Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Stalking, Alcohol
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit
I'm gonna be honest: this story was just... disappointing. I wish it was good. I think it might have the ability to be good, but it wasn't.
Occasionally the actual horrific bits were written well. The body horror descriptions were neat too, I'll give it that.
The pacing was off, the characters accepted their situation too quickly, the dialogue was awkward and the jokes felt forced. Also at least once a chapter, one of the viewpoint characters would figuratively "turn to the camera" and talk directly to the reader, or to another character. As if they were in a reality tv confession booth. This happened with such frequency that it bothered me to no end.
I was hoping we might do something with Evelyn's missing dad, or maybe hear more about why the hell Daniel continued to work there, or why anyone still lived in this hellish town. But we ignore that in favour of deeply unwise decision making from the main characters.
Evelyn and Daniel, were mediocre characters. Their friendship was kinda fun, I'll admit. But their dialogue was kind of weird, the wait their friendship progressed felt off. We're not even talking about some of the breaches of trust that happened in the story.
Honestly the worst thing I can say about this book is that I had mentally begun editing the prose as I was reading it.
I just wish this story was good.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Medical content, Grief
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Vomit
Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol
Everyone just seems really complacent about living in a town where their children get pulled into the woods and unalived. There is absolutely no urgency at all about making this stop. Characters make stupid decisions, and then just kind of move along like nothing happened.
I’m trying to figure out how a small rural town has no idea that the woods are a literal hellscape. Or, if they do know, why they choose to ignore it. They’re getting torn apart by the dozens. How is this believable?
I don’t know. In the end, it’s readable if not a little silly.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol