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grimreaderx's Reviews (197)
"Bloomland opens during finals week at a fictional southern university, when a student walks into the library with his roommate’s semi-automatic rifle and opens fire. When he stops shooting, twelve people are dead.
In this richly textured debut, John Englehardt explores how the origin and aftermath of the shooting impacts the lives of three characters: a disillusioned student, a grieving professor, and a young man whose valuation of fear and disconnection funnels him into the role of the aggressor. As the community wrestles with the fallout, Bloomland interrogates social and cultural dysfunction in a nation where mass violence has become all too familiar."
Author: John Englehardt
Genre: Southern Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
The book would be out on Sept. 2019! Get your eyes peeled out for it.
The publisher sent me an arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. In no ways my views of this book affected by this.
When I was first approached by this book, I was immediately interested because it was introduced that it's about a school shooting and that it would be great for those who enjoyed 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' It immediately sparked my interest, I haven't read a book besides 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' that tackles a school shooting.
First of all, it's only 200 pages. I could read it in a day but it took me a while because of the writing style. I'm not used to reading in 2nd Person (Instead of 'I' it's 'You') and at first I thought it was only going to be on the first chapter but it actually continued on for the rest of the book.
The book is also mostly narrated. Instead of being there even with a 2nd person POV, it's hard to connect with the characters because the events are mostly described than shown and acted.
I understand that part though. This book tackles the events before, after and during the shooting. But there's minimal dialogue, it's all mostly thought and described.
This book tackles a school shooting, so there should be actions where you're at ease, you're uncomfortable and just plainly feeling it. When it comes to connecting with the readers, I don't think it made it's point.
Emotionally, this book is pretty stale. Yes, it did made my feelings heavy reading about it but it won't stuck with you for a long time. And for the theme of this book, it should.
With that being said, there are a few stuff I admire about this book.
I love that it has POVs of multiple people who were affected and not just the victims and suspect. It didn't also just tackle the moment it happened and after it. From a few that I read, when it comes to this type of topics, it's mostly touched the during and after events. So it's pretty good that we could see the changes that happened to the characters.
All in all, I think everyone should have a taste with this book. It would disturb you while reading it knowing how everything would unfold. It's not going to be for all, but it is a book everyone should at least read a few pages of to know what's going on.
"So maybe it's not about hedonistic partying or chemically hijacked brains. It's about isolation. It's about the life you have been given. Are you in a good cage, or a bad one?"
In this richly textured debut, John Englehardt explores how the origin and aftermath of the shooting impacts the lives of three characters: a disillusioned student, a grieving professor, and a young man whose valuation of fear and disconnection funnels him into the role of the aggressor. As the community wrestles with the fallout, Bloomland interrogates social and cultural dysfunction in a nation where mass violence has become all too familiar."
Author: John Englehardt
Genre: Southern Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
The book would be out on Sept. 2019! Get your eyes peeled out for it.
The publisher sent me an arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. In no ways my views of this book affected by this.
When I was first approached by this book, I was immediately interested because it was introduced that it's about a school shooting and that it would be great for those who enjoyed 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' It immediately sparked my interest, I haven't read a book besides 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' that tackles a school shooting.
First of all, it's only 200 pages. I could read it in a day but it took me a while because of the writing style. I'm not used to reading in 2nd Person (Instead of 'I' it's 'You') and at first I thought it was only going to be on the first chapter but it actually continued on for the rest of the book.
The book is also mostly narrated. Instead of being there even with a 2nd person POV, it's hard to connect with the characters because the events are mostly described than shown and acted.
I understand that part though. This book tackles the events before, after and during the shooting. But there's minimal dialogue, it's all mostly thought and described.
This book tackles a school shooting, so there should be actions where you're at ease, you're uncomfortable and just plainly feeling it. When it comes to connecting with the readers, I don't think it made it's point.
Emotionally, this book is pretty stale. Yes, it did made my feelings heavy reading about it but it won't stuck with you for a long time. And for the theme of this book, it should.
With that being said, there are a few stuff I admire about this book.
I love that it has POVs of multiple people who were affected and not just the victims and suspect. It didn't also just tackle the moment it happened and after it. From a few that I read, when it comes to this type of topics, it's mostly touched the during and after events. So it's pretty good that we could see the changes that happened to the characters.
All in all, I think everyone should have a taste with this book. It would disturb you while reading it knowing how everything would unfold. It's not going to be for all, but it is a book everyone should at least read a few pages of to know what's going on.
"So maybe it's not about hedonistic partying or chemically hijacked brains. It's about isolation. It's about the life you have been given. Are you in a good cage, or a bad one?"
(The author kindly sent me a finished copy of this book. In no way are my views and opinions of this book tainted because of it.)
When the author first approached me offering to send me a copy in exchange of a copy, I immediately agreed because I'm in dire need of fantasy books about Grim Reapers, angels, demons and not just the usual magic stuff because I need a breather from those.
I have mixed emotions about this book. I'm on the Gray part where I like it and I don't. But first, let's break it down one by one.
I first of want to talk about the plot. I think it's amazing how we were introduced with magic from a different culture, I love the representation it provided. There's rarely any book with a 'magic' system that involves Asian culture so it's such a breather to see this book have one.
The writing style is also detailed. This one I'm also torn in between of.
On the very first part of the book, it states that the details that would be mentioned on this book would be important and to hold judgement before finishing the book.
I agree that it has a lot of important details that definitely played out well in the future of this book but some of the details weren't really necessary or important to the plot of THIS particular book of the series.
It may be important to the 2nd or 3rd book or so on and I just wished that the details that would be relevant would be revealed on THAT particular book. Because I'm pretty sure that I speak for everyone when I say that we would probably forget details of this book when the next book comes out.
One of the things I took note for this one was that one particular scene at the end and the interrogation part where the Blesser's first met Alivia. Most of those scenes are not exactly important and played out as a drag for a few pages.
The characters as well played an important role not just to the plot for each other. I think this is what most stories lack nowadays is the importance of each character to other characters.
I don't want to mention names but it's like, one character isn't just there to be someone's love interest, they're there to be a savior, a friend, a colleague, etc. It's important to have characters like that.
If there's anything that I want to praise highly about this one was the non sugarcoat events when it comes to the dark and gloomy topics like death and self harm.
I again don't want to get into too much details but I love how the author didn't shy away and romanticize self harm and suicide into some tublr/textpost way.
Suicide is suicide and there's no way to sugarcoat it. No matter how much some poets or novelists does, it's not an aesthetic or edgy topic to write about in books. You're either going to write it raw and gloomy or not at all. Suicide, self harming, is not something that should be written and compared to flowers and sunsets because it's not beautiful.
There's a scene in this book where Alivia was interrogated again. In there, they told her that she was coward, someone weak, for doing it. I don't know if the author has anything deeper lying into it but I do want to say that that's how elders view young people (teenagers) who commit suicide. That scene shows the ignorance they hold towards this topic.
At first, I was not in favor with how they handled the topic of suicide but then I realized that 'This is how people would react, this was how they reacted towards me'
There's a lot of topic this book handled. This book is so important because it is not your ordinary fantasy book where it's all magic and happily after. It tackles abuse, violence, death, suicide, you name it.
One of the downfalls of this book is probably when they said that girls should stay in the kitchen and let the man do the work because they'll definitely do it better.
I was not in favor of that one because there were no 'clapback' to it. It's fine to include those type of things but it should have a comeback because after that there's nothing else, it was back to normal. It would be better to shut that person up and let the readers now (especially the younger ones) that it is not okay to say that and it is wrong in many levels.
All in all, Under Her Cursed Scythe is not an easy and light read. The cover is so majestic and looks like a sweet read (My friends liked it. Even my mom did so that's cool) but this book left me sore but satisfied.
(I ALSO WANT TO MENTION REAL QUICK HOW A 12 YEARS OLD HERE HAD MULTIPLE 'TROPHIES' AND MY 16 YEARS OLD SINGLE ASS IS cRyiNG)
"We all have darkness inside us, don't we? The only difference is that we know how to maintain the balance while they don't"
When the author first approached me offering to send me a copy in exchange of a copy, I immediately agreed because I'm in dire need of fantasy books about Grim Reapers, angels, demons and not just the usual magic stuff because I need a breather from those.
I have mixed emotions about this book. I'm on the Gray part where I like it and I don't. But first, let's break it down one by one.
I first of want to talk about the plot. I think it's amazing how we were introduced with magic from a different culture, I love the representation it provided. There's rarely any book with a 'magic' system that involves Asian culture so it's such a breather to see this book have one.
The writing style is also detailed. This one I'm also torn in between of.
On the very first part of the book, it states that the details that would be mentioned on this book would be important and to hold judgement before finishing the book.
I agree that it has a lot of important details that definitely played out well in the future of this book but some of the details weren't really necessary or important to the plot of THIS particular book of the series.
It may be important to the 2nd or 3rd book or so on and I just wished that the details that would be relevant would be revealed on THAT particular book. Because I'm pretty sure that I speak for everyone when I say that we would probably forget details of this book when the next book comes out.
One of the things I took note for this one was that one particular scene at the end and the interrogation part where the Blesser's first met Alivia. Most of those scenes are not exactly important and played out as a drag for a few pages.
The characters as well played an important role not just to the plot for each other. I think this is what most stories lack nowadays is the importance of each character to other characters.
I don't want to mention names but it's like, one character isn't just there to be someone's love interest, they're there to be a savior, a friend, a colleague, etc. It's important to have characters like that.
If there's anything that I want to praise highly about this one was the non sugarcoat events when it comes to the dark and gloomy topics like death and self harm.
I again don't want to get into too much details but I love how the author didn't shy away and romanticize self harm and suicide into some tublr/textpost way.
Suicide is suicide and there's no way to sugarcoat it. No matter how much some poets or novelists does, it's not an aesthetic or edgy topic to write about in books. You're either going to write it raw and gloomy or not at all. Suicide, self harming, is not something that should be written and compared to flowers and sunsets because it's not beautiful.
There's a scene in this book where Alivia was interrogated again. In there, they told her that she was coward, someone weak, for doing it. I don't know if the author has anything deeper lying into it but I do want to say that that's how elders view young people (teenagers) who commit suicide. That scene shows the ignorance they hold towards this topic.
At first, I was not in favor with how they handled the topic of suicide but then I realized that 'This is how people would react, this was how they reacted towards me'
There's a lot of topic this book handled. This book is so important because it is not your ordinary fantasy book where it's all magic and happily after. It tackles abuse, violence, death, suicide, you name it.
One of the downfalls of this book is probably when they said that girls should stay in the kitchen and let the man do the work because they'll definitely do it better.
I was not in favor of that one because there were no 'clapback' to it. It's fine to include those type of things but it should have a comeback because after that there's nothing else, it was back to normal. It would be better to shut that person up and let the readers now (especially the younger ones) that it is not okay to say that and it is wrong in many levels.
All in all, Under Her Cursed Scythe is not an easy and light read. The cover is so majestic and looks like a sweet read (My friends liked it. Even my mom did so that's cool) but this book left me sore but satisfied.
(I ALSO WANT TO MENTION REAL QUICK HOW A 12 YEARS OLD HERE HAD MULTIPLE 'TROPHIES' AND MY 16 YEARS OLD SINGLE ASS IS cRyiNG)
"We all have darkness inside us, don't we? The only difference is that we know how to maintain the balance while they don't"
