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yoursisterscanary's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I didn’t love this book but did appreciate that the horror concepts were very original. I read this for a queer book club so obviously I enjoyed that the main characters were lgbtq+. Unfortunately, the romance felt shoveled in. The interactions felt very authentic which was refreshing in a genre where queer characters tend to be written by white cishet women. It was a little hard to believe the interactions were of teenagers and not older men though. Such confidence!
The author seemed to be making some veiled points about internalized homophobia and shame. He touches on what amounted to Authenticity Theory, exploring if we are who we think we are or does the self lie in the eyes of others. Can an authentic self exist without acknowledgement of others. As a gender queer person this concept cuts me deep. There is no true physical expression of something society does not acknowledge other than a few forms of expressions that box you in. The main character seemed to be playing with this concept with fem expression with makeup. I wish this had been developed more but maybe that’s a lot to ask from a YA book.
I hope this author writes more horror with deeper developed magical systems featuring queer characters.
The author seemed to be making some veiled points about internalized homophobia and shame. He touches on what amounted to Authenticity Theory, exploring if we are who we think we are or does the self lie in the eyes of others. Can an authentic self exist without acknowledgement of others. As a gender queer person this concept cuts me deep. There is no true physical expression of something society does not acknowledge other than a few forms of expressions that box you in. The main character seemed to be playing with this concept with fem expression with makeup. I wish this had been developed more but maybe that’s a lot to ask from a YA book.
I hope this author writes more horror with deeper developed magical systems featuring queer characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Child death
directorpurry's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death and Vomit
jazhandz's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
Spiders come up frequentlybites_of_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Beholder is strange from the very beginning. We follow Athan, young, beautiful, trying to survive in NYC with his grandmother. Athan has managed to have connections with powerful and influential people who throw parties in penthouses and spend a lot of money on art. It is at one of these parties that everything goes wrong when he finds himself the only survivor in what seems to be a mass killing spree. Here's when he also meets Dom who seems to know more than he says but captivates Athan with his kindness. Athan and Dom now are trying to figure out how to stop these deaths and Athan also finds out more about himself and why his grandma warned him against looking into mirrors and getting lost in them...
All in all, a great horror story, very unique that will leave you wary of mirrors and wondering about what really goes on in the darker parts of rich people's lives and what they can get away with.
All in all, a great horror story, very unique that will leave you wary of mirrors and wondering about what really goes on in the darker parts of rich people's lives and what they can get away with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
servemethesky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
3.75
I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting and compelling read. It was my first time reading Ryan La Sala's work, though I'd heard of him before via TikTok. The premise was fascinating, and you're thrown into a whirlwind from the get go. After the opening scene at the party, the first 15-20% of feel like a lot of trying to get the characters and the reader on board and started to drag. Okay, Dom is mysterious and has a plan but won't tell Athan. Athan wants to find his yiayia. Cool, we get it.
From there, it was a page turner. The whole thing feels very cinematic. I rarely cast characters in my head, but I did while reading this. Uhler is 100% Rainn Wilson. If you read this book, please picture Rainn Wilson in the Uhler role. 10/10 do recommend doing that. I haven't seen Inception in over a decade, but it also gave me Inception vibes. In the sense that you're like "woah... is this deep? This is SO deep. No, it's just unnecessarily confusing. Or is it deep?"
I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning discussing the pandemic, feeling trapped, and dealing with OCD. It was helpful for framing the story itself. At times the story felt a bit heavy handed in how it dwelled on those themes of can we trust ourselves, are we inherently good, look away from the void that's calling to you, etc. I almost wish it had engaged with those themes more deeply instead of repeating them and then focusing on plot so much.
One big issue I had with this book was the choice to write sections in the second person. It's SO rare to encounter a "you" voice in a novel, and for good reason. It's really difficult to pull off! Every time I got to the second person voice, I was like "huh???" I don't think it was effectively used here--I found it created more confusion instead of a powerful effect.
Similarly, while the spider-beauty-beast thing was a cool concept, it really did feel more like a concept than anything else. It was so vague and abstract that it was hard to picture it, especially in the climactic scene at the end. I felt more confusion trying to keep up with what was going on than horror or surprise at how things played out.
I loved the relationship between Dom and Athan and enjoyed watching them banter, get to know each other, and start to fall for each other. It was delightful. So of course I loathed the ending. I hate when a main character sacrifices themself for seemingly no good reason. And the epilogue scene in the mirror of the bar bathroom was too cheesy for my taste.
I'm intrigued by La Sala's work and would be curious to read more in the future. Folks who love YA, cult-y stuff, art world things, fantasy/surrealism, and queer lit would likely love this one!
This was an interesting and compelling read. It was my first time reading Ryan La Sala's work, though I'd heard of him before via TikTok. The premise was fascinating, and you're thrown into a whirlwind from the get go. After the opening scene at the party, the first 15-20% of feel like a lot of trying to get the characters and the reader on board and started to drag. Okay, Dom is mysterious and has a plan but won't tell Athan. Athan wants to find his yiayia. Cool, we get it.
From there, it was a page turner. The whole thing feels very cinematic. I rarely cast characters in my head, but I did while reading this. Uhler is 100% Rainn Wilson. If you read this book, please picture Rainn Wilson in the Uhler role. 10/10 do recommend doing that. I haven't seen Inception in over a decade, but it also gave me Inception vibes. In the sense that you're like "woah... is this deep? This is SO deep. No, it's just unnecessarily confusing. Or is it deep?"
I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning discussing the pandemic, feeling trapped, and dealing with OCD. It was helpful for framing the story itself. At times the story felt a bit heavy handed in how it dwelled on those themes of can we trust ourselves, are we inherently good, look away from the void that's calling to you, etc. I almost wish it had engaged with those themes more deeply instead of repeating them and then focusing on plot so much.
One big issue I had with this book was the choice to write sections in the second person. It's SO rare to encounter a "you" voice in a novel, and for good reason. It's really difficult to pull off! Every time I got to the second person voice, I was like "huh???" I don't think it was effectively used here--I found it created more confusion instead of a powerful effect.
Similarly, while the spider-beauty-beast thing was a cool concept, it really did feel more like a concept than anything else. It was so vague and abstract that it was hard to picture it, especially in the climactic scene at the end. I felt more confusion trying to keep up with what was going on than horror or surprise at how things played out.
I loved the relationship between Dom and Athan and enjoyed watching them banter, get to know each other, and start to fall for each other. It was delightful. So of course
I'm intrigued by La Sala's work and would be curious to read more in the future. Folks who love YA, cult-y stuff, art world things, fantasy/surrealism, and queer lit would likely love this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder