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willow1113's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Rape, Racism, Mental illness, Infidelity, Murder, Death, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death of parent, Suicide, Stalking, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest
skeptic_hecate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I will start with t he good:
The book is beautifully written, you can tell the author has a great imagination and good story telling. The lore is really well built, quite deep and interesting. The story has a lot of potential.
Now, what I didn't like:
The lore is so interesting, the life and family tree of the Mayfair witches is what kept me reading, too bad is so little and only dealt deeply for a few select chapters. The rest of the book we follow 2 very unlikable protagonists. Rowan, who is so not like other girls with a large pick me energy. Reading Rowan's thoughts only made me dislike her even more. She has this holier-than-thou attitude, she thinks she is smarter and better than everyone in the room, doesn't respect anyone, not even her (supposed) love of her life. She only thinks about sex, how everyone else is beneath her, and how smart she is. She is also very misogynistic, for absolutely no reason too, and towards every woman she encounters, dead or alive.
I can get behind a character like that, if the plot showed us that she is in the wrong. But she never is shown that, she never learns, and she is so boring to read. The second most boring character to read, the most boring character to read is Michael Curry.
I think the author was aiming for the lovable Himbo but forgot the lovable part. Not only is he widly inconsistent (a complete idiot at one point, then smarter the next page and then even more of an idiot the following chapter, only to be again somewhat smart), he is also very boring to read. We are told that he is this brave old-fashioned man who carves his own path, and shown over and over again how cowardly he acts. I wanted to skip all his parts because he is so unbelievably boring.
Aron Lightner is the best character, I love him, I wish there was more of him.
This book drags, this book is so slow, everything happens so slowly and is repeated constantly. I do not need to be spoon fed the same irrelevant information over and over again. There is so much in depth description of the house (which I actually enjoyed the first 2 or 3 times), but it gets stale after the eleventh time.
The book ending is an obvious sequel bait, too rushed, little effort and detail put, Rowan does a complete 180 personality wise. Also, the entire book reeks of the author's internalizedf misogyny. I mean the amount of hat thrown towards women who *gasp* are child free. I only wish she treated incest and rape (prominently present in her book) with the same level of disgust as a woman deciding to be child free (abortion scene and birth scene are so ironic, I cannot believe the author couldn't put two and two together).
Unless you are a die hard Anne Rice fan, don't bother with this book, read the Wikipedia summary and maybe look up a Mayfair witches family tree online and you'll be missing very little.
Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, and Death
lyfeistrip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Murder, Medical content, Sexual assault, Rape, Gore, Death, Child death, Car accident, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Colonisation, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Torture, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Murder, and Sexual violence
letter2self's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
From a horror perspective, it's extremely disturbing. However, it is very long and drawn out and at least 1/3 of not half of this book could have been cut.
Graphic: Incest and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape and Racism
licisalsa2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
mafer1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Incest, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
comfycozytomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
That history was the most compelling aspect to me. I didn't even really like the characters until after the half-way mark and even then my like/dislike fluctuated; which may have also been the point that the characters are not supposed to be entirely likeable, idk. Also the Talamasca is an utterly useless organization. They bemoan the devastation wrought on women/those with supernatural gifts and they HAVE the wealth and influence to interfere yet they do nothing...? They KNEW what was happening in that house, to the legacies of the Mayfair powers, and they stood by and did nothing...? They suspected there was incest/rape/abuse under that roof/within that family...and just stood by and did NOTHING...? Disgusting imo.
I also think I would have liked this book more if it had been centered on breaking the generational trauma the Mayfair family had endured, as it seemed that was the path it was going, the total change/swerve away from that was utterly disappointing. Though I also understand breaking through that kind of trauma is difficult. Perhaps that is also addressed/a main aspect of the later books in the series.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Rape
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rep: white female MC, white bisexual male side character, Black side characters, white achillean male side character.
CWs: Adult/minor relationship, alcohol consumption, alcoholism, blood, death, death of parent, drug use w/o consent, forced institutionalization, incest (many times), injury/injury detail, medical content, mental illness, misogyny, murder, pedophilia, pregnancy, rape & coercion, religious bigotry, sexism, sexual assault, sexual content, suicide (two times), violence. Moderate: racism, homophobia/homomisia, grief.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Drug use
Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Grief