Scan barcode
A review by mcdermottcecelia
Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Uh oh! I feel like I should start this off with a disclaimer. There are some great reviewers who have spoken about the harmful representation in this novel, including on the other edition's cover, and I urge you to read those before deciding whether or not you're okay supporting this author. I hadn't done that research when I requested it, and I would not have picked this up if I had. The cover of this book shown on the eARC I requested was very different than the one shown on most editions, so I expected this book to feature mainly chronic illness representation. The critiques of a white disabled author writing a disabled WOC main character are worth reading before you decide to pick this up.
Now onto the text itself! Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses is a modern contemporary style novel that follows our main character Priya as she discovers her internet friend Brigid is a werewolf. This novel exposes the reader to the world of online community and chronic illness as a young adult/professional through Priya's history with Lyme. This book seems to be written to be a humorous, lighthearted read on what can tend to be a more personal subject matter (referring more to disability/chronic illness here). As someone with a chronic illness mentioned in this book, it was awesome to see how the author captured some of the online chronic illness community's group dynamics, and there's something special about seeing your condition mentioned in a paranormal book. I myself am a part of several group chats, and even the way the chat was named felt like it was pulling straight from my life. On the other hand, that was about where my enjoyment of this book plateaued. This book is incredibly dialogue-heavy. There were so many pages where it felt like the text was exclusively line after line of straight quotations (omitting even the "he said, "they remarked," etc.). Since the characters interact so frequently online, this dialogue was paired with even more pages of texts sent back and forth or pages of Discord messages. As much as I wanted to enjoy it, that's just not something I enjoy reading in books. The writing style definitely felt very younger-YA despite being marketed as a NA book, and I think the author could've done a lot more to build out the side characters, setting, or inner thinking of our main character. Because it was so difficult to connect with this style of writing, this book felt very slow and the plot wasn't all that engaging. The premise sounded very interesting, but I wished the book lived up to that. I really wanted to like this novel because it connected with such important elements of my life, but it ended up just falling short. On the other hand, if you're a reader who likes a lot of dialogue or text-like conversations, this may be a great choice for you! It all comes down to personal preference, but this certainly isn't mine.
Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Now onto the text itself! Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses is a modern contemporary style novel that follows our main character Priya as she discovers her internet friend Brigid is a werewolf. This novel exposes the reader to the world of online community and chronic illness as a young adult/professional through Priya's history with Lyme. This book seems to be written to be a humorous, lighthearted read on what can tend to be a more personal subject matter (referring more to disability/chronic illness here). As someone with a chronic illness mentioned in this book, it was awesome to see how the author captured some of the online chronic illness community's group dynamics, and there's something special about seeing your condition mentioned in a paranormal book. I myself am a part of several group chats, and even the way the chat was named felt like it was pulling straight from my life. On the other hand, that was about where my enjoyment of this book plateaued. This book is incredibly dialogue-heavy. There were so many pages where it felt like the text was exclusively line after line of straight quotations (omitting even the "he said, "they remarked," etc.). Since the characters interact so frequently online, this dialogue was paired with even more pages of texts sent back and forth or pages of Discord messages. As much as I wanted to enjoy it, that's just not something I enjoy reading in books. The writing style definitely felt very younger-YA despite being marketed as a NA book, and I think the author could've done a lot more to build out the side characters, setting, or inner thinking of our main character. Because it was so difficult to connect with this style of writing, this book felt very slow and the plot wasn't all that engaging. The premise sounded very interesting, but I wished the book lived up to that. I really wanted to like this novel because it connected with such important elements of my life, but it ended up just falling short. On the other hand, if you're a reader who likes a lot of dialogue or text-like conversations, this may be a great choice for you! It all comes down to personal preference, but this certainly isn't mine.
Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.