You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
This is a tough one to review. I thought a lot of the writing was beautiful, but I struggled with parts of the story and the main character. This book is a spot on observation of small town America in the 80s, and gives excellent insight into how females were treated and thought about themselves. I loved that focus and the peek into each girl’s individual situation. The rust maidens themselves are a metaphor, which is fine, but I think if an author chooses to go with such an extreme plot point, then the elements around it need to be adjusted accordingly. The reactions to what was happening to the girls on Denton Street vary from mildly bizarre to flat out unbelievable and that’s a big part of what kept me from being fully invested in the story. The other issue I had was with Phoebe’s character. Whether the story is from her past when she was just 18 years old, or in the current when she’s 46, she doesn’t show any change. There’s so much angst and anger/blame at herself and everyone around her, it grated on my nerves at times.
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
From the moment I stumbled upon the summary of the French translation, I had high hopes for this novel. Too high hopes maybe. It promised me monster girls, and my favourite kind of monster girls too boot: girls transforming as a result of/as an escape from their (controlling/patriarchal) environment.
It did deliver, but not fully. The ending felt very anticlimatic, for one, but things went a bit awry much earlier.
The creepy atmosphere did work, from various angles, at least until a certain point. Gwendolyn Kiste gets quite repetitive after a while, which doesn't help.
A lot of the plot seemed... "unrealistic" isn't the word, but let's say certain things do not happen the way you would expect them to (if only the characters psychology), and not enough work is done on the town atmosphere to make you look past that and put it down to "weird place being weird".
All in all, a very promising set-up that unfortunately does not quite work, not the way it is written. It does have the occasional pretty quote, though.
It did deliver, but not fully. The ending felt very anticlimatic, for one, but things went a bit awry much earlier.
The creepy atmosphere did work, from various angles, at least until a certain point. Gwendolyn Kiste gets quite repetitive after a while, which doesn't help.
A lot of the plot seemed... "unrealistic" isn't the word, but let's say certain things do not happen the way you would expect them to (if only the characters psychology), and not enough work is done on the town atmosphere to make you look past that and put it down to "weird place being weird".
All in all, a very promising set-up that unfortunately does not quite work, not the way it is written. It does have the occasional pretty quote, though.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
EMOTIONAL DAMAGE
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
dark
sad
slow-paced
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
A literary body horror novel that's steeped in metaphor for the dying way of life in an industry based Ohio town sounds intriguing, but it doesn't live up to the premise. The story is so slow and feels even slower with an unnecessary dual timeline, and the body horror aspect gets only vague mentions. Leaving the book with only it's dull and melancholy metaphors.
The main character is described as being an outsider and a "bad influence" to the other girls but her character doesn't reflect that making the whole story feel disjointed and although this felt like one of the main aspects of the story it never evolves into anything or is resolved. The ending is underwhelming and doesn't match the "secrets" the main character alludes to throughout the story.
I appreciate the symmetry between the slowly dying metal factory and the impact it has on the town with the decaying of the Rust Maidens, but that's about all I enjoyed about this book. Definitely recommend skipping this one!
The main character is described as being an outsider and a "bad influence" to the other girls but her character doesn't reflect that making the whole story feel disjointed and although this felt like one of the main aspects of the story it never evolves into anything or is resolved. The ending is underwhelming and doesn't match the "secrets" the main character alludes to throughout the story.
I appreciate the symmetry between the slowly dying metal factory and the impact it has on the town with the decaying of the Rust Maidens, but that's about all I enjoyed about this book. Definitely recommend skipping this one!
This is my first book by Gwendolyn Kiste. I enjoyed the story but the ending felt like it was lacking something...
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated