wordsofclover's reviews
2126 reviews

In the same vein as Max Brooks’ World War Z, Devolution tells us the story from another near apocalypse and close monster encounter from a first-hand perspective. We follow the journal of Katie, who has recently moved to a sustainable eco-community called Greenloop near Mt Rainier. The rather cult like feel of her new community actually soothes Katie but soon things get crazy when Mt Rainier erupts, the small group are cut off from the normal world and they end up preyed upon by man-like beasts from the nearby forest.

I didn’t know what to expect from a ‘Bigfoot’ horror novel but I ended up really enjoying this and flying through it. This was very fast paced and engaging - and each new journal entry of Katie’s brought another rather terrifying Sasquatch encounter into reality.

I did find it slightly fast-paced at times in terms of it didn’t take a long time at all between Mr Rainier’s eruption and the Sasquatch horror to rein down on Greenloop though I understand that this also was due to incorporating the reality of real help finding Greenloop, as well as experimenting with the amount of time it can take to really change a person’s psyche from hunted to hunter.

I also agree with some other reviews I’ve seen that I would have liked more character exploration or deep dive into Tony and Yvette as it felt like they were going to have a bigger part to play as antagonists when things went south as I was a bit disappointed that they just went a bit mad in the end instead. I loved Mostar and how her background was revealed as well as her encouragement of Katie and Dan - and how Dan’s mojo came back as he suddenly had a purpose again and seemed to find out who he really was as did Katie.

So I really enjoyed this - it was fast paced and punchy with just another gore and violence to make your stomach flip but unable to take your eyes away from the page!

Content Warnings

Lazy City by Rachel Connolly

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Erin is a young woman living in Belfast with a spiky relationship with her mother, and trying to deal with her grief after the death of her best friend. Waling away from her college degree, and drinking with friends while working as a nanny, Erin is trying to put the past behind her while hooking up with on again, off again love interest Mikey as well as developing a relationship with American professor Matt.

This kind of a coming of a age novel - there’s not a lot a plot but very character focused on Erin’s decisions from what she’s going to do with herself as well as how she actually treats herself from drink and drugs, as well as casual sex with two different men. Her relationship/sanctuary with religion is a touching part of the novel and I liked at one point when she’s talking to Matt about how in Belfast (or Ireland in general) you don’t have to necessarily be religious to go to a church to light a candle for someone.

I think I would have liked to have seen more happen between Erin and her mam as there were definitely a lot of things still unresolved by the end of the novel, and it’s a relationship that started the novel and is obviously a very hurtful one in Erin’s life.

I wish I would have liked this a little bit more. It was fine but it didn’t blow me away the way I thought it was going to be. I think people who like books like Snowflake by Louise Nealon or The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue might like this one as it follows the same vein of ‘messy gal trying to figure out where she’s going’ vibes.

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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wordsofclover's reviews 2126 reviews

wordsofclover's reviews
2126 reviews