betsygrace's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, and Religious bigotry
originalemilee's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
For a long time I have been craving a book that feels like The Last of Us… and I finally got it.
I could hardly put this book down. The opening scene is intense and drops us right into the strange, scary world. For the first 30 pages or so, I was a little bit frustrated because I didn’t know much about the world. We know they’re wandering the desert in what seems like the post apocalypse and that we are a couple decades into (what seems like) a zombie virus. Magdala and Xavier encounter a not-so-human person who has “become the desert” and has melons growing off them. About to die of thirst, Xavier says Magdala can eat a melon but that it is like cannibalism. I wanted to know what that thing was, how it got that way, and what was the deal with the melons- and even by the end of the book we still don’t get a clear explanation. But I realized my frustration may have sparked because I’ve read so much fantasy and sci-fi lately that info dumps everything you need to know within the first 3 chapters. In Desert Creatures, we get to wander about and discover the world on our own. It feels like a real journey.
Overall, the plot is very good. Elam’s section is a little slow and sometimes redundant, but it quickly picks up again. Every character we meet has a purpose and unique arc, and I was especially impressed by how much Magdala grows. By the end of her first act, I really thought she would have ended up in someone’s clutches and have a tragic story because she was so completely dependent on her father, but that was not the case at all. I would have loved to know what happened to her between losing her father and meeting Elam. For a book that is only 350 pages, we get a broad, dramatic story with lots of characters.
The one thing that did frustrate me was that I had trouble imagining exactly what the desert creatures were. People and animals get sick, and so they somehow absorb into each other, and melons grow off them? They don’t seem super aggressive or fast. How do people get like that? We know that lots of people are desert sick- Magdala was very sick but she never “turned.” The people did not seem very concerned with this creatures or whatever the virus is that made them become like that. And the cactus-sitters, I couldn’t get an image. I pictured people walking around with a cactus literally stuck to them… but I don’t think that’s right.
A note about disability in this book: the main character has a physical disability she would like to be healed of, which is her driving motivation. But I am happy that we do not get the “disabled character is magically fixed” trope.
Thank you Erewhon Books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I could hardly put this book down. The opening scene is intense and drops us right into the strange, scary world. For the first 30 pages or so, I was a little bit frustrated because I didn’t know much about the world. We know they’re wandering the desert in what seems like the post apocalypse and that we are a couple decades into (what seems like) a zombie virus. Magdala and Xavier encounter a not-so-human person who has “become the desert” and has melons growing off them. About to die of thirst, Xavier says Magdala can eat a melon but that it is like cannibalism. I wanted to know what that thing was, how it got that way, and what was the deal with the melons- and even by the end of the book we still don’t get a clear explanation. But I realized my frustration may have sparked because I’ve read so much fantasy and sci-fi lately that info dumps everything you need to know within the first 3 chapters. In Desert Creatures, we get to wander about and discover the world on our own. It feels like a real journey.
Overall, the plot is very good. Elam’s section is a little slow and sometimes redundant, but it quickly picks up again. Every character we meet has a purpose and unique arc, and I was especially impressed by how much Magdala grows. By the end of her first act, I really thought she would have ended up in someone’s clutches and have a tragic story because she was so completely dependent on her father, but that was not the case at all. I would have loved to know what happened to her between losing her father and meeting Elam. For a book that is only 350 pages, we get a broad, dramatic story with lots of characters.
The one thing that did frustrate me was that I had trouble imagining exactly what the desert creatures were. People and animals get sick, and so they somehow absorb into each other, and melons grow off them? They don’t seem super aggressive or fast. How do people get like that? We know that lots of people are desert sick- Magdala was very sick but she never “turned.” The people did not seem very concerned with this creatures or whatever the virus is that made them become like that. And the cactus-sitters, I couldn’t get an image. I pictured people walking around with a cactus literally stuck to them… but I don’t think that’s right.
A note about disability in this book: the main character has a physical disability she would like to be healed of, which is her driving motivation. But I am happy that we do not get the “disabled character is magically fixed” trope.
Thank you Erewhon Books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Gore, Sexual assault, Murder, and Trafficking
Minor: Abandonment
More...