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daredeviling's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Also the main character was *chefs kiss*. She was perfect for the story, so snarky and with a distinct, individual voice. I loved that her career ended up being really helpful for her in the situation, and it was just like ~character flavor text. It was super relevant. Have I mentioned that I love T Kingfisher's characters? Both in Nettle & Bone and in this book, they jump off the page. I want to be friends with all of them and just crack jokes and make sarcastic comments. And of course, just like in Nettle and Bones, the side characters were awesome. They were all such interesting people and I wish they (especially Phil and Gail) could go on further adventures with the main character.
The magic stuff was a little bit confusing, but I didn't even really mind that because the rest of the book was so good. I just sort of hand-waved it and went with what I could gather from the situation. Loved the creepiness of the underground children and the vultures. There's just such an ~atmosphere that the author is able to evoke that complements the gothic vibes within the house itself so well.
T. Kingfisher is definitely quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I can't wait to read more of her books! :)
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming and Emotional abuse
Minor: Dementia
kaitieg97's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Blood
Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
tigger89's review
- 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
Unfortunately, overall I didn't like this book as much as Kingfisher's other two. Perhaps it was the genre shift, the addition of teased romantic tension between our intrepid protagonist and the sexy gardener, or the fact that a large part of the story's build-up could have been skipped if the protagonist and her mother had just had That Conversation at any point before the story was two-thirds of the way over. But that doesn't mean it's bad! The bar was just set very high, is all.
Now, the most important question: do the vultures and/or ladybugs die?
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Racism, and Dementia
Anyone with a fear of bugs should be aware there's multiple scenes involving swarms of ladybugs crawling around and on the point of view character.dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I also love the vultures and how they tie in.
The story and the plot twists aswell are so creative, and T Kingfishers writing is so comical and made the characters really relatable.
Overall, one of my all time favourite books I think, and I'm excited to read more of her work!
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
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
huntress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Dementia
blacksphinx'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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Terminal illness, Dementia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
brittanyalexa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Dementia
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.dogearedbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Dementia, Death of parent, and Murder