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inkylabyrinth's review
dark
emotional
tense
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This was more bleak than expected, and it was missing some of the dark humor and campness from the first few chapters. Still, I simply could not put it down. Full of intrigue and court room drama, it's more a grim coming-of-age than a thriller for sure.
I wish there was less "and that's when my life was about to get much worse" and more trust that the story was unfolding just fine on its own. But the writing went down ever so smoothly, and I will be keeping my eye on what else Thrash writes.
However, setting your book in the 90s is not an excuse to use the R slur over and over. It was quite unnecessary.
I wish there was less "and that's when my life was about to get much worse" and more trust that the story was unfolding just fine on its own. But the writing went down ever so smoothly, and I will be keeping my eye on what else Thrash writes.
However, setting your book in the 90s is not an excuse to use the R slur over and over. It was quite unnecessary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Sexual violence and Child abuse
Minor: Ableism
melsuke's review
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Gun violence, Animal death, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Vomit, Violence, Suicide, Racism, Blood, Ableism, Child abuse, and Murder
Language jump scares!nervousleigh's review
I thought this was going to be VERY different than it is, I was absolutely not in the right headspace for this book. I expected it to be heavy based on the subject matter, but it is so much more intense than it seemed like it would be - and it’s only going to get worse, based on other reviews I read after getting through the small bit I did. Frankly, I feel misled about the tone, and although I may have eventually chosen to read this if I’d known what it would be like upfront, I think I’m going to leave this one firmly behind me.
Content warnings are just from the 10% I managed to get through, there may be more content later in the novel.
Content warnings are just from the 10% I managed to get through, there may be more content later in the novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence and Child abuse
Minor: Ableism and Antisemitism
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC! The book is set in New Hampshire during the 90s satanic panic, which is what had me intrigued especially as it’s marketed as a murder mystery/thriller. The MC/narrator’s parents are beloved in their community until hysteria of the Satanic panic cause accusations to be thrown against them.
The book had a very slow start and didn’t ever grab my interest.
Writing feels disjointed with more telling than showing. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, they’re all morally grey and the disjointed writing makes them a bit disconnected from us as readers. You never really know what to believe because the narrator is a child for the first part, which I did enjoy the unreliable aspect.
So many slurs especially in terms of homophobic slurs and ableist slurs-I get that it was the time period but it felt overwhelmingly icky and unnecessary at times.
More lit fic coming of age than the thriller/mystery/horror like it’s listed as on goodreads and what I was hoping for 😭 I sooo badly wanted to love this!! If it was marked correctly as being lit fic and didn’t say it’s a murder mystery in the synopsis, then maybe I would’ve gone in with different expectations but I’m not in the mood for lit fic coming of age right now, I wanted horror/thriller vibes.
More lit fic coming of age than the thriller/mystery/horror like it’s listed as on goodreads and what I was hoping for 😭 I sooo badly wanted to love this!! If it was marked correctly as being lit fic and didn’t say it’s a murder mystery in the synopsis, then maybe I would’ve gone in with different expectations but I’m not in the mood for lit fic coming of age right now, I wanted horror/thriller vibes.
If you also want a satanic panic horror or thriller book, check out dark places by Gillian Flynn instead (also saw my best friends exorcism recommended but haven’t read it yet).
TW/CW: ableism, homophobia, slurs, bullying, child sexual assault
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Ableism
caseythereader's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thanks to Harper Perennial for the free copy of this book.
- Whew, RAINBOW BLACK is a ride. I was fully gripped from page one and couldn’t read it fast enough.
- It’s extremely dark and gruesome, but also filled with black humor and little bread crumbs dropped to keep you wanting to read one more chapter.
- Every character in this book is a complicated person. You can fully understand why they are acting the way they are, and yet they are doing horrible, villainous things. It’s really a feat. (It’s also extremely queer.)
- I do want to note that a big chunk of this book is set among teenagers in 1990, and the language reflects that. It’s a bit shocking to read homophobic and ableist slurs tossed around so casually now, but it is true to what I remember of the time.
- Whew, RAINBOW BLACK is a ride. I was fully gripped from page one and couldn’t read it fast enough.
- It’s extremely dark and gruesome, but also filled with black humor and little bread crumbs dropped to keep you wanting to read one more chapter.
- Every character in this book is a complicated person. You can fully understand why they are acting the way they are, and yet they are doing horrible, villainous things. It’s really a feat. (It’s also extremely queer.)
- I do want to note that a big chunk of this book is set among teenagers in 1990, and the language reflects that. It’s a bit shocking to read homophobic and ableist slurs tossed around so casually now, but it is true to what I remember of the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Deadnaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Transphobia
Moderate: Dementia, Racial slurs, and Fatphobia
Minor: Antisemitism and Cancer
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