Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Everything the Darkness Eats

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

157 reviews

lou_magoo's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

There was a lot of potential but it seemed the writing style fell flat towards the middle which made the graphic and intense scenes somewhat unbearable… I see where he was going and I think the story was there but it could have used some more time to be refined and have depth added. It seemed there was a big and deep story of which only the skimmed top was presented.

The brutally direct and crass writing style is also not something of my wheelhouse, personally. I like my dark writing to be whimsical and poetic, it makes the pain something with which I can emphasize more easily. But these characters seemed somewhat one-note and ill-defined when it came to trying to understand their decision making. There were also sensitive components that I felt deserved more tact with their delivery.

Potential was there but this one feel short for me.

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samohtj's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

1.25

I wanted very badly for this book to be good. I am aware of the vast difference of opinion regarding Eric Larocca's work, and I wanted to believe it was all overblown that it couldn't be that bad. (Also, because I got a few of his short story collections on discount, but not enough of a discount for them to suck, knowwhatimean).

Folks, this book was not good. From the first chapters, I was frustrated and disappointed with all kinds of decisions the author was making. The best way I can describe it is Cringe in an unhelpful way. So many times, I paused my audiobook to rant to no-one, or to simply exclaim "Stupid!" to my empty car. Characters constantly took out-of-pocket or ridiculous steps, accomplishing nothing but inching them towards the contrived conclusion on which the author had already decided.

It wasn't just the plot or the characters – the prose pissed me off at many points as well. Metaphors that sound nice but make no sense, bizarre internal tangents that make NO sense, and an incomprehensible confluence of themes that don't seem to have any coherent connection. Is this book about grief? Hubris? Self-hatred? Homophobia? Mommy issues? Impossible to say.

So many things are included that lead nowhere. One entire narrative string is abruptly dry-erased away in the last act, making me feel like I wasted my time, especially since that was the arc with all the graphic homophobia and SA. Add the fact the villain seemed to dress like satanic Willy Wonka while arousing absolutely zero suspicion in this small suburban town IN THE 90s, and the YouTube-anime-dub performance of the narrator, I did not enjoy one thing about this book. Poo.

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stardustlex's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

What was this book about? idk. Did I enjoy it? idk.

I found the volume of rape and/or sexual assault scenes a little troubling, especially since there was very little allusion to them throughout the book or the summary, so I felt a little blindsided by them.

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cjbooker's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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

5.0

Beautifully horrifying! Didn't know whether to cry or re-read it the moment I finished

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tessameh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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? No

3.0

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nightoscphere's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-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

0.25

............ okay so, i get the low ratings!

ok so after my research, i heard the author was pretty disappointed with how ppl reacted to the book. and my response to that? why are u surprised?? [boss and ceo voice] dont act shocked!

im sorry but u cant put on the ryan murphy wig and be shocked when u r treated like ryan murphy! reading this book was giving me flashbacks to seeing my sister & mom watch ahs: asylum in the way that i witnessed a queer writer tortue their queer character bc of their queerness. except that character actually had a three dimensional personality and was vital to the plot. malik and his husband? are Not!

i get that (as ive gleamed from ppl who enjoyed the book/the writer) the violence isnt an endorsement, that it's kind of like a takedown of "what doesnt kill you makes a stronger" bc what doesnt kill you just.... irrevocably scars u physically and mentally for life. u arent stronger for living through the worst shit imaginable, ur just a person who now has to figure out how to keep on living. or maybe it's more about the place of god and humanity — how it's fellow humans who are the arbiters of good and evil, of devils and angels, of who gets deliverance and who gets cast to hell. but that all falls apart to me when it comes to the characterization of malik.

ive seen some ppl comment on how real the characters are, how complex both leads are allowed to be — but i object on the account of malik. i get why ghost is the way he is, i even get heart though we never read his pov, but malik? a muslim, queer, small town cop? is reduced to these factors and not even in any sort of interesting way.

i assume that malik is a person of colour, but that's solely bc of his name and background. bc race is not mentioned directly or inadvertently *at all* in this gook. and im not expecting a white author to unpack the nuances of racism, but to ham over the head how disability, faith, and queerness colour these leads lives.... but race is just? a nonfactor? to have a muslim character with a name like naseem malik that acknowledges his queerness, acknowledges his upbringing, (kind of) acknowledges his relationship to islam, but not race? ESPECIALLY in a small town? as a COP!!? in BIG TWENTY TWENTY THREE?!? like... even if he IS white, would he not have some sort of story about the preconceived notions his name holds?!? like?!? NOT EVEN ONCE?!!! im sorry but I CALL BULLSHIT'

it would be one thing if malik and his husband had gone through these horrors and we had been let into their interiority... but we dont. ghost is given so much. even HEART is given a layered backstory. but what do we know about malik beyond his identity? his parents died young? he was raised by his loving grandparents? hes... angry? okay... what else?

i can say heart had his suits, his way with words, his musings on creator vs creation. ghost had tangible grief, had a spiritual embodiment of his worst thoughts, had an unwanted solitude that coloured his every move. but malik? was just a gay, muslim, cop, who was a victim of the absolute worse of bigotry. and so was his husband. and then they just.... get a magic memory wipe from GOD (YES ACTUAL GOD) and live happily ever after?!?!

which yes, was granted SOLELY bc GHOST asked for it but. that's it. thats all. malik doesnt have a role in the mysterious disappearances, or connects with any of the named characters or has anything to do at all with the magic of the story beyond being a worthy but random benefactor of a miracle! which may have been the point but it's a stupid point!

i tried this out bc i like certain cosmic horror stories (im a nope (2022) and archive81 audio drama supremacist after all), but not in this fashion. especially not when meaningless violence is at the heart of it. even if the meaning in the meaningless violence is that this shit IS meaningless/overkill, that simply bores me. anyone can torture some gays!! but a the very LEAST explore the interiority of ALL your leads, ESPECIALLY your (assumed) leads of colour! dont reduce them to plot devices and get shocked when ppl r mad they're reduced to plot devices! esp when treated so violently like.... ur gonna have haters! embrace the girls n gays who got it and if u want a wider readership, then learn from the girls n gays who didnt!

bc again..... ur a muslim cop in a small city and that niche experience doesnt come up in his thoughts ONCE?!?! or, they bring up malik not wanting to be a father — okay then DEVELOP THAT HELLO?!? it wouldve been an interesting link with heart's whole creator/creation obsession!! and malik + his husband werent able to be useful in this plot beyond being saved by god?!? like they couldnt have been like... idk... really into solving the mystery? being like "no one cares to solve our case so the least we can do is solve theirs??" like im fine with never understanding god or what tf the wraith is/why its there or how heart even got his power — but to give malik so little?!?!? despite being the second pov?!? just sickens me like...... yeah okay whatever! whatever! im moving on!!

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