Reviews with content warning for Gore - Don't Fear The Reaper

Stephen Graham Jones is such a spectacularly talented writer I and it is such a treat to read a sequel better than the first installment. I honestly think it's better than My Heart Is A Chainsaw--something about Jade and her crew being grown up and them dealing with this trauma and violence that is at the heart of the American West and the small towns just hit right. And I didn't know if I would love the multiple character POV, but it worked so well. It also had these moments of dark humor that made me chuckle amongst the horror that I just loved (Jade being indignant about a slasher using a gun was very good).

My only criticism is that I felt that the fantastical element was as seamlessly integrated into the plot as it was in the last one. But I'm so excited for the third book in this series it's been so good so far.

On a reread I agree with everything me from a year ago said, but I think this is book, like the first in the series, improves on a rereading. Knowing the twists in the plot makes it really fun to see the foreshadowing for the reveal for what it was.

I also missed this on the first read through, but the way Dark Mill South is continually compared with at least vaguely physically resembling Tab Daniels just makes it fit in so well with the slasher genre of the Big Bad Slasher rising from his grave for the sequel. Also, Jade's mom hits so hard because it's a woman who tries to protect her daughter but is ultimately too weighed down by her ineffectiveness, her unrealized dreams, to actually be a protector. I think reading this one so soon after rereading the first one really just made her death a lot more meaningful than I found it the first time through.

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mgsl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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saint_eleanor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Okay i love stephen graham jones with all my heart but this book was sooo hard to read. There are so many characters to keep track of and so many different time jumps and stuff but all in all i f*cking love how he writes you have to work so hard. The only thing that pisses me off is i have so many questions still like

why did theo mondragon go on the rampage in the first book? Why did cinn kill ginger? Who really was dm south?? Is stacey graves gonna come back??

but we are still waiting on a third.

[@canine_gambling on ig if u wanna discuss]

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alexg52's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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perthalus's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

The writer tries way to hard to make his main character an iconic badass horror protagonist to the point where it becomes eye-rolling. Instead of focusing on character dynamics and relationships you just get mostly pointless snapshots of random character’s lives before they die a few pages after.

The antagonist somehow also feels incredibly undercooked despite the book being 500 pages long, and the prose is so confusing at times that I honestly can’t tell what is where and how something is happening. You think you’re in one place and then bam you’re on the opposite side of where you thought you were.

Made me miss the first book, which wasn’t too great in the first place.

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jayjm94's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

As perfect a book as I’ve ever read. It had everything: horror references, incredibly adept women, strange teenagers, a small town on the water, a snowstorm, and some light supernatural content. an absolute gem by SGJ, almost certainly my best book of the year (close 2nd being my heart is a chainsaw) cannot wait for the 3rd!

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zosiablue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Man, marry me, Stephen Graham Jones. He's just the best. Like all his stories, this one has full heart and gorgeous writing and campiness and tragedy and action and total respect for the genre. He's the only my writer I know who can do textual jumpscares. This is true horror but it's exhilarating because it follows slasher-horror rules until it doesn't and the rule breaks are totally earned. Can't wait for the next one.

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