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A review by themermaddie
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
4.0
one thing about me is that i will love a christina henry fairytale retelling!
i absolutely love the vibes and the world building here, i know it's a good book when i'm tense the whole way through. i know ppl say this all the time about post-apocalyptic books, but i would LOVE to see this one made into a movie!! the increasing devastation of the urban world, the looting in a small town, and the sparing but excellent murder scenes would be so chefs kiss. plus i think pandemic books just hit so different after covid; red's disease paranoia is so real, and the fact that no one seems to want to listen to her health concerns is so frustrating but realistic. the flashes back and forth were paced really well and were wonderful foreshadowing, the parallels between red/adam and sam/riley hurt me so bad.
i'm kinda conflicted about the ending bc on one hand, i liked that red has to give into the inevitable terror of the unknown and accept that the situation is out of her control, but i'm also surprised that no one betrayed her. adam was right about the government threat but otherwise red's dead accurate for most things. i kept expecting someone (the kids, adam, dj) to betray her in some way eventually, but i also can understand why they didn't, so red could learn to trust ppl again. i thought the resolution came a little too quickly after that; the content was good but somehow i came away feeling like the whole book was too short? like novella vibes. maybe it's bc half the story is told in the past so it felt like less stuff happened. never getting to meet grandma was certainly a creative decision, but i guess i was expecting something more akin to the traditional wolf-eats-grandma narrative, which this was not. the more i think about it the more it leaves me wanting, but i think in a good way! i want more of this world, i want to know how the pandemic turns out, i want to know the fates of all the characters and I can see how that would be frustrating for someone who just wants answers, but I think it's all very Candidean which if you know me, is so me-core. I like that this story isn't really a story about the apocalypse, it's more like a slice of Red's life while the apocalypse happens, if that makes sense. just a girl trying to get to her grandma's, very classic Red Riding Hood at its core. henry just clearly understands her source material well in a way that allows her to consistently write great subversions/retellings.
i absolutely love the vibes and the world building here, i know it's a good book when i'm tense the whole way through. i know ppl say this all the time about post-apocalyptic books, but i would LOVE to see this one made into a movie!! the increasing devastation of the urban world, the looting in a small town, and the sparing but excellent murder scenes would be so chefs kiss. plus i think pandemic books just hit so different after covid; red's disease paranoia is so real, and the fact that no one seems to want to listen to her health concerns is so frustrating but realistic. the flashes back and forth were paced really well and were wonderful foreshadowing, the parallels between red/adam and sam/riley hurt me so bad.
i'm kinda conflicted about the ending bc on one hand, i liked that red has to give into the inevitable terror of the unknown and accept that the situation is out of her control, but i'm also surprised that no one betrayed her. adam was right about the government threat but otherwise red's dead accurate for most things. i kept expecting someone (the kids, adam, dj) to betray her in some way eventually, but i also can understand why they didn't, so red could learn to trust ppl again. i thought the resolution came a little too quickly after that; the content was good but somehow i came away feeling like the whole book was too short? like novella vibes. maybe it's bc half the story is told in the past so it felt like less stuff happened. never getting to meet grandma was certainly a creative decision, but i guess i was expecting something more akin to the traditional wolf-eats-grandma narrative, which this was not. the more i think about it the more it leaves me wanting, but i think in a good way! i want more of this world, i want to know how the pandemic turns out, i want to know the fates of all the characters and I can see how that would be frustrating for someone who just wants answers, but I think it's all very Candidean which if you know me, is so me-core. I like that this story isn't really a story about the apocalypse, it's more like a slice of Red's life while the apocalypse happens, if that makes sense. just a girl trying to get to her grandma's, very classic Red Riding Hood at its core. henry just clearly understands her source material well in a way that allows her to consistently write great subversions/retellings.