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laurenkara's review against another edition
4.0
Trigger Warnings: rape (off page), graphic violence (slight gore), non-consensual behavior
Thanks to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'll have a review up closer to release date but I enjoyed this book as much as one can enjoy books about this topic. I'm always up for a good, dark and gritty horror!
Thanks to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'll have a review up closer to release date but I enjoyed this book as much as one can enjoy books about this topic. I'm always up for a good, dark and gritty horror!
kleonard's review against another edition
4.0
A woman gets revenge on her rapists, often with the help of her mother. Power to them!
j4z_l0l's review against another edition
4.0
4.5. i really liked this book, it was well written and i found it interesting from the gist and my interest for this book continued to grow the more i read. definitely recommend
alejandro_astra's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
mellabella's review against another edition
4.0
I lived everything about this book.
The strong female protagonist. The folklore aspect... The budding teenage romance that seemed realistic and not cheesy.
It had all the right and amounts of horror, magic and teenage girl everyday life while trying to deal with a birthmark covering half her face, a violent would be suitor who happens to be the chieftains son) and a stern powerful grandmother under whom she is apprenticing.
Be warned that the rape is off screen. But, still a traumatic scene.
4.5 stars
The strong female protagonist. The folklore aspect... The budding teenage romance that seemed realistic and not cheesy.
It had all the right and amounts of horror, magic and teenage girl everyday life while trying to deal with a birthmark covering half her face, a violent would be suitor who happens to be the chieftains son) and a stern powerful grandmother under whom she is apprenticing.
Be warned that the rape is off screen. But, still a traumatic scene.
4.5 stars
hitbooksnotgirlz's review against another edition
3.0
The first 100 or so pages of this book had me bored to fucking tears. But the promise of a brutal assault, followed by Bethan & Martyn’s attackers paying for their wrong-doings, just the thought of their blood being spilled.. Kept me going. Twisted, isn’t it? While I have no interest in magic, I enjoy all things gruesome. Soon enough, the story had completely gripped my attention, with descriptions & nightmarish acts so vivid they literally made me cringe and shiver. Had it been captivating right from the beginning, it would have earned 4 stars. But the start was far, far too slow for my liking.
vanessamariebooks's review against another edition
4.0
CW: for rape, sexual harassment, and abuse.
This was interesting, though not quite what I expected. Having read Monahan's Mary Duology (and loved it), I was expecting this to be more of a horror novel, but I honestly wouldn't classify it as that. Is it a dark story? Yes. Is there gore and violence? Yes. But is it really horror? I guess that's debatable, but in my opinion no.
It is a story of revenge (which I do love a good revenge story), however with this I just felt the pacing was off and could have been improved. We spend quite a bit of time in the beginning getting to know the characters and setting up the world. This part could have been shorten a bit, and we could have gotten to the inciting incident sooner. I thought the majority of the story would have focused on Bethan (our MC) getting revenge on the boys who abused/assaulted her, however this part of the story was not as long as I thought it would be.
I thought it was interesting seeing the internal struggle Bethan went through between wanting to get revenge and hurt the boys who abused her and not wanting to engage in violence and become a monster herself.
Overall, I did like the story, it just wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
This was interesting, though not quite what I expected. Having read Monahan's Mary Duology (and loved it), I was expecting this to be more of a horror novel, but I honestly wouldn't classify it as that. Is it a dark story? Yes. Is there gore and violence? Yes. But is it really horror? I guess that's debatable, but in my opinion no.
It is a story of revenge (which I do love a good revenge story), however with this I just felt the pacing was off and could have been improved. We spend quite a bit of time in the beginning getting to know the characters and setting up the world. This part could have been shorten a bit, and we could have gotten to the inciting incident sooner. I thought the majority of the story would have focused on Bethan (our MC) getting revenge on the boys who abused/assaulted her, however this part of the story was not as long as I thought it would be.
I thought it was interesting seeing the internal struggle Bethan went through between wanting to get revenge and hurt the boys who abused her and not wanting to engage in violence and become a monster herself.
Overall, I did like the story, it just wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
charlotekerstenauthor's review against another edition
CW: Sexual assault, physical assault, self-harm, burning, body horror
So What’s It About?
Bethan is the apprentice to a green healer named Drina in a clan of Welsh Romanies. Her life is happy and ordered and modest, as required by Roma custom, except for one thing: Silas, the son of the chieftain, has been secretly harassing her.
One night, Silas and his friends brutally assault Bethan and a half-Roma friend, Martyn. As empty and hopeless as she feels from the attack, she asks Drina to bring Martyn back from death’s door. “There is always a price for this kind of magic,” Drina warns. The way to save him is gruesome. Bethan must collect grisly pieces to fuel the spell: an ear, some hair, an eye, a nose, and fingers.
She gives the boys who assaulted her a chance to come forward and apologize. And when they don’t, she knows exactly where to collect her ingredients to save Martyn.
What I Thought
The story behind this book is quite touching - Monahan was inspired to write it because of her grandmother’s own writings that she never got to flesh out, as well as her Romani heritage. I will say that this is a pretty wild story to dedicate to your grandmother (or maybe Monahan’s grandmother was way cooler with a whole bunch of things than mine were), but I love that background and I think you can sense that underlying motivation in how much heart there is to the story and how integral the grandmother-granddaughter relationship is.
That relationship is, by far, my favorite aspect of the story. Gran is definitely the star of the show- she is fierce and uncompromising, strict and irascible, and despite how grim and unaffectionate she is, it is more than apparent that she loves Bethann an incredible amount and is 100% there for her when she needs her. It’s a beautiful relationship, and we’d all be lucky to have our own Gran.
I also think the book offers an interesting look at Romani culture, especially when it talks about the massive weight of stigma and judgment from outsiders and how that creates a stronger sense of isolationism and self-reliance. There’s also an interesting section about the G slur and how Bethann addresses it when her love interest Martyn uses the word early on out of ignorance. It also looks at some of the complexities of Romani culture like the extreme emphasis on women’s purity; in this case, that value plays a significant role in the story because the main character’s sexual assault and how it impacts her status in the community.
This is largely a rape revenge story, so let me take this opportunity to wax poetic about those. On one hand, I sometimes feel that rape revenge stories aren’t my favorite because they don’t really realistically address the aftermath of trauma and the complexities of healing journeys and what is truly requisite for them - and I just happen to love stories that do those things. But, on the other hand, are those things necessary elements of every story about assault? Sometimes I can shut off the hand-wringing and admit that it can be really satisfying and cathartic to see someone who has been hurt simply fuck shit up for the people who hurt them.
Ultimately, I think, it depends on execution. It’s a mixed bag here for me - for one thing, a lot of what makes rape revenge stories so cathartic is undercut here by the fact that Bethann and Gran are technically just doing it all to save a man (Martyn, who is killed during the assault). I also think its efficacy is slightly undercut by how guilty Bethann feels about what she’s doing. At the same time, it is still really satisfying that she is able to take action into her own hands, make the perpetrators suffer and regain control over the situation as best she can.
A few final notes - parts of the relationship between Bethann and Martyn are very sweet, including how he teaches her to read and helps her sell things in the market and how supportive and respectful he is at the end, but he is also extremely pushy during the start of their relationship, which was more than a little annoying to me. I thought that several aspects of life post-assault were depicted quite well, including Bethann’s complex feelings (and lack thereof, sometimes) and the mixed responses of blame, shunning, awkwardness and support that she receives from her community.
So What’s It About?
Bethan is the apprentice to a green healer named Drina in a clan of Welsh Romanies. Her life is happy and ordered and modest, as required by Roma custom, except for one thing: Silas, the son of the chieftain, has been secretly harassing her.
One night, Silas and his friends brutally assault Bethan and a half-Roma friend, Martyn. As empty and hopeless as she feels from the attack, she asks Drina to bring Martyn back from death’s door. “There is always a price for this kind of magic,” Drina warns. The way to save him is gruesome. Bethan must collect grisly pieces to fuel the spell: an ear, some hair, an eye, a nose, and fingers.
She gives the boys who assaulted her a chance to come forward and apologize. And when they don’t, she knows exactly where to collect her ingredients to save Martyn.
What I Thought
The story behind this book is quite touching - Monahan was inspired to write it because of her grandmother’s own writings that she never got to flesh out, as well as her Romani heritage. I will say that this is a pretty wild story to dedicate to your grandmother (or maybe Monahan’s grandmother was way cooler with a whole bunch of things than mine were), but I love that background and I think you can sense that underlying motivation in how much heart there is to the story and how integral the grandmother-granddaughter relationship is.
That relationship is, by far, my favorite aspect of the story. Gran is definitely the star of the show- she is fierce and uncompromising, strict and irascible, and despite how grim and unaffectionate she is, it is more than apparent that she loves Bethann an incredible amount and is 100% there for her when she needs her. It’s a beautiful relationship, and we’d all be lucky to have our own Gran.
I also think the book offers an interesting look at Romani culture, especially when it talks about the massive weight of stigma and judgment from outsiders and how that creates a stronger sense of isolationism and self-reliance. There’s also an interesting section about the G slur and how Bethann addresses it when her love interest Martyn uses the word early on out of ignorance. It also looks at some of the complexities of Romani culture like the extreme emphasis on women’s purity; in this case, that value plays a significant role in the story because the main character’s sexual assault and how it impacts her status in the community.
This is largely a rape revenge story, so let me take this opportunity to wax poetic about those. On one hand, I sometimes feel that rape revenge stories aren’t my favorite because they don’t really realistically address the aftermath of trauma and the complexities of healing journeys and what is truly requisite for them - and I just happen to love stories that do those things. But, on the other hand, are those things necessary elements of every story about assault? Sometimes I can shut off the hand-wringing and admit that it can be really satisfying and cathartic to see someone who has been hurt simply fuck shit up for the people who hurt them.
Ultimately, I think, it depends on execution. It’s a mixed bag here for me - for one thing, a lot of what makes rape revenge stories so cathartic is undercut here by the fact that Bethann and Gran are technically just doing it all to save a man (Martyn, who is killed during the assault). I also think its efficacy is slightly undercut by how guilty Bethann feels about what she’s doing. At the same time, it is still really satisfying that she is able to take action into her own hands, make the perpetrators suffer and regain control over the situation as best she can.
A few final notes - parts of the relationship between Bethann and Martyn are very sweet, including how he teaches her to read and helps her sell things in the market and how supportive and respectful he is at the end, but he is also extremely pushy during the start of their relationship, which was more than a little annoying to me. I thought that several aspects of life post-assault were depicted quite well, including Bethann’s complex feelings (and lack thereof, sometimes) and the mixed responses of blame, shunning, awkwardness and support that she receives from her community.
cowboyjulie's review against another edition
4.0
amazing book about the female revenge! our main character gets raped, and her and her grandmother decide to get revenge, no matter how they have to do it. this book is filled with body horror and a graphic depiction of rape, so be careful if you aren’t into that!
i think this book represents female rage and revenge perfectly. our main character is perfect and i feel like she really represents teenage girls
i think this book represents female rage and revenge perfectly. our main character is perfect and i feel like she really represents teenage girls