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lillygabriella's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
magikorbert's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Grief and Alcohol
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Murder
vixenreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit and Abandonment
Be warned that this book addresses generational trauma, C-PTSD due to abuse from a parental figure, abuses with the occult, parental neglect, swarms of insects, and one mention of semen in the occult ritual.julesadventurezone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Classism
kurumipanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Because as a reader this is my introduction to Sam’s mother, it’s harder to immediately know how she ought to be acting, but Sam’s thoughts provide that context in a way that feels natural. It feels like Sam working through it in her own mind, and not just for the benefit of me as a spectator. This is one of those cases where the things that I like best about the book are the ways that my understanding of of what's going on suddenly shifted as new information became available. It's short enough that to discuss most of what I loved in the latter half of the book would spoil many of the best parts of the experience. In general, I like the way that this played with my expectations of what a horror novel could or should be. There were several layers of revelations that didn't really feel like plot twists, as much as they involved realizing the meaning of information that had been said previously, but was transformed by new events.
I love the ending, that ramps up the pace and the stakes to be suddenly exciting just as everything looked like it was going to wrap up more calmly.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Vomit, Dementia, and Alcohol
displacedcactus's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
While things eventually get supernaturally creepy, a lot of the first part of the book centers around the very mundane and relatable fear that comes from your parents getting older while you live far away. Our main character Sam spends a lot of time wondering whether someone is after her mom, or if she's showing early signs of dementia.
The most important thing to me about this book, however, is that Sam is an archeoentomologist (person who studies insects in archeological digs) and spends the book giving random bug facts and Latin names for the insects she sees. This immediately rocketed her near the top of my list of favorite characters ever and I could read an entire book of her complaining about pesticides and trying to identify scale insects from photos.
There's also a one-winged vulture named Hermes and he is a Very Good Boi.
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Racism, Vomit, and Dementia
The racism and fatphobia are both from Sam's nasty old grandmother. Bonus TWs for insect horror (as well as insects just living their lives) and fetus-related imagery.