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tommooney's review against another edition
4.0
Jesus wept!
This takes a long while to get going but the payoff is massive. It's as dark and disturbing a book as I've read in a long time, full of brooding violence, creepy religious ritual and with a killer ending.
It reminded me a lot of The Wasp Factory, Shirley Jackson and, weirdly at times, Hot Fuzz.
A strange, horrible, rewarding book that is close to - but not quite - great. Still, highly recommended!
This takes a long while to get going but the payoff is massive. It's as dark and disturbing a book as I've read in a long time, full of brooding violence, creepy religious ritual and with a killer ending.
It reminded me a lot of The Wasp Factory, Shirley Jackson and, weirdly at times, Hot Fuzz.
A strange, horrible, rewarding book that is close to - but not quite - great. Still, highly recommended!
ellasophiac's review against another edition
1.0
a blurb can be so deceiving. maybe i didn’t read it properly, but this was not the book for me. also lots of animal cruelty towards birds which my recent RSPB membership would be ashamed of! naff book, another bad library find
mariexcelsior's review against another edition
dark
tense
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Murder
pindication's review against another edition
5.0
Gripping and thoughtfully written. I usually consider myself to be good at picking up on foreshadowing and predicting the plots but this particular book kept me guessing up until the end. A wonderful portrayal of grief and anger.
milperks's review against another edition
4.0
This was slow to start but once it did I found it gripping. It's a really creepy, eerie story and you do feel pulled in to the arid landscape. Nif is a really odd character and at times I felt really uncomfortable reading this book. Overall I really enjoyed it but wish there had been more of a conclusion to the end.
mhewza's review against another edition
4.0
A dark little children’s book about power and oppression and witchcraft.
_hannaht's review against another edition
2.0
This book had the makings of something spectacular but it failed to take me where I hoped it would. Despite the pages being filled with adjectives I found it painfully hard to visualise. Pretty disappointing as I had high hopes.
softstarrynights's review against another edition
4.0
Water Shall Refuse Them id the debut novel of Welsh writer Lucie McKnight Hardy. I was lucky enough to meet Lucie on one of her Waterstones tour stops and get my copy signed, as Water Shall Refuse Them is Waterstones' Welsh Book of the Month. When I first read the synopsis it sounded very similar to Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle which I first read a couple of years back (and coincidentally I intended to re-read this month ahead of the film's UK release on July 29th) and lover's of Jackson will know that it's a tough bar to meet. Water Shall Refuse Them met that bar with ease. This novel was enchanting from the first sentence to the very last and I could not stop reading. Nif was a fascinating character perspective as she describes her experiences living in this Welsh village for the summer. Her coming-of-age journey was perfect, and while I did see one reveal coming that did not detract from the overall experience of reading this novel. Lucie brilliantly captures this suffocating ominous sense that something bad has happened, is happening, and will happen to the point that no page feels safe. I will eagerly await Lucie next book, and in the meantime devour this all over again. This is not a novel you want to miss!