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peregrinwho's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The first time I've seen a human genderfluid person portrayed away from fanfiction. It was difficult to get through the homophobia of some of the characters, but not all the antagonists act that way toward the mc and I was living for that variety. I understand its necessity for the purpose of setup, but this book really thrived when it was away from the Bear cabin boys, since those chapters were just hard and slow and mostly unrelated to the conclusion. But the cult aura? The reframing of femininity as a dance for survival cutting a continuum towards destruction helped by sisterhood??? I could eat that all day. I felt for Mars, I fell in love with Bria, I still fucking hate every man in this book (Wyatt's on the thinnest of ice). I wanted to hurl my book at the wall when the slut comments were brushed off as if there weren't already other signs of sexual assault happening to people at this fucking camp.
Ultimately, it was slow in the middle 50%, but the lyrical reminders of the themes of grief and sisterhood were nice and made the reading experience rather dreamy. Choosing to interpret the last two chapters so that's not undercut. Have fun floating in the middle.
Ultimately, it was slow in the middle 50%, but the lyrical reminders of the themes of grief and sisterhood were nice and made the reading experience rather dreamy. Choosing to interpret the last two chapters so that's not undercut. Have fun floating in the middle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Body horror
Moderate: Misogyny and Grief
Minor: Deadnaming and Sexual assault
readingpicnic's review against another edition
3.75
This book kept me guessing the whole time, and I enjoyed being surprised by each new twist and turn that revealed itself as the story went on. I will say that this book was very slow for me to get through, which I think really slowed me down for the TRR unfortunately, and I considered DNFing it at certain points. It starts off really intense and then slows almost all the way down before picking back up around 70% through. However, I really enjoyed the ending of the book, so I'm glad I stuck through it ultimately. The bee horror in this book felt so creative and new, and I loved the drippy, rotten, and sweet imagery throughout. The depictions of grief were very real in this book and became all the more real after reading the author's acknowledgements section at the end. I appreciated how Caroline remained a presence throughout the whole story, even if just in the peripheral. I think that this book would make an excellent A24 horror movie honestly, going off of the trend on BookTok, as this book felt so cinematic and I could picture so much of it in my head. It reminded me a lot of both Wickerman movies, the original with its slow-paced disconcerting vibes and horror, and the remake with its bee horror. I was also reminded of Bunny a lot while reading this with the group of Honey girls, but I think this specific story hasn't been told before even though it reminded me of other horror. Overall, I enjoyed this and its explorations of gender, sexuality, and class. I think this story has so many layers to it and I wasn't necessarily patient at times with this slow method of storytelling, but I understand why it's well loved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Deadnaming, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Gore, Death, Transphobia, Homophobia, Blood, Murder, and Body horror
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Classism
erica_reads_things's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.0
Not a bad YA read at all! And especially for this authors first novel. I liked the weird spin on the summer camp horror trope, but I was so confused most of the way through at where exactly this was going. It took me out of it a bit, but not enough to not enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Child death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Sexism, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Transphobia, Cancer, Hate crime, and Violence
Minor: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Deadnaming, and Sexual content
jjacobs1126's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Child death, Body horror, Deadnaming, and Homophobia
savvypotions's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Death, Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Misogyny
raptorq's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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: Death, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Deadnaming, Violence, and Homophobia
Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
exlibrisabigaillee's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Grief, Blood, Bullying, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Outing
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, and Sexual assault
bookishmillennial's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
This was wild. Absolutely WILD. The last 20% is where all the meat of the story really is unpacked, but the first 80% had me guessing and wondering who to trust. This book felt like it could've existed in the world of Riverdale x Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, like a nefarious camp horror!! This elite summer camp setting in the Catskills Mountains was eerie and screamed "bad things will happen!" I loved the representation of Mars as genderfluid, but I was confused as to why no one else ever used pronouns besides he/him, when she made it clear that they use he/they/she? Maybe that was intentional to show that everyone around Mars was an "ally" but still fumbling and getting it wrong? They also constantly deadname him, which frustrated me. However, again, I'm guessing it was a deliberate choice to possibly evoke unease and tension from the readers? I'm totally projecting here lol!
Anyway, I appreciated the fact that I had no idea who to trust in this novel. Maybe that's obvious in a horror/thriller, that you shouldn't count anyone out. However, I could not for the life of me (!!!) tell if the Honeys were supposed to be the villains or in solidarity with Mars! It was exhausting to be me, and I think that just shows how talented Ryan La Sala is in their fleshing out of these characters, and how every single moment the Honeys shared with Mars left me guessing how I felt about the interaction. Was that meant to be helpful? Was that threatening? Do they know something? Are they just as scared? This was masterfully done!!!
I'm excited to read more from Ryan La Sala, and this was the perfect book for me to let go of summer (like truly, fuck summer after reading this book. I want no part of it hahaha), and to welcome autumn and Halloween season!
This was wild. Absolutely WILD. The last 20% is where all the meat of the story really is unpacked, but the first 80% had me guessing and wondering who to trust. This book felt like it could've existed in the world of Riverdale x Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, like a nefarious camp horror!! This elite summer camp setting in the Catskills Mountains was eerie and screamed "bad things will happen!" I loved the representation of Mars as genderfluid, but I was confused as to why no one else ever used pronouns besides he/him, when she made it clear that they use he/they/she? Maybe that was intentional to show that everyone around Mars was an "ally" but still fumbling and getting it wrong? They also constantly deadname him, which frustrated me. However, again, I'm guessing it was a deliberate choice to possibly evoke unease and tension from the readers? I'm totally projecting here lol!
Anyway, I appreciated the fact that I had no idea who to trust in this novel. Maybe that's obvious in a horror/thriller, that you shouldn't count anyone out. However, I could not for the life of me (!!!) tell if the Honeys were supposed to be the villains or in solidarity with Mars! It was exhausting to be me, and I think that just shows how talented Ryan La Sala is in their fleshing out of these characters, and how every single moment the Honeys shared with Mars left me guessing how I felt about the interaction. Was that meant to be helpful? Was that threatening? Do they know something? Are they just as scared? This was masterfully done!!!
I'm excited to read more from Ryan La Sala, and this was the perfect book for me to let go of summer (like truly, fuck summer after reading this book. I want no part of it hahaha), and to welcome autumn and Halloween season!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Child death, Murder, Sexism, Transphobia, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content
itsapollo's review
adventurous
challenging
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
3.0
I have a lot of mixed feeling about the ending of this book. Specifically from about chapter 24 to the end the book takes this turn that really doesn't line up with how the first 23 chapters seemed to be laying everything out. I also as a genderfluid person HAVE to point out my disappointment at NO ONE using any other pronouns but he/him for Mars. Not even the characters I felt were accepting them in. Even to the point where on page 301 a characters Mars has been around consistently for the whole summer asks her what pronouns they use..........It felt like a gut punch. I didn't think the SA was necessary for the plot at all. And everything we were being set up for between Mars and Wyatt completely fell apart within a few pages which was getting and I felt could have been easily handled differently. I want to say that I truly love Mars and I love cabin H and the bond that was shown there. There were beautiful melodic and visually stunning passages in this book!! The final act just felt so rushed to me. I have more thoughts but I'll leave it at that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, Violence, Body horror, Murder, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
The main character is genderfluid and states early on in the book that their pronouns are he/they/she but no one in the book ever uses any pronouns but he/him for the charactercrystalleighwrites's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Death, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Cancer, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Cannibalism, Confinement, Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping