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A review by readwithbells
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
3.0
So the scares in this book were top tier. The audiobook narrator does such a good job portraying the varying mimicked voices that really added to the fear factor for me, especially when I was walking home after dark.
Unfortunately, Blackwell makes a mistake here by planting the story’s POV in a character who is only experiencing the aftereffects of the horror. Felix (the character) is only a witness, whereas the real battle happens in Faye’s mind. By making Felix the POV, all agency that should go to Faye’s character where she unearths her repressed traumas and tackles them head on must be enacted by Felix instead, making Faye ultimately incredibly passive. The epilogue tries to rectify that by establishing Faye as the active agent, but that’s disingenuous to the actual story where Felix is the active unearther while Faye, at times, even violently opposes him for making decisions about her without her consent. I think that’s why the ending feels real anti-climactic. Because it all gets resolved in Faye’s mind, we don’t actually experience her real fight, only the aftereffects of it.
So scares? 5 stars. Absolutely frightening. Story? Meh. I did appreciate the Indigenous rep.
Unfortunately, Blackwell makes a mistake here by planting the story’s POV in a character who is only experiencing the aftereffects of the horror. Felix (the character) is only a witness, whereas the real battle happens in Faye’s mind. By making Felix the POV, all agency that should go to Faye’s character where she unearths her repressed traumas and tackles them head on must be enacted by Felix instead, making Faye ultimately incredibly passive. The epilogue tries to rectify that by establishing Faye as the active agent, but that’s disingenuous to the actual story where Felix is the active unearther while Faye, at times, even violently opposes him for making decisions about her without her consent. I think that’s why the ending feels real anti-climactic. Because it all gets resolved in Faye’s mind, we don’t actually experience her real fight, only the aftereffects of it.
So scares? 5 stars. Absolutely frightening. Story? Meh. I did appreciate the Indigenous rep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit