You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
fresa_water's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic relationship
justacowboy's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Really I feel this book was either to long or to shot. Not enough for me to deeply care about characters and lessons, but to many questions to wrap everything up in a way that felt satisfying in any way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Medical content
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol
clovetra's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
oh this was super interesting and not what i was expecting at all!
seeing as this is a novella i’m not gonna have…. too many thoughts honestly.
i really enjoyed reading a book about academia and neuroscience research!!!! i’ve pondered going into that field quite a bit, either in neuroscience or research, so seeing them mashed together was a little bonus point from me. sean writing her emotions into academic speak…. chefs kiss. “academia is devoid of emotion” YUP!!! YUP!!!!!!!
also side note but i love the fact the female mc is named sean. idk i love the idea of ungendering names. fuck it names shouldn’t have a gender. also sean is COOL for a woman. we as a society need to name more women sean methinks.
speaking of sean…. whoo she was a doozy protagonist! i mean im reading this for sapphic septemberand its prompt was “disaster sapphics”, so i wanted to see how the sapphics were disasters and…… oh it defo fit that prompt! sean is somehow so incredibly unlikeable and an awful person, yet simultaneously incredibly empathetic. i love a protagonist who is awful and everyone calls them out on their shit, but honestly an awful protagonist can only go so far when the reader wants to gouge the protag’s eyes out. but this book teeters the balance of empathy yet disgust towards sean. god she sucks.
the actual plot itself felt a tad… anticlimactic. idk i expected more…. Horror. this did not feel like horror to me…. defo seems to be more so speculative fiction & thriller rather than scifi horror… but that’s just me. and the whole story itself felt…. idk. boring isn’t the right word. but although i could see the descent into madness, what i was reading wasn’t matching the emotional response sean was producing if you know what i mean. like it made sense… but it also seemed like homegirl was being a bit dramatic. yeah that’s the point but as someone who will sit thru movies going “this shit is dumb why didn’t they do xyz”…. i kinda was just sitting here at times being like “…..why is this bitch going from 0-100 over that”. like her responses were disproportionate even for someone going through what she was. it didn’t make sense logically based on what was explained. and then the climax built up instantly fizzled out… i was just kinda sat there getting excited and then the plot flatlined.
i really think this book described isolation incredibly well, and anything even adjacent to psychology or neuroscience will get my little brain buzzing with excitement. i won’t say this book was a flop because it wasn’t! but i wasn’t itching to read this book because the plot was good, or i was intrigued. i was waiting for something batshit to happen… and then it didn’t… and then because it’s a novella i might as well finish it.
apologies if this review makes no sense (like my reviews ever do psh) homie is on day 5 of cymbalta 😀 i have slept 16 hours every day i am fried.
anyways don’t read this book if animal cruelty upsets you 👍
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
thelonelywizard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Wasn’t really scary/didn’t earn its place in the horror genre imo. What happened to the wolves was fucked up and horrifying, but it didn’t feel like a horror book at all. Kinda wished the MC melded into the wolf mentally and was trapped there at the end - that would’ve been scary. Instead we got her being a horrible wife, which was v exhausting to read. The prose was well written tho, so there’s that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
xosirenox's review
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Dysphoria
aeglaeca's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I genuinely don't know whether I can say that I liked this novella. "Like" isn't that right word, but it doesn't mean the book wasn't good. That said, it's visceral disturbing, extremely thought provoking, and pulls you in/fascinates you while being intensely unsettling and repellent at the same time, and I always admire and respect authors who can do that successfully. It's going to stick with me a long, long time. Very much worth the read, but approach with caution if you aren't in the mood for something that's going to hit you like a gut punch. 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Dysphoria
p1uto's review against another edition
2.5
An uncomfortable read on corporate greed and the monetization of empathy and emotions that expertly highlights the lack of ethicality around animal subjects and the struggles of balancing morals with the false notion that suffering brings forth progress. The parallel of the spiral of Sean's home life with the spiral of Kate's home life gives the reader a taste of Sean's developing parasocial relationship with the wolf. It is also extremely relevant to point out the posesive aspect of this novella, with Sean constantly mentioning "her" Kate and "her" wolfpack while, at the same time, is actively endangering them for her own selfish desires vaguely labeled as "scientific knowledge / breakthroughs". Perhaps the most haunting part of the book is the complete acceptance of the transgressions made by the team in the name of "science" and "progress." What is the meaning of progress if it is only available to the greedy corporations? Is it progress if it does not uplift the general public ?
In complete honesty, the themes this novella tackles are very well more interesting than the novella itself. While it was an interesting read, it only serves as a haunting reminder of what does already occur in the real world and the witchy grasps of corporations on human life.
In complete honesty, the themes this novella tackles are very well more interesting than the novella itself. While it was an interesting read, it only serves as a haunting reminder of what does already occur in the real world and the witchy grasps of corporations on human life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Gore
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Vomit
livlamentloathe's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I previously read Mandelo's Summer Sons, and The Woods all Black. I enjoyed the former and loved the later, so I was surprised not to like this one at all.
Anything you gain from reading this story could be assumed from the start. The struggling relationship of Sean and her wife gets worse but comes to a resolution. Sean's team of scientists endanger one of the last pack of wolves, and Sean only begins to care about this possibility once neuro-linked. That's it. There is more depth to Sean's thought-process and storyline but if you have any assumptions about what will occur in this book, you're probably right.
Sean's wife believes Sean underwent a form of growth and change over the course of the book, but if that was a positive thing, then I massively misunderstood the book. I don't believe Sean learned anything she couldn't have gained through empathy and meaningful conversations with her wife. Much of their fighting could've been resolved if Sean had cared enough to argue her side. It felt like she was a ghost moving through things that happened to her. As if she wasn't the architect of her own failures. That said, Riya, Sean's wife, was just as culpable for decisions she made during their relationship. The corrosion of their marriage was toxic and two-sided.
Every book doesn't need positive change, but I don't think this book included change, period. I don't believe Sean learned anything.
Does the dog die? Yes.
Even worse, she's killed by the venture capital funders when the project goes awry.
Anything you gain from reading this story could be assumed from the start. The struggling relationship of Sean and her wife gets worse but comes to a resolution. Sean's team of scientists endanger one of the last pack of wolves, and Sean only begins to care about this possibility once neuro-linked. That's it. There is more depth to Sean's thought-process and storyline but if you have any assumptions about what will occur in this book, you're probably right.
Sean's wife believes Sean underwent a form of growth and change over the course of the book, but if that was a positive thing, then I massively misunderstood the book. I don't believe Sean learned anything she couldn't have gained through empathy and meaningful conversations with her wife. Much of their fighting could've been resolved if Sean had cared enough to argue her side. It felt like she was a ghost moving through things that happened to her. As if she wasn't the architect of her own failures. That said, Riya, Sean's wife, was just as culpable for decisions she made during their relationship. The corrosion of their marriage was toxic and two-sided.
Every book doesn't need positive change, but I don't think this book included change, period. I don't believe Sean learned anything.
Does the dog die?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma
Minor: Animal cruelty and Infidelity
bwoo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Racism and Vomit
libraryoflanelle's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood