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templeofdeadtrees 's review for:
American Rapture
by C.J. Leede
"How to recognize the last moments before the world ends:
1. You won't"
A nearly nonstop whirlwind of dystopian fear.
This was amazing. A perilous, bloody, painful journey of a 16 year old girl and the friends she meets while trying to navigate the end of the world and come out the other side alive.
Sophie is 16 and has been raised in relative religious isolation by strict Catholic parents; she is naive to the world outside her sealed bedroom window. Her only reprieve is the library, where she reads How-To books and occasionally smuggles titles she has been forbidden to read, thanks to a kind librarian (thank the universe for librarians!). When a strange virus starts affecting people, Sophie realizes the world is much bigger than she ever believed, and is violently thrust into its jaws.
I experienced such a range of emotions that by the time I reached the final page, I had whiplash. I held back tears and seethed with rage.
Sophie's POV is sometimes disjointed and choppy, almost a stream of consciousness...but what teenage girl's experience ISN'T confusing and disjointed? Throw in a pandemic, religious guilt and shame, and discovering you know nothing about the world. The parallels to our own American experience are frightening, and I think that's what makes this work as a horror: humans are the real monsters.
Female MC, Bi/Queer rep, Black, Indigenous, and Latino rep.
Thank you to CJ Leede, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this advanced copy for review.
Trigger warnings below (beware: spoilers!)
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TW: brief SA, animal death, body horror including sexual horror
1. You won't"
A nearly nonstop whirlwind of dystopian fear.
This was amazing. A perilous, bloody, painful journey of a 16 year old girl and the friends she meets while trying to navigate the end of the world and come out the other side alive.
Sophie is 16 and has been raised in relative religious isolation by strict Catholic parents; she is naive to the world outside her sealed bedroom window. Her only reprieve is the library, where she reads How-To books and occasionally smuggles titles she has been forbidden to read, thanks to a kind librarian (thank the universe for librarians!). When a strange virus starts affecting people, Sophie realizes the world is much bigger than she ever believed, and is violently thrust into its jaws.
I experienced such a range of emotions that by the time I reached the final page, I had whiplash. I held back tears and seethed with rage.
Sophie's POV is sometimes disjointed and choppy, almost a stream of consciousness...but what teenage girl's experience ISN'T confusing and disjointed? Throw in a pandemic, religious guilt and shame, and discovering you know nothing about the world. The parallels to our own American experience are frightening, and I think that's what makes this work as a horror: humans are the real monsters.
Female MC, Bi/Queer rep, Black, Indigenous, and Latino rep.
Thank you to CJ Leede, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this advanced copy for review.
Trigger warnings below (beware: spoilers!)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TW: brief SA, animal death, body horror including sexual horror