Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Together We Rot

The world-building could've been more thorough, but I loved the vibe and atmosphere! The two protagonists were everything – I felt so sorry for Elwood but loved his soft nature and really liked Wil's feistyness and strength. The ending was heartbreaking, but very fitting.

(It's very YA, but that's okay.)

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chris_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

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kagehime's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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readwithanne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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sreddous's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

This is a new favorite of mine!!

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!!

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sarah_shelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

“He might not love me, but maybe he’ll praise my bones after he’s burned them too” Elwood

–Skyla Arndt, Together We Rot

I absolutely loved this book and I have so many thoughts to share! To start off, the audio is phenomenal. I always get excited when dual pov novels have a narrator for each pov, but these actors were next level. Wil’s narrator has a great northeastern accent and really changes up her voice for the other speaking characters. But her voice is also so emotional and varied, with a lot of attitude. She doesn’t just read the book, she truly acts like an audio drama. The first person narrative definitely helps with the acting because we get a very clear inner dialogue and connection to the characters’ thoughts and emotions. It took me longer to warm up to Elwood’s narrator, not because he was bad in any way, but Elwood is much more earnest and calm compared to Wil’s scathing insults and boiling rage. But as the story progresses, we get a lot more dynamic acting, especially as he tackles more characters and Elwood’s situation grows more horrifying.

Aside from the phenomenal acting, I was drawn to all of the characters. Finally some authentic & complex high schoolers! Ronnie seems to have been the stereotypical, pretty popular girl, but she bonded with social outcast Wil over the serious & traumatic things in their lives (Ronnie’s breakup with Lucas & her dad’s suicide; Wil’s mother’s disappearance) We also get to see different sides of their personalities. To Wil, Elwood is a traitor who chose his murderous family over her, but he is so confused and even more in the dark than she is. We also see how Lucas is an anxious mess who really cares about Ronnie but keeps messing up (I don’t fully know the girls’ perspectives on this, but it humanizes the guys). I also really enjoyed the relationship growth between Wil and Lucas. The two keep butting heads over their best friends, but are eventually able to acknowledge their shared friendships and jealousies. Once they get past the animosity, the two actually make a great team, being more similar than they realized. Kevin is the final character to round out the Scooby Gang (and I love that Wil uses that name). He doesn't have quite as much development or time among the other relationship dynamics, but he’s a steady presence with knowledge of old books and a love for conspiracies. He really rounds out the whole group.

Speaking of relationships, Arndt was able to sell me on the romance so much better in a matter of paragraphs than most writers do in a whole novel (unlike Caraval). Elwood’s descriptions of how much he loves Wil and his dreams for their day-to-day lives are so sweet! It’s obvious how much the two care for each other, even when Wil tries to deny it. It’s incredibly refreshing after too many YA romance subplots where the characters just seem to lust after each other.

Plot-wise the first half or so is fantastic. We get really great introductions to all of the characters and their dynamics as well as our main characters’ motivations: Wil’s missing mother and Elwood’s complicated relationship with his family. Everything builds fantastically as we run through Lucas’ party, Elwood’s discovery of the church’s cult aspects, running into Wil, and investigating the library with the rest of the cast. However, I felt like the pacing for the investigation was off. The town has gone ages without the younger generation discovering the sacrifices they make to the Morgue Wood. And yet, in a matter of days, the kids discover the entire backstory, dating back to the town’s founding. The supernatural aspects were also rather vague until the climax of the story when the book goes full cryptid. I think all of this could’ve been drawn out more to really sit in the tension and creepy vibes of the town.

Aside from some of the pacing issues, I loved the rest of the novel. I got very emotional at the end, especially after the forest fight and Wil’s reconciliation with her emotionally absent father. I would’ve accepted if the novel had ended differently, but I’m really glad everyone got a happy ending. Except for Elwood’s father, the chief of police, and the entire cult. There’s always a special vindication when evil organizations are publicly exposed and taken care of.

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