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buck50's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
There’s a really fantastic story here. Unfortunately it’s buried under some really awful and ultimately pointless subplots. The core medical mystery and characters are really written- it’s tense, it’s weird, you can feel the characters grasping at straws to figure out what is happening.
BUT: there’s an entire hackneyed subplot about a pastor and his family, and a violent militia and its leader and its just… awful. The story grinds to a halt every time Matthew and Ozark are the subject. They really don’t add anything and Mathew the character is a cliche, his story arc is a cliche and he’s just 100% unlikeable. Ozark is supposedly a racist Hoosier drug dealer but clearly the author has never been to Indiana. His dialogue is also cliche, his violence utterly gratuitous- do we really need a graphic description of Ozark raping Mathew? or honestly any of the other violence? It’s not like I’m against reading about violence it’s more that, we get it- Ozark and his crew are violent people. We don’t need more descriptions.
The ending is… meh. Because it’s been over complicated with a huge racist militia subplot the ending is just overly complicated and over wrought.
We suddenly learn things at the very end of the book that were mentioned in passing very early in the book, and we are meant to feel like this is exposition that changes everything.
A good editor could have cut this in half and turned it into one really good medical horror story and one cliche preacher and evil story. But instead what you get is an imitation of Steven king without the charm.
BUT: there’s an entire hackneyed subplot about a pastor and his family, and a violent militia and its leader and its just… awful. The story grinds to a halt every time Matthew and Ozark are the subject. They really don’t add anything and Mathew the character is a cliche, his story arc is a cliche and he’s just 100% unlikeable. Ozark is supposedly a racist Hoosier drug dealer but clearly the author has never been to Indiana. His dialogue is also cliche, his violence utterly gratuitous- do we really need
The ending is… meh. Because it’s been over complicated with a huge racist militia subplot the ending is just overly complicated and over wrought.
We suddenly learn things at the very end of the book that were mentioned in passing very early in the book, and we are meant to feel like this is exposition that changes everything.
A good editor could have cut this in half and turned it into one really good medical horror story and one cliche preacher and evil story. But instead what you get is an imitation of Steven king without the charm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Body horror, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, War, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Kidnapping
bidufta's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Terminal illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
g_newton98's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Racial slurs
kristene's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death and Death
jesato's review against another edition
Too slow and too many unnecessary violent exual situations that don't add up to the plot or to character development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
glorfindeled's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Racial slurs
frozencusser's review against another edition
Anal rape with gun oil in a plot device that has nothing to do with the sci-fi part of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Violence, Body horror, and Physical abuse
emviolet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
3.5
This is a very dark book, worsened by the fact that we are living in a global pandemic. It took me a long time to read it for many reasons; length, content, depth of information. This is not going to be for everyone, and it does have very Stephen King vibes in terms of storytelling and length. That being said, I do think it’s a pretty good book. There is a lot of attention to science, detail, and development of plot and character. It’s scary, not in a spooky way but in a “this could really happen” way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Racism, Rape, Gun violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Homophobia
meshell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
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? It's complicated
3.5
I read this book back in 2019, and I generally enjoyed it. I thought it was clever - and viewing it through the lens of still going through a pandemic, it's even more prescient on some of the less awesome human inclinations during a pandemic (but also some of the good ones.)
I thought the different points of view were great interms of building the story to it's eventual outcome. It was a book I could get lost in, the characters were all interesting, flawed, but interesting, the premise was fascinating.
minor spoiler ahead, and some of my least favourite parts of the book:
But I've realized that even two years later, every time I think of this otherwise decent enough book, I'm still reminded of the gratuitous rape scene, 3/4 of the way through the book. It was just so unnecessary, we'd already established very well that Stoover was a "bad guy," it wasn't subtle, but it's just tacked on there as additional evidence. And Wendig even wrote about how gross gratuitous rape scenes were (in reference to game of thrones, but still - he knows it's gross.)
I thought the different points of view were great interms of building the story to it's eventual outcome. It was a book I could get lost in, the characters were all interesting, flawed, but interesting, the premise was fascinating.
minor spoiler ahead, and some of my least favourite parts of the book:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Violence
lauren_may's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism