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megmahoney1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Death, Alcohol, Gore, and Sexual content
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.0
i loved the premise, the writing, the character development, etc. but i feel like there was a tiny bit left to be desired in terms of the ending. however, i do not know if more would actually increase the amount i enjoyed this or totally destroy the ambiguity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual content
lily_peach's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Abandonment, Confinement, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Gore, Vomit, Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder
Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Homophobia
rosesofthespring's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
Armfield sets up a fantastic premise. What happens to people after the horror novel ends? How does it affect them? How does it affect their lives and loved ones? This is one of the more unique ideas I've ever seen for a split-POV novel.
Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed the execution. While I was very engaged with the mystery in Leah's chapters, I quickly grew soured on Miri's. I understand the concept. Miri is going through grief, which is one of - if not the - most challenging experience(s) in a person's life. She is flashing back to previous memorable moments and previous periods of grieving. While this makes sense in theory, in practice it means that 2/3rds of the book (Miri's chapters are much longer than Leah's) is rarely concerned with the central mystery.
Before I get too critical, I want to make it clear that there are many positives to this book. Armfield is extremely good at creating tension in a small space. The thoughts and behavior of people trapped in a confined space are shown well. Often I find that writers go too far in either direction, either opting for pure boredom or immediate claustrophobic panic. Armfield walks the line in a way that feels realistic. I also love the portrayal of the Centre as an unknowable horror in its own right, a bureaucratic monstrosity that's always sitting right at the edge of everyone's mind. The writing style fits the nostalgic, surreal nature of the story. The two POVs do not feel interchangeable the way they often do when handled by a less proficient author. The two women have distinct voices and thought patterns.
The rest of this review will be far more negative.
Miri flits in and out of engaging with the issue at hand, which is understandable, but whenever given the opportunity to get out of her own head, she refuses. This comes to a head when, 75% of the way through the book, someone shows up and basically says, "Hey, would you like to learn more about the central conflict?" To which she promptly responds, "No." and leaves. After spending more than 100 pages subjected to Miri's self-pitying, judgmental, unpleasant inner monologue, that scene felt like a joke at my expense.
I personally didn't feel like either storyline reached a satisfying conclusion, but YMMV there, that's extremely subjective. I think I can see what they were going for, at least in terms of handling Miri's relationship with grief, but it didn't feel like she experienced much significant growth. This might just be because the book ends immediately after a major character moment. I was left unsure whether I was supposed to read it literally or metaphorically. This ambiguity is very likely intentional, but the fact remains that it didn't feel substantial to me.
There are two strange things, given the air of mysteries, that are never resolved in the text.1. The upstairs neighbors. I feel like this is supposed to be simple set dressing, but an enormous amount of time is dedicated to it. I started thinking they must tie into the story when Miri pointed out that she'd never seen anyone up there, and she didn't hear any signs of life aside from the TV changing channels. I don't really understand the point of setting all that up if it's not supposed to be important. I guess it was just intended to amplify the surreal nature of Miri's situation. 2. The strange phone calls. I guess these were also just intended as a weird little quirk. When it turned out that a second character had been receiving similar calls, I held out hope that there would be some kind of explanation. Alas, no. I understand that over-explanation is the death of horror, but sometimes under-explanation becomes equally frustrating.
On a non-plot note: there is one bisexual woman introduced in the course of this book. She is portrayed as an argumentative lush with no sense of personal boundaries. The very first piece of description we get is that she is, quote, "loudly bisexual," a fact which I was delighted by. Then it quickly becomes clear that this description is intended as an insult. The fact that "she likes people to know" about her bisexuality is treated like a flaw. A detriment to a person who is otherwise "all right." This character is brought up a couple more times through the book, exclusively so people can talk about how much they don't like her. I'm not saying it's unacceptable to have portrayals of marginalized characters who behave badly and are generally disliked. I'm not even saying this character's behavior is unrealistic or poorly written. My problem is that every moment of a character's portrayal is a choice the author makes. When this is the only bisexual character in a book marketed toward an LGBT audience, it feels less like an in-universe fact and more like an author's statement. If Armfield finds the presence of people like me so wholly unpleasant, I promise I will not sully the pages of any of her other works with my loudly bisexual hands.
Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed the execution. While I was very engaged with the mystery in Leah's chapters, I quickly grew soured on Miri's. I understand the concept. Miri is going through grief, which is one of - if not the - most challenging experience(s) in a person's life. She is flashing back to previous memorable moments and previous periods of grieving. While this makes sense in theory, in practice it means that 2/3rds of the book (Miri's chapters are much longer than Leah's) is rarely concerned with the central mystery.
Before I get too critical, I want to make it clear that there are many positives to this book. Armfield is extremely good at creating tension in a small space. The thoughts and behavior of people trapped in a confined space are shown well. Often I find that writers go too far in either direction, either opting for pure boredom or immediate claustrophobic panic. Armfield walks the line in a way that feels realistic. I also love the portrayal of the Centre as an unknowable horror in its own right, a bureaucratic monstrosity that's always sitting right at the edge of everyone's mind. The writing style fits the nostalgic, surreal nature of the story. The two POVs do not feel interchangeable the way they often do when handled by a less proficient author. The two women have distinct voices and thought patterns.
The rest of this review will be far more negative.
Miri flits in and out of engaging with the issue at hand, which is understandable, but whenever given the opportunity to get out of her own head, she refuses. This comes to a head when, 75% of the way through the book, someone shows up and basically says, "Hey, would you like to learn more about the central conflict?" To which she promptly responds, "No." and leaves. After spending more than 100 pages subjected to Miri's self-pitying, judgmental, unpleasant inner monologue, that scene felt like a joke at my expense.
I personally didn't feel like either storyline reached a satisfying conclusion, but YMMV there, that's extremely subjective. I think I can see what they were going for, at least in terms of handling Miri's relationship with grief, but it didn't feel like she experienced much significant growth. This might just be because the book ends immediately after a major character moment. I was left unsure whether I was supposed to read it literally or metaphorically. This ambiguity is very likely intentional, but the fact remains that it didn't feel substantial to me.
There are two strange things, given the air of mysteries, that are never resolved in the text.
On a non-plot note: there is one bisexual woman introduced in the course of this book. She is portrayed as an argumentative lush with no sense of personal boundaries. The very first piece of description we get is that she is, quote, "loudly bisexual," a fact which I was delighted by. Then it quickly becomes clear that this description is intended as an insult. The fact that "she likes people to know" about her bisexuality is treated like a flaw. A detriment to a person who is otherwise "all right." This character is brought up a couple more times through the book, exclusively so people can talk about how much they don't like her. I'm not saying it's unacceptable to have portrayals of marginalized characters who behave badly and are generally disliked. I'm not even saying this character's behavior is unrealistic or poorly written. My problem is that every moment of a character's portrayal is a choice the author makes. When this is the only bisexual character in a book marketed toward an LGBT audience, it feels less like an in-universe fact and more like an author's statement. If Armfield finds the presence of people like me so wholly unpleasant, I promise I will not sully the pages of any of her other works with my loudly bisexual hands.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Grief, Confinement, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Dementia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Cursing, Alcohol, and Biphobia
aquariusisms's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Blood, Sexual content, Grief, Mental illness, Confinement, and Suicide
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Vomit, and Medical content
madarauchiha's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
✨🌠 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 🌠✨
As filling as sea foam. I'm left wanting horror having fed none. It's very pretty writing. This book is really, like, white woman oriented. And bland. Where is the fucking? There's lesbians for christ sake. Of course we fuck. And where is the horror? Forgotten in the sea? The most we get is a little body horror and some oh noes DX moments in the ocean. Meh.
No rating because I'm aware that I'm the wrong audience.
If you came here looking for lesbian horror, ehhhhh skip this one. Listen, read this.
▪ “Ghosts don’t speak,” she said to me. “People misunderstand this. They think that when you’re haunted you hear someone speaking but you don’t. Or not usually. Most of the time, if you hear something speaking, it’s not a ghost – it’s something worse.”
This is the most horror you get out of this book. No really.
major blood, body horror, confinement, injuries, medical content, mouth injuries, parasites, parental death, religion catholic, sexism, sexual content, vomit
medium alcohol, animal death, drug abuse, self harm, sexual harassment
minor animal death, religion catholic,
As filling as sea foam. I'm left wanting horror having fed none. It's very pretty writing. This book is really, like, white woman oriented. And bland. Where is the fucking? There's lesbians for christ sake. Of course we fuck. And where is the horror? Forgotten in the sea? The most we get is a little body horror and some oh noes DX moments in the ocean. Meh.
No rating because I'm aware that I'm the wrong audience.
If you came here looking for lesbian horror, ehhhhh skip this one. Listen, read this.
▪ “Ghosts don’t speak,” she said to me. “People misunderstand this. They think that when you’re haunted you hear someone speaking but you don’t. Or not usually. Most of the time, if you hear something speaking, it’s not a ghost – it’s something worse.”
This is the most horror you get out of this book. No really.
major blood, body horror, confinement, injuries, medical content, mouth injuries, parasites, parental death, religion catholic, sexism, sexual content, vomit
medium alcohol, animal death, drug abuse, self harm, sexual harassment
minor animal death, religion catholic,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Self harm, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death
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