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narcolepticbadger 's review for:
Don't Fear the Reaper
by Stephen Graham Jones
I hate when I don't like a book as much as I want to.
Don't Fear the Reaper has some absolute highs: Jones's knowledge and use of the visual language/shorthand of horror movies and his wildly cinematic kills are as good as ever, and Jade and Letha are scream queens up there with the best of them. Their arcs (individually and together) continue to be fantastic. Letha taking up Jade's mantle and steeping herself in slasher lore as a form of protection and survival in response to the trauma of the Independence Day Massacre, embracing horror for all the ways it can save her? Jade trying to forget and erase that knowledge from herself for all the ways it didn't save her in the previous book, before accepting that this is who she is for a reason? Truly great stuff.
Jade is unquestionably the heart of this trilogy, and I think the story this time did not always do justice to that. Too many POV shifts, too many characters, an overly complicated plot, somewhat disappointing final reveals/resolutions...I could go on. Dark Mill South especially seemed like an odd addition; he never quite fit into the action for me and almost felt like a distraction for the sake of so much misdirection that never really paid off. I would have liked a tighter focus on our Proofrock heroes and villains — really just a tighter everything, period.
Will absolutely still read the 3rd book, but I'm hoping it re-centers Jade as the Final Girl we need and deserve and lets her go out with a bang.
Don't Fear the Reaper has some absolute highs: Jones's knowledge and use of the visual language/shorthand of horror movies and his wildly cinematic kills are as good as ever, and Jade and Letha are scream queens up there with the best of them. Their arcs (individually and together) continue to be fantastic. Letha taking up Jade's mantle and steeping herself in slasher lore as a form of protection and survival in response to the trauma of the Independence Day Massacre, embracing horror for all the ways it can save her? Jade trying to forget and erase that knowledge from herself for all the ways it didn't save her in the previous book, before accepting that this is who she is for a reason? Truly great stuff.
Jade is unquestionably the heart of this trilogy, and I think the story this time did not always do justice to that. Too many POV shifts, too many characters, an overly complicated plot, somewhat disappointing final reveals/resolutions...I could go on. Dark Mill South especially seemed like an odd addition; he never quite fit into the action for me and almost felt like a distraction for the sake of so much misdirection that never really paid off. I would have liked a tighter focus on our Proofrock heroes and villains — really just a tighter everything, period.
Will absolutely still read the 3rd book, but I'm hoping it re-centers Jade as the Final Girl we need and deserve and lets her go out with a bang.