Reviews

A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs

inlandempire's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

car_theauthor's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Chilling, but definitely far from cosmic horror or lovecraftian.

walrusgroon's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

booktarot_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

dllman05'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? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

kajalhalwa's review against another edition

4.0

A very dark pair of tales with reflections on racism, war, lost history, curation, human cruelty, guilt. It was difficult to continue at times as half the narrators were morally terrible. The first one was kinda rad, second was terrible but charming, third somewhat less terrible but more disgusting than the second, final kinda cool but very grating at times with humble bragging. All narrators were quite compelling, and the lyrical writing only struck harder with the skilled audiobook performers' work.

And the imagery was something else. There are many depictions of beauty, but with the perpetual thread of hidden sins these images always have the scent of rot, of vast unknowable powers just watching amusedly till they decide to strike. There are enough emotionally appropriate yet hard to unpack leitmotifs that I expect a literature professor is writing three exam questions to be answered in essay format as I type.

As for the structure, it's curious how both stories had similar skeletons. Both managed to be be fairly original while still eerily similar enough in themes that one can tie them together in intriguing ways.

I feel like I need a hot bath after finishing this but I don't think any amount of scrubbing will get rid of the haunting, under-your-skin nature of this book.

As two of the narrators often say, "There are no endings".

superzeb77's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

garrity23's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

morgandief13020's review against another edition

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

3.5

mocaxe's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0