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lady_bountiful's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
illuminatedspace's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
1.0
I think when I read this book, I'm to believe that the main character is kind of a sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist pos as a character flaw. However these views of the character are expressed so casually, explicitly, and often over this 600 page book I couldn't help but feel I was being indoctrinated with these garbage views. The lack of challenge the main character faces for these views is distracting over the length of the book. Nearly every non-white, non-cis male supporting character is described with harmful, uncharitable, and frankly boring stereotypes. This harmful depiction is reinforced by the fact that the characters do not say or do anything to challenge the initial description, not does anyone around the main character. This happened so consistently I couldn't help but wonder if the author also held these views or if they had just failed to create an unlikable/unreliable main character. The result was instead an unlikable world. Not challenging, or thought provoking but flat, informed by stereotypes and lacking nuance. I suppose the depth of the world is supposed to come from the lengths of depravity and pain people are willing to inflict on each other, but the cynicism of this worldview doesn't seem deserved?
The mystery was also kind of boring to me.the mystery is kind of laid out early in the book and all the evidence gathering just confirms what was already told. Until the last 100 pages of the book when the biggest confirmation of evidence could possibly be a hallucination and the motivation could have been something else but maybe it's all real and maybe it isn't . But the question of what really happened didn't feel like a fun puzzle to solve for me.
The mixed media elements are novel but not integral to telling the story.
If the book was shorter it may have been higher rated for me. It's not unreadable, but I hardly enjoyed any of the time I spent reading the book and nearly quit several times. I stayed for the resolution which in my opinion didn't really pay off and the denumont was so incredibly drawn out it felt like the book was ending 5 times before the actual last page. The climax was a bit of a page turner but the main character seemed to turn into a different person and some of their actions that provided the most dramatic situations seemed unmotivated. That paired with the fact thatthe most interesting parts may have been a poisonous plant hallucination wasn't enough to save the book for me.
The mystery was also kind of boring to me.
The mixed media elements are novel but not integral to telling the story.
If the book was shorter it may have been higher rated for me. It's not unreadable, but I hardly enjoyed any of the time I spent reading the book and nearly quit several times. I stayed for the resolution which in my opinion didn't really pay off and the denumont was so incredibly drawn out it felt like the book was ending 5 times before the actual last page. The climax was a bit of a page turner but the main character seemed to turn into a different person and some of their actions that provided the most dramatic situations seemed unmotivated. That paired with the fact that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol