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frmeden's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
ladyinverse's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.0
(audiobook)
i gave this book a try because it was labeled with the LGBTQIA tag, so i went for it for my June reads for pride month.
the only rep there was, was a young male who was stereotyping young black men to not be studious and this young male also was obsessed with his crush on his English teacher and stalked this male teacher across the globe to try and be with him. not a great rep for the book.
the horror aspect of the book was at least interesting of a concept: full contact horror house but a side secret plan makes everything go very very wrong on a tour where a character is murdered as a result.
none of the characters, aside the main girl Kendra, was even remotely likeable.
the book was.. not great overall. the writing was loquacious in the most boring way. anytime a character spoke, instead of using "he yelled" or "she spoke softly" or literally anything else, every time a character interaction happened the usage and verbage was "s/he said."
i would have died from alcohol poisoning if i was doing shots every time I heard the word said/says.
i gave this book a try because it was labeled with the LGBTQIA tag, so i went for it for my June reads for pride month.
the only rep there was, was a young male who was stereotyping young black men to not be studious and this young male also was obsessed with his crush on his English teacher and stalked this male teacher across the globe to try and be with him. not a great rep for the book.
the horror aspect of the book was at least interesting of a concept: full contact horror house but a side secret plan makes everything go very very wrong on a tour where a character is murdered as a result.
none of the characters, aside the main girl Kendra, was even remotely likeable.
the book was.. not great overall. the writing was loquacious in the most boring way. anytime a character spoke, instead of using "he yelled" or "she spoke softly" or literally anything else, every time a character interaction happened the usage and verbage was "s/he said."
i would have died from alcohol poisoning if i was doing shots every time I heard the word said/says.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Stalking
Moderate: Hate crime and Murder
Minor: Sexism and Sexual content
riflelizards's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Murder
d3nim_diva's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
thecoolestmoe's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia
sallysimply's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
The pacing of this - fantastic! The writing - pretty good!
But WOW was this frustrating to read at times! I love ambiguous endings, open endings, not having everything fully tied up, and still, I was so frustrated that by the end of this, I really did not know wtf John's deal was.
But WOW was this frustrating to read at times! I love ambiguous endings, open endings, not having everything fully tied up, and still, I was so frustrated that by the end of this, I really did not know wtf John's deal was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Car accident
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
Possibly the biggest content warning is for the lengthy, frustrating making of an incel / descent into fragile and toxic masculinity. Dear god, was it triggering.corinnereads7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Before I say anything else, I need to address what I feel is glaring anti-fat bias on the part of the author. For all this book attempted to do with racism, it sure does have a lot of casual fatphobia… I started keeping a list because it kept popping up. Every fat character is mean, stupid or insane: side characters who are entirely one-dimensional. Examples: “Rae - perennially bloated, flatulent and ornery…”; “flapping her arm fat”; “pasty, obese”.
Anyways, despite this, I was able to complete the book because it was very unique and I wanted to see how the end turned out. I did like the structure of the novel, going back and forth between court transcripts of a murder trial and backstories of the various people involved. The scenes in the haunted house were mostly immersive, but there were also times where I had to reread scenes because their believability factor along with the explanations of the room’s setup left something to be desired. (See: leaping off a bed toward a chest of drawers and somehow grabbing the handle of a drawer, opening it, reaching inside and pulling out an envelope. This is physically impossible to do while mid-air.)
The characters felt decently well developed, some more than others, but again the believability of motives weren’t always there for me. Jaidee’s desire to assimilate to whiteness was completely realistic, however the intense obsession with Victor and rearranging of his entire life around this man, was pretty impossible to believe. Kendra’s desperation for Shawn (founded on a lukewarm romance) was also a strange way to have her decide to work at Quigley; she was already a huge horror fan, why would her long-distance boyfriend be the driving factor in her pursuit of this job? Leonard with his fetishization and possession of Boodhri felt maybe the most realistic. This book has more characters with over the top toxic obsessions than a romcom!
Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it interesting the way he explored racism and specifically anti-Blackness, just wish he had omitted the fatphobia and built up the character motives a bit more.
Anyways, despite this, I was able to complete the book because it was very unique and I wanted to see how the end turned out. I did like the structure of the novel, going back and forth between court transcripts of a murder trial and backstories of the various people involved. The scenes in the haunted house were mostly immersive, but there were also times where I had to reread scenes because their believability factor along with the explanations of the room’s setup left something to be desired. (See: leaping off a bed toward a chest of drawers and somehow grabbing the handle of a drawer, opening it, reaching inside and pulling out an envelope. This is physically impossible to do while mid-air.)
The characters felt decently well developed, some more than others, but again the believability of motives weren’t always there for me. Jaidee’s desire to assimilate to whiteness was completely realistic, however the intense obsession with Victor and rearranging of his entire life around this man, was pretty impossible to believe. Kendra’s desperation for Shawn (founded on a lukewarm romance) was also a strange way to have her decide to work at Quigley; she was already a huge horror fan, why would her long-distance boyfriend be the driving factor in her pursuit of this job? Leonard with his fetishization and possession of Boodhri felt maybe the most realistic. This book has more characters with over the top toxic obsessions than a romcom!
Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it interesting the way he explored racism and specifically anti-Blackness, just wish he had omitted the fatphobia and built up the character motives a bit more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
stevie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail