Reviews with content warning for Body horror - We Ride Upon Sticks

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

10 reviews

emily_stimmel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-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

3.0

Forget anything you’ve read comparing this to Yellowjackets, Heathers, or The Secret History. The witchcraft element never really amounts to much and nothing about this book is very dark or mysterious — though it is confusing at times! I also found some anachronisms very distracting. The 1989 angle was really played up but at least a handful of references were to things that didn’t even exist until the mid-nineties. That said, I found the backstories of each character engaging and they all had some endearing traits that made me invested in finding out what happened to them.

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elderwoodreads's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the most unique book I read this year, possibly ever. Bray's writing style was a little odd at first but once I was in I was in. Everything I have found listed as cons by other readers were pros to me. I loved the plural first person narration, the slow burn, and the overly verbose descriptions. Please give this one a try.

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annablume's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

I really enjoyed this but there are a couple of things i don't like: I wish the main characters got like... equal page time. With some of them I didn't get to spend enough time to really get to know them. I was a little disappointed by the ending

the time jump.. i wish i could have been there at the final game and I didn't really care for the all grown up versions of the team.

I did not enjoy the adult-minor-relationship and the commentary on that... left a sour taste in my mouth that i'm still sitting with, even more so when paired with that one little comment on sexual abuse ...
i really liked the story and the writing style so it still gets a (maybe spineless on my part idk) high rating

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dlrosebyh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.5

This entertaining story by acclaimed author Quan Barry is a tour of feminine force. We Ride Upon Sticks is set in the coastal town of Danvers, Massachusetts, where the accusations that led to the 1692 witch trials began. It follows the 1989 Danvers High School Falcons field hockey team, that will do anything to reach the state finals—even if it means channeling some disarmingly dark powers. Barry brilliantly ties together the individual and communal evolution of this charmed squad as they crash their way through a remarkable season in chapters filled with 1980s iconography—from Heathers to big hair.

The Falcons, led by good-girl captain Abby Putnam and co-captain Jen Fiorenza, prove to be astute, inventive, and daring, defying society's antiquated conceptions of femininity in order to discover their wonderful true selves via the furnace of team sport and, more importantly, friendship.

This book is the identical result of Stranger Things but with hockey. This book is intriguing, but the run-on phrases and overly detailed chapters are not for me. Although I wasn't a major fan of the writing style, I like how dense and witty it is. I expected horrors in this novel, but halfway through, I knew there would be no horror, only black magic. Finally, this novel would have been better if the conclusion had been more interesting.

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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

3.75

We Ride Upon Sticks was a fun mix of field hockey, witchcraft, 1980’s nostalgia, Emilio Estevez, and - my favourite part - young women growing in to themselves and discovering their real power. I also liked the way each chapter was told from a different team members point of view. Lots of diversity representation also.

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solenekeleroux's review

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emotional inspiring lighthearted 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

I loved this book so much, it's one of my new favorites.
I'm not at all a team sports fan, so I didn't know if I would enjoy it, but it's about so much more than sports. It's really about a team turned coven using dark powers to become their true full liberated selves. The collective narration is so good, I loved the magic, the wild moments of dancing under the moon, the sexual liberation stories. I loved how it is funny but also lyrical at times, the writing is beautiful.

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summer_reading's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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libbyhb's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

4.5

This book took me around 75 pages to fully get into, but once I did I had such a good time with it! The writing is unlike anything I've read before (at least recently), and it was honestly refreshing. I liked how as we moved through the main story, each character was given their time to shine. Those character features made me love each member of the team in turn as we went along - although I wish we had gotten some more on Girl Cory, Abby Putnam, and Mel Boucher. I do understand why they were treated differently than the others, though! I loved the way their plans got more and more blown out of proportion until they essentially exploded. I think my main issue was how things were wrapped up and revealed in the second to last chapter. Some of the endings didn't feel fully earned (Mel's especially). I did actually like the epilogue chapter, it was cute. I did like this overall, though, and would recommend it if you're getting tired of reading the same kind of book over and over.

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peachani's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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

2.75

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whimsylindsey's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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