Reviews with content warning for Blood - Damnation Spring

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

6 reviews

keenanmaree's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a really hard one to rate. It was such a deeply personal reading experience in so many ways, not all of them super comfortable.

5 stars for setting, absolutely. It’s set in Klamath, which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up, and every mention of a familiar place and description of the environment was like a warm blanket over my homesick heart.

Everything beyond that, though, was just so heavy. I know that it’s all pretty accurate to the history of the area, but that didn’t make it less of a tough read. I knew a story set in that area around that time period was gonna be at best bittersweet, but it got to the point where it started to feel like misery porn.

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betsygrace's review

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adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Really good book with twists I never expected, but the story felt nice and resolved nonetheless

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sophiejohn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

What...what do I even say about this book? Ash Davidson, you are a fucked up lady who can WRITE.

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it is LONG. Way longer than necessary. Like the end just kept going and the first third of the book was very drawn out. The first third though, I get that. The worldbuilding in this was totally immersive, and it had to be because PNW logging culture in the 1970s is incredibly niche. So I think that the first third to half is a character study that provides the necessary context in the fall and early winter months to understand the nuances of the actions that the characters take when the plot starts to snowball in the late winter to spring-summer months.

Emotionally, this was a roller coaster. The writing was out of this world to me, but the cover looks way too happy for this ultimately devastating book.

having rich die at the end felt like it undid all the tension that had been so carefully built throughout the very long story. I was hoping for some kind of payoff - and we were about to get it, too. in the last 50-85 pages (I think? I read this digitally), I felt like I was gulping water after being thirsty all day, then the bottom just fell out of my glass.
also the dog stuff? fucked. sick in the head. my mental health during this book was hanging on the thread that is scout the dog, most tender and loyal hound, and Ash Davidson just snipped it (like that other dog's vocal cords 😳).</spoiler

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