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chris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal death, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Classism
beeeenerys's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
A gay couple frankenstein themselves a daughter with dead bodies and mushrooms.
This is absolutely going in my favourites tag. Botany, fungus, some tasteful gore and a healthy helping of queerness. I loved how she was put together with all sorts of things and her constant growth and fluctuation made her kind of difficult to imagine, I really enjoy a certain level of nebulousness to my monsters.
It was gross at times but not scary at at all, I think this book will make a great entry point for someone starting out in queer horror, who wants to dip their toes in but isn't sure what they can handle just yet.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Body horror
Minor: Sexual content and Homophobia
wyddwig's review
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I had fun with this! The narrative style was lush (fitting for the subject matter) and it clipped along at a brisk pace so I happily finished it in one sitting of 2.5/3hrs.
The characters were all well-formed, and the way they all came together into their little family of an ecosystem was very believable. I very much enjoyed the very British upper class way of Gregor and Simon’s relationship was both very intimate and very stilted, and the way that cascaded as the plot developed.The way that you could see that Chloe remembered being Constance was well-handled imo, balanced nicely with the way that Chloe was clearly their own different person from her. The period-typical homophobia was a clear and present danger throughout the story but not in a way that I found gratuitous, and the way that Gregor and Simon independently reassured Jennifer that she wasn’t wrong was very nice.
I would personally label this as speculative rather than horror, although there are all the typical body horror elements you might expect from a Frankenstein-style story.
The characters were all well-formed, and the way they all came together into their little family of an ecosystem was very believable. I very much enjoyed the very British upper class way of Gregor and Simon’s relationship was both very intimate and very stilted, and the way that cascaded as the plot developed.
I would personally label this as speculative rather than horror, although there are all the typical body horror elements you might expect from a Frankenstein-style story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Body horror
Moderate: Homophobia
piperclover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have so many pages of notes about this book and yet I have no idea how I feel about it. This is by far the weirdest thing I have ever read and I wasn't even sure I would finish it. I don't know if this is a 4 star, I don't know if it's a 1 star, I don't know if it's a 5 star. I'm so confused by this book and the characters and my thoughts and my experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Murder
Fungus/plant horroraidareads's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
what the fuck
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Body horror
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Suicide
renorsomethin's review
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Infidelity, Gore, and Homophobia
Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
thisbookisbananas's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
5.0
If I have to put A Botanical Daughter in a category, I would call it a beautiful cozy Gothic horror. This book deals with ideas of how far a person will go for petty vengeance, what makes a family a family, and love. This book is pretty heavy on fungus related horror. I’d say way more about than What Moves the Dead by T.Kingfisher. So if that isn’t your jam/jelly (pun intended) this isn’t the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Body horror
sersi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Lesbophobia
bebidocrimes's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A bit softer than I was expecting but such a delightful read! Medlock entrances with his environments, this greenhouse sounds like another world, so luscious and enticing. I feel like a few things tied up a bit too nicely and the looming consequences to their choices didn't feel like they held much weight. Salting the earth just being assumed to stop the spread and not seeing anything to contradict that felt like a missed opportunity, and the murders don't seem like they mattered to the community at large so the secret was easily kept. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of Chloe and Jennifer's relationships' early development, but the entanglement in the end was fascinating! Maybe I was looking for a more ambiguous/ominous ending, but overall it was so fun and I'm glad I grabbed it on release day! I never say I *want* a movie adaptation, but please give this to Guillermo del Toro.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, and Body horror
Minor: Suicide and Animal death
wynwicket's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content and Murder