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muckl3t83's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Death
dcnireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Child abuse, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Stalking, and Alcohol
forgedopulence's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Every loose thread wrapped up suddenly within the last couple chapters, and all of it ended up in a knotted mess. Nothing made any sense and we never got any context to make it make sense.
Every resolution felt like it was thrown at the reader with a "take what you get" tone. I shouldn't have more questions at the end of a standalone than I did at the beginning.
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
mel_j's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
(It's very YA, but that's okay.)
Graphic: Grief, Religious bigotry, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Body horror
Moderate: Stalking and Confinement
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, Cursing, Sexism, Alcohol, Torture, Vomit, and Kidnapping
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Stalking, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Animal death, and Alcohol
sreddous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wil, at first, is a hard protagonist to get behind, but the more we see little details about her life and the state of her home (through details like her room), the more you see why she acts the way she does and the more you want to root for her. Elwood's narrative voice is lovely; I love how in his chapters he describes things in sort of scienc-y terms while Wil is just all chaos. It's a great balance and led to distinct character voices for this duo-POV story.
I liked the descriptions a lot too. Things got REAL gross when they needed to but were respectful when they needed to, so I found myself RESPECTING this scary forest and scary nature. I could just picture this eerie, snowy, gray location, but all the plants and bugs and living things too. Super cool.
I found the ending and resolution satisfying but also difficult to predict. I believe the way the mystery and the cult's actions were built up never felt info-dump-y, and the fact that there were a few loose ends "that didn't quite make sense" until the ending I found to be actually quite natural, and I feel like ultimately this book's ending had a great balance between "all nice and tied up, all details revisited" and also "things don't always go the way you hoped." Really engaging stuff!!
I think this book could have been a liiittle longer -- I think if we maybe had a handful more pages to build the emotional connection and shared hobbies and such between Wil and Elwood, that could have helped without slogging down the overall pacing. But IMO that's a little nitpicky -- I found their connection and how Wil was unique in how she treated Elwood and how Elwood was unique in how he treated Wil to be believable. It makes sense why they think the other is special.
Really cool stuff. This is the kind of body horror and monster stuff I definitely want to keep reading!!
Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, Violence, and Child abuse
sarah_shelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Religious bigotry, and Animal death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Religious Cult Cryptid Human Sacrifice Mothsdarquedreamer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The bits of horror that I got were outstanding. I really loved the ending, and still keep thinking about it, but there wasn't enough horror, and the romance just didn't have the chemistry I wanted. The characters also could have been a little more fleshed out.
It was an easy read. It was a worthwhile read. It just wasn't the great read I had expected. It just needed more. More horror. More feeling. More sparks. More character building.
I did enjoy that the main characters were not stereotypical to their genders, or societal roles. I enjoyed the Goosebumps feel that I got from the story, and I enjoyed the nostalgia found within the pages, and the references, along with the fact that the story didn't bring up all the modern bs with new technology and social media. It was a decent debut, and I would be willing to read more from this author.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Gore
kayceeisbookish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Alcoholism, Animal death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Blood, and Religious bigotry
fairytalefootnotes's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death