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sweetsimplenothing's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Animal death
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Confinement, Death, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
scytheria's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness, Body horror, Cannibalism, Animal death, Death, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent
smuds2's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For a first novel, it is quite good - I'd happily read any another novels written by Córdova.
The pacing is quite good - I think it pauses where it needs to pause and speeds where it needs to speed. I think I would have liked it to sit a bit more with Joseph - it felt like his chapter was stuck mostly with narrative and rapid character development to a climax.
There were some unnecessary sexual explicit scenes for my taste (I'm not quite sure the fact that they were sexually explicit added anything valuable to the importance of the scenes). I also think that at times, the first three chapters lapsed into kind of a generic voice.
I think that, thematically, this is a great work of weird-fiction? Magical realism? depicting the grieving process. Lucia, not really understanding monstrilio, but begrudgingly living with it (I'm thinking especially post attack). Lena just being supportive to both her friend(s) and the manifestation of their grief. Magos arc of basically saying "I can fix it", while it 'dragged' on her life (although, not for the worse - I'm thinking of her turning down the Valencia gig to stay with family could easily be interpreted as a reprioritization directly as a result of the strengthened bonds formed during grief).
I don't think Josephs arc is nearly as clean - and maybe that's the point?
And I'm not quite sure how to square away uncle luke in this setting - is he the enabler? Is that good? The safe place to act your worse during grief?
I also think that a major shortcoming of the book was not sitting with lucia's death and then just kind of ignoring jackie. is that because they were not supportive? And as a result faded out of their life? I feel like there could have been thematic commentary for how to grief for a "normal" death.
The pacing is quite good - I think it pauses where it needs to pause and speeds where it needs to speed. I think I would have liked it to sit a bit more with Joseph - it felt like his chapter was stuck mostly with narrative and rapid character development to a climax.
There were some unnecessary sexual explicit scenes for my taste (I'm not quite sure the fact that they were sexually explicit added anything valuable to the importance of the scenes). I also think that at times, the first three chapters lapsed into kind of a generic voice.
I think that, thematically, this is a great work of weird-fiction? Magical realism? depicting the grieving process. Lucia, not really understanding monstrilio, but begrudgingly living with it (I'm thinking especially post attack). Lena just being supportive to both her friend(s) and the manifestation of their grief. Magos arc of basically saying "I can fix it", while it 'dragged' on her life (although, not for the worse - I'm thinking of her turning down the Valencia gig to stay with family could easily be interpreted as a reprioritization directly as a result of the strengthened bonds formed during grief).
I don't think Josephs arc is nearly as clean - and maybe that's the point?
And I'm not quite sure how to square away uncle luke in this setting - is he the enabler? Is that good? The safe place to act your worse during grief?
I also think that a major shortcoming of the book was not sitting with lucia's death and then just kind of ignoring jackie. is that because they were not supportive? And as a result faded out of their life? I feel like there could have been thematic commentary for how to grief for a "normal" death.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Animal death, Drug abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, and Torture
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you so much to Zando Projects and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
"Her son dies in a child-sized bed, big enough for him but barely enough to hold her and her husband who cling to the edges, folding themselves small so they fit one on each side of him."
What a way to open a story ! The first 50% of this book is written in such a gorgeous and haunting way. I really felt like I was there with the characters and sharing in their grief.
This book surprised me in many ways. Firstly, it's tagged as horror, but it's really not what you'd expect at first glance. I suppose it would be called literary horror ? We follow different points-of-view throughout the book, but it isn't a back and forth; instead when we switch to a new POV we never return to the original one. Finally, there is a time skip 50% into the book that caught me completely off guard, and took me a good 6-8 pages to understand what was happening.
The first half of this story completely captivated me, and I was honestly shocked that this is the author's debut. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as into it after the time skip. I would loved to have read more about Monstrilio's transformation, how they introduced him to the world and explained his existance to others.
I really enjoyed how this book explored grief and love. Now that I think of it, every character in this book could be considered queer, but it's not something that's ever commented on. The characters are just who they are.
This author is definitely on my radar now, and I will be looking forward to reading whatever they publish in the future.
"Her son dies in a child-sized bed, big enough for him but barely enough to hold her and her husband who cling to the edges, folding themselves small so they fit one on each side of him."
What a way to open a story ! The first 50% of this book is written in such a gorgeous and haunting way. I really felt like I was there with the characters and sharing in their grief.
This book surprised me in many ways. Firstly, it's tagged as horror, but it's really not what you'd expect at first glance. I suppose it would be called literary horror ? We follow different points-of-view throughout the book, but it isn't a back and forth; instead when we switch to a new POV we never return to the original one. Finally, there is a time skip 50% into the book that caught me completely off guard, and took me a good 6-8 pages to understand what was happening.
The first half of this story completely captivated me, and I was honestly shocked that this is the author's debut. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as into it after the time skip. I would loved to have read more about Monstrilio's transformation, how they introduced him to the world and explained his existance to others.
I really enjoyed how this book explored grief and love. Now that I think of it, every character in this book could be considered queer, but it's not something that's ever commented on. The characters are just who they are.
This author is definitely on my radar now, and I will be looking forward to reading whatever they publish in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Excrement
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