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unboxedjack's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
wreckmore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
rmnedder's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Unfortunately, this book ultimately felt way too busy. There is so much going on at all times, there are so many plot threads to follow, there are so many tertiary characters - it feels stuffed to the point of bursting and it ultimately left me feeling overwhelmed. There were so many fantastic concepts and ideas in here that could have been compelling as their own story, but since they were woven in and out of this story I felt like they were less impactful than they could have been. Honestly, this book could have been about 20% shorter without all the fluff and filler in the plot and dialogue, and it would have been better for it.
Also, all the random semi-irrelevant political tangents in here were weird. I'm a firm believer that a lot of good horror is inherently political, but this didn't feel inherent - it felt like the author was Attempting to insert politics into this book in a way that was both inelegant and ineffectual, since like 95% of it was not relevant to any plot or true character development.
Overall, not a bad book! It's got some good bones and some brilliant moments, but it kinda manages to get in its own way sometimes.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Alcohol
aparker89's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
iamastraythought's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I was afraid of this book going in to it, I hadn't read anything this daunting in a long time, closest I got was Hell Bent, and just the sheer size of it had me wary.
I'm glad I pushed through that fear. This book was spectacular. It reminded me a bit of the show Dark, a bit of Interstellar, and a tiny bit of It. I usually don't go for tales of apocalypse, but this was different, was unique in a way that kept me on my toes. I almost saw what was coming, but couldn't quite guess, and that, too, kept me intrigued.
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
maryellen's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
jaedia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Still, there were some great moments and Chuck is definitely a great writer. If you go into this one, just drop any expectations you have.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Pregnancy
honeyenbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Cancer, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
ladygray_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
spookshow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I had been seeing this book across bookstagram a lot, so I guess you could say that it was a bookstagram-made-me-buy-it book. I was super keen to get into it as I've been on a huge horror kick the last twelve odd months, and this one stood out and sounded so different to anything else I'd read. While this wasn't the book that I had hoped that it would be, it didn't disappoint me as such, it just turned out so totally different to what I was expecting and I'm still trying to work out how I feel about it. This ended up being more of a slow build cosmic horror, which isn't a bad thing by any means, I was just expecting something totally different. So I think my feeling of being slightly let down, is definitely a case of - it was me, not the book. I try not to put expectations on books before I read them because I've learned over the years that this can tend to lead to disappointment or feeling slightly let down when something doesn't turn out the way that I had envisioned in my head from the cover and blurb. Let's be honest thought, it's hard to NOT have a preconceived notion on what a book is going to be.
The story is told through mostly three alternating POVs, there are a couple of other's thrown in there throughout the book, but the three main points of view that we read through are Nath, Maddie and Oliver. The book opened on a pretty electrifying scene (pardon the pun, it was totally intended), and I was pretty intrigued by the first character that we meet. I enjoyed the characters of Oliver and Nathan the most. Nathan who is trying his hardest to not turn into the man who terrorised him his whole life, and trying to deal with that ingrained trauma to the point that he probably overanalyses pretty much every action or word that he has with his son. You can see right from the start that he is a genuine guy who managed to break the cycle. Oliver, oh Oliver, this boy was like a sweet beacon of shining light. He feels things too much, he feels EVERYTHING too much. His empathic abilities are off the charts and I couldn't even imagine feeling what he does on the daily. He just wants quite and he wants peace and kindness and I loved seeing that in such a young character. As the story progresses, with everything that happens to him and that he goes through, he never once has malicious or nefarious thoughts towards those who hurt him, he's forever wondering if there's a way that he could fix THEIR pain so that they wouldn't choose to hurt others. He came across as such a selfless character and I loved that about him. Maddie, I liked her enough, but for a huge chunk of the book she just annoyed me mostly. Yes she has trauma and yes she's trying to remember things that she knows are connected to what they're experiencing in present day, but she came across as so self centered to me, until probably the last 150 odd pages, I ended up liking her more by the end, so she did have a lot of redeeming qualities. One thing that bugged me a bit, and still kinda bugs me, is we meet a character pretty early on in the story, I was expecting this character to have a pretty pivotal role in the plot as a whole, but...they just didn't? Not in my opinion anyway. They sort of disappeared and briefly would pop in, but we mostly didn't see them again until the last part of the book and I'm still not overly sure of the point of their existence in the story. Yeah I get the overall thing with the big bad and that it wasn't just going to one person, but this character still seemed rather pointless to me, they just helped drive a part of another plot device. That's probably another "it's me not the book" things though. One thing I absolutely loved was when we meet an alternate version of a character, and my heart just swelled with how this person interacted with another character. I'm trying to be as vague as possible because I don't want to give to much away, but I feel like I'm just speaking nonsense.
The story itself was a twist and sometimes confusing one. There were a lot of strings in this story, and while, yeah, they did all kind of intertwine and have a point, there was a LOT going on. So at times I felt like I was just sitting in a giant pile of strings that were all twisted up and I couldn't find the end or the beginning and it was just a giant mess. Things did straighten out as the story progressed, as they normally do, but for a while there, it felt like a whole lot of nothing was kind of happening. Everything made sense in the end, and yes, everything had a purpose, but there is a lot of set up that is happening in this story, so be prepared for that. The pacing did fall flat for me a fair bit, which is why it took me so long to finish it I think. That and life. I was interested in the characters and where they were heading, it was just a slower paced novel than what I had anticipated it being. Again, not inherently a bad thing, just not what I was after I guess.
All in all, this was a horror novel that really stands out because it IS different to pretty much everything else I've read. And when you read as much as I do, that is refreshing. Wendig is great at writing and creating characters that you can really get behind and that you really hope will make it through the story unscathed as much as possible. I couldn't even begin to imagine how this story came to fruition as it's so complex and there is so much happening in it that I have no idea how Wendig was able to keep everything straight and tie it all up at the end in a way that was satisfying. If you're looking for a horror novel that has more than just the stereotypical cookie cutter characters, characters with flaws and depth and trauma, and a story that is just so different to most others, give this one a go. Don't let the page count or the slow pace put you off, stick with it, it really is a rewarding novel and honestly, I'm still thinking about it a month after finishing it.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol