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claudiearseneault's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.0
I had a rough start with this book. Part of it was that it didn't match my expectations of what kind of horror to expect, and I wound up not really scared at all, and part of it was the casual arophobia at the start, the animal death, and the insistence Morroco was in Middle East.
I stayed because I'd heard a lot about the messy friendship between Johnny and Nick, and I could already see those unhealthy lines and wanted to explore them. And in that regards I think BENEATH THE RISING satisfies well enough, pushing and prodding at the sharp edges between two friends brought together by shared trauma and seemingly separated by everything else. It kept leaving me craving more, though, their chances to really hammer out those edges either ignored or blocked by plot, until I really struggled to understand what DID bind them on a deeper level, what made them *work* at all.
In the end, I think a lot of my issues with this book are just the Not For Me kind. I did mostly enjoy the story, especially Nick's sense of humour and the way Johnny and Nick ribbed one another.
I stayed because I'd heard a lot about the messy friendship between Johnny and Nick, and I could already see those unhealthy lines and wanted to explore them. And in that regards I think BENEATH THE RISING satisfies well enough, pushing and prodding at the sharp edges between two friends brought together by shared trauma and seemingly separated by everything else. It kept leaving me craving more, though, their chances to really hammer out those edges either ignored or blocked by plot, until I really struggled to understand what DID bind them on a deeper level, what made them *work* at all.
In the end, I think a lot of my issues with this book are just the Not For Me kind. I did mostly enjoy the story, especially Nick's sense of humour and the way Johnny and Nick ribbed one another.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Racism
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
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