pagesofkenzie's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.5
“I’m shaking, yet trying to be invisible, and as the night comes alive and says everything I don’t want it to, I fight back the ghosts until I, exhausted, sink deliciously into their arms.”
First off, thank you @angryrobotbooks and @caroluna_writes_stuff for sending me an advanced copy for an honest review!
Okay let’s get into it!
What I liked:
1. This is definitely a slow burn book that took me a while to read. But it was a perfect pace for the story that unfolded.
2. I loved Hardaker’s prose & writing style which I would describe as beautifully grotesque & chaotic. Which perfectly fits with the mental state of our main character, David.
3. Guys, we have a very unreliable narrator here. Most of my favourite books involve an unreliable narrator & David’s voice is very well done! His view point was so muddled, confusing, warped & riddled with pain, grief & desperation. We see him grow from a ten year old boy losing his grandfather, his best friend, to the age of 26 where he is still trying to make sense of what happened.
4. The symbolism & metaphors used were fantastic. The authors use of colour, transformation, sound & space was very impactful. There is a significant amount of body horror in this book that is both symbolic & literal so heads up on that.
5. Did I mention that there are illustrations by CHRIS RIDDELL!!! The cover of this proof is one of the illustrations included & they really did add to the story!
6. I loved the story. Even though I was super confused & had no idea what was happening, up until the ending, I loved every second of it. Especially the ending!
The only critic I have is that some points of the novel were very wordy & read a bit awkwardly. But this could have been fixed in the final draft.
This book is definitely not for everyone but it was definitely for me!
First off, thank you @angryrobotbooks and @caroluna_writes_stuff for sending me an advanced copy for an honest review!
Okay let’s get into it!
What I liked:
1. This is definitely a slow burn book that took me a while to read. But it was a perfect pace for the story that unfolded.
2. I loved Hardaker’s prose & writing style which I would describe as beautifully grotesque & chaotic. Which perfectly fits with the mental state of our main character, David.
3. Guys, we have a very unreliable narrator here. Most of my favourite books involve an unreliable narrator & David’s voice is very well done! His view point was so muddled, confusing, warped & riddled with pain, grief & desperation. We see him grow from a ten year old boy losing his grandfather, his best friend, to the age of 26 where he is still trying to make sense of what happened.
4. The symbolism & metaphors used were fantastic. The authors use of colour, transformation, sound & space was very impactful. There is a significant amount of body horror in this book that is both symbolic & literal so heads up on that.
5. Did I mention that there are illustrations by CHRIS RIDDELL!!! The cover of this proof is one of the illustrations included & they really did add to the story!
6. I loved the story. Even though I was super confused & had no idea what was happening, up until the ending, I loved every second of it. Especially the ending!
The only critic I have is that some points of the novel were very wordy & read a bit awkwardly. But this could have been fixed in the final draft.
This book is definitely not for everyone but it was definitely for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Body horror
Minor: Death
car_theauthor's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
tvislife's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Odd little novel, with a creepy tilt. This follows David, both “Before” and “After”. David never quite got over losing his granddad, and as a child and as an adult he realizes he doesn’t quite belong.
I’ll start out by saying I think this author is very talented. Her writing was lyrical and beautiful at certain points, and some of her lines were truly haunting and gorgeous. That being said; this book just didn’t work for me. Despite the beauty of the writing, the actual substance was so boring to me. I could tell it was meant to be mysterious and a slow-burn, but to me it was just confusing and a slog to get through. It picked up around the halfway point, especially when it mostly focused on the one timeline, but by that time I had mentally checked out and honestly didn’t really care where Davey went “home”. For those of you that don’t really care about plots, this might be a nice little fall read, but in general I’d say to skip this.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
I’ll start out by saying I think this author is very talented. Her writing was lyrical and beautiful at certain points, and some of her lines were truly haunting and gorgeous. That being said; this book just didn’t work for me. Despite the beauty of the writing, the actual substance was so boring to me. I could tell it was meant to be mysterious and a slow-burn, but to me it was just confusing and a slog to get through. It picked up around the halfway point, especially when it mostly focused on the one timeline, but by that time I had mentally checked out and honestly didn’t really care where Davey went “home”. For those of you that don’t really care about plots, this might be a nice little fall read, but in general I’d say to skip this.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
oracle_of_madness's review against another edition
4.25
This atmospheric mind-bending tale completely caught me off guard. The characters, even characters just briefly mentioned, all play a huge role in how eerie this story is. And, the idea of a lifetime of disconnect from others, this feeling of never being understood, ran right off the pages deeply affecting me.
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
This is a horror story that left me guessing throughout the book and at the end. But, considering the story's plot, I feel like this was intentional and also used to great effect.
If you're looking for a strange, thought-provoking horror, then I definitely recommend this.
Out November 14, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
goatsrsexy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book felt like a nightmare, where things kept changing and nothing made sense and it was all just terrible. I do mean that in the best way possible. I really enjoyed this book despite the absolute dread I felt while reading it.
Every time I thought I understood what was happening I turned out to be wrong, all the way to the very end. I'm still not sure I really understood what I just read.
The modern problem is an interesting way to describe a real phenomenon we have in our own world, one that I think almost everyone can relate to, to a certain degree. Maybe it's just my mental illness talking but I can see myself so clearly in a woman screaming in the street, desperately wanting to be seen... To a child who doesn't understand how their favourite person can just stop existing.... To a family who just wants everything to be okay.... And to so many people desperately searching for any kind of meaning to hold on to. Yes, surreal and confusing as it was, this book also felt incredibly poignant and relatable.
I definitely don't think this book will be for everyone, but for those like me who love strange and confusing books, you will love this.
Every time I thought I understood what was happening I turned out to be wrong, all the way to the very end. I'm still not sure I really understood what I just read.
The modern problem is an interesting way to describe a real phenomenon we have in our own world, one that I think almost everyone can relate to, to a certain degree. Maybe it's just my mental illness talking but I can see myself so clearly in a woman screaming in the street, desperately wanting to be seen... To a child who doesn't understand how their favourite person can just stop existing.... To a family who just wants everything to be okay.... And to so many people desperately searching for any kind of meaning to hold on to. Yes, surreal and confusing as it was, this book also felt incredibly poignant and relatable.
I definitely don't think this book will be for everyone, but for those like me who love strange and confusing books, you will love this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Body horror
Moderate: Grief
jamieleepilk's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
3.25
melanie_reads_books's review against another edition
I was drawn to the concept of this story, but found its execution confusing and hard to get into. I persevered for a good chunk of the book but it just lost me and I found myself not invested in any of the characters. I’m not even sure which genre this book belongs to. The cover is great, however.
niallharrison's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sararvsilva's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
'𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀, 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓇𝒾𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝒹, 𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹. 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓈𝑒.'
𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 - 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓
Many thanks to @netgalley and @caroluna_writes_stuff for providing me with an ARC of this book.
This is definitely something that I’m not used to reading, but I really enjoyed it. I will admit that I think I’m too dumb to understand the book thoroughly, especially the ending. It’s hard to pick a genre for this book because while I didn’t feel fear while reading it, it kind of matches the horror genre, but then it is also a fantasy and could also be science fiction…
What I enjoyed the most about this book was the scenery, the aesthetic and the mystery. We get involved in these mysterious disappearing groups of people so quickly, and we want to find out what is out there as much as David. I really liked how the book goes back and forth with the before and after, it was a dynamic that worked really well with the story.
I loved David. We could tell right away that he was different from the other members of his family. It was also easy to empathise with him because of the way the story was told, it gave the impression that other than his grandpa no one else cared about him.
In terms of plot, I feel like the ending was a plot twist. For me, it felt like it, but I could be wrong because, as I said, everything is so bizarre that I don’t think my brain processed it all. It was not the ending I was expecting, and because of that, I liked it.
For reference, I feel like this book has ‘Dark’ the TV show vibes. So, if you liked that, give this a try!
PS: the illustrations are EVERYTHING!!!
𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 - 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓
Many thanks to @netgalley and @caroluna_writes_stuff for providing me with an ARC of this book.
This is definitely something that I’m not used to reading, but I really enjoyed it. I will admit that I think I’m too dumb to understand the book thoroughly, especially the ending. It’s hard to pick a genre for this book because while I didn’t feel fear while reading it, it kind of matches the horror genre, but then it is also a fantasy and could also be science fiction…
What I enjoyed the most about this book was the scenery, the aesthetic and the mystery. We get involved in these mysterious disappearing groups of people so quickly, and we want to find out what is out there as much as David. I really liked how the book goes back and forth with the before and after, it was a dynamic that worked really well with the story.
I loved David. We could tell right away that he was different from the other members of his family. It was also easy to empathise with him because of the way the story was told, it gave the impression that other than his grandpa no one else cared about him.
In terms of plot, I feel like the ending was a plot twist. For me, it felt like it, but I could be wrong because, as I said, everything is so bizarre that I don’t think my brain processed it all. It was not the ending I was expecting, and because of that, I liked it.
For reference, I feel like this book has ‘Dark’ the TV show vibes. So, if you liked that, give this a try!
PS: the illustrations are EVERYTHING!!!