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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
This Vicious Hunger is a mysterious and enchanting gothic tale with flavors of dark academia and the Secret Garden. After the deaths of her father and new husband, Thora Grieve is sent away by her disdainful mother-in-law. She is sent to university to study botany under the tutelage of an old colleague of her father's, where she finds herself to be the only female scholar. In spite of the ongoing and all-too-familiar theme of misogyny and disregard for female contributions to academia, Thora does befriend a young man called Leo, and is apprenticed to the only female teacher at the university. She also discovers a garden of unfamiliar and poisonous plants locked behind a rusted old gate and tended by a mysterious woman who only appears at night.
This book has great mouth-feel. The university has a visceral atmosphere of heat and oppression; sweltering humidity, terra-cotta and plaster spires, and the green bittersweet smell of rotting plant matter. It brings the Mediterranean to mind, but also reminds me of the summers of my childhood in the Los Angeles area, so hot and damp it makes you feel sick. This feeling mingles with Thora's mental and physical degradation throughout the novel and serves to explain some of the more irrational responses she has to various events.
My primary criticism is that while the world this book takes place it has the potential to be fascinating, there's just not enough of it that made it onto the page. The mourning rituals described by Thora are interesting, and seem to reference various in-universe legends, however those legends are barely mentioned and not expanded on nearly enough to satisfy my thirst for lore-dumping. This story could just as easily be set in a fictional 1800s Italian university as opposed to a completely fictional world, so I wish there was more to set it apart.
This book has great mouth-feel. The university has a visceral atmosphere of heat and oppression; sweltering humidity, terra-cotta and plaster spires, and the green bittersweet smell of rotting plant matter. It brings the Mediterranean to mind, but also reminds me of the summers of my childhood in the Los Angeles area, so hot and damp it makes you feel sick. This feeling mingles with Thora's mental and physical degradation throughout the novel and serves to explain some of the more irrational responses she has to various events.
My primary criticism is that while the world this book takes place it has the potential to be fascinating, there's just not enough of it that made it onto the page. The mourning rituals described by Thora are interesting, and seem to reference various in-universe legends, however those legends are barely mentioned and not expanded on nearly enough to satisfy my thirst for lore-dumping. This story could just as easily be set in a fictional 1800s Italian university as opposed to a completely fictional world, so I wish there was more to set it apart.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Little Brown Book group and netgalley for the EARC.
This Vicious Hunger has so much potential but unfortunately it didn't live up to what I thought it could be.
Part 1 was really good. I loved the gothic atmosphere and the introduction to these characters and the garden. Part 2 really let the whole story down. The main character Thora became so manipulative and toxic that I ended up not really liking her at all and not having any sympathy for her. This just led to Part 2 mainly being Thora and Olea arguing over and over aging and always about the same thing. It just got so repetitive. I fell like the majority of these arguments could have been cut to make the book shorter.
I hated the ending. It just stopped. From what was said I expected a big showdown but no it just ended there and then. I really thought the end of the book had been missed from the EARC. I really hated this as it didn't even seem like a cliff-hanger. It felt as though the author had got bored and just wanted to end it.
And finally, nothing shocked me. When a 'twist' happened or something was revealed I kind of expected it.
So yeah, I gave this 3 stars because the beginning of the book was good but part 2 just felt like it could be a 2 star.
This Vicious Hunger has so much potential but unfortunately it didn't live up to what I thought it could be.
Part 1 was really good. I loved the gothic atmosphere and the introduction to these characters and the garden. Part 2 really let the whole story down. The main character Thora became so manipulative and toxic that I ended up not really liking her at all and not having any sympathy for her. This just led to Part 2 mainly being Thora and Olea arguing over and over aging and always about the same thing. It just got so repetitive. I fell like the majority of these arguments could have been cut to make the book shorter.
I hated the ending. It just stopped. From what was said I expected a big showdown but no it just ended there and then. I really thought the end of the book had been missed from the EARC. I really hated this as it didn't even seem like a cliff-hanger. It felt as though the author had got bored and just wanted to end it.
And finally, nothing shocked me. When a 'twist' happened or something was revealed I kind of expected it.
So yeah, I gave this 3 stars because the beginning of the book was good but part 2 just felt like it could be a 2 star.
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence
DNF @ 43%
Thora is the daughter of an undertaker, meaning that she has spent her life surrounded by grief. When her husband dies, his family doesn't want her living in the family estate anymore, so they take her father's friend up on her offer to educate her as a rare female university student. While attending university, Thora discovers a secret garden and a mysterious woman living it and becomes obsessed.
This book had a really interesting premise, but felt all over the place. I understand that it was probably supposed to highlight her obsession with Olea, but it felt like there were two entirely different plots going on (her education and her relationship with Olea) and it was confusing and disorienting. The plotting was also very slow — Olea wasn't even introduced until a quarter of the way through the novel. They do become obsessed with each other fairly quickly once they meet each other, though. I also don't really understand the importance of Leonardo as a significant character if he becomes essentially ignored once Olea enters the picture. Overall, this book was just too slow-paced and confusing for me. If you like sapphic gothic fantasy and don't mind slow pacing or instalove, this book might appeal to you.
Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit Books and Francesca May for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Thora is the daughter of an undertaker, meaning that she has spent her life surrounded by grief. When her husband dies, his family doesn't want her living in the family estate anymore, so they take her father's friend up on her offer to educate her as a rare female university student. While attending university, Thora discovers a secret garden and a mysterious woman living it and becomes obsessed.
This book had a really interesting premise, but felt all over the place. I understand that it was probably supposed to highlight her obsession with Olea, but it felt like there were two entirely different plots going on (her education and her relationship with Olea) and it was confusing and disorienting. The plotting was also very slow — Olea wasn't even introduced until a quarter of the way through the novel. They do become obsessed with each other fairly quickly once they meet each other, though. I also don't really understand the importance of Leonardo as a significant character if he becomes essentially ignored once Olea enters the picture. Overall, this book was just too slow-paced and confusing for me. If you like sapphic gothic fantasy and don't mind slow pacing or instalove, this book might appeal to you.
Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit Books and Francesca May for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gorgeous gothic prose and a really intriguing take on some classic fantasy elements.
The only thing brining this down from a 5 star for me is the pacing, this took a long time to hook me but once it did I sped through the second two thirds in one evening!
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC
The only thing brining this down from a 5 star for me is the pacing, this took a long time to hook me but once it did I sped through the second two thirds in one evening!
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To start with the positive, I think this book is beautifully written. We are promised an atmospheric, gothic world and that's exactly what we got. It was also surprisingly nice to see a gothic world that was not dreary and rainy but stiflingly hot.
However, I found this book difficult to get through. I felt it took so long to just get to the point and idk if I'm just stupid or if the book was too scientific at times, where I felt I had to google the words being used to understand what they were talking about. I only found one of the characters likeable, and unfortunately it was not our main character. The book started to get interesting towards the end but then just stopped - it was incredibly abrupt and I'm not sure if it was purposefully left open for sequel?
I really thought I was going to love this book and unfortunately for me, this was a miss.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a dark gothic novel with academia vibes and a sapphic romance that gives “Where the Wild Things Are” episode of Buffy (iykyk).
The main character is kind of toxic, but that didn’t necessarily make me hate her. We need toxic gays just as much as the sweet ones. She is constantly in her head. We get her thoughts more than anything, but there are plenty of times where her thoughts and actions don’t line up. There really wasn’t much character development either.
Unfortunately, the romance fell a bit flat for me. Both of them have horrible communication skills to the point it is painful to read. I just don’t see them staying together for very long. I usually don’t vibe with slow burns, but the premise of them not being able to touch due to poison was interesting and I think really helped lessen the frustration that I usually feel during a slow burn. However, I didn’t feel that rush when they finally acted on their feelings. I found myself not wanting to ship these two characters because of the toxic way the main character blamed the love interest for the main character’s own actions.
I also found the pace to be slow. This is more of a character than a plot story and we spend a lot of time in the main character’s head. That being said, the ending felt sudden and left me filling unfulfilled. I would have preferred something more closed ended especially since I was just starting to get into the plot.
The main character is kind of toxic, but that didn’t necessarily make me hate her. We need toxic gays just as much as the sweet ones. She is constantly in her head. We get her thoughts more than anything, but there are plenty of times where her thoughts and actions don’t line up. There really wasn’t much character development either.
Unfortunately, the romance fell a bit flat for me. Both of them have horrible communication skills to the point it is painful to read. I just don’t see them staying together for very long. I usually don’t vibe with slow burns, but the premise of them not being able to touch due to poison was interesting and I think really helped lessen the frustration that I usually feel during a slow burn. However, I didn’t feel that rush when they finally acted on their feelings. I found myself not wanting to ship these two characters because of the toxic way the main character blamed the love interest for the main character’s own actions.
I also found the pace to be slow. This is more of a character than a plot story and we spend a lot of time in the main character’s head. That being said, the ending felt sudden and left me filling unfulfilled. I would have preferred something more closed ended especially since I was just starting to get into the plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood
Minor: Death of parent
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
I very much enjoyed this beautifully rich and Gothic novel. The pacing was excellent, she really made you sit in the atmosphere and emotion on every page.
I really appreciated having a slow flowing story that let the tension and obsession slowly build instead of rushing to the exciting parts. How I wouldn't give to be in such an academic setting even if I have to put up with so many men and an overbearing gothic atmosphere.
I do have to say that the dynamic was frustrating and miscommunication is not a favorite trope but I will still always read about women obsessed with each other and all of their wrongs.
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for this ARC!