a novel virus that infects people in strange ways and the impact that it has on society. It is both a book with a very large focus but also a very intimate story as we are following the ways that three women’s lives were changed. It gets pretty weird.
I loved how unhinged this story is and it does a really good job of never shying away from the truly brutal body horror that results from the virus as well as really leaning into the cosmic in cosmic horror. I don’t think the point of this book was really to hold a mirror up to society but at the same time it was hard to ignore the social commentary in each woman’s story with the first story being around unequal healthcare and just sexism in gender, the second looking at sex work (I really enjoying the sex work positive rep) and the ways that stigmatising it can lead to increased trafficking, and then the final story was a story about forced birthing. Honestly, having written all of that out, I am doubting my initial assertion and think that was exactly the point. Horror has always been a tool for creatives to explore issues within society and shine a light on them so this book is following in a grand tradition.
I think perhaps I would have liked a less abrupt ending to the story but I think leaving it somewhat open felt tonally correct for how otherwise bleak the situation felt.
Ugh. I really feel like the book gets caught up in its own shock value rather than exploring its themes or plot. The first story didn't really get interesting (good is too much of a stretch) until the end, the second started out interesting but ran screaming from any depth/nuance and the third got a momentary glimpse of what the novel could've been before abruptly ending. The novel commits to violence and sexual content but does not commit to its plot. Unpleasant and disappointing. Saved from a worse rating by *passable* prose.
I had no idea what I was getting into with Lucy A. Snyder’s Sister, Maiden, Monster. Sometimes choosing a book based on the insanely cool cover is a great decision.
This short novel is so weird and horrifying. It follows three very different women during a pandemic that’s mutating humans and leaving them craving brains and blood — but this isn’t just a plague story, or a vampire/zombie story. It gets much stranger, and much more interesting.
Erin, Savannah, and Mareva are fascinating protagonists (and antagonists, depending on who you’re reading from) and I loved being in their heads, even when it got very, very dark.
And the body horror is nuts — at least for me, it’s not normally my genre, so I found myself feeling like I was going to pass out a few times. Mareva’s story is my new personal nightmare.
I’m a bit burned out on pandemic horror but I am so glad I read this one. Snyder takes her virus in a completely new direction, mutating it into cosmic and feminist horror with some serious weirdness. She also has very clear social and political things to say, which I loved.
I have the feeling 2023 is going to be a great year for horror, and Sister, Maiden, Monster will wind up on my year-end “Best of” list, along with Tell Me I’m Worthless and The Spite House.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for my review copy of this book.
This short novel is so weird and horrifying. It follows three very different women during a pandemic that’s mutating humans and leaving them craving brains and blood — but this isn’t just a plague story, or a vampire/zombie story. It gets much stranger, and much more interesting.
Erin, Savannah, and Mareva are fascinating protagonists (and antagonists, depending on who you’re reading from) and I loved being in their heads, even when it got very, very dark.
And the body horror is nuts — at least for me, it’s not normally my genre, so I found myself feeling like I was going to pass out a few times. Mareva’s story is my new personal nightmare.
I’m a bit burned out on pandemic horror but I am so glad I read this one. Snyder takes her virus in a completely new direction, mutating it into cosmic and feminist horror with some serious weirdness. She also has very clear social and political things to say, which I loved.
I have the feeling 2023 is going to be a great year for horror, and Sister, Maiden, Monster will wind up on my year-end “Best of” list, along with Tell Me I’m Worthless and The Spite House.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for my review copy of this book.
you had me in the first half, I got lost pretty quickly and by the end I was just a little disappointed with the story