Reviews

The Return by Rachel Harrison

branwynnemay's review against another edition

4.0

I was scared, intrigued, loved the classic horror feeling and mystery. The characters felt pretty well developed and I saw the monster as a metaphor for drug abuse, for escaping our troubles, and so the ending felt lovely.

I didn’t understand if the ending was supposed to be up in the air regarding the mc… or what was up with the illnesses… but it’s okay to have some lose ends imo.

mystic_bookwyrm's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the narrator. The book itself was a bit slow at times and Elise was a bit annoying as the MC. Her refusal to acknowledge or confront anything got old quick. I also feel like the creature in this was clearly supposed to be a creature from Indigenous culture without flat out saying it was, but being familiar with that, I recognized it and I’m not sure how I feel about that… 
This was the first book by this author I read and maybe I’d give some of her other work a chance but this was just kind of a meh read for me. It had some good creepy parts, but a lot of it was just annoying MC inner monologue 

asianshelby's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

what in the world was this

unhingedfemaleprotagonist's review against another edition

4.0

I can relate to each member of the friend group at the center of The Return at some point in my life. Protagonist Elise doesn't want to let go of a friendship that clearly over. Julie wants to drag Elise down with her, because she also can't face that it's time to let go. Mae wants to classify everyone else into neat little boxes that fit her idea of them. Molly sticks around out of some sort of guilty obligation. It's not a lighthearted book - but it is horror after all.....The most horrifying part of which is the reality that Harrison captures here: life is messy. Female friendships, even moreso.

srsreads's review against another edition

dark

3.0

iguessihateu's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

laurzysimpkins's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

kkellz19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

grvhppr's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

mx_manda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is definitely darker and more bleak than Harrison's other stories, but it's the first one to give me genuine chills and goosebumps multiple times. Less cozy and more messed up friendships—but as is her M.O., she has a lot to say about the nature and evolution of female friendships in here. What happens when a toxic friend group is forced to evolve and grow up? What happens when all of you are just...not decent people and feed off each other? Having just come off her latest, So Thirsty, I noticed a lot of parallels between the protagonist in that story and Elise in this one. This one is rather gorey and involves a good amount of body horror—including mouth/teeth stuff. 

My one (possible) issue with this story is the kind of monster Julie  is inspired by, even if not talked about by name.

Nearly 100% sure Julie is a w*ndigo or that-creature-adjacent. It's not really my place to say, but I'm not sure if basing a monster off an Indigenous monster that's not supposed to be talked about at all is skirting and disrespecting that taboo. So while I really enjoyed this, the uncertainty has me feeling a touch iffy about that aspect. But a shape-shifting voracious cannibal who brings frigid cold and howling winds with it is pretty on-the-nose for versions of that story I've heard over the years.

(I am having a solid laugh at all of the reviews that are not that familiar with monsters beyond the big 4 or so that turn up everywhere.)