Reviews with content warning for Gore - Sawkill Girls

Beautiful story beautifully told
Claire Legrand has an incredible talent with words and her descriptions of emotions have genuinely given me some new language to describe feelings I didn't previously have words for
Equal parts sickeningly horrifying and achingly sweet
A celebration of the will of girls and the things they are capable of
This one will be sticking with me for a long time

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mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An incredible exploration of grief, of the costs of power, and how love changes us.

The horror was very well built up, making it one of the more terrifying horror novels I've read.

The only reason it's not a full 5.0 is

I don't feel like the cult was built out well. I like her dad's role in it, and his being forced to choose between it and his daughter, but the rest of the cultists almost felt cartoonishly evil in a way that didn't click for me. I needed a little more for it to land. They're a great complication, but their characterization leaves something to be desired.

Is this story a "Bury Your Gays" trope?

Not at all

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theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Really enjoyed the first 200 pages but after that things kind of derailed for me. I didn't love where the plot ultimately ended up and I found the characters way too catty and self-centered in the face of what they were supposed to be dealing with.

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shirleonelsie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Bear with me - this review is late! I got distracted pretty quickly before I could write something.

I did really enjoy this book. The local legend/folklore feel to it that Legrand was able to do made this book feel like this was actually happening somewhere. There should have been a prolonged or epilouge of someone telling their grandkids to watch out for The Collector in the woods at night.

Normally, I'm not one for changing POVs, especially when it's more than 2, but I was able to follow along pretty well with the 3 going on in this book. I felt that Val, Marnie and Zoey each had distinct voices so it was easy to switch between them.

I also loved the girl power theme throughout. This was a very girl-centric book. Girls being taken and girls are the ones to beat the beast. With the men obviously thinking they know best over there in the background, but epically failing.

(You'll see this review on my other apps, too!)

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