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A review by theferalhousewivesbookclub
Anathema by Keri Lake
4.0
Spice: 1/5
Plot: 4/5
Spoiler Free!
First Keri Lake book ✔️
Probably a good thing that this one took my cherry and not the other one I just tried lmao.
I went into this pretty blind, as I like to do, and all I really knew was that it was a gothic, dark fantasy and dang did that hit. I also knew that this was Keri’s first foray into fantasy so while I was a little wary, I also ended up being very pleasantly surprised.
First, I will say this book was grotesque as fuuuuuck in a lot of places, so if gore and horror elements aren’t your thing, I’d probably skip it. There were a couple instances where I really wished I hadn’t been eating cuz it was stomach turning for sure. It’s like Dr. Frankenstein kinda shit, meets freak show, meets I don’t even know what lol. So just, don’t read it if you don’t like extremely descriptive grotesque stuff lol. That being said, it totally set the mood for me and as fucked up as it was, it was perfect for this book.
Which leads me to, I really enjoyed Keri’s writing. Is it overly descriptive? Yes. But I actually don’t mind that. For me, when a writer is able to flourish with their descriptive prose it just draws me into the story that much more and makes me feel like I’m living in it, vs just reading about it. The amount of detail and thought that she put into this world was mind boggling. The creatures that she’s created and the characters were phenomenal. Think SJM kinda world building but dark as fuck. It was A LOT to understand and try to wrap your head around though, so if you’ve never read fantasy before I probably wouldn’t start with this lol. If you do love an intricate fantasy, this’ll be your bread and butter for sure. It was fucking brilliant! Also, kudos to Keri for the glossary and the break down of everything in the beginning of the book, it’s very necessary and very well done.
I really liked Zevander as a character, the shit that he’s gone through was crazy heavy. Holy hell. My heart hurts for him. Maevyth is growing on me lol. I wasn’t sure what to think of her for a while and I think that was maybe intentional on Keri’s part. I think I’m going to appreciate her even more in the second book as her arc starts to come full circle. Now Maevyth and Zevander together, it’s decent. It’s a super slow burn, like really, really fucking slow, but I love that lol. This is touted as an enemies to lovers but I’m not sure I’d agree with that. It’s similar but different and I can’t really put my finger on why exactly right now lol, derp.
So while I loved the overly descriptive world building, it was a slow start y’all. Really slow. I mean, this book is almost 700 pages and I really don’t think it needed to be. There were a couple plot holes and continuity issues, but with a world this intricate and it being Keri’s first fantasy, it didn’t really throw me off too too much, it’s more just briefly annoying in the moment. One of the other things that’s a little odd is that Zevander’s chapters are all in third person and Maevyth’s are first. I don’t know if Keri was trying to make Zevander feel more detached from reality somehow by doing that but I just think it was unnecessary and strange. I don’t dislike third person POV books but it was just weird in this instance. Now the real one that I didn’t love was all the damn buzz words in her spicy scenes! I don’t care who you are, I don’t wanna know that someone’s pussy is squelching… yuck. Fucking yuck. No one wants their vag to make that sound lol. I dunno, her spice writing could definitely use some work, it just really missed the mark on that one for me.
Overall, I did love it. A lot. It won’t be for everyone but if you can handle some crazy and disturbing fantasy shit, I think you’ll love it lol. Definitely recommend!
Xo
- J
Plot: 4/5
Spoiler Free!
First Keri Lake book ✔️
Probably a good thing that this one took my cherry and not the other one I just tried lmao.
I went into this pretty blind, as I like to do, and all I really knew was that it was a gothic, dark fantasy and dang did that hit. I also knew that this was Keri’s first foray into fantasy so while I was a little wary, I also ended up being very pleasantly surprised.
First, I will say this book was grotesque as fuuuuuck in a lot of places, so if gore and horror elements aren’t your thing, I’d probably skip it. There were a couple instances where I really wished I hadn’t been eating cuz it was stomach turning for sure. It’s like Dr. Frankenstein kinda shit, meets freak show, meets I don’t even know what lol. So just, don’t read it if you don’t like extremely descriptive grotesque stuff lol. That being said, it totally set the mood for me and as fucked up as it was, it was perfect for this book.
Which leads me to, I really enjoyed Keri’s writing. Is it overly descriptive? Yes. But I actually don’t mind that. For me, when a writer is able to flourish with their descriptive prose it just draws me into the story that much more and makes me feel like I’m living in it, vs just reading about it. The amount of detail and thought that she put into this world was mind boggling. The creatures that she’s created and the characters were phenomenal. Think SJM kinda world building but dark as fuck. It was A LOT to understand and try to wrap your head around though, so if you’ve never read fantasy before I probably wouldn’t start with this lol. If you do love an intricate fantasy, this’ll be your bread and butter for sure. It was fucking brilliant! Also, kudos to Keri for the glossary and the break down of everything in the beginning of the book, it’s very necessary and very well done.
I really liked Zevander as a character, the shit that he’s gone through was crazy heavy. Holy hell. My heart hurts for him. Maevyth is growing on me lol. I wasn’t sure what to think of her for a while and I think that was maybe intentional on Keri’s part. I think I’m going to appreciate her even more in the second book as her arc starts to come full circle. Now Maevyth and Zevander together, it’s decent. It’s a super slow burn, like really, really fucking slow, but I love that lol. This is touted as an enemies to lovers but I’m not sure I’d agree with that. It’s similar but different and I can’t really put my finger on why exactly right now lol, derp.
So while I loved the overly descriptive world building, it was a slow start y’all. Really slow. I mean, this book is almost 700 pages and I really don’t think it needed to be. There were a couple plot holes and continuity issues, but with a world this intricate and it being Keri’s first fantasy, it didn’t really throw me off too too much, it’s more just briefly annoying in the moment. One of the other things that’s a little odd is that Zevander’s chapters are all in third person and Maevyth’s are first. I don’t know if Keri was trying to make Zevander feel more detached from reality somehow by doing that but I just think it was unnecessary and strange. I don’t dislike third person POV books but it was just weird in this instance. Now the real one that I didn’t love was all the damn buzz words in her spicy scenes! I don’t care who you are, I don’t wanna know that someone’s pussy is squelching… yuck. Fucking yuck. No one wants their vag to make that sound lol. I dunno, her spice writing could definitely use some work, it just really missed the mark on that one for me.
Overall, I did love it. A lot. It won’t be for everyone but if you can handle some crazy and disturbing fantasy shit, I think you’ll love it lol. Definitely recommend!
Xo
- J