Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Fervor by Alma Katsu

9 reviews

e_asw_97's review

challenging dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Murder, and Deportation

Minor: War

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This started out great but sort of petered out as it went on. I think once the characters’ stories begin to intersect is where the trouble begins. Things start to become a bit too convenient and eventually lead to a really rushed ending that feels a bit like a deus ex machina. I also feel like as the story goes on, the Japanese folklore (aka the most interesting bits) sort of becomes less and less important and the book goes from being a creepy historical horror novel to a quasi-political thriller which just wasn’t what I was in the mood for. Don’t get me wrong, this was still entertaining but it just wasn’t as spooky as The Hunger so I feel a bit disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

wednesdayzombie's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sidneyreads_'s review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

felt like there was a bit of heavy handed copaganda toward the very end but otherwise a spooky and adventurous historical horror! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism

georgiaaa's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

ten_telegrams's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship

archaicrobin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

3.0

This is my first book by Alma Katsu, and while I felt The Fervor was a bit repetitive and dragged on at times, I still enjoyed what the author was trying to accomplish. Meiko and her daughter Aiko are being held at a Japanese internment camp in Minidoka Idaho while her husband is off fighting the war as a pilot. Things are horrific at the camp but everyone there does their best to be what they call “good Japanese” in hopes of laying low and being spared the cruelty that the racist white peoples are capable of. 

Despite being amicable, Meiko and Aiko are soon torn apart as a strange illness rampages through the camp, and it is soon revealed that this outbreak is not an accident. Katsu does an excellent job of tying in history and fantasy, while still managing to comment on the dangers of nationalism and white supremacy. It’s devastating to see what Meiko and Aiko are forced to deal with simply because they are Japanese, and even more devastating to know that this kind of racism is still around. That people today are following disgusting rhetoric like this in todays age. If you don’t understand why terms like “kung fu flu” and other derogatory terms for Covid spread by the disease that is Trump are problematic and disgusting, then pick up this book and you’ll see why. 

While I do wish this was more supernatural and had more Yokai or Japanese lore, I do love that Katsu wrote a book that’s not only historical, but interesting, and provides a marginalized perspective. 

I look forward to reading more by Alma Katsu in the future

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

ohhthehorrors's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and War

beersbooksandbooos's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

 Before I write my review I want to thank Putnam books for giving me a finished copy of The Fervor.

It was the cover that first drew me in, then I read the synopsis, and I knew right then I would love the book. Last year I read The Hunger and that is when I fell in love with Alma Katus. She is also the one who got me to read more horrors. Her writing is beautiful, the story telling makes it hard to put down. 

With The Fervor you could tell it as a little more personal than her other books and that is what I really liked about it. Growing up I didn’t learn about the internment camps in school, it wasn’t until I graduated and started to really get into history that I learned about them. It felt like it was something America wanted to forget. There is a quote that really made me stop and think, am I doing this?

  “Maybe he was afraid of the hateful nature of his fellow whites-well he could afford to pretend it didn’t exist because he was white, too.”

The theme of this book still can be seen today with all the hate going on in America with all the anti-Asian racism.

Alma Katsu has a wonderful way of drawing you in and making you feel like you are watching the story unfold. I started not liking spiders but now I can’t even look at them the same. I would definitely check the CW/TW before you read this book. There is a scene in the book that hit me a little harder than I thought because I am going through it right now. I really do highly recommend this book to anyone who loves horror and history, it was a great blend of both. My heartbroke and healed with the characters, I got attached to them all. I will be reading a lot more from Alma Katsu. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War