Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

25 reviews

znvisser's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was kind of gross but also sweet and interesting. Shesheshen is fun! And a monster, but she is quite a social one (although she wouldn’t agree); she knows precisely how to use words with humans, evading truth without disturbing the conversation had by them. At several moments she is even surprisingly more human and better at recognising humanity than actual people. The story was more adventurous than I anticipated, which was great because the romance took a while to take hold. I enjoyed this!
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ezrazoe4's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Admittedly I will be biased towards this book because I love eldritch main characters trying to blend into society. That wasn’t exactly what happened, but I love it all the same. 

I love Shesheshen. Although I do wish we could’ve gotten more on Homily’s thoughts about Shesheshen basically eating her whole family, Catharsis in particular? That was the death Shesheshen directly caused. Nevertheless.

I really like the weird creepy monster biology. I like that the author really leaned into it and didn’t try to humanise her too much. Usually I’m not a fan of instalove, but I donno. The way this was written made me like it. Probably because it started as a big crush, then grew quickly into love? I can’t really wrap my head around it. 

Also omg sapphic ace lesbians??? I’m so happy. 

I genuinely did not guess that the Baroness was also Shesheshen’s mother? That was some reveal.


Anyway, in conclusion, good standalone sapphic fantasy with a lot of horror elements. I like it. Would love if there were more books like this.


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woolerys's review

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adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

This monster romance was a mix of funny, harrowing, and touching, as a monster romance should be! Mild spoiler for queer rep:
both the protagonist (the monster) and her human love interest are ace!
There’s a strong theme of “humans are the real monsters” which… could have been more subtle, but at least the overtness read as a stylistic choice and not just blundering. The villains are increasingly absurd. The plot kept me engaged and frequently surprised. Shesheshen, our protagonist, is wonderfully likable and disgusting at the same time. The ending wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped, but it was… interesting, ha. 
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temperamentalprotagonist's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.75

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terriaminute's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

I took my time reading this novel, because the author has a clever way with words and I didn't want to miss anything. :) 

If you've ever felt that monsters get a bad rap, this novel is for you! 
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oddmoose87's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a unique romance. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a protagonist like Shesheshen. Her character growth is remarkable and the parallels between her trauma and Homily’s are wonderful. Truly a beautiful story of ending cycles of trauma grossly told.
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tracysbookbalderdash's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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bglenners's review

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adventurous funny fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Usually I don't think 'cozy' and 'horror' mix well, but this book had such a beautiful balance. The action was brutal and detailed, but the relationship felt so soft and genuine. I'm not the right person to speak on asexual representation, but I feel like this does justice to ace couples.
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thereadingrambler's review

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dark emotional funny sad fast-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

4.75

One Sentence Review: Although this book appears to be a black rom-com at first, this book is deeply layered and deals with familial/parental trauma and abuse, the idea of civilization, and what monstrosity means.

Shesheshen is a monster—at least that is what everyone says. She is happily living in her lair with her pet bear, Blueberry, hunting down food when she needs it when she is woken from her slumber by a trio of monster hunters. Weakened, she is unable to kill them all and in her flight, she falls off a cliff, she assumes to her death. But she wakes up, wrapped in blankets, her wounds stitched up, and an unknown woman feeding her broth. Used to violence from humans, she doesn’t trust this woman, but Homily appears to be genuine and unaware that Shesheshen is a monster. Unfortunately, Homily reveals that she is hunting a monster who lives in the area who has cursed her family. Thus begins a confusing romance between monster and monster-hunter that manages to touch on so many complex subjects in such a caring and nuanced way I was continually impressed. 

First and foremost, the book deals with the idea of the monster. The monster, especially the female monster, is a complicated figure in literature and media (my friend wrote her whole doctoral dissertation on this!). She is the site of many anxieties about women and the threat they could (and often do) pose to society. Shesheshen takes her deadliness as not only a given but a natural and logical response to her experiences. She stands as a foil to “civilization,” she is constantly questioning this entire concept and finds so many of the requirements of civilization to be baffling. She is a threat to the nebulous concept of civilization (which is the term she uses) in so many ways: literally, as she is the apex predator extraordinaire of the area, but also she disrupts the entire political and economic structure of the isthmus where she lives. Monsters are disruptive and dangerous but often in good and necessary ways. 

As her relationship with Homily develops, Shesheshen is confronted with abuse and trauma. I was impressed with how this is handled within the book. In many romances, someone’s trauma is magicked away once they are in a loving, supportive romantic relationship, but Homily is not somehow free of her trauma triggers and responses once Shesheshen is in her life. In fact, Shesheshen realizes that she has fallen in love with Homily’s pain, and they have to renegotiate the relationship so Shesheshen is supporting Homily as she works through what happened to her. And the book doesn’t end with Homily being “fine;” it ends with hope for Homily and Shesheshen to have a strong relationship where they both will be made better and able to work through their trauma, pain, and emotional needs with each other as support. 

This book is a little chaotic plot-wise. It is the author’s debut novel so I’m willing to be a little more forgiving, but the final 25% jumps through a number of twists very quickly. I didn’t disbelieve any of the twists, and they did raise the stakes in interesting ways, but the reader was never given a lot of time with the implications of these twists. Since this is a romantasy (technically), I think the plot fumbled a bit when trying to balance the romance climax with the fantasy climax. Obviously not in a way that ruined the book for me, but I did find myself pulled out of the book a bit, particularly when Shesheshen experienced the same consequences three or four times in a row from different confrontations. While each confrontation gave us more progression and development character and plot-wise, knowing how Shesheshen would recover every time did take away from the suspense and tension. On the other hand, this is a romance so the reader knows there is ultimately going to be a happy ending. 

I would recommend this book to people who liked the tone and hijinks of Dead Cat Tail Assassins or the character depth of The Woods All Black or are chasing the more complex romantasy of The Emperor and the Endless Palace. I would also recommend this to people who are looking for something that deals with familial/parental abuse and trauma the MC’s partner has experienced and the impact that has on romantic relationships.
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