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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
The audiobook was 3 hours and 1 Min but damn did it pack the punch. A near future world with some serious climate changes. Vivedly told and very engaging and made me crave more stories like this.
Short environmental/eco horror (horror-lite?). These semi-linked stories follow, vaguely, Laura (though she's not in every story), as she finds, traces, studies a new parasite that attacks humans and non-humans alike, causes them to mutate (some are...fish people? Laura becomes a...bird, I think?) rapidly, but throughout there's this impending sense of doom, like she's just noting how the world is gonna end for people as we know it, and not to have a chance to save it. These brief snapshots allude to a greater fracas in the world, each snapshot exhibits tropes of the post-apocalyptic fiction genre: there's the religious fanatics that try to recreate biblical scenes (the thing w/ the lion cage), there's cult leader and his followers, the desperate scientist, and then, in perhaps a new trope related to eco/enviro horror/apocalypse lit, we get a character in two separate chapters, one where he's a normal dude, one where it ends with him in water w/ a dorsal fin, and our scientist, whenever she appears in a new chapter, is farther along in her evolution to becoming a bird (those are rapid evolutions). Sold blast of fiction.
Not a bad book by any means, but definitely weird. Very well written descriptions. Poetic almost.
This short story collection has stuck with me over a year later.
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's a point at which evocative surrealism eliminates sense-making and this is on the wrong side of that borderline. Also, gross and disturbing.
Would not advise eating while reading.
There were moments clearly outlining one version of our world a few years in the future where climate change has made things worse for everybody, and humanity's unchecked negative actions to continue to deteriorate the environment, but overall the novella is too disjointed. It doesn't come across as a teaching moment, just a dystopian backdrop.
On the side of the yikes: it's never explicitly conveyed as ED, but there are MANY moments showcasing different behaviours that mimick disordered eating and it's effects, those currently struggling or recovering, be aware.
⚠️SA, animal death, abuse, body horror
Would not advise eating while reading.
There were moments clearly outlining one version of our world a few years in the future where climate change has made things worse for everybody, and humanity's unchecked negative actions to continue to deteriorate the environment, but overall the novella is too disjointed. It doesn't come across as a teaching moment, just a dystopian backdrop.
On the side of the yikes: it's never explicitly conveyed as ED, but there are MANY moments showcasing different behaviours that mimick disordered eating and it's effects, those currently struggling or recovering, be aware.
⚠️SA, animal death, abuse, body horror
Quite boring.
It seems to me that the author has used every single metaphor and simile that came to her mind.
I expected to enjoy the nightmarish atmosphere and all the weird stuff, but I got so tired with the over the top writing and all the unnecessarily uncommon words (maybe a translation issue?)
It seems to me that the author has used every single metaphor and simile that came to her mind.
I expected to enjoy the nightmarish atmosphere and all the weird stuff, but I got so tired with the over the top writing and all the unnecessarily uncommon words (maybe a translation issue?)
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Quick read which leaves you wanting more, but I the lack of continuity over such a short timespan left my confused about who was who and what was happening. Maybe this will change with a reread and it’s short enough that that’s not a chore. Wonderfully and terrifyingly imagined.