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madarauchiha's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
โค๏ธ ๐งก ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐งก โค๏ธ
Sometimes an author can throw you into a pre-established worlds and things reveal enough to make sense to you. This novella? Not really.
It's like one character said along the lines of 'you're the X character, I'm the Y character, this is a horror movie and thing will go according to horror tropes.' That's it, that's the depth of the characterization. And while the characters were pretty unlikeable, I don't think that was on purpose. The MC is sad. Talia is a cunt. Phillip is a white. Faiz is getting married and I guess is in love with Talia. I think there's another one, not sure? Lin? Lee? Whatever.
Diversity. The MC is bi, it comes up exactly once, so don't expect much explicit bisexuality plot. There's one white man, the rest chinese, japanese, unknown asian background?.
I think the main problem is that the MC is unlikable. The rest of the characters are uninteresting or unfleshed out. So I'm left without someone to relate or root for. Because of that, there is no horror and no tension. I cannot care what happens because there's nowhere to invest my interest.
Why are they friends? Not sure. Apparently some have romantic history together and I suppose once a friend group has that and has been around long enough you simply feel obligated to have them at your wedding?
I do understand this isn't, like, a hero's journey. It's a single night of trauma and we're not going to see growth or whatever unless there's '1 year later' kinda time skip. But like, that's kinda the issue. Nothing really changes, nothing happens, we remain in the same place we started in. Albeit, witha ghost bride now haunting us. I guess because we burned down her mansion? But like... why would she? From the stories, she'd be cishet and interested in cishet men, right? So why is she haunting the bisexual woman? Also, is that not a thing in Japanese folk lore, that fire is enough to cleanse tainted ground and ghosts?
Why WAS there a wedding, and in a haunted mansion? The disconnect is bizarre. I assume talia the cunt is japanese? Why else would she want to have a wedding in a haunted japanese mansion? I half though there' be a plot twist wherein Talia The Cunt specifically invited the MC to this haunted place in order to get the ghosts to kill the MC. But no, we're just here. At a haunted mansion. Sure. I guess I shouldn't think too hard about it. The author sure didn't.
[but no really why did these people who were rich enough to rent an entire haunted mansion PLUS the lands it is built on to have a wedding? Did the two families really sign off on not attending their children's wedding? Are you telling me these japanese/asian families did not loudly object to being cut out of a wedding? A WEDDING? Really.]
The writing was ok. It was a lot of metaphors though. They just weren't cohesive enough to manufacture tension or atmosphere. It felt like it was trying and fumbling every step of the way. I don't think there was much horror. Like sure some scenes had a paragraph of 'gross rotting decay stench!' but it's never built upon.
The pacing was wild. We're whisked from place to place and then oh, it's the end.
The ending. The... end? Oh, ok. So that happened. At no point reading this did I stop and wonder if it would be a successful escape, who would survive, could the ghosts be appeased in the way the story has set up. It suffered the pacing problem of scenes being skimmed over to focus on the next portion, without letting the story breath.
The very last part of the ending bothered me. It felt like the author didn't have confidence to let the story conclude naturally. Tacking on abut what if the ghost bride still haunts us? Even though we literally did the ritual correctly, got the correct result, and nothing was implied that the ghost bride would suddenly continue haunting us.
Other people have mentioned Junji Ito and Haunting of Hill House. Which I think is insulting. Other than being japanese, being horror, and having impossible spatial interiors, there's very little comparison. The Blame! manga also is japanese and has horrific unreal spatial depictions. It would be ridiculous to place that manga and this novella in the same venn diagram, much less the same league. None of the above should be compared or linked to this novella. They're really not similar, and it's deeply misleading to say otherwise.
I think the author is talented and skilled. I think there is something to this story that can be wrought into a more cohesive story. I would read other stories from this author. It's just unfortunate that this novella doesn't quick hit the mark. I have read other works of this author and there is some great stuff. Just.. not this one. It took me 24 minutes to read it, so like not much of an investment.
content warnings
minor murder, suicide, live burial, drugs, homophobic q slur, homophobia, insects, body horror, vomit,
medium medical content, mental illness, grief, confinement, infidelity, blood, excrement, unsanitary,
major alcohol use, body horror, unreality, drugs weed, violence, gore, murder,
Sometimes an author can throw you into a pre-established worlds and things reveal enough to make sense to you. This novella? Not really.
It's like one character said along the lines of 'you're the X character, I'm the Y character, this is a horror movie and thing will go according to horror tropes.' That's it, that's the depth of the characterization. And while the characters were pretty unlikeable, I don't think that was on purpose. The MC is sad. Talia is a cunt. Phillip is a white. Faiz is getting married and I guess is in love with Talia. I think there's another one, not sure? Lin? Lee? Whatever.
Diversity. The MC is bi, it comes up exactly once, so don't expect much explicit bisexuality plot. There's one white man, the rest chinese, japanese, unknown asian background?.
I think the main problem is that the MC is unlikable. The rest of the characters are uninteresting or unfleshed out. So I'm left without someone to relate or root for. Because of that, there is no horror and no tension. I cannot care what happens because there's nowhere to invest my interest.
Why are they friends? Not sure. Apparently some have romantic history together and I suppose once a friend group has that and has been around long enough you simply feel obligated to have them at your wedding?
I do understand this isn't, like, a hero's journey. It's a single night of trauma and we're not going to see growth or whatever unless there's '1 year later' kinda time skip. But like, that's kinda the issue. Nothing really changes, nothing happens, we remain in the same place we started in. Albeit, with
Why WAS there a wedding, and in a haunted mansion? The disconnect is bizarre. I assume talia the cunt is japanese? Why else would she want to have a wedding in a haunted japanese mansion? I half though there' be a plot twist wherein Talia The Cunt specifically invited the MC to this haunted place in order to get the ghosts to kill the MC. But no, we're just here. At a haunted mansion. Sure. I guess I shouldn't think too hard about it. The author sure didn't.
[but no really why did these people who were rich enough to rent an entire haunted mansion PLUS the lands it is built on to have a wedding? Did the two families really sign off on not attending their children's wedding? Are you telling me these japanese/asian families did not loudly object to being cut out of a wedding? A WEDDING? Really.]
The writing was ok. It was a lot of metaphors though. They just weren't cohesive enough to manufacture tension or atmosphere. It felt like it was trying and fumbling every step of the way. I don't think there was much horror. Like sure some scenes had a paragraph of 'gross rotting decay stench!' but it's never built upon.
The pacing was wild. We're whisked from place to place and then oh, it's the end.
The ending. The... end? Oh, ok. So that happened. At no point reading this did I stop and wonder if it would be a successful escape, who would survive, could the ghosts be appeased in the way the story has set up. It suffered the pacing problem of scenes being skimmed over to focus on the next portion, without letting the story breath.
The very last part of the ending bothered me. It felt like the author didn't have confidence to let the story conclude naturally. Tacking on a
Other people have mentioned Junji Ito and Haunting of Hill House. Which I think is insulting. Other than being japanese, being horror, and having impossible spatial interiors, there's very little comparison. The Blame! manga also is japanese and has horrific unreal spatial depictions. It would be ridiculous to place that manga and this novella in the same venn diagram, much less the same league. None of the above should be compared or linked to this novella. They're really not similar, and it's deeply misleading to say otherwise.
I think the author is talented and skilled. I think there is something to this story that can be wrought into a more cohesive story. I would read other stories from this author. It's just unfortunate that this novella doesn't quick hit the mark. I have read other works of this author and there is some great stuff. Just.. not this one. It took me 24 minutes to read it, so like not much of an investment.
content warnings
minor murder, suicide, live burial, drugs, homophobic q slur, homophobia, insects, body horror, vomit,
medium medical content, mental illness, grief, confinement, infidelity, blood, excrement, unsanitary,
major alcohol use, body horror, unreality, drugs weed, violence, gore, murder,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Violence, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Confinement, Infidelity, Excrement, and Blood
Minor: Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Homophobia, Body horror, and Vomit
listen this is pretty much the entire book summarized. If you don't want to get spoiled, don't click on this. If you do want to know what happens, but don't want to read it, go on. Click that bitch.
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