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A review by iviarelle
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think most good books aren't good because they do something totally new, they're good because they take the established tropes of a format and they fill in the spaces and details in interesting ways. That's what this book does. It's a horror-mystery-thriller about family, and it's such a slow burn (pun intended) that some may find it intolerable. The plot beats are predictable, and the characters thinly developed. And yet, it does a lot of little things that speak deeply to me.
Which is to say, I loved it. As I was reading, I was a little let down that it wasn't more like Wilder Girls, which wasn't fair to this book or to Power. But now that I've finished, the longer I think about it, the more I prefer Burn Our Bodies Down. It's a story I'll be thinking about in off-moments for a long time.
Which is to say, I loved it. As I was reading, I was a little let down that it wasn't more like Wilder Girls, which wasn't fair to this book or to Power. But now that I've finished, the longer I think about it, the more I prefer Burn Our Bodies Down. It's a story I'll be thinking about in off-moments for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Confinement