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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
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
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This felt slow and insidious in the best way. I'm always up for a small horror - particularly when they come with a beautiful front cover.
At first the several POVs got a bit confusing, but as their paths overlapped, I came to appreciate the distinctiveness between their voices and their individual but strong motivations. I particularly loved following Sam and Neera, and the "please don't do it" feeling in my gut mixed with a sinking understanding that I would likely do the same in their position.
My first novel by Xan Kaur, and hopefully not the last. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
At first the several POVs got a bit confusing, but as their paths overlapped, I came to appreciate the distinctiveness between their voices and their individual but strong motivations. I particularly loved following Sam and Neera, and the "please don't do it" feeling in my gut mixed with a sinking understanding that I would likely do the same in their position.
My first novel by Xan Kaur, and hopefully not the last. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
-There's the devil you know, the devil you don't, and the devil you wish you'd never met.-
Great southern Gothic thriller full of racism, classism, and modern horror that almost doesn't even need the folklore/mythical component to be terrifying. The writing was great and the characters interesting. No surprise here, another horror story where it is the humans who are the evil.
Great southern Gothic thriller full of racism, classism, and modern horror that almost doesn't even need the folklore/mythical component to be terrifying. The writing was great and the characters interesting. No surprise here, another horror story where it is the humans who are the evil.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Actual rating was 4.25⭐️
What I liked:
I loved the characters, there was great diversity which added richness, and I loved the exploration of truly messy family dynamics. Neera’s family were particularly interesting to me, with Neera being at odds with the grandparents more traditional views. I love toxic relationships in books and this had the broken friendships between Neera and Isaiah and Sam and Dawson; it was interesting to see how trauma and ‘wanting to escape’ impacted on these friendships. I enjoyed how the ‘unlikely’ characters came together to try to solve the mystery.
I also really appreciated the theme around the devils, the crossroads, blues music, the horror of the animal sacrifices, the bargains. I’ve always been intrigued by Robert Johnson and the myths around him selling his soul to the devil, this really brought that to life. I loved the Southern US feel of this book, including the music, made it so atmospheric.
What I thought could have been better:
I thought this book suffered with pacing issues; the ending felt too rushed and I thought it was lazy the way it ended with a time jump. I don’t think the book needed to be longer, but the author did not need to spend as much time in the beginning/middle of the story, it felt very slow to begin with. Some plot elements seemed a bit too convenient, I don’t want to give too many spoilers but they were a number of times when important things were just conveniently found. The lead up to the festival was great but then it was chaos and it was hard to track what was happening. I did not feel we got adequate resolution, for my liking anyway. Also the stuff with Neera’s family irked me.
However, given I still gave this a 4.25, I stilly really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to anyone.
CW - there is a lot of animal cruelty in this.
What I liked:
I loved the characters, there was great diversity which added richness, and I loved the exploration of truly messy family dynamics. Neera’s family were particularly interesting to me, with Neera being at odds with the grandparents more traditional views. I love toxic relationships in books and this had the broken friendships between Neera and Isaiah and Sam and Dawson; it was interesting to see how trauma and ‘wanting to escape’ impacted on these friendships. I enjoyed how the ‘unlikely’ characters came together to try to solve the mystery.
I also really appreciated the theme around the devils, the crossroads, blues music, the horror of the animal sacrifices, the bargains. I’ve always been intrigued by Robert Johnson and the myths around him selling his soul to the devil, this really brought that to life. I loved the Southern US feel of this book, including the music, made it so atmospheric.
What I thought could have been better:
I thought this book suffered with pacing issues; the ending felt too rushed and I thought it was lazy the way it ended with a time jump. I don’t think the book needed to be longer, but the author did not need to spend as much time in the beginning/middle of the story, it felt very slow to begin with. Some plot elements seemed a bit too convenient, I don’t want to give too many spoilers but they were a number of times when important things were just conveniently found. The lead up to the festival was great but then it was chaos and it was hard to track what was happening. I did not feel we got adequate resolution, for my liking anyway. Also the stuff with Neera’s family irked me.
However, given I still gave this a 4.25, I stilly really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to anyone.
CW - there is a lot of animal cruelty in this.