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A review by chellyfishing
Critical Role: Bells Hells — What Doesn't Break by Cassandra Khaw
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Come for the Critical Role, stay for the meditation on trauma and grief. When the worst thing has already happened, what comes next?
Cassandra Khaw was the perfect fit to tell this story. Their writing is beautiful and thoughtful. It’s like a person with lived experience telling you all the things you’ve thought and felt without really being able to put it into words. (And given the author’s note, that’s probably exactly what it is.) When I opened this book, I was expecting a story about my favorite character. I was not expecting to feel so seen. Marisha Ray has really created something special with Laudna and Khaw has done her justice on the page.
I wish we could have spent a little more time in the epilogue, mostly because I wanted to see the beginning of that relationship develop a little more slowly. A little more time for them to talk and lay the foundation. Or maybe even not confine it to the epilogue and instead have a couple chapters on it. I’m sure the choice to keep it brief was deliberate and a team decision, and that’s totally fair, I personally just would have liked to go into that a little more.
Also, this is stupid and nitpicky, but I see it everywhere anymore: mortification and chagrin both mean embarrassment. They don’t mean horror or annoyance, they mean embarrassment. I only mention it because both were kind of all over this book and the writing was so good otherwise it was very jarring to see words totally misused like this.
Cassandra Khaw was the perfect fit to tell this story. Their writing is beautiful and thoughtful. It’s like a person with lived experience telling you all the things you’ve thought and felt without really being able to put it into words. (And given the author’s note, that’s probably exactly what it is.) When I opened this book, I was expecting a story about my favorite character. I was not expecting to feel so seen. Marisha Ray has really created something special with Laudna and Khaw has done her justice on the page.
I wish we could have spent a little more time in the epilogue, mostly because I wanted to see the beginning of that relationship develop a little more slowly. A little more time for them to talk and lay the foundation. Or maybe even not confine it to the epilogue and instead have a couple chapters on it. I’m sure the choice to keep it brief was deliberate and a team decision, and that’s totally fair, I personally just would have liked to go into that a little more.
Also, this is stupid and nitpicky, but I see it everywhere anymore: mortification and chagrin both mean embarrassment. They don’t mean horror or annoyance, they mean embarrassment. I only mention it because both were kind of all over this book and the writing was so good otherwise it was very jarring to see words totally misused like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent