Reviews

Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon

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sarahmcg's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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? Yes

3.0

I wanted to like this book more! The cover drew me in and I felt intrigued by the play on the Persephone/Demeter story.

I’ll start with what I liked:

The author’s prose is gorgeous
I did find myself invested in what was going to happen to the main character, though I did not necessarily find her likable (and I don’t think she is supposed to be)
Dual POV of mother/daughter

My critiques:

The chapters were WAY TOO DAMN LONG - omg like I hate stopping in the middle of a chapter but I had to do that several times with this book when I would try and read a chapter before bed and it was taking forever
The ending… I didn’t like it! I don’t want to give any spoilers. But just… it felt like very poor character development
I was just kind of bored and the story felt very repetitive at times

Overall, I think maybe readers that are more into lit-fic than I am might enjoy this more than me, so don’t write it off because of my review!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review; thoughts are my own.

Content Warnings

katiemanring's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is such a wild ride - I appreciate the dual perspective of this mythic retelling in a modern setting. I think the characters were well enough laid out and flowed into the story well. A theme I found interesting juxtaposition of the pharmaceutical industry vs the more humanitarian fields and how maybe not so different they are when you take a look at their operational underbelly.

But more broadly this isn’t for everyone but for a literary fiction vibe of a mythical story it was pretty enjoyable. Definitely worth checking some trigger warnings.

Many thanks to net galley for the digital arc! 💕

Content Warnings

ivy_b's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i was pacing in a public park

magpiereading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.5

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