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A review by b_does_books
The Merry Dredgers by Jeremy C. Shipp
2.0
*Book provided as an eARC by NetGalley* (Publish date April 25, 2023)
{2.5/5}
I feel like the sum totality of this book can be described as: What the hell? Originally I was going to give it a 2, but the last chapter or so really added some oomph, hence the final rating.
Seraphina’s sister has somehow managed to join a cult and end up in a coma. Seraphina is convinced that someone in the cult hurt her sister, despite the police’s assertion that it was an accident, so she decides to do some investigating of her own.
Have you ever seen those hyper realistic pieces of artwork that make the subject feel too zoomed in and really gross? And the whole thing is just really overblown and off-putting? That’s what this book felt like. It’s marketed as horror/sci-fi fantasy with the potential for some psychic powers, but I feel like it missed the horror mark and just relied on weirdly gory descriptions to try and cover it.
MC has a vivid imagination, which is great, but it feels like she makes a bunch of leaps based solely on that imagination. There’s little to no foundation for her to assume her sister’s accident was malicious, she has no investigative background, and the whole thing just felt weirdly trippy. It seems like MC has a hard time distinguishing between real life and dreams or imagination; the book really doesn’t clarify anything either. The ending is weird, abrupt, and left me with more questions than I had initially. I large portion of my notes for this book just say “girl, are you alright?” (MC is not, in fact, alright)
If you like books that feel like experimental films coupled with what I imagine a bad acid trip feels like, then you might enjoy this one. It’s a total miss for me, though.
{2.5/5}
I feel like the sum totality of this book can be described as: What the hell? Originally I was going to give it a 2, but the last chapter or so really added some oomph, hence the final rating.
Seraphina’s sister has somehow managed to join a cult and end up in a coma. Seraphina is convinced that someone in the cult hurt her sister, despite the police’s assertion that it was an accident, so she decides to do some investigating of her own.
Have you ever seen those hyper realistic pieces of artwork that make the subject feel too zoomed in and really gross? And the whole thing is just really overblown and off-putting? That’s what this book felt like. It’s marketed as horror/sci-fi fantasy with the potential for some psychic powers, but I feel like it missed the horror mark and just relied on weirdly gory descriptions to try and cover it.
MC has a vivid imagination, which is great, but it feels like she makes a bunch of leaps based solely on that imagination. There’s little to no foundation for her to assume her sister’s accident was malicious, she has no investigative background, and the whole thing just felt weirdly trippy. It seems like MC has a hard time distinguishing between real life and dreams or imagination; the book really doesn’t clarify anything either. The ending is weird, abrupt, and left me with more questions than I had initially. I large portion of my notes for this book just say “girl, are you alright?” (MC is not, in fact, alright)
If you like books that feel like experimental films coupled with what I imagine a bad acid trip feels like, then you might enjoy this one. It’s a total miss for me, though.