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chelsraealberto's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was another hit by Daniel Kraus!! If you love sci-fi and horror this is a perfect quick and captivating page-turner. This book may challenge the faint of heart or those who are new to the genres of horror and sci-fi, but any longtime fan will not at all be dismayed by the details of the story. Kraus does a beautiful job of implying graphic details without forcing the audience to uncomfortably live through the execution of them. Elements of horror are used incredibly effectively throughout the narrative and not for the sake of spectacle. I’m actually surprised at the amount of reviews admonishing the torture scenes in the story which compared to most shows/movies you can watch on any streaming site, regardless of age, or any number of thriller novels, seem benign. There are scenes where torture is sparingly described amongst huge dialogues of debate around the ethics and guilt of it, all due to the two main characters believing, supported by all previous evidence, that the captured alien is part of the clan which is responsible for the abduction and probable murder of the main characters father. They use torture to interrogate the creature in the desperate attempt of finding and retrieving her father. Towards the end of the novel the results of torture become more graphic but again we are rarely, if ever, privy to the moments of torture as they are occurring. As an audience for the most part we find out about the results long after the acts have occurred. The Torture is absolutely not endorsed and is a huge point of contention and catalyst of change among the characters. In this chilling tale you will find all the classic markers of a great Alien story but with enough twists to keep the narrative refreshing and worthwhile. As with all good monster stories, the themes and messages conveyed throughout this story run much deeper than what lies at the surface and will have you questioning what constitutes a monster.
glelchuk's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
inkedwxtchreads's review
1.0
Yeah this was just ridiculous and super messed up. And not in the way that I enjoy. Also my second rating this low this year. Wtf is happening? I NEVER give ratings this low. But I really did not like this reading experience even slightly.
Basically girls dad disappears after being paranoid about alien. Girl and random friend find random alien. Instead of doing idk literally anything else… they BRUTALLY and graphically torture said alien who is basically an animal in the sense that it cannot communicate (not really a spoiler and I think people deserve to be warned anyway). Keep in mind this is YA and these are teenagers. It was a lot. I can usually handle pretty much anything (even animal deaths ) but it totally depends on how it’s executed, and in this one I just couldn’t get behind it. Gratuitous torture for the sake of just being as disturbing as possible will never be my thing. It also just felt like there was no real goal with the torture, and it was kind of hard to believe this is how it would play out because of that. I had to skim a lot of the torture scenes. It does get really dark.
Though we do have other plot points in the book, such as the fact that the friend of the Mc is pretty unhinged. I don’t think that’s supposed to be a twist as I thought it was obvious from the start. I really don’t get the reviews saying they liked Doug in the beginning. He was ALWAYS sketchy imo you just aren’t sure of what his motives are or what he’s up to. But I also just didn’t like him as a character, even for being a gray character. His motives never did make sense to me.
The MC Liv just had no likable traits either… and it didn’t really feel like any of her thoughts were actually her own.
This book has a few twists and those twists are near the end… where this book gets totally bonkers unbelievable. Though it was kind of messed up and I didn’t see it coming. So props there kind of.
I liked the idea of the book and I was kind of intrigued as to why the characters decided to handle it this way, especially Doug, being it wasn’t actually his father. But this book just left me wanting.
But again, it is graphic. It pushes boundaries I don’t think YA should. Like why not make them adults in college if they really want the school setting? But yeah just be warned…. This reads waaaay more adult than it should.
There were a few questionable things said about a Mexican character as well… which I won’t even get into. Just know it made me feel weird.
Don’t know if I’ll check this author out again or not. Not really interested in his other stuff, so I don’t think forcing myself to read it would be a fair chance at redemption. If he puts anything out in the future though… then maybe. But I don’t think I would jump at the chance even then.
Basically girls dad disappears after being paranoid about alien. Girl and random friend find random alien. Instead of doing idk literally anything else… they BRUTALLY and graphically torture said alien who is basically an animal in the sense that it cannot communicate (not really a spoiler and I think people deserve to be warned anyway). Keep in mind this is YA and these are teenagers. It was a lot. I can usually handle pretty much anything (even animal deaths ) but it totally depends on how it’s executed, and in this one I just couldn’t get behind it. Gratuitous torture for the sake of just being as disturbing as possible will never be my thing. It also just felt like there was no real goal with the torture, and it was kind of hard to believe this is how it would play out because of that. I had to skim a lot of the torture scenes. It does get really dark.
Though we do have other plot points in the book, such as the fact that the friend of the Mc is pretty unhinged. I don’t think that’s supposed to be a twist as I thought it was obvious from the start. I really don’t get the reviews saying they liked Doug in the beginning. He was ALWAYS sketchy imo you just aren’t sure of what his motives are or what he’s up to. But I also just didn’t like him as a character, even for being a gray character. His motives never did make sense to me.
The MC Liv just had no likable traits either… and it didn’t really feel like any of her thoughts were actually her own.
This book has a few twists and those twists are near the end… where this book gets totally bonkers unbelievable. Though it was kind of messed up and I didn’t see it coming. So props there kind of.
I liked the idea of the book and I was kind of intrigued as to why the characters decided to handle it this way, especially Doug, being it wasn’t actually his father. But this book just left me wanting.
But again, it is graphic. It pushes boundaries I don’t think YA should. Like why not make them adults in college if they really want the school setting? But yeah just be warned…. This reads waaaay more adult than it should.
There were a few questionable things said about a Mexican character as well… which I won’t even get into. Just know it made me feel weird.
Don’t know if I’ll check this author out again or not. Not really interested in his other stuff, so I don’t think forcing myself to read it would be a fair chance at redemption. If he puts anything out in the future though… then maybe. But I don’t think I would jump at the chance even then.
zosiablue's review
4.0
(4.5) "When wounds of sadness, loneliness, and anger healed poorly, any atrocity was possible."
JESUS CHRIST this was horrifying. I thought I was getting into a cute little book about alien abduction but noooooope. How about instead a big old metaphor for why torture is bad. In excruciating, heartbreaking detail. This is one of those books along the lines of Tender is the Flesh & The Troop that I found wildly original and sickening and I will never read again in my life. It's been a long time since I've gotten genuinely shocked by a book. Well done! Now I hope I forget the entire thing.
JESUS CHRIST this was horrifying. I thought I was getting into a cute little book about alien abduction but noooooope. How about instead a big old metaphor for why torture is bad. In excruciating, heartbreaking detail. This is one of those books along the lines of Tender is the Flesh & The Troop that I found wildly original and sickening and I will never read again in my life. It's been a long time since I've gotten genuinely shocked by a book. Well done! Now I hope I forget the entire thing.
toystory242's review
2.0
*2.5 stars*
Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??
This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in Zebulon, or even Zeb and the Dr. Like, Liv has this whole love interest that was in the book for 4 minutes and he had this whole thing at the end but it just felt stupid and cringy because I didn't feel their romance. Also, Liv and her best friend Doug are the main characters, but their relationship and Liv's motivations were SO WEIRD. Half of the time Liv LOVED Doug to a weird degree--there would be sentences like "how did the world make such a brave person like Doug?" (not kidding that's basically verbatim), but then there would be times where she wanted nothing to do with him?? Liv would flip-flop from wanting to torture this alien to wanting to help it to wanting to torture it to help it to KILL IT?? It made zero sense I had no idea what she was doing man.
There's a big plot twist 3/4ths of the way through the book that I really wished was developed more because instead of feeling shocking, it just felt stupid. I guessed part of it and was like "nooooo that can't be it" and it was and I was eye-rolling hard. If the world was built more around the plot-twist I think I would have liked it a lot more, but because it didn't make sense I just questioned the validity of it, ya know?
This book isn't horrible--I just think Daniel Kraus can and has done better. I think for this story to have worked, this book needed to be way longer. For real, like as least as long as a Zeb book. We needed to DIVE into Liv's relationship with her dad, her relationship with Doug, her relationship with Bruno (her love interest). We needed to DIVE into this plot-twist. Instead it all just felt very surface level.
I'm disappointed :(
Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??
This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in Zebulon, or even Zeb and the Dr. Like, Liv has this whole love interest that was in the book for 4 minutes and he had this whole thing at the end but it just felt stupid and cringy because I didn't feel their romance. Also, Liv and her best friend Doug are the main characters, but their relationship and Liv's motivations were SO WEIRD. Half of the time Liv LOVED Doug to a weird degree--there would be sentences like "how did the world make such a brave person like Doug?" (not kidding that's basically verbatim), but then there would be times where she wanted nothing to do with him?? Liv would flip-flop from wanting to torture this alien to wanting to help it to wanting to torture it to help it to KILL IT?? It made zero sense I had no idea what she was doing man.
There's a big plot twist 3/4ths of the way through the book that I really wished was developed more because instead of feeling shocking, it just felt stupid. I guessed part of it and was like "nooooo that can't be it" and it was and I was eye-rolling hard. If the world was built more around the plot-twist I think I would have liked it a lot more, but because it didn't make sense I just questioned the validity of it, ya know?
This book isn't horrible--I just think Daniel Kraus can and has done better. I think for this story to have worked, this book needed to be way longer. For real, like as least as long as a Zeb book. We needed to DIVE into Liv's relationship with her dad, her relationship with Doug, her relationship with Bruno (her love interest). We needed to DIVE into this plot-twist. Instead it all just felt very surface level.
I'm disappointed :(
thoroughlymodernreviewer's review
5.0
I received a digital ARC of this novel from Edelweiss in return for a fair review.
I don't normally review YA novels for the sheer fact that they so rarely appeal to me. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the typical fare they cover (teenage drama, lots of romance, etc) so I tend to stay away from them. But I've read some of Daniel Kraus' previous work, the most recent being his adaptation of The Shape of Water, and really enjoyed it. So, when I saw that he had a new book coming out and read the book's synopsis, I was definitely intrigued. It sounded like the kind of thing that might be right up my alley (being an avid lover of Science Fiction and Horror), so it seemed like a fun book to look into. Having now finished it, I can say that it was a good decision on my part. It's a really well-written story that does its damndest to defy the normal constraints of its genre. I really enjoyed it and I think it'll be a good read for a number of different audiences - including, but not limited to, the YA crowd.
I cannot overstate just how much I enjoyed Bent Heavens. While the term "delight" probably wouldn't be appropriate given how dark the book often gets, reading it was thoroughly enjoyable. This is one of those novels that's incredibly difficult to put down once you've started it; you're just craving to know what happens next as each chapter ends. Kraus writes in a style that is immensely easy to read and is immediately captivating. From the first page, you are pulled straight into this world that he is built and you're more than happy to join the main character, Liv, on her journey throughout the novel's story.
As for that story, woof... this one's a doozy. While the way the plot unfolds is fairly simple and linear (save for a few flashbacks that tie into the surrounding chapters), it's littered with genuine surprises and deeply satisfying moments. I'm gonna choose my words carefully here because I really think this is a book that should be read with as little foreknowledge as possible. As the summary says, a couple of years before the novel's main story begins, Liv's father, Lee, disappeared for a few days before returning, claiming he'd been abducted by aliens. Less than a year later, he'd disappeared for good, leaving Liv and her mother behind to deal with his loss. Liv's life returned to some semblance of normal until she and her friend, Doug, find an alien caught in one of her father's leftover traps. From this moment, the book takes a truly dark turn, veering straight into the territory of a horror novel. But the horror isn't this alien threat... It's the humans who've caught him.
Even though the story itself isn't super complex, the central mystery of what's actually going on is definitely an interesting one. Kraus ensures that the novel's plot twists and reveals land at precisely the moment they'll have the most impact. Every time you find yourself itching for an answer to a question, it's pretty likely you'll find an answer a few pages later. And if you don't, it's because you're not supposed to know the answer yet. But you'll learn all the answers to all of the major questions you'll have and, ultimately, it's a really satisfying mystery. It's also a lot of fun seeing Liv and Doug try to work out exactly what's going on - and when we do find out the truth behind everything, there's something deeply satisfying about it. Initially, I was a tiny bit disappointed in the reveal, but as it became clearer just how the reveal tied into the broader themes Kraus covers in the novel, I quickly fell in love with the mystery's solution.
Speaking of themes, Kraus tackles some pretty intense ones. As you'd expect, the biggest theme the novel explores is that of trauma - both the trauma of losing a parent in such an upsetting way and also the trauma that comes with what Liv and Doug do to the alien they've captured. Much of the first quarter of the book focuses on the way Liv, her mother (Aggie), and Doug are dealing with Lee's disappearance/death. Aggie's an alcoholic, Doug is obsessed with continuing Lee's quest to capture an alien, and Liv is trying her best to just hold herself together. Then, once Liv and Doug have actually found an alien trapped in one of Lee's old traps, the story shifts to examining the trauma that comes with how they treat this alien and the weight that keeping this secret places on them. From here on out, the book gets pretty dark and pretty violent. There are some genuinely disturbing scenes, but they never feel gratuitous because they feel grounded in Liv and Doug's experiences. What Liv and Doug do in this novel seems fairly okay, at first, but as it quickly becomes apparent it's not okay, we actually get to see Liv try to grapple with that. How does she feel about herself in the wake of her actions? These moments are where we get the most nuanced take on this theme of trauma and they rank among the book's best.
Of course, a huge amount of any book's success lies in how well-executed the main character's characterization is. In Bent Heavens' Liv, Kraus has created the kind of character that every writer hopes to create: one who is multi-faceted, very flawed, yet still so easy to root for. While the novel is written in the third-person, Kraus does an amazing job of bringing the reader into Liv's mindset. We are privy to her thoughts and her feelings and we find ourselves sympathizing with her as she navigates these increasingly murky waters with Doug. The bulk of the story is built around the reader getting to see how all of these awful things Liv does, and goes through, throughout the story impact her. We get to see her deal with all of these memories she'd thought she'd dealt with as they get reopened after she's seemingly found proof that her father was telling the truth. We get to see how everything she and Doug do with the alien takes a toll on her. We get to see how her whole life crumbles in front of her very eyes the deeper she gets into this. We get to see how she deals with the weight of this terrible secret crushing down on her. We get to see her do some morally reprehensible things and we get to see her react exactly the same way we're reacting: with revulsion.
Kraus takes great care to ensure that we understand why Liv does the things she does and that we sympathize with her while also making sure we don't condone her actions. She and Doug do some awful things in the novel and we're supposed to find them awful, just as Liv does. Liv doesn't forgive herself and neither do we. The difference between Liv and Doug, and the thing that makes us sympathize with Liv even in her darkest moments, is that she feels true remorse for what she's done. She realizes she's being as bad as the people she hates and we get to see her come to this realization. We're on this journey with her, and we're inclined to stick by her because of how well Kraus established her and drew us into her world at the beginning of the novel. Without the audience already liking her, we'd turn on her in an instant. But here, the reader wants to root for her, even as she does, and goes through, all of these nightmarish things We're invested in her and in her story and we desperately want to see her come out of all of this in one piece. That kind of character is a gift to a story like this and Liv is basically the single reason this story works. Everything ties back to her and it's so enjoyable experiencing this story with her.
Now, to be fair, pretty much every character that isn't Liv doesn't get a huge amount of focus. Doug clearly has an arc that he goes on, but we only get to experience that arc through Liv's eyes and how the changes she sees him going through are affecting her. The same is true for every character, really. Kraus has created a world where all of the characters truly feel real and lived in, but we don't get to see a lot of that because we're so caught up in Liv's story. And, in a way, this makes a lot of sense. I mean, when you're seventeen, the world really does feel like it revolves around you. You don't really notice everyone else's journey through life as you're too busy dealing with your own. So, normally, I might ding a novel for only really developing one of its characters, but with Bent Heavens, it's entirely understandable why Liv gets most of the focus. This is her story, through her eyes, and we're only going to be privy to the things she sees and experiences. However, this approach wouldn't work if Kraus hadn't taken some care in ensuring the rest of the characters didn't feel like cardboard cutouts. And he certainly made sure of that because all of the characters truly feel real, even if we don't see them much. We see enough of them to understand what they're about and to relate to them in one way or another. And that's more than enough to make this story work.
Overall, I enjoyed Bent Heavens even more than I'd hoped I would - and I really hoped I would enjoy it. It's one of those books that's immediately engaging and extremely difficult to put down. It's a pretty quick read, but it's an absolutely engaging one. It tackles some heavy themes, it's scary, it's thought-provoking, and it's easily one of the best books I've read in a good while. Kraus's voice is so well-defined and his prose is so easy to read that you quickly find yourself speeding through the novel but enjoying every second of it. It's so easy to relate to, and route for, the novel's main character and you'll be surprised by just how invested you'll become in her story. I just cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this book. It's not perfect and I have a nitpick or two here or there, but I haven't had such a visceral reaction to a book I've read in so long and that's far more valuable to me than anything else. I loved this book. While it's technically marketed as a YA novel, I think it's easily accessible to science fiction and horror fans who don't normally read YA books. It defies the typical genre constraints and it's all the better for it. Seriously, if you like a good SciFi/horror story with some really interesting, morally gray themes, this is the book for you.
I don't normally review YA novels for the sheer fact that they so rarely appeal to me. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the typical fare they cover (teenage drama, lots of romance, etc) so I tend to stay away from them. But I've read some of Daniel Kraus' previous work, the most recent being his adaptation of The Shape of Water, and really enjoyed it. So, when I saw that he had a new book coming out and read the book's synopsis, I was definitely intrigued. It sounded like the kind of thing that might be right up my alley (being an avid lover of Science Fiction and Horror), so it seemed like a fun book to look into. Having now finished it, I can say that it was a good decision on my part. It's a really well-written story that does its damndest to defy the normal constraints of its genre. I really enjoyed it and I think it'll be a good read for a number of different audiences - including, but not limited to, the YA crowd.
I cannot overstate just how much I enjoyed Bent Heavens. While the term "delight" probably wouldn't be appropriate given how dark the book often gets, reading it was thoroughly enjoyable. This is one of those novels that's incredibly difficult to put down once you've started it; you're just craving to know what happens next as each chapter ends. Kraus writes in a style that is immensely easy to read and is immediately captivating. From the first page, you are pulled straight into this world that he is built and you're more than happy to join the main character, Liv, on her journey throughout the novel's story.
As for that story, woof... this one's a doozy. While the way the plot unfolds is fairly simple and linear (save for a few flashbacks that tie into the surrounding chapters), it's littered with genuine surprises and deeply satisfying moments. I'm gonna choose my words carefully here because I really think this is a book that should be read with as little foreknowledge as possible. As the summary says, a couple of years before the novel's main story begins, Liv's father, Lee, disappeared for a few days before returning, claiming he'd been abducted by aliens. Less than a year later, he'd disappeared for good, leaving Liv and her mother behind to deal with his loss. Liv's life returned to some semblance of normal until she and her friend, Doug, find an alien caught in one of her father's leftover traps. From this moment, the book takes a truly dark turn, veering straight into the territory of a horror novel. But the horror isn't this alien threat... It's the humans who've caught him.
Even though the story itself isn't super complex, the central mystery of what's actually going on is definitely an interesting one. Kraus ensures that the novel's plot twists and reveals land at precisely the moment they'll have the most impact. Every time you find yourself itching for an answer to a question, it's pretty likely you'll find an answer a few pages later. And if you don't, it's because you're not supposed to know the answer yet. But you'll learn all the answers to all of the major questions you'll have and, ultimately, it's a really satisfying mystery. It's also a lot of fun seeing Liv and Doug try to work out exactly what's going on - and when we do find out the truth behind everything, there's something deeply satisfying about it. Initially, I was a tiny bit disappointed in the reveal, but as it became clearer just how the reveal tied into the broader themes Kraus covers in the novel, I quickly fell in love with the mystery's solution.
Speaking of themes, Kraus tackles some pretty intense ones. As you'd expect, the biggest theme the novel explores is that of trauma - both the trauma of losing a parent in such an upsetting way and also the trauma that comes with what Liv and Doug do to the alien they've captured. Much of the first quarter of the book focuses on the way Liv, her mother (Aggie), and Doug are dealing with Lee's disappearance/death. Aggie's an alcoholic, Doug is obsessed with continuing Lee's quest to capture an alien, and Liv is trying her best to just hold herself together. Then, once Liv and Doug have actually found an alien trapped in one of Lee's old traps, the story shifts to examining the trauma that comes with how they treat this alien and the weight that keeping this secret places on them. From here on out, the book gets pretty dark and pretty violent. There are some genuinely disturbing scenes, but they never feel gratuitous because they feel grounded in Liv and Doug's experiences. What Liv and Doug do in this novel seems fairly okay, at first, but as it quickly becomes apparent it's not okay, we actually get to see Liv try to grapple with that. How does she feel about herself in the wake of her actions? These moments are where we get the most nuanced take on this theme of trauma and they rank among the book's best.
Of course, a huge amount of any book's success lies in how well-executed the main character's characterization is. In Bent Heavens' Liv, Kraus has created the kind of character that every writer hopes to create: one who is multi-faceted, very flawed, yet still so easy to root for. While the novel is written in the third-person, Kraus does an amazing job of bringing the reader into Liv's mindset. We are privy to her thoughts and her feelings and we find ourselves sympathizing with her as she navigates these increasingly murky waters with Doug. The bulk of the story is built around the reader getting to see how all of these awful things Liv does, and goes through, throughout the story impact her. We get to see her deal with all of these memories she'd thought she'd dealt with as they get reopened after she's seemingly found proof that her father was telling the truth. We get to see how everything she and Doug do with the alien takes a toll on her. We get to see how her whole life crumbles in front of her very eyes the deeper she gets into this. We get to see how she deals with the weight of this terrible secret crushing down on her. We get to see her do some morally reprehensible things and we get to see her react exactly the same way we're reacting: with revulsion.
Kraus takes great care to ensure that we understand why Liv does the things she does and that we sympathize with her while also making sure we don't condone her actions. She and Doug do some awful things in the novel and we're supposed to find them awful, just as Liv does. Liv doesn't forgive herself and neither do we. The difference between Liv and Doug, and the thing that makes us sympathize with Liv even in her darkest moments, is that she feels true remorse for what she's done. She realizes she's being as bad as the people she hates and we get to see her come to this realization. We're on this journey with her, and we're inclined to stick by her because of how well Kraus established her and drew us into her world at the beginning of the novel. Without the audience already liking her, we'd turn on her in an instant. But here, the reader wants to root for her, even as she does, and goes through, all of these nightmarish things We're invested in her and in her story and we desperately want to see her come out of all of this in one piece. That kind of character is a gift to a story like this and Liv is basically the single reason this story works. Everything ties back to her and it's so enjoyable experiencing this story with her.
Now, to be fair, pretty much every character that isn't Liv doesn't get a huge amount of focus. Doug clearly has an arc that he goes on, but we only get to experience that arc through Liv's eyes and how the changes she sees him going through are affecting her. The same is true for every character, really. Kraus has created a world where all of the characters truly feel real and lived in, but we don't get to see a lot of that because we're so caught up in Liv's story. And, in a way, this makes a lot of sense. I mean, when you're seventeen, the world really does feel like it revolves around you. You don't really notice everyone else's journey through life as you're too busy dealing with your own. So, normally, I might ding a novel for only really developing one of its characters, but with Bent Heavens, it's entirely understandable why Liv gets most of the focus. This is her story, through her eyes, and we're only going to be privy to the things she sees and experiences. However, this approach wouldn't work if Kraus hadn't taken some care in ensuring the rest of the characters didn't feel like cardboard cutouts. And he certainly made sure of that because all of the characters truly feel real, even if we don't see them much. We see enough of them to understand what they're about and to relate to them in one way or another. And that's more than enough to make this story work.
Overall, I enjoyed Bent Heavens even more than I'd hoped I would - and I really hoped I would enjoy it. It's one of those books that's immediately engaging and extremely difficult to put down. It's a pretty quick read, but it's an absolutely engaging one. It tackles some heavy themes, it's scary, it's thought-provoking, and it's easily one of the best books I've read in a good while. Kraus's voice is so well-defined and his prose is so easy to read that you quickly find yourself speeding through the novel but enjoying every second of it. It's so easy to relate to, and route for, the novel's main character and you'll be surprised by just how invested you'll become in her story. I just cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this book. It's not perfect and I have a nitpick or two here or there, but I haven't had such a visceral reaction to a book I've read in so long and that's far more valuable to me than anything else. I loved this book. While it's technically marketed as a YA novel, I think it's easily accessible to science fiction and horror fans who don't normally read YA books. It defies the typical genre constraints and it's all the better for it. Seriously, if you like a good SciFi/horror story with some really interesting, morally gray themes, this is the book for you.
jenna_cross's review
4.0
3.75 rounded up. This was so much darker than I expected. When I started to realize where it was going I hoped I was wrong. When my premonition was proven correct in the most horrible way my stomach hurt from the horror of it. This is a brutally sad story. Humans are always the most savage in the end.