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jan_coco_day's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
As a work of literary fiction about grief, transformation, and a mythological journey to a remote land inhabited by vengeful witches, this book should be my jam. But I couldn't get into this one. That is entirely due to a personal character trait that I brought to the book as a reader, not to the book itself.
The writing is gorgeous, and the book leans into emotion, eschewing narrative structure at times in favor of haunting atmospheres of what it feels like to swim/drown in a sea/river of mourning.
The writing is gorgeous, and the book leans into emotion, eschewing narrative structure at times in favor of haunting atmospheres of what it feels like to swim/drown in a sea/river of mourning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Medical trauma
Minor: Self harm and Suicide
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Colonisation
mmccombs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book much at all. I do really appreciate what it was doing, and the writing was quite beautiful. However, I found myself floundering (lol) with the plot, I couldn’t grab hold of anything to ground me so I really struggled to get anything out of it. Love what it had to say about grief, but I think this could have been more effective as a short story, it felt too unruly for me to follow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Murder