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A review by archaicrobin
Brother by Ania Ahlborn
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This is the second novel I’ve read by Ania Ahlborn and like the first novel, Within These Walls, I completely hated it. I like to give authors three chances, if I’m let down three times I give up and deem them as just not for me. Unfortunately, I don’t think I ever want to read another book by Ania Ahlborn, after two I am so infuriated I can’t even explain how much I absolutely hated this novel.
You follow a stupid loser named Michael who is written like he’s 14 but later is revealed to be 20?!!! And his twisted, annoying, stereotypical “psycho” family that likes to hunt and eat women I guess? Not really clear on that, the book doesn’t even explain why they kill women, or why they eat them after, or anything really. Apparently Mama was sexually abused as a child so obviously she has to be an abusive mother that likes to murder young women and eat them. Like what else would she do, am I right?
So you follow Michael and his “brother” Rebel, Ray, Rufus, who fucking knows. I listened to the audiobook and this character has about 5 nicknames and it took me 2 hours to realize they’re all the same person. Michael and Rebel are supposed to kidnap women and bring them back for their mother to kill so she doesn’t kill her own daughters?? I can’t even write a synopsis that makes sense because this book MAKES NO SENSE.
The story is boring, the characters are either 2 dimensional or so fucking annoying you’re praying they all just die so you don’t have to listen to their repetitive internal monologues anymore. If you took out Micheals repetitive thoughts the book would probably be only 100 pages, which it should be BECAUSE NOTHING HAPPENS.
I always try to find something positive with every reading experience but right now I’m just angry. If I hadn’t picked this one for a reading challenge I would have returned it immediately. But now here I am, 9 hours later and with absolutely nothing to show for it. Some people really love this book, I am not one of them. I found it boring, uninteresting, stupid, stereotypical, nonsensical, and insulting. In fact if I physically owned a copy of this book I would throw it off my balcony.
You follow a stupid loser named Michael who is written like he’s 14 but later is revealed to be 20?!!! And his twisted, annoying, stereotypical “psycho” family that likes to hunt and eat women I guess? Not really clear on that, the book doesn’t even explain why they kill women, or why they eat them after, or anything really. Apparently Mama was sexually abused as a child so obviously she has to be an abusive mother that likes to murder young women and eat them. Like what else would she do, am I right?
So you follow Michael and his “brother” Rebel, Ray, Rufus, who fucking knows. I listened to the audiobook and this character has about 5 nicknames and it took me 2 hours to realize they’re all the same person. Michael and Rebel are supposed to kidnap women and bring them back for their mother to kill so she doesn’t kill her own daughters?? I can’t even write a synopsis that makes sense because this book MAKES NO SENSE.
The story is boring, the characters are either 2 dimensional or so fucking annoying you’re praying they all just die so you don’t have to listen to their repetitive internal monologues anymore. If you took out Micheals repetitive thoughts the book would probably be only 100 pages, which it should be BECAUSE NOTHING HAPPENS.
I always try to find something positive with every reading experience but right now I’m just angry. If I hadn’t picked this one for a reading challenge I would have returned it immediately. But now here I am, 9 hours later and with absolutely nothing to show for it. Some people really love this book, I am not one of them. I found it boring, uninteresting, stupid, stereotypical, nonsensical, and insulting. In fact if I physically owned a copy of this book I would throw it off my balcony.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, and Violence