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literary_liv's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
katiekitkatbookfiend's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.0
It was a real page turner but I did skip a couple of pages here and there as the descriptions were pretty graphic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Torture, and Medical content
mykes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
um_erca's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Weird, strange, difficult to sum up. I’m still not sure if I liked it but I finished it so there’s something there bc I’m not against DNFing books. Would not rush to read it but also would support anyone wanting to try it for themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Violence
splendidduchess's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder
kaydot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Rape
gillianalice's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was recommended to me by a friend, and so I dived in without really knowing what it was about. I mean, it has the word "library" in the title, so it's going to be cozy, right? It occurred to me pretty quickly that I should have thought about the kind of books my friend usually reads rather than the title of this one.
That being said, once I got used to the brutal violence and got my feet under me, I was fully invested in the story. I didn't much care for the descriptions of the many ways David liked to kill people, or the various abuses inflicted on the librarians by their father, or Margaret's penchant for talking to decapitated heads, but it was worth reading that to get to the payoff at the end. Watching this insane story come together was incredible.
That being said, once I got used to the brutal violence and got my feet under me, I was fully invested in the story. I didn't much care for the descriptions of the many ways David liked to kill people, or the various abuses inflicted on the librarians by their father, or Margaret's penchant for talking to decapitated heads, but it was worth reading that to get to the payoff at the end. Watching this insane story come together was incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual violence
somelitreference's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-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
Interesting concepts abound, but a lot of loose threads in the world building.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence
zephyrlestrange's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Coming back to properly review this book because I needed a few days to recover from reading something so incredibly perfect, it’s cemented a spot in my top ten of all time - along with Clive Barker’s Books of The Art series, Hiron Enne’s Leech and Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore if that gives you an idea of my tastes.
Sprawling doesn’t do it justice - the sheer size and scope of the story is so incredibly impressive for an author’s first book. Every character has an opportunity to evolve and grow and in such a way I feel like this should be mandatory reading for those wanting to write.
It was in all ways the perfect balance of awe inspiring beauty, nail biting dread and bald faced horrific violence - nothing was gratuitous and it all added to the tension of the story. I will say the end of the book feels a little rushed but I could not imagine trying to pull all the threads of this tapestry together with such grace.
If you like strong female leads, sci-fi, mythology, language, absurdism, terror, violence, revenge, you will love this book. 1000000/10
Sprawling doesn’t do it justice - the sheer size and scope of the story is so incredibly impressive for an author’s first book. Every character has an opportunity to evolve and grow and in such a way I feel like this should be mandatory reading for those wanting to write.
It was in all ways the perfect balance of awe inspiring beauty, nail biting dread and bald faced horrific violence - nothing was gratuitous and it all added to the tension of the story. I will say the end of the book feels a little rushed but I could not imagine trying to pull all the threads of this tapestry together with such grace.
If you like strong female leads, sci-fi, mythology, language, absurdism, terror, violence, revenge, you will love this book. 1000000/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and War
beanjoles's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I’m finding it challenging to rate this book. I did really enjoy the story overall and was glued to the page at several points, but the execution just wasn’t there in the end. There was a lot I liked and a lot that didn’t work for me. Let’s dig in. Spoilers abound.
Technical comments:
The author did a great job of imbuing each POV character with a distinctive voice, despite writing in the third person. I was impressed with how well these came across. That said, my expectations for the story’s tone and cadence were set by the initial chapters following Carolyn. The shift to other characters was jarring. It took me out of the story so completely that I had a hard time connecting with or accepting some of the wilder plot points. (Steve’s entire escape from the dead one’s house to the vet with Naga being a notable example.) This is an area where I feel that the author’s strengths in giving the characters distinct voices actually did the story a disservice.
On a related note, I h a t e d the way that spoken non-standard English dialects were written. (Thinking mainly of Erwin’s chapters, but also Steve’s in some places.) It’s off-putting to have entire chapters dedicated to eloquently and explicitly describing ritualized child abuse in the same book as characters who say, “lissen,” “ah’ite,” “g’wan,” “daaaayum” (four As, I checked!), and “da fuck.” Like, it felt disrespectful of the gravity of the tale because it did not feel authentic in the least. If this stylistic choice had been pulled off better then, yeah, sure, do it. But the execution was not good and got worse as the book progressed.
Otherwise, the prose was fairly strong and moving. Well, Carolyn’s parts were. I understand why we couldn’t follow her the whole way through, but would that we could’ve. :’)
Some disjointed commentary on plotting and characterization:
I really enjoyed the mythological fantasy elements, like the backstory of the king of the lions and his daughter. They went a long way toward fleshing out the world in which Carolyn, Father, and the other librarians are operating.
I would have liked a bit more from the confrontation/passing of the torch with Father at the end. It felt like he was given a pass on his HORRIFIC abuses of these kids (and, honestly, for what! Carolyn killed them all in the end anyway) and just got to be like, “I’m sorry I tortured you and your friends for 15 years but it was for ~ your greater good ~ ok.” And Carolyn is just like, “Yeah ok have fun in your new universe!” ????
The pacing was a bit uneven in the middle section of the book and felt almost frenetic by the end. It still mostly worked for me, though. Steve becoming the new sun was a nice and fitting end for his character arc.
Technical comments:
The author did a great job of imbuing each POV character with a distinctive voice, despite writing in the third person. I was impressed with how well these came across. That said, my expectations for the story’s tone and cadence were set by the initial chapters following Carolyn. The shift to other characters was jarring. It took me out of the story so completely that I had a hard time connecting with or accepting some of the wilder plot points. (Steve’s entire escape from the dead one’s house to the vet with Naga being a notable example.) This is an area where I feel that the author’s strengths in giving the characters distinct voices actually did the story a disservice.
On a related note, I h a t e d the way that spoken non-standard English dialects were written. (Thinking mainly of Erwin’s chapters, but also Steve’s in some places.) It’s off-putting to have entire chapters dedicated to eloquently and explicitly describing ritualized child abuse in the same book as characters who say, “lissen,” “ah’ite,” “g’wan,” “daaaayum” (four As, I checked!), and “da fuck.” Like, it felt disrespectful of the gravity of the tale because it did not feel authentic in the least. If this stylistic choice had been pulled off better then, yeah, sure, do it. But the execution was not good and got worse as the book progressed.
Otherwise, the prose was fairly strong and moving. Well, Carolyn’s parts were. I understand why we couldn’t follow her the whole way through, but would that we could’ve. :’)
Some disjointed commentary on plotting and characterization:
I really enjoyed the mythological fantasy elements, like the backstory of the king of the lions and his daughter. They went a long way toward fleshing out the world in which Carolyn, Father, and the other librarians are operating.
I would have liked a bit more from the confrontation/passing of the torch with Father at the end. It felt like he was given a pass on his HORRIFIC abuses of these kids (and, honestly, for what! Carolyn killed them all in the end anyway) and just got to be like, “I’m sorry I tortured you and your friends for 15 years but it was for ~ your greater good ~ ok.” And Carolyn is just like, “Yeah ok have fun in your new universe!” ????
The pacing was a bit uneven in the middle section of the book and felt almost frenetic by the end. It still mostly worked for me, though. Steve becoming the new sun was a nice and fitting end for his character arc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use