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A review by cocoafiend
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
2.0
I have loved Hannah Moskowitz's other works, and was so disappointed that I didn't enjoy this one as much.
This book was so strange. I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, because this book is WORK to read and for me, the ending was just... off.
Okay. So if you're going to take the "war is twisted and awful and does hideous, unspeakable things to people" premise SO far that you've got
A) Sexual exploitation of minors as a main plot point,
B) Constant threat/fear of literally being eaten alive, and
C) Bits of people get blown off/crushed/eaten AND people can still feel those bits LITERALLY FOREVER because that is how immortality works in your world
having the characters go off to live happily ever after in the end without suffering any consequences (mental or physical) that they had not sustained before the book even started... It just feels out of place. Unsatisfying. Like, why did I even read this book, because the characters really didn't seem to be affected by anything around them at all.
If you spend the whole book slogging through all this traumatic, emotionally wrenching, horrific stuff, you just have expect the characters in the book to be affected by it too! Like, beyond just banding together and realizing that war sucks. I don't know.
Maybe if we'd actually SEEN the awful stuff that happens (Cricket's death, the loss of Scrap's arm, etc), I'd feel more of a connection to those events and feel like the characters had been affected by the war. As it is, though, the disjointed style kept me from ever connecting to any of the characters in a meaningful way.
All this awful stuff keeps happening, and you spend the whole book wondering what horrible, traumatic thing it's building up to, and then... Happy ending!?!?!? It's not precisely a let-down, but it doesn't feel SATISFYING.
I have a hard time sorting through my feelings about this one. Obviously.
This book was so strange. I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, because this book is WORK to read and for me, the ending was just... off.
Okay. So if you're going to take the "war is twisted and awful and does hideous, unspeakable things to people" premise SO far that you've got
A) Sexual exploitation of minors as a main plot point,
B) Constant threat/fear of literally being eaten alive, and
C) Bits of people get blown off/crushed/eaten AND people can still feel those bits LITERALLY FOREVER because that is how immortality works in your world
having the characters go off to live happily ever after in the end without suffering any consequences (mental or physical) that they had not sustained before the book even started... It just feels out of place. Unsatisfying. Like, why did I even read this book, because the characters really didn't seem to be affected by anything around them at all.
If you spend the whole book slogging through all this traumatic, emotionally wrenching, horrific stuff, you just have expect the characters in the book to be affected by it too! Like, beyond just banding together and realizing that war sucks. I don't know.
Maybe if we'd actually SEEN the awful stuff that happens (Cricket's death, the loss of Scrap's arm, etc), I'd feel more of a connection to those events and feel like the characters had been affected by the war. As it is, though, the disjointed style kept me from ever connecting to any of the characters in a meaningful way.
All this awful stuff keeps happening, and you spend the whole book wondering what horrible, traumatic thing it's building up to, and then... Happy ending!?!?!? It's not precisely a let-down, but it doesn't feel SATISFYING.
I have a hard time sorting through my feelings about this one. Obviously.