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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
challenging
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:
Yes
really REALLY enjoyed this one definitely the book that’s come closest this year to scratching the between two fires itch
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this was a grotesque fever dream of a book - strange and abstract in just the way i like. i knew from the first page that it would be a slam dunk for me. cannibalism, religious imagery, and weird creatures never fail me. it reminded me of tamsyn muir’s work in the way that you don’t quite know exactly what’s going on all the time, but you don’t necessarily need to.
treila de batrolin, you will always be famous. you are my favorite kind of girl (ruthless to a fault).
one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, this lived up to the hype!
treila de batrolin, you will always be famous. you are my favorite kind of girl (ruthless to a fault).
one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, this lived up to the hype!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
She feels a little smaller. She feels a little steadier. She doesn’t want either of those things except that she does. This is unsustainable. She wants to have her room, her little world. She wants control. There is no control in this.
Phosyne has control, though. Little scraps, but enough. Enough to build a little world.
i LOVED THIS. loved the vibes, the eeriness, the characters. you don't really get what's going on, but that makes it even creepier and more fever dream-y. give me more PLEASE. yes i did end up tearing up.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this book. The author is clearly an excellent writer. The pacing was good and there were enough hints to give some form and structure to the supernatural goings-on without being a too-tacked-down magic system. I personally really dislike hard magic systems because for me it takes the wonder out of reading/imagining, so this was refreshing to me, it seems like everyone is deeply into hard magic systems these days. (No judgement! Everyone should read what they love!)
For me it was just A SMIDGE too close to being handholdy (in the sense that the author drops a hint, and then a character realizes and spells out said hint fairly close after), but honestly, I'm a very picky reader and comparing to the likes of Daniel Kehlmann, who is a master in this sense, imo. Also, I do think the ending was a bit rushed and could have done with a good rewrite, hence 4 stars rather than 4.5-5.
I think this is my first horror novel since reading the Hannibal Lecter series in my uni days. I really enjoyed it (though due to those books and the TV show I think I've become so thoroughly immune toall mentions of cannibalism that part of the horror didn't horrify me that much. For me, the creature under the castle was the most intriguing in a horrifying way.
For me it was just A SMIDGE too close to being handholdy (in the sense that the author drops a hint, and then a character realizes and spells out said hint fairly close after), but honestly, I'm a very picky reader and comparing to the likes of Daniel Kehlmann, who is a master in this sense, imo. Also, I do think the ending was a bit rushed and could have done with a good rewrite, hence 4 stars rather than 4.5-5.
I think this is my first horror novel since reading the Hannibal Lecter series in my uni days. I really enjoyed it (though due to those books and the TV show I think I've become so thoroughly immune to
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
sooo strong in concept (medieval gothic horror! knights and mad scientists! toxic polyamorous yuri! cannibalism!!!!!) but that potential is squandered in execution. all style with little to no substance -- the setting, characters, and plot all feel like hasty sketches with no real depth to them -- and that style... is incredibly grating, of a quality I would liken to bad fanfiction and the spilled ink tag on Tumblr: that classic combination of repetitive, fragmented, outright poor syntax and occasional fake deep phrasing/imagery. as evidenced by my excitement over the cannibalism, I have a very strong stomach for gore... and a very weak one for the number of sentences in this that begin with "she is" or "there is/are." there are (lol) three alternating perspectives, but for how indistinguishable they are and how the same information is often restated between them (often dryly told rather than shown, spelled out ad nauseam to really hammer it into your goldfish-brained readers' heads), one would have sufficed. the description "more of a pinterest board than a novel" is so very fitting. disappointing :-(((
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Sexual content, Vomit