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daniel_oneiroi's review against another edition
I'm not a 'war horror fiction' type of person but this book was on a Youtube list, and I thought I'd give it a shot. Ooof.
336/447 pages in, the pace is incredibly slow. It's not my favourite but there might be a reason for all the character exposition and development, since it's marketed as a horror story and not a "wartime widow-nurse/injured and doomed soldier romance."
So far, the "scares" might(?) be the grieving and hallucinations the war widow has of her air pilot husband and his death.
There is also some body horror and gore, especially some descriptions of early reconstructive surgery and complications around the time of the Blitz. There is also a lot of very uncomfortable questions about the worth of a life amidst WW2 vs. what a man can be as a weapon against Hitler.
I'm not sure I'm able to feel the trepidation a woman might during that era, especially one that seems middle-upper class and therefore has "reputation" and such to worry about, might feel. I also can't connect well since... I mean. Death and grieving are pretty normal for me. They would be far from normal for the main character, never becoming normalized, even after years.
Overall, characters are written in a logical manner. They are who they are and react how they would predictably react. Most real people do the same. I think the book would be different if it were edited to be a bit 'tighter' and not sold as a horror story. Maybe 'introspective wartime hurt/comfort romance' just doesn't sell.
336/447 pages in, the pace is incredibly slow. It's not my favourite but there might be a reason for all the character exposition and development, since it's marketed as a horror story and not a "wartime widow-nurse/injured and doomed soldier romance."
So far, the "scares" might(?) be the grieving and hallucinations the war widow has of her air pilot husband and his death.
There is also some body horror and gore, especially some descriptions of early reconstructive surgery and complications around the time of the Blitz. There is also a lot of very uncomfortable questions about the worth of a life amidst WW2 vs. what a man can be as a weapon against Hitler.
I'm not sure I'm able to feel the trepidation a woman might during that era, especially one that seems middle-upper class and therefore has "reputation" and such to worry about, might feel. I also can't connect well since... I mean. Death and grieving are pretty normal for me. They would be far from normal for the main character, never becoming normalized, even after years.
Overall, characters are written in a logical manner. They are who they are and react how they would predictably react. Most real people do the same. I think the book would be different if it were edited to be a bit 'tighter' and not sold as a horror story. Maybe 'introspective wartime hurt/comfort romance' just doesn't sell.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Grief and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
leah__reads's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
carrionkid's review against another edition
2.5
This really was barely a haunted house book, the prose was clunky and could've done with another round of editing, the ending was disappointingly anticlimactic, and the whole back half of the book felt insanely rushed compared to the beginning which dragged on forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and War
bitterindigo's review against another edition
3.0
Anyone who says this doesn't qualify as horror has a quite narrow definition of horror, in my opinion.
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