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thebakersbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
So, I should not have read this book. I saw that Lili (USOM) had said it was hard to give comp titles for this, but if she had to choose one, it would be Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. I know lots of folks loved Middlegame and that it was a very well-written book, but it wasn't my cup of tea. The comparison between that book and this one was accurate as far as tone, mood, and (for lack of a better word) pretentiousness; I didn't care for it at all. I'm going to try not to let that influence my review (if I did, this would likely have been a 1-star read for me) and rather evaluate the book on its merits alone.
First, I'd like to say that while I didn't especially enjoy Middlegame due to the complexity of the plot structure and some of the terminology/jargon that I just didn't understand, I do trust McGuire to largely avoid including ableism, fatphobia, queerphobia, and racism in her books. Scott Hawkins? Not so much. This book was everything that didn't appeal to me about Middlegame with the additions of ableist terminology throughout, completely unnecessary homophobia by some characters, and a fair bit of mild fatphobia and racism as well. There were no openly queer characters in this book, and honestly, thank goodness for that. I don't want this author writing my community.
I'm aware that the content of a book and the things fictional characters do and say don't necessarily represent the views of the author. However, things like describing an Indian man's skin as "caramel colored"; making it so the only fat characters are bit roles, criminals, and/or die immediately; and having (unsympathetic) characters spew graphic homophobia? Those are authorial choices. And those were only a handful of examples; I could give several more in each category.
As I'm writing this, I actually knocked my rating down a star because this was a long book and I forgot, by the time I was through with it, how angry the things mentioned above had made me. I'm also having a hard time coming up with redeeming facts about the story, characters, etc.; I suppose the plot's complexity could interest some readers, as well as the amoral/villain-arc main character who was nevertheless somewhat sympathetic. The atmosphere and worldbuilding left a lot to be desired. I feel like a lot of the "magic" system was handwaved using obscure terminology, but it didn't seem consistent within itself. Basically, this felt like fantasy by an author who dislikes the fantasy genre and who used jargon and elision to avoid developing the setting well.
If you got this far into my review, you've probably guessed that I do not recommend this book. I'd also be reluctant to read anything else by this author based on the range of baked-in bigotries I covered above. Also, do male authors know that having a female character get raped isn't the only way of giving her trauma and a motivation for revenge? Just wondering. Anyway, go read Middlegame if you haven't, but look elsewhere for more of that vibe if you end up enjoying it.
Content notes: gore and violence; rape; child abduction and child abuse; violent homophobia and homophobic slurs; mention of wartime violence against civilians; suicide by hanging, poison, and self-immolation; mild cannibalism; animal death and graphic gore involving a dead dog
First, I'd like to say that while I didn't especially enjoy Middlegame due to the complexity of the plot structure and some of the terminology/jargon that I just didn't understand, I do trust McGuire to largely avoid including ableism, fatphobia, queerphobia, and racism in her books. Scott Hawkins? Not so much. This book was everything that didn't appeal to me about Middlegame with the additions of ableist terminology throughout, completely unnecessary homophobia by some characters, and a fair bit of mild fatphobia and racism as well. There were no openly queer characters in this book, and honestly, thank goodness for that. I don't want this author writing my community.
I'm aware that the content of a book and the things fictional characters do and say don't necessarily represent the views of the author. However, things like describing an Indian man's skin as "caramel colored"; making it so the only fat characters are bit roles, criminals, and/or die immediately; and having (unsympathetic) characters spew graphic homophobia? Those are authorial choices. And those were only a handful of examples; I could give several more in each category.
As I'm writing this, I actually knocked my rating down a star because this was a long book and I forgot, by the time I was through with it, how angry the things mentioned above had made me. I'm also having a hard time coming up with redeeming facts about the story, characters, etc.; I suppose the plot's complexity could interest some readers, as well as the amoral/villain-arc main character who was nevertheless somewhat sympathetic. The atmosphere and worldbuilding left a lot to be desired. I feel like a lot of the "magic" system was handwaved using obscure terminology, but it didn't seem consistent within itself. Basically, this felt like fantasy by an author who dislikes the fantasy genre and who used jargon and elision to avoid developing the setting well.
If you got this far into my review, you've probably guessed that I do not recommend this book. I'd also be reluctant to read anything else by this author based on the range of baked-in bigotries I covered above. Also, do male authors know that having a female character get raped isn't the only way of giving her trauma and a motivation for revenge? Just wondering. Anyway, go read Middlegame if you haven't, but look elsewhere for more of that vibe if you end up enjoying it.
Content notes: gore and violence; rape; child abduction and child abuse; violent homophobia and homophobic slurs; mention of wartime violence against civilians; suicide by hanging, poison, and self-immolation; mild cannibalism; animal death and graphic gore involving a dead dog
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Homophobia, Suicide, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Rape, and Death of parent
molly200's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
What the fuck did I just read??? That was incredible. Fucked up, sure, but incredible. I sort of grew to like the characters in a way. Tbh, I think this is the only book where I can safely say my favourite character was a fucking lion.... Holy shit. I don't think I'll ever read anything quite like it. It had the sort of loose ends type feel to it that I love in books. Also, yay for lovecraftian/cosmic horror! And also a bit of comedy? I don't know. This book defies genre, words, classification of any kind. I'd even go so far as to say it's a masterpiece.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia and Grief
yavin_iv's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Grief, and Car accident
dovedozen's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
This book was written by a man whose blog says he's fostered a bunch of dogs, but who I can only infer never learned to trim their nails and also seems to think lions are more interesting, because they're epic or whatever. Also, the racism is WILDLY out of line and VERY OBVIOUSLY comes from the author's entirely unexamined history of personal mass media consumption. The hyperviolent rapist is a man who wears a tutu for most of the book, because haha, get it, he's ~not human~ and doesn't understand which clothes go with which gender, lol? Oh, also, it's dropped halfway through the book in a throwaway line that he's black. Also the tutu came from the childhood bedroom closet of a gay man, I guess? I wish this dude didn't know what gay people were. I also wish he didn't know what dogs were, to be perfectly honest with you.
Listen to me. The pacing is awful. Scenes that don't matter are explained in excruciating detail and the lore is nothing but a series of vague gestures towards the CONCEPT of real-life mythological systems. The main character is bait-and-switched from the Woman Who Might Be Losing Her Humanity the blurb tells you about to the author's epic quipping self-insert everyman, who has the same conversation with rando after rando about how HE KNOWS, RIGHT, what's happening is REALLY weird but he has a gun and will shoot them if they don't help him fail to advance the plot. This is a book written by a middle-aged man who has seen a lot of movies and reads Neil Gaiman sometimes. Whoever edited it didn't do shit, because it barely hangs together as a coherent narrative at all. Instead it reads like the idle dark fantasy of a guy who had some free time to write one book, one time. It's a story that uses sexual assault and graphic descriptions of violence to ask the reader "wouldn't it be fucked up if" and it doesn't even have the decency to do it in a way that's well-written enough to be cathartic. It's not even that weird. It's, like, an intensely boring person's idea of what a weird book is probably like, they think.
Mount Char is nothing. It's a desperately sad waste of my ears and brain cells. It's fodder for my lifelong vendetta against Artists Who Are Just Some Guy. It's "John Dies at the End" for assholes. Whoever wrote the blurb for it is some kind of chaos genius and I hope they were paid accordingly, because if you'd asked me to describe this novel concisely, in a way that might trick people with brains into taking a chance on it, I would have simply said "no, thank you".
Fuck this book.
Listen to me. The pacing is awful. Scenes that don't matter are explained in excruciating detail and the lore is nothing but a series of vague gestures towards the CONCEPT of real-life mythological systems. The main character is bait-and-switched from the Woman Who Might Be Losing Her Humanity the blurb tells you about to the author's epic quipping self-insert everyman, who has the same conversation with rando after rando about how HE KNOWS, RIGHT, what's happening is REALLY weird but he has a gun and will shoot them if they don't help him fail to advance the plot. This is a book written by a middle-aged man who has seen a lot of movies and reads Neil Gaiman sometimes. Whoever edited it didn't do shit, because it barely hangs together as a coherent narrative at all. Instead it reads like the idle dark fantasy of a guy who had some free time to write one book, one time. It's a story that uses sexual assault and graphic descriptions of violence to ask the reader "wouldn't it be fucked up if" and it doesn't even have the decency to do it in a way that's well-written enough to be cathartic. It's not even that weird. It's, like, an intensely boring person's idea of what a weird book is probably like, they think.
Mount Char is nothing. It's a desperately sad waste of my ears and brain cells. It's fodder for my lifelong vendetta against Artists Who Are Just Some Guy. It's "John Dies at the End" for assholes. Whoever wrote the blurb for it is some kind of chaos genius and I hope they were paid accordingly, because if you'd asked me to describe this novel concisely, in a way that might trick people with brains into taking a chance on it, I would have simply said "no, thank you".
Fuck this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
jayisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
I’m not sure where to begin with this book. The Library at Mount Char is weird. A lot happens that will make you experience a range of emotions which, admittedly, tend to be unpleasant. It certainly fits into the horror genre for disturbing imagery, but I wouldn’t necessarily call this a “scary” book (though I’d take my opinion on this with a grain of salt; it takes a lot for me to find something terrifying).
It really wasn’t until the second half of the book that I felt any kind of investment in the novel and understand what was actually going on. Until then, I found the first half incredibly slow and frustrating. The premise of the novel itself was interesting, especially for knowledge seekers who would love to be true masters of one particular topic. The idea that you pour through every imaginable book for that one topic has its appeal to a certain crowd, though the question is at what cost? If Hawkins could have revealed a little more of that at the start of the novel, I think I would have felt more invested from the start.
I felt that there was a bit of deus ex machina happening towards the end of the novel, but not to an extreme that would have made me hate this book. I still had questions even after finishing, but I get the impression that Hawkins wants his readers to sit in that unease in all the strangeness that happened in the novel.
I hesitate to recommend this to anyone, not because it’s bad, but because it’s definitely for a specific audience, which I think I wasn’t exactly part of. If you’re queasy with graphic descriptions of violence, I’d strongly recommend avoiding this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide