Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Struggled to get into it. I wanted to be into this so badly. May pick it up again when I’m in a different mood because that may be my issue.
My own fault, I clicked the wrong page and got lost and didn't know where I was
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Strong start, weak finish. Setting is great, I loved the wild and sometimes brutal Appalachian magic and Motheater was fascinating and wonderful as a character. Bennie was a little too wide-eyed and pure. Interesting pairing together, but the early romance felt a little forced even though the emotional connection built up naturally enough it didn’t need to be. It was a fun read and I got emotionally invested, but it felt a little immature tonally and characterization-wise, kind of YA.
Overall I enjoyed much of it, but thematically it is disjointed and likely to disappoint. It starts off feeling very eco-justice, get rid of the evil corporation hurting the living mountain. It felt like it was angling hard to sabotage the corp and drive them away. But by the endit has set up the mountain as the villain, despite spending plenty of time making it clear that the mountain was living, feeling, sentient, and deeply wounded from over a century of abuse. Gotta kill that mountain. Not even worth trying negotiations or reparations or bringing it the head of the mining corp CEO which tbh would have felt more in character. And that ending wouldn’t have involved killing half of the queer couple, which I’m frankly also a little salty about despite being more tolerant of plot-relevant character death than many people.
Overall I enjoyed much of it, but thematically it is disjointed and likely to disappoint. It starts off feeling very eco-justice, get rid of the evil corporation hurting the living mountain. It felt like it was angling hard to sabotage the corp and drive them away. But by the end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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:
No
I really liked this book, Appalachia is definitely an underrepresented area of America and think this is a beautiful homage to nature and the people who coexist with it there. (I'm not sure why the white author chose to make Bennie a Black character, this feels a bit shoehorned and heavy handed).
adventurous
mysterious
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:
Yes