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2.76 AVERAGE
2.76 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If LaRocca has a million haters, then I am one of them. If LaRocca has ten haters, then I am one of them. If LaRocca has only one hater then that is me. If LaRocca has no haters, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against LaRocca, then I am with the world.
Everything the Darkness Eats is a supernatural thriller with strong horror elements that follows two story arcs: one involving a series of people mysteriously disappearing from a small town and the other involving a gay couple being victim of violent homophobia. There is a lot of darkness around these characters, and sadly most of it is caused by monsters who are human.
Every time I finish reading something by Eric LaRocca, my immediate reaction is asking myself: "WTF did I just read?" and I am always amused, disturbed, shocked, intrigued by the author's mind and unique creativity. Unfortunately and for the first time, this didn't happen with Everything the Darkness Eats. And after giving it some thoughts, I realized that it's because I loved the characters but hated the story.
Brett and Malik deserved better, way better, and what they went through was too painful to read and added absolutely nothing to the story. I liked Ghost, he is an interesting character (though he often made questionable choices) and I liked the magic that seemed to accompany him after his recent loss. But there are other parts in this book that really annoyed me: the incompetent / ignorant police, the random abandonment and kidnapping of a blind girl, a charming but suspicious old guy that everyone trusts (Mr. Gaunt anyone??). It was all a bit, for lack of better terms, too convenient.
LaRocca's hypnotic prose is also somehow "diluted" here: I almost didn't recognize the author's voice in the first half of the book, while it's stronger and charming as usual in the second half.
For all these reasons, and for my personal taste, Everything the Darkness Eats is not as good as LaRocca's other works and I give 3 stars.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator André Santana did a fantastic job, I really loved their interpretation, especially during emotional chapters.
* I'd like to thank Eric LaRocca, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest review. * Everything the Darkness Eats is out on June 6th, 2023.
Every time I finish reading something by Eric LaRocca, my immediate reaction is asking myself: "WTF did I just read?" and I am always amused, disturbed, shocked, intrigued by the author's mind and unique creativity. Unfortunately and for the first time, this didn't happen with Everything the Darkness Eats. And after giving it some thoughts, I realized that it's because I loved the characters but hated the story.
Brett and Malik deserved better, way better, and what they went through was too painful to read and added absolutely nothing to the story. I liked Ghost, he is an interesting character (though he often made questionable choices) and I liked the magic that seemed to accompany him after his recent loss. But there are other parts in this book that really annoyed me: the incompetent / ignorant police, the random abandonment and kidnapping of a blind girl, a charming but suspicious old guy that everyone trusts (Mr. Gaunt anyone??). It was all a bit, for lack of better terms, too convenient.
LaRocca's hypnotic prose is also somehow "diluted" here: I almost didn't recognize the author's voice in the first half of the book, while it's stronger and charming as usual in the second half.
For all these reasons, and for my personal taste, Everything the Darkness Eats is not as good as LaRocca's other works and I give 3 stars.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator André Santana did a fantastic job, I really loved their interpretation, especially during emotional chapters.
* I'd like to thank Eric LaRocca, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest review. * Everything the Darkness Eats is out on June 6th, 2023.
DNF
The prose in this is not for me. There's a very big emphasis on metaphors and talking in circles. Add in that this has extremely slow pacing for a thriller. I realized 42% in nothing was happening, and really did not like any of the three separate stories happening in the book. The three POV stories are supposedly connected, there's ableism, hateful homophobia, violence, ACAB, and apparently an upcoming gratuitous rape scene.
I had to bow out, this is not working for me. Queer trauma is not an interesting form of thriller for me.
The prose in this is not for me. There's a very big emphasis on metaphors and talking in circles. Add in that this has extremely slow pacing for a thriller. I realized 42% in nothing was happening, and really did not like any of the three separate stories happening in the book. The three POV stories are supposedly connected, there's ableism, hateful homophobia, violence, ACAB, and apparently an upcoming gratuitous rape scene.
I had to bow out, this is not working for me. Queer trauma is not an interesting form of thriller for me.
Bad. Writing was not good which I was shocked by because I've only heard good things about LaRocca.
Really nothing worked for me with this book. Occasionally there would be a nugget of thematic interest but everything would go nowhere or go a less interesting direct. There were no women with any agency. Malik's identity-based issues felt.....very surface level and I feel a lot of hesitancy about the attempts at a comme target on faith and homophia.....Speaking of....the use of sexual violence to reinforce this + act as a weird villain oirign story was Bad and Exploitive. We essentially see the Brown character assaulted to near death just for it all gets magicked away as a memory.....what is the point for it then beyond a weird suffering voyeurism? Blatant and inescapable able ism was also wild to read. Like disabled people could only be poor, suffering creatures who are either naive to the burden they pose to others or self-hating because of said burden. Bad.
This book really ran through all sorts of fucked up shit just to say nothing? The little quotes at the beginning of every part had more to say 🥴
Really nothing worked for me with this book. Occasionally there would be a nugget of thematic interest but everything would go nowhere or go a less interesting direct. There were no women with any agency. Malik's identity-based issues felt.....very surface level and I feel a lot of hesitancy about the attempts at a comme target on faith and homophia.....Speaking of....the use of sexual violence to reinforce this + act as a weird villain oirign story was Bad and Exploitive. We essentially see the Brown character assaulted to near death just for it all gets magicked away as a memory.....what is the point for it then beyond a weird suffering voyeurism? Blatant and inescapable able ism was also wild to read. Like disabled people could only be poor, suffering creatures who are either naive to the burden they pose to others or self-hating because of said burden. Bad.
This book really ran through all sorts of fucked up shit just to say nothing? The little quotes at the beginning of every part had more to say 🥴
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Found the concept interesting but the violence in the story was graphic and felt as if it was more for shock factor, I’m usually fine with violence but it was executed poorly. I wasn’t really impressed by the writing either but I liked the cover design, interior page art/layout was also difficult to read and not my cup of tea.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Violence