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heartofhorrors's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Car accident, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Hate crime, Islamophobia, and Violence
erebus53's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I picked up this one at random because the title seemed interesting.
The story is weird, mysterious, supernatural, and bleak. It felt like there were actually 2 stories stitched together.
People are going missing, and one of the police officers investigating is a Muslim man who is getting flack from his husband for pulling long hours. They are a sweet couple, but continually on guard due to micro-agressions from their neighbours.. which escalate to macro-agressions and ultimately extreme violence, as someone in the neighborhood is trying to pressure the men into leaving.
The other protagonist is a depressed young man who is grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in a motor accident that permanently damaged his own leg. He has this niggling voice that continually disparages him. It belongs to an actual demon (is it real?) with whom he has an oddly codependent toxic relationship. (Nowhere near as friendly as Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle). One day he meets a fancy old man with a swanky mansion who offers wishes.. this gives me real "Needful Things" vibes. The guy is about as suspect as you can get even before he introduces himself as Heart Crowley.
Mumble mumble, magic, cult, demon / God, zealots, creepy, blood and rituals etc. (step 4: profit!... or prophet?)
Meanwhile sadistic homophobic violence, rape, multilation, and all that bad stuff
but that's ok because we have God locked in our cellar and he can make it all miraculously better.
Kinda liked the whole Clockwork Orange feel of stumbling into the mansion in the middle of the night though. ("HOME")
I liked that most of the characters are gay or pan. Interesting to hear the widow character voicing experience of biphobia. I realize it's supposed to be gritty and horrific but the whole rape angle just felt awful rather than creepy. I kind of feel like the whole story might have had more going for it if it was either a supernatural horror with a paranoid anxiety sufferer OR the horrible side of be what can happen to a sweet gay couple just trying to live their best life, but trying to tangle the two together is just not quite doing either justice.
The story is weird, mysterious, supernatural, and bleak. It felt like there were actually 2 stories stitched together.
People are going missing, and one of the police officers investigating is a Muslim man who is getting flack from his husband for pulling long hours. They are a sweet couple, but continually on guard due to micro-agressions from their neighbours.. which escalate to macro-agressions and ultimately extreme violence, as someone in the neighborhood is trying to pressure the men into leaving.
The other protagonist is a depressed young man who is grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in a motor accident that permanently damaged his own leg. He has this niggling voice that continually disparages him. It belongs to an actual demon (is it real?) with whom he has an oddly codependent toxic relationship. (Nowhere near as friendly as Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle). One day he meets a fancy old man with a swanky mansion who offers wishes.. this gives me real "Needful Things" vibes. The guy is about as suspect as you can get even before he introduces himself as Heart Crowley.
Mumble mumble, magic, cult, demon / God, zealots, creepy, blood and rituals etc. (step 4: profit!... or prophet?)
Meanwhile sadistic homophobic violence, rape, multilation, and all that bad stuff
Kinda liked the whole Clockwork Orange feel of stumbling into the mansion in the middle of the night though. ("HOME")
I liked that most of the characters are gay or pan. Interesting to hear the widow character voicing experience of biphobia. I realize it's supposed to be gritty and horrific but the whole rape angle just felt awful rather than creepy. I kind of feel like the whole story might have had more going for it if it was either a supernatural horror with a paranoid anxiety sufferer OR the horrible side of be what can happen to a sweet gay couple just trying to live their best life, but trying to tangle the two together is just not quite doing either justice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Racism, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, Rape, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts
dean_reviews's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
Oh gosh, what do I even say about Everything the Darkness Eats?
It was an amazing book, but also such a hard and emotional read.
I don't think that I was fully prepared for what I was getting myself into when I started this book. I am still glad that I did read it though.
***Content warnings for this book:
Death, Injury/Injury Detail, Homophobia (including slurs), Graphic Rape, Graphic Sexual Assault, Graphic Abuse, Gore, Murder, Blood, Ritual Sacrifice, Ableism, Home Invasion, Terminal Illness, AIDS, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of a loved one, Death of an infant, Biphobia/Bierasure***
This story is told to us in a narrative form that follows multiple people who are effected by the events happening in the small Connecticut town of Henley's Edge. Our cast of characters is varied and diverse. A group of people who would be impacted by the internal workings of a small town in profound ways that intersect but are also unique and troubling.
I feel like a lot of this story is me going "yup... that tracks" when something happens that does feel into my pre-conceived notions of how a small town would engage with and deal with the particular issues at hand.
I know this is unfair in a lot of ways and it did make me stop and wonder if LaRocca was writing from personal experience, general stereotypical knowledge, or held beliefs?
I did find myself needing breaks from the contents of the books. Don't get me wrong, I am no stranger to a dark and traumatizing book, but something about this one just hit so differently... I am wondering if it was feeding off of my own concerns over treatment I might receive as a trans person in those places.
Harnessing real fears and concerns of those within the communities of the characters to make the struggles and pain feel more real.
I also wonder.... if maybe this would have been less needed had I been reading with my eyes and not my ears.
On that note.. the audio was really good. I loved the flow and tone that Andre Santana brought to the story. The depth that was given to the hard moments and the emotion that was brought into the characters.
Overall, I am happy that I read this book and I am curious to pick up more of their books in the future. I would recommend this book so long as I also gave them the laundry list of trigger warnings.
Literally my only major critique is that there is not a connected list of trigger warnings provided by the author/publisher on the listings.
***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***
It was an amazing book, but also such a hard and emotional read.
I don't think that I was fully prepared for what I was getting myself into when I started this book. I am still glad that I did read it though.
***Content warnings for this book:
This story is told to us in a narrative form that follows multiple people who are effected by the events happening in the small Connecticut town of Henley's Edge. Our cast of characters is varied and diverse. A group of people who would be impacted by the internal workings of a small town in profound ways that intersect but are also unique and troubling.
I feel like a lot of this story is me going "yup... that tracks" when something happens that does feel into my pre-conceived notions of how a small town would engage with and deal with the particular issues at hand.
I know this is unfair in a lot of ways and it did make me stop and wonder if LaRocca was writing from personal experience, general stereotypical knowledge, or held beliefs?
I did find myself needing breaks from the contents of the books. Don't get me wrong, I am no stranger to a dark and traumatizing book, but something about this one just hit so differently... I am wondering if it was feeding off of my own concerns over treatment I might receive as a trans person in those places.
Harnessing real fears and concerns of those within the communities of the characters to make the struggles and pain feel more real.
I also wonder.... if maybe this would have been less needed had I been reading with my eyes and not my ears.
On that note.. the audio was really good. I loved the flow and tone that Andre Santana brought to the story. The depth that was given to the hard moments and the emotion that was brought into the characters.
Overall, I am happy that I read this book and I am curious to pick up more of their books in the future. I would recommend this book so long as I also gave them the laundry list of trigger warnings.
Literally my only major critique is that there is not a connected list of trigger warnings provided by the author/publisher on the listings.
***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Excrement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Biphobia, Child death, and Vomit
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Let me preface this entire review by saying that I have been a fan of Eric's since reading Starving Ghosts in Every Thread back in 2020, and I have given every release of theirs 4-5 stars. I generally think of myself as someone who "gets" (and thoroughly enjoys!) Eric's particular flair for traumatic, bizarre horror and purple prose.
Unfortunately, we all know the saying "there's an exception to every rule", and it seems that Everything the Darkness Eats is my exception for Eric's books, because this book did not work for me on multiple levels.
First, the biggest issue I had was the writing. The narrative voice was so heavy on metaphors and similes that it became distracting. I found myself re-reading paragraphs because my attention was continuously being snagged by lengthy similes, sometimes back-to-back with multiple in the span of just a few sentences.
Second, the split plot lines became frustrating for me. Everything the Darkness Eats follows two unrelated main characters, Ghost and Malik, and their stories have nothing in common until the last few pages. Even when the story all came together, it felt unnatural to me and I still found myself wishing that these had been two entirely separate novellas instead of one combined book.
Third, while I have no issue at all with queer trauma in horror, I do have a problem with sexual assault being handled poorly: specifically, a rape victim - in the middle of a graphic rape scene - thinking of his attacker as "his god", and then later empathizing with his rapist and viewing the man as attractive. I won't harp on about this one too much because I know everyone reacts to assault differently, but as a survivor, I was immensely uncomfortable with this depiction.
Fourth, the ableism regarding a blind child made me mad every single time she was mentioned. Whether she was on the page or being mentioned by another character, it was a constant barrage of comments about how pitiful and helpless she was, or what a burden it was for her mother to raise her, and so on.
And finally, there were many moments where the suspension of disbelief was too much of a stretch for me to accomplish. A little blind girl wandering off on her own all the time, a mother instantly falling for the man who (very creepily) plays with her disabled daughter at the hospital, a man stopping in the middle of a ritual sacrifice to answer the doorbell... the list goes on.
Truly, I'm heartbroken writing this review. It pains me to leave a scathing review for a hyped new release from an author I love with my whole heart, but I can't help feeling like this book needed much more editing work and to be split into two smaller pieces. If that had been the case, the base storylines had potential and could have been just as great as everything else I've read from Eric, but the end result here didn't work for me in any way.
I still love Eric's books and will excitedly read their next release because this is only one miss for me after a long line of hits, but I won't be recommending Everything the Darkness Eats and would instead strongly encourage you to pick up any other title from this author.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Malik is gay and Muslim, Brett is gay, Ghost is bisexual and disabled (walks with a cane), Heart is gay, Piper is blind
Unfortunately, we all know the saying "there's an exception to every rule", and it seems that Everything the Darkness Eats is my exception for Eric's books, because this book did not work for me on multiple levels.
First, the biggest issue I had was the writing. The narrative voice was so heavy on metaphors and similes that it became distracting. I found myself re-reading paragraphs because my attention was continuously being snagged by lengthy similes, sometimes back-to-back with multiple in the span of just a few sentences.
Second, the split plot lines became frustrating for me. Everything the Darkness Eats follows two unrelated main characters, Ghost and Malik, and their stories have nothing in common until the last few pages. Even when the story all came together, it felt unnatural to me and I still found myself wishing that these had been two entirely separate novellas instead of one combined book.
Third, while I have no issue at all with queer trauma in horror, I do have a problem with sexual assault being handled poorly: specifically, a rape victim - in the middle of a graphic rape scene - thinking of his attacker as "his god", and then later empathizing with his rapist and viewing the man as attractive. I won't harp on about this one too much because I know everyone reacts to assault differently, but as a survivor, I was immensely uncomfortable with this depiction.
Fourth, the ableism regarding a blind child made me mad every single time she was mentioned. Whether she was on the page or being mentioned by another character, it was a constant barrage of comments about how pitiful and helpless she was, or what a burden it was for her mother to raise her, and so on.
And finally, there were many moments where the suspension of disbelief was too much of a stretch for me to accomplish. A little blind girl wandering off on her own all the time, a mother instantly falling for the man who (very creepily) plays with her disabled daughter at the hospital, a man stopping in the middle of a ritual sacrifice to answer the doorbell... the list goes on.
Truly, I'm heartbroken writing this review. It pains me to leave a scathing review for a hyped new release from an author I love with my whole heart, but I can't help feeling like this book needed much more editing work and to be split into two smaller pieces. If that had been the case, the base storylines had potential and could have been just as great as everything else I've read from Eric, but the end result here didn't work for me in any way.
I still love Eric's books and will excitedly read their next release because this is only one miss for me after a long line of hits, but I won't be recommending Everything the Darkness Eats and would instead strongly encourage you to pick up any other title from this author.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Malik is gay and Muslim, Brett is gay, Ghost is bisexual and disabled (walks with a cane), Heart is gay, Piper is blind
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Bullying, Murder, Ableism, Grief, Gore, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Islamophobia, Child death, and Terminal illness
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