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abbysingh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, and Hate crime
_kaylinconn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
The talk of identity and finding ourselves is reflected beautifully in both Abitha and Samson.
The reason this gets a lower rating is primarily because I didn’t feel particularly attached to the characters. They all felt like not good people, but not in the fun way. Samson was the most compelling, but he lost me at the end. I did like Abitha, but I didn’t feel connected to her.
Honestly, my favorite character was Forest and I was sad he didn’t live to see the world he wanted.
I also am not a fun of vigilante justice that involves torture. I understand why Abitha wishes to punish certain members of the village, and I understand wanting the deaths to be violent. But torture is never something I enjoy reading, and even in vigilante justice, I never find it excusable. Though I know there are people who do horrible things, I just can’t imagine truly torturing another human. And it made me dislike the characters in an irredeemable way. I can understand and still like a character who kills, but torture is too much for me.
I also am aware this is a me issue! It does not make the book bad for having it, it just makes it something I don’t like.
That being said, I thought this had a lot of beautiful moments in it. RIP Forest, I loved him even though he was a turd
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
jully_bean's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Minor: Domestic abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Alcohol
marcipanek7's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Despite everything bad that happened in there it, for some reason, fills me with deep sense of comfort.
I love you, Abitha and Samson. You will always live inside me.
(Sweet, sweet vengeance.)
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
bluestar_apologist'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
cryptidenthusiast's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder
kwthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing and Racial slurs
vortensity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think many strong-willed, ambitious, independent women will find Abitha relatable and compelling as I did. There was a particular passage in the book I highlighted and wrote a note that said "This bitch would be a lawyer in modern times," and I promise that wasn't just me (current law school student) projecting but like she as a character is a badass who knows her legal rights (not that women had many of those in Puritan New England). I also found her dynamic with Edward to be quite sweet? I also loved her character arc, because it was extremely cathartic to read.
And then there's Samson who is extremely compelling and intriguing and a god of death and life and nature and probably chaos? He had unwilling trickster god vibes to me, which in the setting of Puritan New England and context of a Horror novel worked super well.
Even some of the side characters felt so well developed to me? Brom does a good job at making some characters extremely sanctimonious and hateable. Which like... yeah, they're Puritans. The ones who aren't like that are outliers who lack the power to change their society in any meaningful way and that felt also extremely real and relatable?
Finally there was the plot and the horror aspect of worldbuilding which were pretty intertwined. I'll be honest: I have no idea how much of the lore was borrowed from actual Indigenous mythology and how much was made the fuck up from scratch (could have been all of it for all I know and I didn't immediately find the answer on Google so 🤷♀️.) There was one scene in particular that made me have to go find my cats and give them lots of affection (to their annoyance). That being said, I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and plot in this book because it felt like reading an old myth or fairytale. I actually think that this leans more fantasy than horror and the horror aspects are about on par like shock/gore wise with Flanagan's Midnight Mass.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexism, Violence, and Religious bigotry
stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Brom's writing style is beautiful, and I felt just about every emotion over the course of this dark tale. And given the multitudes of dualities - man vs nature, woman vs man, pagan vs christian, etc - I wouldn't be surprised if I got more out of a second reading. This might just have to be something I re-read in the future.
Overall, the story reminds me of that meme that's something along the lines of: my favourite horror movie genre is "good for her". I cheered Abitha's every success and felt my heart ache for her with every failure. Good for her!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
laurel616's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.75
At about the 75% mark I put this down and went seeking reviews to see if I wanted to finish it - I knew by then it would not be a good ending, but I wanted at least a satisfying ending. The general consensus was that it would be satisfying, so I powered through.
I am glad I did, I do feel like it was worth getting to the end, but if I had known some of the more gore and graphic scenes that were in this, I would have skipped it. That being said, I did feel like it ended in the best place it could have, and didn't leave me dreading anything.
I read this on an e-reader and based on some of the other reviews I wish I had the physical book to see better the illustrations included for each chapter start (and at the end).
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Sexism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent