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jmtleaf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, Medical content, Misogyny, War, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Torture
katcass's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Child death, and Cannibalism
Minor: Animal death
laboromi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Child death, and Emotional abuse
annachronistic's review
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death, and Medical trauma
pacifickat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"I recall once, there was an astronomer in my husband's court, who extolled the poetry of the universe, how numinous we were despite the mucus and the blood we shed. 'Stardust,' he'd said, inebriated with his own doctrine. 'We are made of stardust.' Or maybe of primordial elements, such as the ocean, and the dark, and the killing flame, and love."
For one, this is a story about stories.
The narrative takes the shape of a dark mashup of
It is also a commentary on how the stories humans tell themselves shape their beliefs and behaviors, sometimes leading to their own suffering and ruin, even as those same stories are defended as sacrosanct. Sometimes horrors in this upside-down world mask themselves in holiness. The true enemies, the charlatans wielding power, want people to believe that evil is found elsewhere, and to fear the outsider rather than questioning the darkness in their own midst, in their own systems of belief.
"Man mistakes his own experiences as the canvas on which all truths are drawn. He is rarely correct in his respect."
"There is a reason The Hunt is central to so many narratives. For all that humanity professes to delighting in its own sophistication, it longs for simplicity, for when the world can be deboned into binaries. Darkness and light. Death and life. Hunter and hunted."
This is also most definitely a horror story.
While the prose is a mesmerizing, undulating, hauntingly beautiful (unless big words bother you) thing, the plot beneath is feral and eviscerating.
This is also a haunting love story.
"I wonder sometimes if this consciousness is the same, if I am the same. Or, if I am a mere fabrication strung together by circumstances."
"There is nothing wrong with being a monster."
"You always know the right things to say."
The story reminds me more than a bit of This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: the sumptuous use of language, the poetic cadence of the narrative, the distinct natures and voices of the main characters, and
"[...] Eternity is a worthless bauble without their conversation. [...] I will love them to the death of days."
Conclusion
I really enjoyed the telling of this tale. As one Barnes & Noble reviewer put it, "For someone who simply loves words, this novella was practically a playground [...]."
However, the weirdness of the plot and sheer quantity of strange vocabulary and odd phrasing employed throughout made me wonder if the author may have been aided by AI in their writing process. I saw online that she has utilized AI in the past for visual character studies, but it made me wonder if she also used it to create this written work. It is a weird world we live in where this might even be a question a reader would think to ask -- but there it is, sitting in the back of my mind even as I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
In the absence of further evidence, I am going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and offer up 5 stars. This kind of story is totally my jam.
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Murder, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Cannibalism, Gore, and Slavery
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, and Animal death
mar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Medical content, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal death and Miscarriage
rookdigoo's review
4.5
Prose that tastes like the other side of the coin from Andersen's. The seamless twining of The Little Mermaid and The Three Army Surgeons? Not an expected combination and I adored every dark, dripping moment of it. This isn't a "dark" retelling where the "dark" bits are played for shock value, to make you gasp, "this didn’t happen in the Disney version". It's a story that knows itself, that doesn't care what pre-conceived notions its reader brings. A fairy tale horror story of love and staying.
I'm so delighted to find a retelling of such totally different fairy tales, mixed in which a healthy helping of more pieces of folklore stitched together with nearly invisible thread.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Medical content, Blood, Child death, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage
emzhay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gore, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
Minor: Miscarriage
fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
And I really like the two main characters and their relationship with each other, too. This is a story about two people dealing with their trauma together, healing together in a way, and supporting each other throughout it. They are not perfect or try to be, but they feel realistic and are loyal to each other. I especially loved the line, where the plague doctor calls out the "your trauma makes you stronger" bullshit.
Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Death, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Confinement
meagan123's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Abandonment and Pregnancy