Scan barcode
savvy999's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
Immensely readable, definitely worth the effort of wading through the layers of meta text and false document. I think that this book is most effective when seen as a beautifully executed and layered project, if you attempt to place the standard of horror novels on to this will not ring true. It builds and builds but instead of true climax it continues to sprawl towards the bitter secret at the heart of the story, tragedy satisfyingly buried and revealed. The characters all feel lived in and complicated, replicating themselves over the narrative, in some kind of reincarnation. It’s fascinating to experience a story in this fashion. Not scary per se, but unnerving and insidious. Definitely both effective satire and effective gothic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Body horror
Minor: Pregnancy and Fatphobia
emilyfedewa's review against another edition
3.0
okay so,.,.,.,. I was very into this in the first half. I thought it had a lot of potential, Harper was cool as fuck, and there was just enough mystery to keep me engaged but still able to understand. sure Merritt was the worst in the first half and she did also say that something made her feel "😍" which was awful to read lmao but otherwise?? a very interesting first half!!
BUT
THE SECOND HALF
what the actual fuck lmao
this book really just fucking fell apart and it's so disappointing because I wanted to love it!! there was just too much going on and we didn't really get a story out of any of it, especially the modern plot. like I feel like shit just,..,., happened on set and we didn't even get to see like the process of the filming or what happened to them, at least not enough for it to matter. and then at the very end with telling the "full stoey" of the rash brothers,..,., why the fuck did we need that?? we could have just made the curse because of something that happened with Flo and Clara like why did we need this other, older story that didn't fucking matter?? we really would have been fine without the rash brothers, and I think it makes the entire story weaker to be honest. like the stuff with the verretts makes no sense it wasn't thought through enough for it to be a lightbulb moment for readers at the end. AND SPEAKING OF READERS oh my god I started getting pissed off at the footnotes near the end. at first I loved them and I thought they were really a cool feature but then they just got annoying and not useful and just gimmicky kinda. they also kind of turned extra goofy and cringey?? lmfao like when the author was like "I wish I could tell you the name of the woman, Readers, but it has been lost to time and mansplaining" I just 😐 and oh my fucking god the yellow jackets. we GET IT. STOP with the fucking YELLOW JACKETS. it was so heavy handed it was like the author drew a giant arrow on each page that mentioned them in bright yellow highlighter like "LOOK!!! SYMBOLISM!!! MOTIFS!!!" and I really started to hate it near the end.
despite how much I hated the second half (lmao), I really did love the first half so I feel like a 3 star rating is acceptable. but god damn I am disappointed. I really wish this had been better because it's such a cool fucking idea!!! I am really sad actually lol
BUT
THE SECOND HALF
what the actual fuck lmao
despite how much I hated the second half (lmao), I really did love the first half so I feel like a 3 star rating is acceptable. but god damn I am disappointed. I really wish this had been better because it's such a cool fucking idea!!! I am really sad actually lol
alexan13's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely adored this book and feel like it's going to stay with me for a while.
thebookhousegirl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
christalnoel's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mkorniejczuk's review against another edition
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
culpeppper's review against another edition
This is gonna be negative, you've been warned.
The premise was fine, but the length of this book is absurd considering the absolute nothing that happens. I cannot stand the shifting perspective of the story. It makes it clunky instead of intriguing, and I really think it could have been a shorter, better story if it had been told from only one perspective. But we have four; Audrey, Harper Harper, Merritt, and an omniscient narrator that refuses to identify themselves (but I suspect is Merritt, based only on the fact we are reading a story about a book and one of the characters is the author of said book.)The modern storylines are boring (the three heroines don't even meet face to face until 200 pages into the story) and tedious to get through. The characters are either flat, bland, or just plain unenjoyable. They do a whole lot of nothing for twenty pages, then cut to another whole lot of nothing but this time, there's /wasps/ and shadows.
Audrey is fine, and if I had to choose one perspective to keep out of the three main characters, she's the easy pick. She's got an interesting enough backstory that could probably be better explored, a lot of characters in her personal life that we know a little bit about, and her personality is one that makes you want to root for her. Harper Harper's character is basically rich young hot "celesbian" with some deeper stuff under the surface but even 200 pages in you don't really care about her anyway. She reads like a caricature. Merritt seemingly has no redeeming characteristics that Danforth decides to show us to off-set the general callousness she shows everyone and everything around her, with a dash of self-confidence issues that excuse it all, that makes her the queer not-like-other-girls-girl. We're supposed to be inspired and surprised that she, as a mere 16 year old infant, was able to write a story and it was good. Because of that everything else about her is special, so she can be selfish and not care about others. I'm not saying that all characters can and should be likable, but in a nearly 700 page book, surely you could do without some of that.
The horror/suspense elements don't work, because I didn't care about these characters and the atmospheric storytelling is lacking. The historical timeline would have probably gotten tedious too but that was the only part of the book that had me thinking it would turn around.
Eventually, though, the whole audition scene was what did me in. I felt 0 chemistry between the characters once they were on page, and I genuinely didn't think it was worth pushing through if that was all there was ahead.
The premise was fine, but the length of this book is absurd considering the absolute nothing that happens. I cannot stand the shifting perspective of the story. It makes it clunky instead of intriguing, and I really think it could have been a shorter, better story if it had been told from only one perspective. But we have four; Audrey, Harper Harper, Merritt, and an omniscient narrator that refuses to identify themselves (but I suspect is Merritt, based only on the fact we are reading a story about a book and one of the characters is the author of said book.)The modern storylines are boring (the three heroines don't even meet face to face until 200 pages into the story) and tedious to get through. The characters are either flat, bland, or just plain unenjoyable. They do a whole lot of nothing for twenty pages, then cut to another whole lot of nothing but this time, there's /wasps/ and shadows.
Audrey is fine, and if I had to choose one perspective to keep out of the three main characters, she's the easy pick. She's got an interesting enough backstory that could probably be better explored, a lot of characters in her personal life that we know a little bit about, and her personality is one that makes you want to root for her. Harper Harper's character is basically rich young hot "celesbian" with some deeper stuff under the surface but even 200 pages in you don't really care about her anyway. She reads like a caricature. Merritt seemingly has no redeeming characteristics that Danforth decides to show us to off-set the general callousness she shows everyone and everything around her, with a dash of self-confidence issues that excuse it all, that makes her the queer not-like-other-girls-girl. We're supposed to be inspired and surprised that she, as a mere 16 year old infant, was able to write a story and it was good. Because of that everything else about her is special, so she can be selfish and not care about others. I'm not saying that all characters can and should be likable, but in a nearly 700 page book, surely you could do without some of that.
The horror/suspense elements don't work, because I didn't care about these characters and the atmospheric storytelling is lacking. The historical timeline would have probably gotten tedious too but that was the only part of the book that had me thinking it would turn around.
Eventually, though, the whole audition scene was what did me in. I felt 0 chemistry between the characters once they were on page, and I genuinely didn't think it was worth pushing through if that was all there was ahead.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Misogyny, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Outing
Lots of wasps, dead and alive.rgrgrg's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
deepbutdazzlingdarkness's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve seen plenty of people describe this book as just vibes but I’m glad I read it before I looked up what people thought about it because hey I loved the vibes. So many lesbians and messiness and canon poly rep?? Unexpected but so great. Merritt did annoy me for…a lot of the book for the way she acts towards Audrey but I liked all of the different POVs (especially the historical ones) and the way it jumps around and discombobulates you.
Annoyingly Libby didn’t give me a kindle version and the in-app version really struggled with the formatting (illustrations covering the text, no links to the footnotes) so I had to switch back and forth between a different version but unfortunately it was worth it despite the hassle.
Annoyingly Libby didn’t give me a kindle version and the in-app version really struggled with the formatting (illustrations covering the text, no links to the footnotes) so I had to switch back and forth between a different version but unfortunately it was worth it despite the hassle.
gnatdirt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? No
4.5