speakinglatin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
tishreads's review
5.0
Weirdly intriguing. Definitely a worthwhile read even if it's hard to explain.
prongsjamie's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
darkling_universal's review
4.0
Quick, compelling read. Interesting concept! Loved how the authors art within the story really punctuated the events of the book and the strange “realm” the characters were in.
grifmk01's review
4.0
This was an odd magical realism that is super dark. The ending is going to haunt me for a while. I've read quite a few upsetting books, and this one is just as gut-wrenching while still being a unique story unfolding in past and present chapters.
lekhoury's review
5.0
Lord of the Flies meets Euphoria in this ya fantasy horror novel. Cat and her friends, the outcasts, have undergone changes since waking up in this new world where the School is a living, breathing, creature (named “School”) and the doors to the outside world have disappeared. No one knows how they ended up at School, they just know they have to find a way out before they get caught by the thing out there killing them off one by one
Cat’s face has transformed into a white mask of her own hardened flesh and her best friend is slowly turning into cardboard Pinocchio. The popular kids have kept their own faces and bodies, but they’re terrified of the horrific changes happening to the other kids and that fear has made them dangerous. Interspersed between the terror of School, Cat begins having glimpses of her life before she came to School and she hopes to remember what happened to her and her classmates before it’s too late.
I’m generally not a fan of horror novels, and this one did not skimp on the gore, but I found this to be an incredibly gripping creepy read. The opening pages and the dual timelines immediately hooked me, and I finished the entire book within two days.
Please, please go read a published list of the complete trigger warnings for this book. I’ll post a spoiler-free list here. TW: violence, body horror, bullying, descriptive gore.
Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins, and Francesca Zappia for the E-ARC.
Cat’s face has transformed into a white mask of her own hardened flesh and her best friend is slowly turning into cardboard Pinocchio. The popular kids have kept their own faces and bodies, but they’re terrified of the horrific changes happening to the other kids and that fear has made them dangerous. Interspersed between the terror of School, Cat begins having glimpses of her life before she came to School and she hopes to remember what happened to her and her classmates before it’s too late.
I’m generally not a fan of horror novels, and this one did not skimp on the gore, but I found this to be an incredibly gripping creepy read. The opening pages and the dual timelines immediately hooked me, and I finished the entire book within two days.
Please, please go read a published list of the complete trigger warnings for this book. I’ll post a spoiler-free list here. TW: violence, body horror, bullying, descriptive gore.
Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins, and Francesca Zappia for the E-ARC.
sarah_shelf's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
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? No
1.5
*1.5-2
I usually reserve 1 stars for books I actively despised reading. While I would not say I despise this book, I had absolutely no investment in the characters or plot for the majority of this novel. I wanted the reasons/explanation for the creepy world of the present timeline, which we got in the last 20 pages, but I didn’t particularly care about anything else. This sounds bad, again, given the last 20 pages, which is why I’m splitting my review into my thoughts pre- and post- reveal (plot twist? ending?)
I bought this book on a whim one day, intrigued by the cover and the premise as well as a passing interest in one of Francesca Zappia’s other novels. Mostly I bought this book because it reminded me of the horror games my friends and I were obsessed with watching when we were in middle school. For the majority of the book, those vibes were all I really got out of it, plus a frustrating reminder of how YA can be such a vague genre when it caters to so many age groups. Pre-reveal I did not think I was at all part of the target audience for this novel. Honestly, I still think this novel would’ve gone over better with at least high school self (some of the more serious topics that come up later plus the gore may have been too much for middle school me.) Though the reveal does make the novel a lot more present and relevant to our society as a whole.
What I mean by the target audience is the characters, storyline, and writing were all simplistic. The past timeline, what happened before in the normal world, follows our main character Cat as she grows up and goes through high school. Cat is an outcast and a bit of a loner. She’s that weird girl with one friend and a talent at making creepy and disturbing art. Her best friend Jeffrey is a plain, chill dude who sticks by Cat through all the bullying, especially at the hands of his older brother, the attractive and ever popular Jake the jock. All of these characters feel like archetypes I’ve seen in high school media countless times and the bullying Cat suffers from, while horrendous, is still a story I’ve heard before. There was nothing interesting or different about this past timeline, no new commentary besides the dangers of bullying.
The present timeline, in the horror reflection of Cat’s high school and student body held my attention the most, but it still left a lot too be desired. If Cat’s past was just an exhibition of all the ways her life went wrong (with the exception of her relationship with Jeffrey) then Cat’s present just tries to one-up itself with the creepy student transformations and increasingly bloodier and gory-er murders. The crux in this storyline is finding out who or what is killing the changes students (the outcasts) with a minor desire to escape the prison the school has become, but that mostly falls to the wayside. It’s framed like a mystery, but it’s really not. Everyone points fingers at School’s so-called boogeyman, Laserbeams who lives in a cave of knives in the basement. So of course, it’s Laserbeams. Why? Well after a bloodbath, we reach the reveal.
As the climax of the violence occurs, Cat finally remembers what happened at the end of the past timeline: Why have this present timeline at all? What purpose does it actually serve? There are numerous times where Cat comments on how the brutal murders show her the depths of violence that human beings can commit against each other. In the end Cat is afraid that this world is in some way a punishment for her. And that’s it! What???
Why was any of the horror timeline necessary? Maybe it’s her guilt? But then why only introduce these themes at the very end of the book? The whole balance between the depravity/violence of humans and accepting/moving on is completely off. It feels like there’s no resolution at all. If you’re going to include that, why not give her and the readers time to experience that process. We hardly see any awareness or understanding seep from the memories into present Cat. They just collide at the very end and Cat says she remembers and does as the little girl asks. It’s jarring and confusing and does not fit with the direction the narrative takes nor does it fit with the split timelines we have been experiencing through the rest of the book.
I usually reserve 1 stars for books I actively despised reading. While I would not say I despise this book, I had absolutely no investment in the characters or plot for the majority of this novel. I wanted the reasons/explanation for the creepy world of the present timeline, which we got in the last 20 pages, but I didn’t particularly care about anything else. This sounds bad, again, given the last 20 pages, which is why I’m splitting my review into my thoughts pre- and post- reveal (plot twist? ending?)
I bought this book on a whim one day, intrigued by the cover and the premise as well as a passing interest in one of Francesca Zappia’s other novels. Mostly I bought this book because it reminded me of the horror games my friends and I were obsessed with watching when we were in middle school. For the majority of the book, those vibes were all I really got out of it, plus a frustrating reminder of how YA can be such a vague genre when it caters to so many age groups. Pre-reveal I did not think I was at all part of the target audience for this novel. Honestly, I still think this novel would’ve gone over better with at least high school self (some of the more serious topics that come up later plus the gore may have been too much for middle school me.) Though the reveal does make the novel a lot more present and relevant to our society as a whole.
What I mean by the target audience is the characters, storyline, and writing were all simplistic. The past timeline, what happened before in the normal world, follows our main character Cat as she grows up and goes through high school. Cat is an outcast and a bit of a loner. She’s that weird girl with one friend and a talent at making creepy and disturbing art. Her best friend Jeffrey is a plain, chill dude who sticks by Cat through all the bullying, especially at the hands of his older brother, the attractive and ever popular Jake the jock. All of these characters feel like archetypes I’ve seen in high school media countless times and the bullying Cat suffers from, while horrendous, is still a story I’ve heard before. There was nothing interesting or different about this past timeline, no new commentary besides the dangers of bullying.
The present timeline, in the horror reflection of Cat’s high school and student body held my attention the most, but it still left a lot too be desired. If Cat’s past was just an exhibition of all the ways her life went wrong (with the exception of her relationship with Jeffrey) then Cat’s present just tries to one-up itself with the creepy student transformations and increasingly bloodier and gory-er murders. The crux in this storyline is finding out who or what is killing the changes students (the outcasts) with a minor desire to escape the prison the school has become, but that mostly falls to the wayside. It’s framed like a mystery, but it’s really not. Everyone points fingers at School’s so-called boogeyman, Laserbeams who lives in a cave of knives in the basement. So of course, it’s Laserbeams. Why? Well after a bloodbath,
Spoiler
involving Laserbeams killing people to take over their bodies as well as executions from the mob of Admin (read: popular/preppy) kids as a sacrifice to escape,As the climax of the violence occurs, Cat finally remembers what happened at the end of the past timeline:
Spoiler
Laserbeams, formerly known as Ryan Lancaster, brought a gun to school and, at the very least, killed her and Jeffrey. The present horror timeline was all a nightmare because Cat died in a school shooting. On it’s own the “it was all a dream/vision/in your head” plot twist is one I hate the most because it’s really hard to pull off without invalidating the entire story and/or ending (I’m looking at you Breaking Dawn). In this instance I wouldn’t say it angered me but just left me very confused (fitting given that’s what the title means.) I can understand how Cat would be the creator of this world, but given the reveal, it doesn’t make any sense to me.Spoiler
However, a little girl shows up, a younger Cat, and tells her this is a lesson, the world isn’t fair, Cat needs to accept that she will never get her life back or answers to the violence that occurred in the real world, and she needs to move forward. So Cat walks into the light.Why was any of the horror timeline necessary?
Spoiler
Again the reveal and Cat’s moving on to whatever comes next all occurs in the last 20 pages. I guess it could be her brain’s way of processing what happened (but then why the personification of school? The transformation of the other students? A physical marker of their outcast status like they were in life? Why the brutal fight between the outcasts and the Admin kids? Yeah they were bullies but they were killed by Ryan/Laserbeams)Spoiler
Which I could kind of understand if Zappia is trying to illustrate the experience of people connected to school shootings because it is abrupt and there aren’t reasons and it must be difficult to find any sort of closure or resolution after such violence. But we have a few (very small chapters) rushing through Cat’s acceptance and her moving on in death.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Bullying, and Gun violence
stay_truetoyourshelf's review
5.0
4.5. I just… wow. It took me so long to write a review about this one. I had to have time to process, because this was a heavy book. There were so many issues represented within this book, both physical and mental. One of my favorite aspects of this book was that the main ‘villain’ (if you could call him that, though I would) was largely ignored until the climax of the ‘real’ story. This book takes a lot to read, and it is extremely dark in more ways than one. There are lots of trigger warnings listed on GoodReads, so please check those out before you read if you are easily triggered. It took me a little longer to get through this book, but once I got past the initial weirdness and confusion, I really liked it. The story, while initially unconnected, was woven beautifully and I was aching to find out what happened next. I would recommend this book to fans of creepy stories, Zappia’s other books, and those who don’t mind a dark story.