renee_will's reviews
239 reviews

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Body Of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell

informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley

dark emotional sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.25

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

challenging informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The Acolyte by Nick Cutter

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I hated this. I tried to listen to the audiobook twice, and the second time I almost DNF'ed it but pressed on because I was so close to the end. I listened to the last hour at 1.5x just to get it done with. What a gross, boring, pointless book. It's not scary enough to be horror, not mysterious enough to be a mystery, and to say the characters are one-note would be generous.

It feels like a rejected concept for a novel that got yanked out of the trash just to be unloaded on Audible. And just to be clear, Cutter's Little Heaven is one of my favorite horror novels ever, he clearly has talent. But it's nowhere to be found here. The 2 stars are just because I've read worse, I like the author, and it has a decently interesting concept. But man, I hated it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Between Two Fires is an unsettling odyssey set in France during the black plague, which has become inhabited by very real monsters, demons and angels. And despite how weird and maybe unappealing that sounds, it's actually a deeply beautiful, disturbing story that I cannot recommend enough. 

The characters are all so intrinsically flawed, but the more you learn about the hellscape in which they find themselves, you can't really blame them. The writing style is poetic, languid, biblical at times. It's a road trip story about a man, a priest, and a mysterious little girl. It is so many things and I won't be able to stop thinking about it for a while.

Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0