The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
drakaina16's review
5.0
This book is true love letter to Goth culture and music. As a Goth of A Certain Age, it gave me all the nostalgia feelings. Even better, it contains a badass female lead who takes back her power. I was surprised Cuts You Up is a debut novel. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for David Blackwood's next book.
curiosityboughtthebook's review
5.0
Also reviewed on www.curiosityboughtthebook.com
A 5 Skull Read:
Veteran horror authors beware: There’s a new author in town and his debut novel might just Cut(s) You Up!
Wow, I just finished reading last night and I had to jump on this morning to give my thoughts. I’m having a hard time believing this is Blackwood’s first novel, as I was completely sucked into the story from the beginning.
The book is told in two different timelines, the first is told through a third person view, following famous author Cassandra through her complicated life after being the only survivor of a notorious killer. The second timeline is Cassandra telling her readers what actually happened on that fateful night in 1990.
Mixed in with the story are a lot of music references and I loved every minute of it. I mean, whose youth didn’t involve music to some extent at least?
A solid debut by a promising author. Thanks David for the review copy.
A 5 Skull Read:
Veteran horror authors beware: There’s a new author in town and his debut novel might just Cut(s) You Up!
Wow, I just finished reading last night and I had to jump on this morning to give my thoughts. I’m having a hard time believing this is Blackwood’s first novel, as I was completely sucked into the story from the beginning.
The book is told in two different timelines, the first is told through a third person view, following famous author Cassandra through her complicated life after being the only survivor of a notorious killer. The second timeline is Cassandra telling her readers what actually happened on that fateful night in 1990.
Mixed in with the story are a lot of music references and I loved every minute of it. I mean, whose youth didn’t involve music to some extent at least?
A solid debut by a promising author. Thanks David for the review copy.
plagued_by_visions's review
2.0
This is a crime thriller mixed with tinges of coming-of-age drama, and told as a portrait of grief and coping. We follow Cassandra, a famous and critically acclaimed author who has a dark past involving a killer.
What I liked most about this novel were the more subdued slice-of-life moments dealing with a longing and pain recollection of adolescence, mixed in with extensive passages on gothic and post-punk music, which I also loved as a teen, so plus points for that!
However, I felt that the novel suffered most from a very uneven pace and from being overwrought with various threads forcefully being sewn together. Things felt disjointed and frayed, and aspects of it never really converge in the end. The story jumps from being a slow and brooding portrait of melancholy, to a high-octane thriller, to a murder mystery that feels like it wants to be the centerpiece of the work even though it only comes in about two-thirds of the way in, lacking in cohesion. Cassandra, as well, becomes a highly unstable character the more the author festoons her with qualities that are often left unexplored and wavering at surface-level. In the end, I still wasn’t really sure what her journey was meant to be, or what about it was supposed to grip and enchant me.
Overall, while I did enjoy some aspects of it (and believe this may have fared better as solely a fictional memoir or coming-of-age tale), the novel felt a bit confused about what direction it wanted to go and what narrative style it wanted to settle in, and sadly it was not for me.
However, for being Blackwood’s first novel, I can see already that there’s deep care and attention towards characterization, and a devotion to unique and wondrous details which were the main thing that helped me push through the book. With more practice, I can absolutely see Mr. Blackwood doing great things in the future.
I would like to thank David Blackwood for providing me with a copy of his work in exchange for an honest review.
What I liked most about this novel were the more subdued slice-of-life moments dealing with a longing and pain recollection of adolescence, mixed in with extensive passages on gothic and post-punk music, which I also loved as a teen, so plus points for that!
However, I felt that the novel suffered most from a very uneven pace and from being overwrought with various threads forcefully being sewn together. Things felt disjointed and frayed, and aspects of it never really converge in the end. The story jumps from being a slow and brooding portrait of melancholy, to a high-octane thriller, to a murder mystery that feels like it wants to be the centerpiece of the work even though it only comes in about two-thirds of the way in, lacking in cohesion. Cassandra, as well, becomes a highly unstable character the more the author festoons her with qualities that are often left unexplored and wavering at surface-level. In the end, I still wasn’t really sure what her journey was meant to be, or what about it was supposed to grip and enchant me.
Overall, while I did enjoy some aspects of it (and believe this may have fared better as solely a fictional memoir or coming-of-age tale), the novel felt a bit confused about what direction it wanted to go and what narrative style it wanted to settle in, and sadly it was not for me.
However, for being Blackwood’s first novel, I can see already that there’s deep care and attention towards characterization, and a devotion to unique and wondrous details which were the main thing that helped me push through the book. With more practice, I can absolutely see Mr. Blackwood doing great things in the future.
I would like to thank David Blackwood for providing me with a copy of his work in exchange for an honest review.
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