Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Jedna sroka smutek wróży

Oof.

This book, whilst worth it, took a lot out of me. The stark themes of trauma, neglect and mental illness are not to be underestimated in their severity. I do wish I'd gone into the book with an awareness of how intense the narrative was, but this is still a book I will probably go on to recommend to others, despite it being both darker and sadder than my usual recs.

The ending was a surprise to me and it somehow ended on a happier / more ambiguous note than I was expecting. I really like how it resolved and the way that the murders of her English teacher and father were undone made me think of the healing that comes after a trauma has been addressed and dealt with head on. This whole book is about one girl dealing with unresolved trauma and the fallout of it, so for her to get the ending that she did was something of a relief for me. Yes, she is often an awful person in the last act of the book, but again that felt consistent with the looming threat of the climax of the book.

Whilst Magpie was not always justified in her actions, I could understand why she so drastically and I didn't begrudge her that. For her to apparently then choose to release her father and the English teacher says to me that she realised her mistake and decided that they did not do anything worthy of such a fatal punishment. That they returned and her assaulter did not, tells me that they were returned because Magpie wished it to be so, apparently having spent the months alone reflecting and healing. It also makes me wonder if she left the doorway open for Alison on purpose, some part of her perhaps realising that her ex best friend needed the escape as much as Magpie had. If that is the case, and Magpie has forgiven her, I like to think that they'll sail the seas together. Just two weary girls, and an ocean before them.

Content Warnings

wardenred's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Everybody has a reason to want to change their lives.

I've read two books by Katrina Leno before (Summer of Salt and Everything All at Once), and I thought they were beautiful. They both dealt with really tough subjects and made me tear up more than once, but they were also very life-affirming somehow. So when a friend lent me You Must Not Miss saying she thought I might like it, I expected to like it indeed, and I expected it to make me feel roughly the same way as the author's other books did.

I... was wrong, I guess.

I did like a lot about this book. I liked the characterization. I loved Leno's prose. I liked big parts of how the story was constructed, gradually revealing the truth about what had happened in Magpie's life. I didn't exactly like (because this isn't the sort of thing I can apply the word "like" to) but I was genuinely impressed by the visceral honesty of depicting the impact abuse and neglect have on people. I really felt for Magpie. I wanted some sort of victory for her. I wanted a chance for her to get better.

Instead, it felt like I only got to witness her defeat.

Yes, she got her vengeance and she escaped to her perfect world that she could completely control and therefore could trust. I kind of very much get why she made this choice, why it was better than taking the risk of trying to heal in this imperfect world of hours, to rely on Ben and Clare, to try and build a future, a life, a self that will always carry the scars but can be made whole again, in a different way. I get it, and it makes me sad and angry. It makes the book read like a suicide note.

I also wasn't a fan of how the whole Near plotline was handled on the whole. In magical realism books like this, I expect to see a sort of ambiguity: "Is this real, or is this only happening in the character's head?" Here, this ambiguity was handled in a pretty weird way for me. On one hand, I felt like I was expected to immediately buy it that Near is completely, 100% real. On the other hand, for at least the first 2/3 of the book there was preciously little reason to actually think so, if I looked closely at the actual events. I don't know, it was like I expected a soft shadow play and got stark contrasts, and it only served to magnify that feeling I talked about in the paragraph under the spoiler above.

Bottom line: I felt like this ended up being a story about the abusers winning, despite the successful revenge and the supposed empowerment the MC got, and I didn't like that.

Content Warnings

plumpyherb13's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

tis_bee_me's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

I enjoyed the world and the unreliable narrator, but I think this book threw too many traumatic experiences at us to make it truly enjoyable. The description of the sexual assault that took place was too much for me, if I’m being honest. I understand including traumatic experiences to show a fantasy style horror as well as realistic horror, but the trigger warnings list is too long and isn’t resolved too well. I understand if that’s the point because it’s a horror book and meant to leave you with an ambiguous ending and a funny feeling, but it just doesn’t sit right with me in a way, especially since the main character is so young. Would recommend the author, because I truly loved her next book “Horrid,” but I’d recommend this book with a heavy list of trigger warnings first.

Content Warnings

rachelkc's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

kt_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

1. what. the heck.
2. sequel please
3. katrina leno has done it again

Content Warnings

zoe_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

4.5

Sooo... This was great and completely up my alley. Give me a dark and kinda fucked up story about an angry girl and some magic and I‘m pretty much bound to love it, apparently. Also, I was pretty worried about the ending but it was super satisfying in a way I hadn‘t expected. It was at once more and less „happy“ than I had anticipated.
Consider me thoroughly impressed.
Oh, but I should mention that people who need likeable protagonists might want to acoid this one. There is one genuinely cute character in here and his presence is more like the moon in a cloudy night.

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