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aparker89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolutely fantastic writing!
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Murder, Abandonment, Bullying, Gaslighting, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship
tifftastic87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Mostly, I was bored after the first 60 pages. Things happened very slowly which doesnt always bother me but I found tedious here. We spent a lot of time with the characters but I never felt attached to them. Roos is immature and hyper reactive to negative emotions, both things that make sense with her character but do not make for fun reading. She's constantly seeking validation and that combined with the age gap, power dynamic, and emotional maturity of the two characters made it very hard for me to find the love in the story that the author wants us to find. It seemed more like Roos went from an abusive mother to an inappropriate relationship and we capped it off with an abusive relationship with the spirit, Ruth.
The incest was unneeded to make Thomas a bad man, the racism and abuse did that well enough. It started to feel rather gratuitous.
The tension was very low for a gothic horror and everyone just kind of felt exhausting.
Graphic: Eating disorder, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Xenophobia, and Homophobia
doomham's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Child abuse
Moderate: Incest, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Child death
Minor: Animal death
bookeduntil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Incest, Cannibalism, Classism, Infertility, and Infidelity
adragoninspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Blood, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Rape
blacksphinx's review
- 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
4.5
Overall this is a great novel about the lingering effects of trauma and what that does to those who survive. If you're a goth who is always tweeting about "toxic yuri", open a new tab and buy it now.
Graphic: Medical content, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Self harm, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Trafficking
It's a massive spoiler butcoobugz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I appreciated the interspersed different POVs, and looked forward to the doctor’s POV/case notes. I felt defensive and protective of Roos, and have respect for Dr. Montague. Not gonna lie, Ruth weirds me out and pissed me off sometimes, but that’s plot for ya.
A solid 2 claps for the ending and epilogue. 👏👏
I received the book through Goodreads giveaways as an advanced copy and was super excited to read it before the release date, and to give my first review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Graphic: Death, Vomit, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, and Rape
Minor: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Cursing, Cannibalism, and Infertility
sunsetsyd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Racism
Minor: Incest
emily_journals's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
I really enjoyed the inter-character relationships going on in this book and I really loved the world-building. You can tell that the author really took time to develop the relationships in this book, especially those between Roos and Ruth and between Roos and Agnes. The ghost/spirit lore established in this book was so intriguing and unique. The level of intricacy in this lore of relating not only how someone dies, but where their body resides to how a spirit comes to be and has to be reawakened was really brilliantly done.
As typically expected when reading a debut novel, there were some craft issues with this book. While I did really love the inter-character relationships in this book, I did think that the character development of singular characters could have been explored more. I also thought that the pacing of this book was a bit off, this book felt very slow and drawn out for the level of plot and character development that were happening within this book, but I think learning when to draw out or condense parts of a story typically come with practice so I'm usually a little more forgiving of debut authors on pacing. My biggest complaint about this book is that even though it was a horror novel and there was a level of anticipation as certain points, I felt that this book was greatly lacking in suspense. For me, the interview framing device was taking suspense out of this story rather than adding to it and I wish that the framing had been done a little differently so that I still felt suspense going through this story.
Overall, this was a very strong debut and the character relationships and lore building generally outweighed the craft issues for me.
ARC provided by NetGalley.
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Moderate: Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Self harm, Murder, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child death, and Racism
Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Animal death, Classism, and Drug use
love_and_lilacs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
This is a gothic horror book and it is entirely about horrible and horrific things happening. Your definition of graphic may be different than mine. Please be advised that I may not have remembered every content warning, but I tried to remember the big ones.