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makremi's review
4.0
Beautiful, powerful imagery, lovely pacing, impactful (if a bit esoteric) storytelling, and waaaaaaaaay too much time spent picking through words no one uses. Sometimes they are exactly perfect for what the author means to say, but more often they are just dense distracting replacements for more direct communication of ideas. It breaks the flow of the story, and would make a physical copy of this book nearly unreadable. It comes off as pretensions and a bit insecure at times.
Still, overall a lovely read. The opening images alone are worth the time to pick this book up.
Still, overall a lovely read. The opening images alone are worth the time to pick this book up.
haterrod's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
carriesheri's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
sophiepaige227's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
reading_ani's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was my first book by Cassandra Khaw, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I have to say, I enjoyed it through and through (even though it was a bit too short, but admittedly didn't feel like it). I absolutely loved the prose, and yes, even despite a lot of words that I had to look up. Honestly, that was even one of the best parts about it. I absolutely love reinterpretations of fairy tales, and seeing as most fairy tales are incredibly dark due to them originally having been designed as cautious tales for children, I'm always a fan of reimaginings going as gory as they can go. So basically, this was an instant 5 stars for me and I will definitely look up other works by this author.
faroukk's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Really loved this book from Cassandra Khaw. Has what I would describe as "Bloodborne Vibes" and successfully executes on it. That horrific, tense, and cold atmosphere featuring characters with a dark and monstrous underbelly to their psychology was very satisfying to read in this short 100 page novel.
The main criticism I've seen of this book, and it is important to note, is that Khaw's prose is overly wordy to the point that it actually gets in the way of the story/understanding what's going on. To give you an idea of how "overly complicated" the vocabulary is: I had to google words I'd never seen before/didn't know the definitions to offhand at least 1-3 times per page as I was reading it (and I would say I have a pretty extensive vocabulary). I was willing to do the work of researching definitions while reading due to the shortness of the book, but I most likely would not have had the stamina to do so if the book were longer.
With that being said, I don't agree with the argument that the "thesaurus fluff" didn't add anything to the story. Khaw clearly has intention behind every single word that they write. The extremely flowery and vibrant prose is often used to beautifully describe some of the most horrific gore you could read. I find this intense contrast, to portray such monstrous and grotesque things so beautifully, to be incredibly evocative and found that it added to the unique atmosphere the book is trying to evoke. Additionally, once you actually google the words, it becomes clear that Khaw did not just randomly decide to use big words. The author has a clear understanding of what these words mean, and constructs sentences expertly to convey incredibly powerful imagery.
I'm also admittedly biased because I also actually really like books that use big words, and I love the opportunity to expand my vocabulary. I believe that reading is just as much about expanding your language/cognition as it is about understanding the thesis/story of the writing. With that belief in mind, I was willing to go on admittedly a very arduous journey of constantly pulling out my phone as I was reading to understand what the hell was going on.
Ultimately, if you're willing to stomach the gore and the purple prose, you will love this book. The tone and atmosphere is incredible, the monstrous psychology of desire within the characters is fascinating, and you'll come out of it having learned a bunch of new words! Like I said I'm biased so if the wordiness is not your thing then take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this was right up my alley and I came out of it inspired to write more myself.
The main criticism I've seen of this book, and it is important to note, is that Khaw's prose is overly wordy to the point that it actually gets in the way of the story/understanding what's going on. To give you an idea of how "overly complicated" the vocabulary is: I had to google words I'd never seen before/didn't know the definitions to offhand at least 1-3 times per page as I was reading it (and I would say I have a pretty extensive vocabulary). I was willing to do the work of researching definitions while reading due to the shortness of the book, but I most likely would not have had the stamina to do so if the book were longer.
With that being said, I don't agree with the argument that the "thesaurus fluff" didn't add anything to the story. Khaw clearly has intention behind every single word that they write. The extremely flowery and vibrant prose is often used to beautifully describe some of the most horrific gore you could read. I find this intense contrast, to portray such monstrous and grotesque things so beautifully, to be incredibly evocative and found that it added to the unique atmosphere the book is trying to evoke. Additionally, once you actually google the words, it becomes clear that Khaw did not just randomly decide to use big words. The author has a clear understanding of what these words mean, and constructs sentences expertly to convey incredibly powerful imagery.
I'm also admittedly biased because I also actually really like books that use big words, and I love the opportunity to expand my vocabulary. I believe that reading is just as much about expanding your language/cognition as it is about understanding the thesis/story of the writing. With that belief in mind, I was willing to go on admittedly a very arduous journey of constantly pulling out my phone as I was reading to understand what the hell was going on.
Ultimately, if you're willing to stomach the gore and the purple prose, you will love this book. The tone and atmosphere is incredible, the monstrous psychology of desire within the characters is fascinating, and you'll come out of it having learned a bunch of new words! Like I said I'm biased so if the wordiness is not your thing then take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this was right up my alley and I came out of it inspired to write more myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
kestrells's review
1.25
So genuinely and sincerely how did this get published. I know 'published' is not and has never been a safeguard for quality and also lots of incredible work never sees mainstream publication but I cannot fathom being the agent or editor who read this query letter, requested pages, and went no yeah I want to pursue this. The whole book sucked and was incoherent and lacked cohesion and yet somehow the ending STILL managed to fit badly enough that it made me mad. Why is it a love story. Why do these people care about each other. Why is the prose like that. Why does the narrator keep speaking directly to me to give me lessons like "Appearance is everything. Remember this even when you've forgotten everything else" which have nothing to do with anything. Why are the politics actively anti-feminist. And finally and more crucially WHY IS THE PROSE LIKE THAT. None of these questions will ever be answered. SAD! At least it'll be fun at my book club
spidergirl502's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.5