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gagereadsstuff's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Deadnaming, and Colonisation
lavend3r_cactus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Deadnaming and Deportation
notwest94's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Violence and Cannibalism
Minor: Child abuse
lanidon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I can't help but compare it to The Magnus Archives because it's the same guy (and even uses the same music on audio) and I do think it could've been a fairly good mini season of the show. I do think this book is significantly less scary than your average TMA and the payoff is more "bookish reward" style than the show's escalating frights.
I definitely recommend reading this but I do not recommend the audiobook. I think they couldn't decide whether to commit to making it full audio drama or not so it just comes across as sloppy to me. Some of the chapters are incredibly well performed, don't get me wrong. I think it really falls apart in the last chapter where it suddenly switches between numerous perspectives and voices. It's genuinely hard to pay attention to the story at points and I wish Jonathan had read the entire thing. It's the only chapter in book that has individual actors perform their dialogue together, but it clearly wasn't recorded like an audio drama so it's incredibly disjointed and stilted. They very clearly aren't talking to each other and I found it took me out of the whole thing
TLDR: Book good, audiobook bad. Read it but don't expect to be too scared
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Violence, and Cannibalism