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sgrunwald96's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
5.0
Deeply surprised by this one. Elements of old fairytales, classic kids stories, gory body horror, crazy monster design, quiet romance, and family issues somehow come together in a truly wholesome story? I had so much fun, and really loved the monster in all her iterations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse
snazzy10101's review
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Body horror, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
snowwhitehatesapples's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
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
Also on Snow White Hates Apples.
Cosy fantasy isn’t normally my cup of tea but the healthy dashes of good weirdness, horror, satire and humour have made this reading experience very enjoyable.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In follows Shesheshen, the resident shapeshifter monster of Underlook who falls in love with a kind human girl named Homily. However, despite Homily reciprocating Shesheshen’s feelings, their romance is not an easy one because:
a) Homily is part of the intense, complicated, toxic and extreme Wulfyre family who has made it their duty to slay wyrms like Shesheshen because her kind has somehow ‘cursed’ their family.
b) No matter how well Shesheshen mimics and learns, at the end of the day, she’s no human and a relationship built on lies is not something she can vibe with — and heavens, there are a lot of lies from all sides that need to be dealt with first.
So, what can a monster in love do but try her best anyway, am I right? Which, brings us this oddly lovable story that has humans VS monsters interwoven into everything, everywhere, all at once.
Wiswell has done a brilliant job telling this story through the perspective of a monster. It truly reads and feels alien, but as admirable as I find this (and as much as I enjoyed the other aspects of the story), I feel this has created a great emotional disconnect as well. I get that this is due to Shesheshen’s character and when she becomes more human in feeling and thinking, her narrative reflects that. However, the emotions in her narrative also stop coming to life after the climax and the story returns to this state of emotional disconnectivity. This could just be me, though, as I found the entire bit post-climax too neat. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the care Wiswell has in exploring different types of trauma, love, relationships and identity here.
If romance between a human and monster paired with a direct, unflinching narrative (remember, this is a horror fantasy too) doesn’t give you the ick, I think you’ll enjoy Someone You Can Build a Nest In too.
Cosy fantasy isn’t normally my cup of tea but the healthy dashes of good weirdness, horror, satire and humour have made this reading experience very enjoyable.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In follows Shesheshen, the resident shapeshifter monster of Underlook who falls in love with a kind human girl named Homily. However, despite Homily reciprocating Shesheshen’s feelings, their romance is not an easy one because:
a) Homily is part of the intense, complicated, toxic and extreme Wulfyre family who has made it their duty to slay wyrms like Shesheshen because her kind has somehow ‘cursed’ their family.
b) No matter how well Shesheshen mimics and learns, at the end of the day, she’s no human and a relationship built on lies is not something she can vibe with — and heavens, there are a lot of lies from all sides that need to be dealt with first.
So, what can a monster in love do but try her best anyway, am I right? Which, brings us this oddly lovable story that has humans VS monsters interwoven into everything, everywhere, all at once.
Wiswell has done a brilliant job telling this story through the perspective of a monster. It truly reads and feels alien, but as admirable as I find this (and as much as I enjoyed the other aspects of the story), I feel this has created a great emotional disconnect as well. I get that this is due to Shesheshen’s character and when she becomes more human in feeling and thinking, her narrative reflects that. However, the emotions in her narrative also stop coming to life after the climax and the story returns to this state of emotional disconnectivity. This could just be me, though, as I found the entire bit post-climax too neat. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the care Wiswell has in exploring different types of trauma, love, relationships and identity here.
If romance between a human and monster paired with a direct, unflinching narrative (remember, this is a horror fantasy too) doesn’t give you the ick, I think you’ll enjoy Someone You Can Build a Nest In too.
Thank you so much DAW and Wunderkind PR for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell will be available at all good bookstores.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Animal cruelty, Gore, Murder, Bullying, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child death
Minor: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
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