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3martini's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Sexual violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Drug use, and Gun violence
jlandie's review against another edition
4.0
The chapters revolving around Carolyn and the other librarians were the best, and the chapters focused on Erwin should have been cut. Not nearly as interesting or endearing as the author thought. Points off for awkward dialogue at times.
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Child death
j_o600's review against another edition
4.5
I think there’s some amazing ideas at work, this is in many ways a meditation on trauma/PTSD and the way it shapes people. The structure is very different as a result, and I really like that instead of having a big superhero ending, the book has a weird, reflective ending instead. It feels like a more mature ending to the ideas the book plays with.
All that said, I’ve seen reviews that genuinely confuse me. It’s ok if you like a book or not, but, as an example, I saw someone mention pedophilia and be angry about it and to the best of my memory, that never happened.
I saw someone else claim the point of the book is that extreme suffering is good actually, because it makes the best version of a person—and no. No, I’d even argue that the book is almost the exact opposite of that. It’s arguably more about accepting how trauma can turn you into essentially a completely different person.
As someone with a lot of trauma, I found how this was handled to be moving and empathetic. Not perfect maybe, but I don’t think anyone writing about trauma can be perfect.
I will caution that if abuse is a hard trigger for you, you probably don’t want to read this book yet. I’ve tried to include trigger warnings for what IS in the book. Take them seriously.
Also, I see a lot of people getting upset about a POV chracter named Erwin who is your hardened older army type. He is a complex character who has multiple functions in the story. I think he needs to be there, and while he wasn’t my favorite character, he fits into the themes of PTSD (I think for obvious reasons). I don’t think the author intended him for any type of propaganda and the book intentionally stays away from anything political. I think the government and military are not idealized by any means in this story. But I see that he’s triggering people, and I understand that a military POV character could be a trigger so, if you’re upset reading this review, again, avoid book.
That said, I do think this is original and I really liked some of the bigger reveals near the end and how they developed Carolyn and Steve specifically. And the lions are amazing, best characters.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Suicide
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence
Minor: Animal death and Death of parent
tessa_samuels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
valjeanval's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Vomit, Alcohol, and Gun violence
literarybitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
0.75
The central idea is inventive and captivating, I was fascinated to know more, and I vehemently disagree with the ending so hard that I simply cannot recommend it. To the point that actually, I'm just going to say it:
This book makes the argument that horrific cruelty & abuse are justifiable means to motivate someone to achieve their full potential.
I think that's simply so awful that it's not worth reading the rest of the book.
Against the dark landscape of slaughter and pain and rape and torture and killing and resurrection and killing again, there are oddly funny moments, joking lines that have absolutely no hope of landing. Any goodwill the interesting premise created curdled, soured, and died.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Child death, Rape, Suicide, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Bullying, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Child death
pep_puterova's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
0.25
Everyone seems to love this book and everyone says how weird this book is. I was very excited to read it. I love weird, unhinged fantasy.
As soon as I started reading it, it was painfully obvious the book was written by a man. So now I'm cursed with the knowledge the author is a leg man.
Moreover, the book is extremely, painfully American, both in terms of tone and how it treats the outside world. Plus it is somewhat republican-coded. I would like to ascertain the whereabouts of the author on January 6th.
For a book that has SO MUCH going on, it manages to be really boring for a big part of it. There's definitely bad pacing issues, and what could have been a very interesting plot suffers.
Not a single character is even remotely likeable. Except the lions, of course, but they always feature in the most boring parts of the book.
The whole book features too much gratuitious violence, and violence towards women, and then it's excused as 'oh she needed to become who she's meant to be' and extreme violence is good, actually.
All I can say is that I like the idea of this book, but this book is one of the worst things I've ever read. I almost DNF-ed it multiple times, but the only thing that kept me going was trying to understand why does this book have such positive reviews. I genuinely don't understand the praise it receives. It's not like with other books where I could just admit okay it's not for me, but whatever, could be someone else's thing. The praise for this book concers me.
Graphic: Animal death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Self harm, Child abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: War, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
eviethebookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, Body horror, Violence, Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Blood, Gore, Animal death, Self harm, and Rape
tiredjulia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Torture
misty_kb's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Animal death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence