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musingsbymichelle's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Medical content, and Alcohol
audsquad's review
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood
souponthebarby's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
alukalani's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.5
I enjoyed this budding serial killer story. It definitely gives American Psycho vibes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Hate crime, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism
baileybeloved's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Things I loved about this book: extended metaphors, Maeve's all-consuming possessiveness, and the absurdity of being a Disney princess / killer. CJ Leede does not shy away from or minimize the dark nature of Maeve and I respect that a lot.
Leede is also great at detailed scenes and places which really transport you. Gore/body horror were definitely there, but some things glossed over enough that even I (new to the body horror subgenre) was okay with reading it. Suspense was definitely there - I felt genuinely nervous reading this. Ending was exactly what it was going to be, with who Maeve is. I was disappointed by and for her, but it never could have ended any other way.
Things I didn't love about this book:
-the pacing!!! I felt like the first 60-70% were just slow meanders through Maeve's head, with no real plot or character development or an occurring - either make the book longer or make things happen faster. The back of the book talks about her following Patrick Bateman but that is such a small short part of the story that I felt the selling premise was not an accurate reflection of the book's contents.
-the egg subplot/kink (but not for the reason you think). My issue with the egg thing is that it just seemed very heavy handed (lol) for the metaphor the author was trying to convey. On one hand, I get it - Maeve's constant struggle is eased when she finds someone who can help her, who does not judge her interests but instead assists with them, that Maeve is all or nothing so she never considered anything in the middle ground. But on the other hand.... really? She has beenattempting to put an egg in her ass for YEARS and never considered a temperature between hard boiled and raw?????? How many eggs has she wasted on this?? . This is probably also a commentary on the single-minded pursuit of her goals, how inflexible she is, how everything must go exactly as she imagines it, that she needs a companion to ..... soften ? .... her ridged nature. But I was just so annoyed by this for some reason.
-the answer about the dolls:It seemed so obvious to me that Gideon was making the dolls. I did not for one second consider or buy that it was some random girl making them . The writing seemed to say we should be shocked by this but I was not surprised at all.
Other: A lot of the really positive reviews are audiobook specific so maybe I would've liked it more if I would have listened to it. Also I ADORE the other cover, with Maeve in the princess dress holding an eye.
Leede is also great at detailed scenes and places which really transport you. Gore/body horror were definitely there, but some things glossed over enough that even I (new to the body horror subgenre) was okay with reading it. Suspense was definitely there - I felt genuinely nervous reading this. Ending was exactly what it was going to be, with who Maeve is. I was disappointed by and for her, but it never could have ended any other way.
Things I didn't love about this book:
-the pacing!!! I felt like the first 60-70% were just slow meanders through Maeve's head, with no real plot or character development or an occurring - either make the book longer or make things happen faster. The back of the book talks about her following Patrick Bateman but that is such a small short part of the story that I felt the selling premise was not an accurate reflection of the book's contents.
-the egg subplot/kink (but not for the reason you think). My issue with the egg thing is that it just seemed very heavy handed (lol) for the metaphor the author was trying to convey. On one hand, I get it - Maeve's constant struggle is eased when she finds someone who can help her, who does not judge her interests but instead assists with them, that Maeve is all or nothing so she never considered anything in the middle ground. But on the other hand.... really? She has been
-the answer about the dolls:
Other: A lot of the really positive reviews are audiobook specific so maybe I would've liked it more if I would have listened to it. Also I ADORE the other cover, with Maeve in the princess dress holding an eye.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Alcohol
lilbookbee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Wow. What can I even say about this book?
I spent much of this book absolutely baffled by what was going on. Maeve was a fascinating character, whose actions left me with question after question. Everybody in this book is terrible in their own way, and I think that's part of the appeal.
When the book concluded, I felt myself trying to puzzle out *why* everything had happened. There was so much brutality, so much violence, and I wondered if it crossed the line into gratuitous. But, the longer I pondered the point, the more I realized *that was the point*. Early on, Maeve talks about how men don't have to have reasons for the horrible things they do, but they always question why women do horrible things. I think I fought with the urge to do the same, to try to make sense of it all. But her violence and lack of reason behind it, that was all that mattered. We didn't need any answers beyond that.
Now, Gideon. The romance reader in me desperately wanted this strange little hockey romance to turn into murder spouses. I mean, cmon, it could've been so fun. But I don't think it would've made sense for Maeve's story. Maeve's entire arc was about feeling alone and hiding who she was, which by the end she seemed more able to embrace both the loneliness and her inner "wolf". She was, arguably, finally free at the end, but at great cost.
I think that, overall, this book was worth reading. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook (shout-out to a great narrator) and I really did tear through this book wanting to hear more. Do I think it was profound? Well, no. Do I think I'll recommend it or ever read it again? Probably not. But I'm happy I did read it, and it was enough to warrant me picking up this author's other book.
I spent much of this book absolutely baffled by what was going on. Maeve was a fascinating character, whose actions left me with question after question. Everybody in this book is terrible in their own way, and I think that's part of the appeal.
When the book concluded, I felt myself trying to puzzle out *why* everything had happened. There was so much brutality, so much violence, and I wondered if it crossed the line into gratuitous. But, the longer I pondered the point, the more I realized *that was the point*. Early on, Maeve talks about how men don't have to have reasons for the horrible things they do, but they always question why women do horrible things. I think I fought with the urge to do the same, to try to make sense of it all. But her violence and lack of reason behind it, that was all that mattered. We didn't need any answers beyond that.
Now, Gideon. The romance reader in me desperately wanted this strange little hockey romance to turn into murder spouses. I mean, cmon, it could've been so fun. But I don't think it would've made sense for Maeve's story. Maeve's entire arc was about feeling alone and hiding who she was, which by the end she seemed more able to embrace both the loneliness and her inner "wolf". She was, arguably, finally free at the end, but at great cost.
I think that, overall, this book was worth reading. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook (shout-out to a great narrator) and I really did tear through this book wanting to hear more. Do I think it was profound? Well, no. Do I think I'll recommend it or ever read it again? Probably not. But I'm happy I did read it, and it was enough to warrant me picking up this author's other book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, and Torture
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief
avkeenan's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m…. Not sure why I finished this. The concept of this book sounded intriguing, a murderous Elsa from our favorite theme park, but it wasn’t well executed. This book was trying to be like a female, LA version of American Psycho. However. It got a little too weird and the gore was gratuitous. Also hated how hard the story was to follow when Maeve’s memories would jump around in time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Terminal illness, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, and Vomit
lspain_eddington's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was…something. I should start by saying I normally don’t read horror, and it normally is very much not my genre. But I decided to read this because it was billed a feminist American Psycho and I do enjoy suspense. And it is spooky season, so I thought, “Why not?”
Maeve is certainly an antihero main character and I enjoyed her strangeness. She is funny in that she is sarcastic and crass and doesn’t really care what anyone thinks of her. I liked the *idea* that a woman could be unhinged and that she didn’t need to go through any specific trauma to be psychotic. But I don’t think that makes this book feminist (more on that later). The whole of the novel is a character study of Maeve and her psychoses and the people around her that “see” her. I thought this aspect of the story was interesting and honestly probably would’ve loved just to hear her inner dialogue sans the gore/sexual content.
All that said, it seemed like the book was shocking, gory, and graphic only for the sake of being shocking, gory, and graphic. I don’t think the gore or the graphic sexual content really added anything to the story other than shock value—which if that WAS the goal, it certainly accomplished that. But I’m also not leaving this book feeling like this accomplished anything feminist for me. It seemed that this book assumes a sort of post-feminism about society, but I could see a world in which someone (probably a man—sorry dudes) reads this and says, “yeah, the ladies are crazy.” I’d be curious to hear a different take on this, but to me it just felt like a misrepresentation of feminism as a movement, and the message got lost in the graphic-ness of everything else.
3 stars because I didn’t hate it, but probably not one I will be recommending to folks unless they’re into weird, gory stuff.
Content warnings: lots of gore and graphic sexual violence/sexual content
Maeve is certainly an antihero main character and I enjoyed her strangeness. She is funny in that she is sarcastic and crass and doesn’t really care what anyone thinks of her. I liked the *idea* that a woman could be unhinged and that she didn’t need to go through any specific trauma to be psychotic. But I don’t think that makes this book feminist (more on that later). The whole of the novel is a character study of Maeve and her psychoses and the people around her that “see” her. I thought this aspect of the story was interesting and honestly probably would’ve loved just to hear her inner dialogue sans the gore/sexual content.
All that said, it seemed like the book was shocking, gory, and graphic only for the sake of being shocking, gory, and graphic. I don’t think the gore or the graphic sexual content really added anything to the story other than shock value—which if that WAS the goal, it certainly accomplished that. But I’m also not leaving this book feeling like this accomplished anything feminist for me. It seemed that this book assumes a sort of post-feminism about society, but I could see a world in which someone (probably a man—sorry dudes) reads this and says, “yeah, the ladies are crazy.” I’d be curious to hear a different take on this, but to me it just felt like a misrepresentation of feminism as a movement, and the message got lost in the graphic-ness of everything else.
3 stars because I didn’t hate it, but probably not one I will be recommending to folks unless they’re into weird, gory stuff.
Content warnings: lots of gore and graphic sexual violence/sexual content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
ladytanuks's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
brutallybookish's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I adore this book. The author does a fantastic job of setting up an unsettling, off kilter inner world for our main character, Maeve, and being inside her mind was a dark and fantastic escape. The start was a bit slow for me, but as soon as the action started, I became fully immersed and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. The characters were complex, and getting a glimpse into the LA world was fascinating. I also really appreciated all of the music and literary references throughout the story, and adding them in made Maeve even more realistic as a character. The ending was so emotional, poetic, and perfect, and I didn't see it coming at all. I highly recommend this to most readers who enjoy horror and don't mind some gore and a slight psychological break.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Torture and Violence