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elonn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
a_novel_craving's review
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lunababybat's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was disturbing in the way banal evil is disturbing. While it has supernatural elements, the real evil in this story is the day-to-day atrocities anyone is capable of. It showcases how even rotten people do feel things, but can always find a way to justify their behaviors to themselves even if they can't to others. Even the River Man has a point; he doesn't make anyone do anything. Whatever they chose to do after meeting him was in them all along, and the journey to meet him is what really brings that negativity out. Someone has to have a bad seed in them to go searching for him in the first place. Not to get into spoilers, but the author has a way of making realistic characters and his writing fits the theme/setting of the story (except for his obsession with the word "sluiced", it felt out of place and a bit like a word of the day calendar prompt). When the big reveal of Lori's first taboo was about to play out, I actually felt my stomach drop. She starts out as s sympathetic character, but the more you learn about her, the more you understand that evil isn't just the serial killers that rip people open. I loved this, to the point I'm not sure I even want to read the sequel to preserve what this book gave me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
carissatheluca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
BRUTAL.
This could have used another round of edits, but- and particularly for the genre- color me suitably impressed. Bonus: for the first time in quite a while, disturbed.
Gone to See the River Man had a rocky beginning. I could see where it was going, but the stylistic choices (I hope) just did not translate well into setup. Triana's sentences stutter; my flow was constantly interrupted by misplaced words and staccato descriptions. I know that's (probably) on purpose, and it was fantastic during gruesome scenes, but it's irritating to read a full paragraph of broken sentences every other chapter. (Bear in mind the chapters are very short.) Similarly, Lori's characterization is so vague during the first half I had a hard time buying her motivation for her bizarre-ass decisions. She kept EXPLAINING her motivation, but that doesn't make me believe it. Developing her neediness and frustration towards Abby should have been done far sooner + more deliberately.
As it were, I had to really force myself through large swaths of the first 100 or so pages. I appreciated the rising tension, but making me stay inside Lori's head in the "real" world only made it harder to suspend my disbelief. There's just a level of depth which is sorely lacking + the consequence is flat, marionette characters and some eye-roll sequences. Nobody was screening the mail of a serial killer who still has possibly unconfirmed victims? A body is nearly skeletal after less than a year in a COLD cellar? Literally just Google your gore, authors, please!!
And far more frustrating for me: tf is Abby's brain damage? I know it's a plot device. I know it's meant to be a manifestation of [IYKYK] and provide conflict. It's 90% of her characterization, but it's left so vague as to almost be... cowardly? What exactly is her brain damage? What can and can't she do? We see her mostly through the lens of what she WAS, and it's just convenient in a way I don't love. If you don't describe any of the medical problems, you can't be wrong about them. Booooo!
The setup for the first letter from Edmund was fantastic. All this anticipation between Lori's first letter and that one, slowly discovering just how unreliable a narrator Lori's been... It was genuinely incredible. I appreciate the big bad serial killer being given a background + reasoning, and I'm willing to pretend it's not silly. Weirder shit has happened for real. I kind of respect the vision, as much as I feel I can say that given- 🥴🫡🤮 you know.
Man, this made me legitimately recoil in disgust. For once, the worst of the plot was justified enough by the exposition that I felt dirty and uncomfortable reading it. A lot of Splatterpunk/extreme horror authors will write about this stuff, but it's used so randomly and gratuitously it doesn't even land. It's just noise. Not so for River Man. I was sat and sick. The gore was deliciously visceral and the flashbacks... *shudder*
I'll be having nightmares tonight, I'm sure.
This could have used another round of edits, but- and particularly for the genre- color me suitably impressed. Bonus: for the first time in quite a while, disturbed.
Gone to See the River Man had a rocky beginning. I could see where it was going, but the stylistic choices (I hope) just did not translate well into setup. Triana's sentences stutter; my flow was constantly interrupted by misplaced words and staccato descriptions. I know that's (probably) on purpose, and it was fantastic during gruesome scenes, but it's irritating to read a full paragraph of broken sentences every other chapter. (Bear in mind the chapters are very short.) Similarly, Lori's characterization is so vague during the first half I had a hard time buying her motivation for her bizarre-ass decisions. She kept EXPLAINING her motivation, but that doesn't make me believe it. Developing her neediness and frustration towards Abby should have been done far sooner + more deliberately.
As it were, I had to really force myself through large swaths of the first 100 or so pages. I appreciated the rising tension, but making me stay inside Lori's head in the "real" world only made it harder to suspend my disbelief. There's just a level of depth which is sorely lacking + the consequence is flat, marionette characters and some eye-roll sequences. Nobody was screening the mail of a serial killer who still has possibly unconfirmed victims? A body is nearly skeletal after less than a year in a COLD cellar? Literally just Google your gore, authors, please!!
And far more frustrating for me: tf is Abby's brain damage? I know it's a plot device. I know it's meant to be a manifestation of [IYKYK] and provide conflict. It's 90% of her characterization, but it's left so vague as to almost be... cowardly? What exactly is her brain damage? What can and can't she do? We see her mostly through the lens of what she WAS, and it's just convenient in a way I don't love. If you don't describe any of the medical problems, you can't be wrong about them. Booooo!
The setup for the first letter from Edmund was fantastic. All this anticipation between Lori's first letter and that one, slowly discovering just how unreliable a narrator Lori's been... It was genuinely incredible. I appreciate the big bad serial killer being given a background + reasoning, and I'm willing to pretend it's not silly. Weirder shit has happened for real. I kind of respect the vision, as much as I feel I can say that given- 🥴🫡🤮 you know.
Man, this made me legitimately recoil in disgust. For once, the worst of the plot was justified enough by the exposition that I felt dirty and uncomfortable reading it. A lot of Splatterpunk/extreme horror authors will write about this stuff, but it's used so randomly and gratuitously it doesn't even land. It's just noise. Not so for River Man. I was sat and sick. The gore was deliciously visceral and the flashbacks... *shudder*
I'll be having nightmares tonight, I'm sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War
violargento's review
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent
ronnir's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, War, and Injury/Injury detail
ashielovestoread's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
cainincarnate's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
1.5
a lot of thoughts about this book so long review incoming.
i guess i’ll start with what i liked. i feel like, a lot of times in horror in general but especially more extreme horror, disturbing topics get thrown around for shock value with no respect to the people who’ve actually lived through these things. very slight, non-specific spoilers, buti do think the subject of incestuous sexual abuse was handled well, and you’re very clearly shown just how mentally damaging it is to the victim. it’s extremely brutal and gut-wrenching to read, which it should be. i don’t think it was used just for shock value at all, which i appreciated, as disturbing as it was to read.
i’ve never really hated a protagonist like i hated lori. she starts off unlikable and annoying and then just becomes downright evil as the story unfolds. yet this never really took away from the reading experience for me, it actually added to it, which can be hard to pull off.
normally i don’t really like point of view switches, but it flowed well in this book. i also enjoyed the timeline jumping around a little bit and the inclusion of the letters between lori and edmund. overall i thought the plot flowed nicely. i also appreciated the writing style, there were some really beautiful descriptions in this book, especially when it came to nature.
i also love the southern gothic plot in general, as well as the whole vibe of the river man and the almost cosmic horror direction the story took with him. i think the supernatural elements of the story were really fun.
what i didn’t like, firstly, was the way the only black character in the story was written. i’m not black so take what i say with a grain of salt, but his dialogue just felt extremely unrealistic, bordering on almost caricature-ish. he was also just the whole “magical black man” trope guiding the main character with his superstitious, folky wisdom. he exists only to help abby and lori (spoiler)and then dies. other people, especially black people, have talked about this trope better than i ever could so i just recommend looking it up and reading about it.
there’s also racism against asian people in this book, especially asian women, which felt unnecessary. i get it’s extreme horror and we’re diving into taboo topics and the worst of humanity, but i was uncomfortable when slurs against asian people were dropped, like, at least five times in two pages. and i get that he’s not a good person at all (to put it extremely lightly), but the fetishism of asian women on edmund’s part just felt weird to read. and the treatment of the asian character niko just felt off to me. i’m not asian either so i’m probably not the best at explaining it, but i figured i’d warn about it regardless. i just don’t see why it was necessary to make the majority of the serial killer’s victims asian, and then give him a backstory as to why.
i also didn’t like how abby’s disability was portrayed as a punishment to lori. i get that lori is an extremely unreliable, selfish narrator, but it did feel like abby was treated more like lori’s burden and ever-present reminder of guilt instead of a human being. i wish she was a bit more fleshed out as a character and had some more of her own narrative moments, i think this would have balanced lori’s selfishness and abby’s humanity. also the sudden r-slur drop in her monologue at one point was very unnecessary. i get that we can explore dark topics without condoning them, ableism included. i also just think we have responsibility as writers when we take on these topics and we have to be conscious of the message we’re sending about disabled people.
then the parts where lori starts calling edmund her king and saying she should bow to him. i think it would have been interesting to explore her descent into obsessive love for him if it was drawn out more, but it comes out of absolutely nowhere. she goes from calling him her friend to being insanely in love with him in the span of a few pages. i guess you could take this as the river man’s realm warping her mind, but i still would have appreciated more time to show that was happening to her.
the ending just fell flat to me, i thought the final dialogue was cheesy and the last few chapters just seemed rushed.
ultimately i think this book would have benefitted from being longer. i think there needed to be more development, especially for abby and lori. i also think all of the issues i’ve listed just soured what could have been a much better book.
i guess i’ll start with what i liked. i feel like, a lot of times in horror in general but especially more extreme horror, disturbing topics get thrown around for shock value with no respect to the people who’ve actually lived through these things. very slight, non-specific spoilers, but
i’ve never really hated a protagonist like i hated lori. she starts off unlikable and annoying and then just becomes downright evil as the story unfolds. yet this never really took away from the reading experience for me, it actually added to it, which can be hard to pull off.
normally i don’t really like point of view switches, but it flowed well in this book. i also enjoyed the timeline jumping around a little bit and the inclusion of the letters between lori and edmund. overall i thought the plot flowed nicely. i also appreciated the writing style, there were some really beautiful descriptions in this book, especially when it came to nature.
i also love the southern gothic plot in general, as well as the whole vibe of the river man and the almost cosmic horror direction the story took with him. i think the supernatural elements of the story were really fun.
what i didn’t like, firstly, was the way the only black character in the story was written. i’m not black so take what i say with a grain of salt, but his dialogue just felt extremely unrealistic, bordering on almost caricature-ish. he was also just the whole “magical black man” trope guiding the main character with his superstitious, folky wisdom. he exists only to help abby and lori (spoiler)
there’s also racism against asian people in this book, especially asian women, which felt unnecessary. i get it’s extreme horror and we’re diving into taboo topics and the worst of humanity, but i was uncomfortable when slurs against asian people were dropped, like, at least five times in two pages. and i get that he’s not a good person at all (to put it extremely lightly), but the fetishism of asian women on edmund’s part just felt weird to read. and the treatment of the asian character niko just felt off to me. i’m not asian either so i’m probably not the best at explaining it, but i figured i’d warn about it regardless. i just don’t see why it was necessary to make the majority of the serial killer’s victims asian, and then give him a backstory as to why.
i also didn’t like how abby’s disability was portrayed as a punishment to lori. i get that lori is an extremely unreliable, selfish narrator, but it did feel like abby was treated more like lori’s burden and ever-present reminder of guilt instead of a human being. i wish she was a bit more fleshed out as a character and had some more of her own narrative moments, i think this would have balanced lori’s selfishness and abby’s humanity. also the sudden r-slur drop in her monologue at one point was very unnecessary. i get that we can explore dark topics without condoning them, ableism included. i also just think we have responsibility as writers when we take on these topics and we have to be conscious of the message we’re sending about disabled people.
then the parts where lori starts calling edmund her king and saying she should bow to him. i think it would have been interesting to explore her descent into obsessive love for him if it was drawn out more, but it comes out of absolutely nowhere. she goes from calling him her friend to being insanely in love with him in the span of a few pages. i guess you could take this as the river man’s realm warping her mind, but i still would have appreciated more time to show that was happening to her.
the ending just fell flat to me, i thought the final dialogue was cheesy and the last few chapters just seemed rushed.
ultimately i think this book would have benefitted from being longer. i think there needed to be more development, especially for abby and lori. i also think all of the issues i’ve listed just soured what could have been a much better book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse and War
curlysushi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s an average horror story, the ending is way too predictable if you think about the role of each character. Could be better, not the absolute worst. It’s a good fast read, took me about 2 hours
Personally, I’m familiar with horror stories in movies and literature so this was just way too predictable. Content wise it’s pretty depraved, but it’s not the absolute craziest stuff IF you frequent this genre often. Character development is definitely present, so don’t listen to the reviews saying no. It’s simply not developing in the morally upstanding direction. Lori certainly changes, as well as Abby.
Personally, I’m familiar with horror stories in movies and literature so this was just way too predictable. Content wise it’s pretty depraved, but it’s not the absolute craziest stuff IF you frequent this genre often. Character development is definitely present, so don’t listen to the reviews saying no. It’s simply not developing in the morally upstanding direction. Lori certainly changes, as well as Abby.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
katelynalice's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail