Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Black Sheep

The middle section after the first major event of the book is a bit clumsy in structure, but this book is still a hell of a fun ride with sardonic wit, great horror, and a great reminder that you can break toxic familial cycles.

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ctara2123's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mirandalikesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked it. Great if you like funny, personal first person POV. Vesper, the main character, is quick & snarky and the story moves super quickly so it's an easy read. Fun.

I thought some of it was a little cliche and unbelievable. Mild spoiler:

So many pentagrams.

It's not doing anything deep really. Reads a tiny bit YA for me.

I would have trust issues for life if I was Vesper.

Would recommend for an easy palette cleanser

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rebroxannape's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

**spoilers**

For some reason, all dogs hated me

I like a good thriller and welcome paranormal elements in a few types of books. But I didn’t quite expect how all of this played out. I knew something was up when the bowl of nacho sauce exploded in the face of a guy who was being a jerk to her. I’ve read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, binged Stranger Things, and have seen Carrie. And any reader knows that, despite appearances, if dogs love you, you are a good person at heart, but if they don’t, there is something wrong with you. But I didn’t expect it to be so full-on. I don’t know why it came as such a surprise (not shock-there is a difference) because the clues were there barely 10% into the book

The dog…went on yapping, clawing, baring its teeth, trying to get to me. Eventually, the girl got up and moved, eyeing me as she did. “He’s never like this,” she muttered to herself as she passed by.

Vesper is smart, funny, and beautiful. Too smart and beautiful to be waitressing in a chain restaurant in New Jersey. We learn that she has been on her own for 5 years because shortly before she reached her 18th birthday, she escaped from a strict and fanatical religious cult. While growing up, she had always been indulged and treated as if she was special despite her indifferent and sometimes cruel mother. The loving father she adored had left her and the community when she was 11 and she still yearns for him. She never believed in “The Lord” and felt like an outsider. Yet, outside and free from the cult, she still is an outsider. She does not play well with others. She is lonely and unloved. So when she receives an invitation to attend the wedding of her childhood best friend who is marrying “the only boy she had ever loved”, she can’t resist returning and attending. She is welcomed back with open arms except by her mother (who is a retired “scream queen” movie star). The reader is introduced to Rosie and Brody, the bride and groom-to-be, who are like a Disney princess and her handsome prince come to life.

I wondered what had caught [Rosie’s] attention. She was peach sweet, would stop to admire a rainbow, marvel at a praying mantis.

Wait, what? A praying mantis?

Anyway, early in the book we learn that the cult that has all the hallmarks of fanatical fundamentalist Christianity is not what we have been led to believe.

“Praise to Him.” “Praise to Him.” Their god. Not mine. Never mine. “Hail Satan!” “Hail Satan!” “Hail Satan,” I muttered, infusing my tone with sarcasm to curb my nerves.

Even though I was not surprised, it was shocking to see it in print. And she learns that her father was not like herself: a rebel who left because he didn’t “believe” like the rest of them, but the leader whom the rest of the community worships as Satan himself.

It was him. My father. “Look at you,” he said. “My girl.” “What are you doing here?” “I’m here to see you,” he said. Then he gestured around the room. “And my friends. To join the party.” “Praise be!” someone shouted. “Hail Satan!” “Uh . . .” I looked over my shoulder to my mother, who blinked rapidly, fake lashes aflutter. “Everyone,” he said. “Please, rise. It is so good to see you all. It’s been too long. I . . . have been busy. Very, very, very busy.”

After this big reveal halfway through the novel, I was hoping, like Vesper, that her father and his followers were delusional. The clues in the beginning that she has “powers” she is not aware of and an alien or strange nature that repels dogs (and probably cats if there were any in this book) were just one of those things.

I was eager to dismiss it all—I didn’t believe in powers or magic or gods or any of that pixie-dust bullshit. I never had, and I refused to start because of my delusional father. I understood that belief was a slippery slope. If you wanted to believe in something, opened yourself up, suddenly you were seeing signs, assigning meaning, taking coincidences as proof. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.

But finally, the truth is revealed and is impossible to deny. She is not just in a big drug-induced hallucination. She is Satan’s spawn. “Lucifer Junior”, “The Harbinger”, The Princess of Hell. The Antichrist. A Reluctant Antichrist, but The Antichrist nonetheless. And her role is as a sacrificial lamb to initiate the Apocalypse and destroy the world the non-Satanists have ruined (Climate change and inflation, it is clarified) leaving no survivors except Satan’s true followers. But Vesper, with a little help from someone unexpected, fights back.

This book did live up to the hype. It was horrific, irreverent, sharp and funny. “The Princess Diaries meets Dante’s Inferno”* I loved Vesper and her voice. But the book did not address the elephant in the room. And that is, that if Satan really does exist, so does God. If the book had gone deeper and Vesper had had that revelation and dealt with it, the book could have gotten a higher rating from me.

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tiddlerrr's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I bought this book on a whim to keep me occupied for an afternoon train journey, which it succeeded in doing. However, I think it struggles to decide whether it is a comedy-horror or not, and personally I didn’t find it particularly scary/horrifying. After going into this blind about anything that happened I do think that’s the best way to experience it, as it is VERY predictable in places. The MC is also not likeable and I don’t think she is meant to be, however all of the progression/development/action seems to happen at the end whereas the first two thirds are largely filler. It was a decent read and kept me occupied for an afternoon, but I don’t think I’d ever read it again.

I do also think the satanic cult “twist” was a bit overdone and would have been scarier if it was a Christian cult or something else entirely. Lucifer being her absent father felt very tropey, and as a someone who is normally lover of tropes, I mean that in a bad way.

I also didn’t really understand the point of the epilogue, the whole thing just kind of…ends.

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kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Excellent body horror

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louiepotterbook's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

2.75

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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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dark medium-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

3.0

Repetitive. Pacing issues. Didn't quite make sense. Protagonist is characterized as tough and difficult, but there's really no evidence of her being outwardly hostile (though she is often judgy, resentful and sullen internally) or fighting what she's supposed to do at pretty much any turn, other than leaving the faith and

dressing inappropriately at her cousin's wedding to passive-agressively outshine her (but even then, she pulls her punches and brings a cardigan to cover up)

. If this is supposed to be happening (a la being a lamb)... It's not particularly impactful or clear bc it's not consistent; she's constantly described as being a massive bitch who doesn't think about others' feelings or expectations, but she almost never acts out

until the final conflict

. CW for

cults and religious abuse

, which I didn't see available in the section for that.

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