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A review by dilliemillie
Direwood by Catherine Yu
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
In case you couldn't tell from the everything about this book, it's full of vampires and eeriness and gross descriptions. As someone who loves all of those things, of course I had to give it a try!
Ultimately I think this is one of those books where a young adult audience might love it, but it just isn't my style.
Insufferable main character Aja has an inferiority complex about her sister and extreme antagonism toward her "best friend" Mary because she chooses to put a negative spin on everything Mary does. No wonder Mary is mad at her! Aja uses most of her allotted seven days with the vampires just waiting and doing nothing at all, with occasional mooning over one of the vampires. She insists from the very beginning that vampires are the ultimate evil (their state of deadness being a big component of that evil, because ??) but the more she sees of that evil, the more she tries to convince herself that they still have humanity. It's confusing in a way that I believe is intended to reflect Aja's mixed up state of mind, but I don't think it worked well.
The grotesque descriptions and body horror are winners for me! though they unfortunately lean heavily toward repetition. I do love the added element of Aja feeling out of place in her all-white town and how that affects her life and sense of self. Cindy Kay did a good job with the narration, and the audiobook is a fine option for picking up this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ultimately I think this is one of those books where a young adult audience might love it, but it just isn't my style.
Insufferable main character Aja has an inferiority complex about her sister and extreme antagonism toward her "best friend" Mary because she chooses to put a negative spin on everything Mary does. No wonder Mary is mad at her! Aja uses most of her allotted seven days with the vampires just waiting and doing nothing at all, with occasional mooning over one of the vampires. She insists from the very beginning that vampires are the ultimate evil (their state of deadness being a big component of that evil, because ??) but the more she sees of that evil, the more she tries to convince herself that they still have humanity. It's confusing in a way that I believe is intended to reflect Aja's mixed up state of mind, but I don't think it worked well.
The grotesque descriptions and body horror are winners for me! though they unfortunately lean heavily toward repetition. I do love the added element of Aja feeling out of place in her all-white town and how that affects her life and sense of self. Cindy Kay did a good job with the narration, and the audiobook is a fine option for picking up this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.