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goizi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse
sandpiper22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Dementia, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence
Minor: Domestic abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Addiction
ley_in_bookparadise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Deadnaming and Death
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Pregnancy
starklinqs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
But somehow I still really enjoyed the book, to the point where anything less than a 5 felt wrong, even though I had my criticisms of it. I was as close to spooked as I’ve ever been reading a horror book (which I haven’t been in a long time) and I honestly just loved the characters dearly and wanted the best for them. I got through this book in about 2 or 3 days so honestly, it clearly had me gripped and I’m going to be thinking about these characters for a while. And as a side note — I enjoyed how the characters felt real, female characters in particular. The women felt like real people whereas I feel like sometimes in horror (at least written by white male authors that I’ve read before) they get reduced to tropes but I didn’t feel thst here, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the characters.
Moderate: Suicide, Gun violence, Child death, and Death
kait_sixcrowsbooks's review against another edition
However, about 40-45% of the way through I was starting to get a bad feeling about the different allegories, so I decided to look up spoilers, and I ended up being right. If you’re wanting to read this book for spoopy horror, and not some weird Christian “good vs evil” tripe, look elsewhere. If I knew what I was getting into beforehand, I would’ve steered clear of this one.
Moderate: Sexual assault, Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Gore, and Vomit
zhowsare's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Sexual content, and Suicide
lycheejelly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Incest, Infidelity, Infertility, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Trafficking
camillesuzannes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Death, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Medical content, Cursing, Dementia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Grief, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
Moderate: Ableism, Trafficking, Sexual content, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Incest, Kidnapping, and Sexism
Minor: Vomit, Pedophilia, and Slavery
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So this story is divided into seven parts, 135 chapters, and an epilogue. Yeah, I know. This means that the chapters are pretty short though, which really helps with the book not feeling as long as it is. My main fear going into it was that the story would be slow, or drag in the middle. It never dragged for me until the last 100 pages though, so I do wish the author had cut the story to be a little shorter.
it did feel like this could have ended at several different points. I had some moments where it felt like we were heading to the climax....but there were still 400+ pages left. It made me curious to see how this story could keep going without feeling bogged down, and it really surprised me how the stakes kept rising. I ended up really getting into the story, and binged the last 300 pages all today.
I had heard or read that this is a religious horror, but that doesn't really kick in until about half way through the book. I had actually thought I had been mistaken about that until I hit that point, but it ends up really pushing into it, so I'd stear clear if that type of horror isn't your thing.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that the adults are not complete idiots. I hate when a story makes the adults to be oblivious fools who can't see what's directly in front of them for the sake of the plot, so this book was a breath of fresh air. I also ended up liking the entire cast of characters even though there are a lot of them. The author does a fantastic job of humanizing them, so it's easy to connect with the town.
One thing that stood out to me, and I've noticed other reviewers have mentioned this as well, is that the children did not feel as if they were 7 years old. I often forgot that this is what their age was supposed to be, and imagined them as more 11-12 years old. Whenever their age was reiterated it just made me laugh, because there is just no way.
This story does get completely ridiculous, and sometimes it is laughably so. I pondered if I should lower the rating at all for that, but honestly I've enjoyed this book so much that I don't think I should.
I adored coming up with theories for what was happening in this book. There were so many moments where I gasped at the end of a chapter, and then read what had happened to my husband. I think this is a fantastic horror novel that any fan of the genre should read !
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, Blood, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Addiction and Dementia
Minor: Abortion, Vomit, and Pregnancy
sararainsberry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Torture