nataliareadsalot 's review for:

My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino

3.0

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3 stars. I’ll start off by saying that the cover design and the fact that it was marketed as a ‘Labyrinth’ inspired story, made me sooooo hyped to read this book. And perhaps that was the first mistake. Expecting something and getting something totally different. Which isn’t always a bad thing, however it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. At least, not until about 3/4ths of the book. While the story itself and the commentary was wonderful (more on that later), I feel like the pacing was a little off towards the middle. The moments where she was in the Lords woods felt a little too slow, cozy, cottage core-zy that I couldn’t reconcile the title and cover art of the book and with what was going on. However, like I mentioned, the last third really picked up the darkness a tad bit that the title/cover didn’t feel too jarring. I loved what was revealed and the implications of it. I hated that that I had to wait the whole book to get there and that it all felt so rushed, right when it was getting exciting! World building also could have been fleshed out. I still have no clue where she was at and how it’s there and who was what or WHY. Maybe I was expecting a little more darkness out of a YA book but I feel like I was bamboozled. Anyway, for the great religious traumacore and the great commentary about women and their bodies, I still give this 3 stars.

Also, if you’re gonna throw in ‘Labyrinth’ as any type of comparison… then your version of the Goblin King better BRING it because David Bowie set the bar high when it comes to the mysterious is-he-evil-or-not-but-also-he’s-so-hot vibes and Tristan just did not deliver in that regard. :(