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hookerkitty's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Physical abuse, and War
crusoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Negatives. (Spoilers for the ending.)
Quote. "The way it blew over was like this: on the day I punched her in the stomach, while she was staring at me in shock and pain, I realized that the only way to escape the trap i was in was to stop existing, to become someone else.
So I turned myself inside out, and that was who I stayed until the day Lucy tripped me on the stairs. On that day I snapped back in midair, although my body stayed the same. There was more than one way to perform my family's trick, the inversion of selves, the different skin."
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Gore, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Abandonment
nytephoenyx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy and War
Author is transgender and identifies as nonbinary, using they/them pronouns. Certain editions of their books use their deadname (like this one - StoryGraph has it right, but the physical copy was printed with the author’s deadname).starreddust's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia and Fire/Fire injury
yaoipaddle's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
It took me until about a quarter of the way through the book to keep wanting to read and about 40% of the way through I really got into it and zoomed through. The book starts slow and a lot of stuff is kind of sprinkled throughout. It feels semi worth it in the end to me, but I still think the beginning was really rough.
I'd recommend this book if you like gothic stories and elements of fantasy. If you like Gillian Flynn books where everyone kind of sucks but there's still intrigue and enjoyment to get even from the characters that piss you off.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia
ticktock's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
debussy's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
The vibes and visuals were great, and the concept was on point, but the confused plot and character choices were just ruinous and made it an unsatisfying experience.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide attempt
michaelion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I didn't like that for so long it all felt confusing. It felt like something was missing, like something was supposed to be between the lines, but not in the metaphorical sense of a book; like there was literally supposed something in between the spacing of the sentences that was missing. I figure, it's a horror/thriller type book, so maybe other horror/thrillers are like that, and even though I knew answers would come at the end it wasn't so frustrating that I wanted to stop. But I did want to add that note in my review.
I also personally don't like when people don't answer questions, and that happens throughout the book. It works as a plot device when you wanna do the misunderstanding / miscommunication type trope, and again I knew all the lore questions would be answered when the pages were getting really thin, but many if not all the characters except Arthur are aloof to their core. Stubbornly aloof. Like it made me dislike the characters a bit more.
Even still I breezed through 200 pages before I realized the sun was coming up again.
Of the handful of things I disliked, that all is made up for in how much I loved the writing. The writing really did something for me. I would love to read another story in this world, even if it's not including any of these same characters. I'm gonna read Szabo's next book. They've got a real craft for words.
In my journal notes i simply wrote "VORE?!?!!" idk leave it to a fellow nonbinary to write vore as a character detail!
I removed .25 because of Arthur. We could've had a happy polyamorous couple living it up in the 1910s with no family curse but no! How can you be so miserable you think "Damn, I gotta strangle that baby." And not even because he thought Rhys was dangerous, just because he was... sad. :/
The fact that Grandmere was centuries old and a supernatural creature and somehow still homophobic?! Girl. She got what was coming to her. Her other major sin was, of course, being French.
I wanna buy this book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, and War
nutm3g's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War