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auteaandtales 's review for:
Freakslaw
by Jane Flett
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I feel like this would be a fantastic read for people whose favourite season of American Horror Story was Freak Show!
I loved that this was set in a conservative small town within Scotland, and the great respect and care the author took to include people who this history would be important to - queer people and disabled people, alongside outcasts. The note from the author at the beginning of the book was thoughtful and sweet.
However, my main issue with this book is I feel like there were too many characters. There is a list of the main characters and the townsfolk at the start of the book, but this is difficult to refer to when reading an eBook. I feel like, in part three, we really got more of a focus on Nancy and Ruth and everything else was background, which is how I feel the whole book should have gone just because it would have given more time and focus to spend on these characters to expand their stories and their development. In my opinion, they were the most interesting. I love the devotion to the power of teenage girls in this story, and I would have loved to have seen that become a bigger part of the novel.
I did enjoy the other characters, though. I thought what was unravelling between Zed and Derek to be very honest and painful, especially, that was also one of the storylines I really enjoyed following.
The book had a rise to the conservative townsfolk getting slowly more and more enraged by the ‘freakslaw’ and I thought this was also very realistic and absolutely enraging to read.
My star rating does not mean I didn’t enjoy this book, I did! I thought it was a really good debut, I just had some minor issues with it as the characters are (for me) the most important part of the story and, as I said earlier, I think we should have followed less characters to expand on them more.
This will appeal to lots and lots of people, I think!
I loved that this was set in a conservative small town within Scotland, and the great respect and care the author took to include people who this history would be important to - queer people and disabled people, alongside outcasts. The note from the author at the beginning of the book was thoughtful and sweet.
However, my main issue with this book is I feel like there were too many characters. There is a list of the main characters and the townsfolk at the start of the book, but this is difficult to refer to when reading an eBook. I feel like, in part three, we really got more of a focus on Nancy and Ruth and everything else was background, which is how I feel the whole book should have gone just because it would have given more time and focus to spend on these characters to expand their stories and their development. In my opinion, they were the most interesting. I love the devotion to the power of teenage girls in this story, and I would have loved to have seen that become a bigger part of the novel.
I did enjoy the other characters, though. I thought what was unravelling between Zed and Derek to be very honest and painful, especially, that was also one of the storylines I really enjoyed following.
The book had a rise to the conservative townsfolk getting slowly more and more enraged by the ‘freakslaw’ and I thought this was also very realistic and absolutely enraging to read.
My star rating does not mean I didn’t enjoy this book, I did! I thought it was a really good debut, I just had some minor issues with it as the characters are (for me) the most important part of the story and, as I said earlier, I think we should have followed less characters to expand on them more.
This will appeal to lots and lots of people, I think!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy
Minor: Misogyny