Reviews

Imago: A dystopia gothic by Matthew Zakharuk

seairra'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

eauderat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

laurenmckane's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

impulsive_decision8am's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

becisatree's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

blitzjess's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

misha_ali's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This was enjoyable but the worldbuilding was a bit difficult to follow for me. I would have preferred a longer book that fleshed out the world a bit more before we're thrown into the deep end with a mystery and navigating within the parameters of this world as a deeply disadvantaged member of society.

I did enjoy the mystery generally, the sapphic romance subplot, and the female rage as Ada slowly understands what's been happening and to whom and what she can do about any of it. I'll not say any more due to spoilers but it's worth reading if you enjoy dystopian fiction with normalised queer people and a mystery at its core.

syllareads's review

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Police brutality, and Gore

xombieky's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

nikereadsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

 This was such a great book and I enjoyed reading it. How Ada and her thoughts were written made her a fantastic character. I liked her relationships with other people, especially Augusta and Nikola.
I loved the word building and especially the magic system. Using linguistics as the main part of magic was a great idea and I liked how Ada's study at the Tresor Institute so closely connected her to it. But it was also fascinating to see the other ways the magic was incorporated into everyday life in the book.
The writing style was so pretty, and I enjoyed all the twists as the plot started uncovering the mysteries. And as someone who enjoys queer (and especially trans) body horror in literature, I honestly can not properly describe how great it was... like, this book handles gore, monsters and all the horrors of having a body so beautifully.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Dysphoria, Death, Torture, and Violence