Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Camp Damascus

Some nice lighthearted Christian/cult queer revenge fantasy with some good body horror moments - that’s a pretty unique genre! Excellent concept, pulpy one dimensional delivery, but I think that’s what they’re going for.

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cosmopsis's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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twiller's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

This book is a mixed bag for me. On one hand, fucking LOVE Rose Darling she is the character of all time she has so much personality and I love just existing in her head for a lil while. I’m not autistic specifically but am neurodivergent and she’s one of my fav portrayals of neurodivergence maybe ever; Chuck Tingle KILLED IT w/ her. I also find Chuck Tingle’s writing super interesting in general, the first person present combined with blunt descriptions of emotion the skirt the line of the show-don’t-tell “rule” (something which Chuck Tingle openly disregards anyway) is rly interesting. On the other hand, I feel the body language in this book is severely lacking. I rly love the dialogue but the complete lack of character movement to accompany is almost distracting. It makes it hard to rly get a feel for these characters, especially the ones that are introduced later, which sucks.

Spoiler

I’m also not obsessed with the ending. There’s certainly a level of catharsis to it but I feel like “and then all the BIG MEANIE ASSHOLES got fucking YOINKED and DIED and WENT TO HELL” is a lil,,, simplistic to say the least. I felt like Smith n the pastor guy actually got some decent depth in the last few chapters, showing how they rly do think they are being compassionate, in their own twisted ways. Perhaps I was just expecting this book to be smth it isn’t, but I thought the ending would be much more humanist and love-focused (as Tingle’s work tends to be), maybe even showing the perpetrators some of the compassion they refused to show their victims. Not a terrible ending, but not rly what I specifically was looking for

So yeah, mixed bag. That being said, I still think it’s an interesting read and I would generally recommend it on the strength of its unique concepts alone.

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bruisedtigers's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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

3.75

An easy read, very fun and surprisingly balanced in what its doing with the religious aspect. This could've been a lot more trope-ridden or preachy (ha, ha) in that regard, but instead there's deliberate effort to depict some nuance involved. I appreciated that a lot. The second half, which is more action, isn't as fun as the creeping mystery of the beginning, but it's still enjoyable. Lots of great spooky imagery and great concepts for what's usually well-trodden horror ground. The charming characters really elevate it.

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