ehmannky's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I totally get that this book isn't for everyone. It's a gore-filled, violent, dense book that has prose that often twists into itself so often that I had to keep going back to see what I missed. But I loved it. I honestly think it's better than My Heart Is A Chainsaw--something about Jade and her crew being grown up and them dealing with this trauma and violence that is at the heart of the American West and the small towns just hit right. And I didn't know if I would love the multiple character POV, but it worked so well. It also had these moments of dark humor that made me chuckle amongst the horror that I just loved (Jade being indignant about a slahser using a gun was very good). I am not particularly familiar with slasher movies (I can read gore, but I can't watch it), but that didn't really turn me off anything in this book.
My only criticism is that I felt that the fantastical element was as seamlessly integrated into the plot as it was in the last one. But I'm so excited for the third book in this series it's been so good so far.
My only criticism is that I felt that the fantastical element was as seamlessly integrated into the plot as it was in the last one. But I'm so excited for the third book in this series it's been so good so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Torture, Body horror, Death, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Self harm, and Animal death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
jayjm94's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As perfect a book as I’ve ever read. It had everything: horror references, incredibly adept women, strange teenagers, a small town on the water, a snowstorm, and some light supernatural content. an absolute gem by SGJ, almost certainly my best book of the year (close 2nd being my heart is a chainsaw) cannot wait for the 3rd!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Drug use
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Animal death, and Incest
juliana18's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Torture
Minor: Pedophilia
zosiablue's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
4.25
Man, marry me, Stephen Graham Jones. He's just the best. Like all his stories, this one has full heart and gorgeous writing and campiness and tragedy and action and total respect for the genre. He's the only my writer I know who can do textual jumpscares. This is true horror but it's exhilarating because it follows slasher-horror rules until it doesn't and the rule breaks are totally earned. Can't wait for the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
sofipitch's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I'm so disappointed to say this one was just meh. Because I ADORED My Heart is a Chainsaw. The best part of Chainsaw to me is Jade's perspective, it scratched a very specific itch for me, the unreliable narrator, obsessive focus on what the character loves, disregarding a lot else, the way in her essays it Mr. Homes it feels like she is lecturing at you, telling you about slashers with an infectious enthusiasm (I love horror but slashers really aren't my thing). Also Chainsaw all came together at the end in a very perfect way. Which all that is what Reaper was missing. The multiple POVs didn't add much, in fact to me it felt like it lessened my emotional investment, rather than heightening it. There were too many ppl to keep track of, I didn't reread Chainsaw which was maybe a mistake. I'm not the best at remembering names and some of the characters Reaper brought to the forefront I couldn't remember from book 1, and then they still failed to make an impact. I didn't count but we had at least ten POVs which for a 450 page book is too many. Also the "it all comes together at the end" didn't feel as strong or emotionally impactful in this book. Dark Mill South as a slasher is actually the kind of slasher that idgaf about, some brick wall who just loves killing. The with Cinnamon was also eh, the stag was the only one I really liked and delivered the way I think it was supposed to. So a lot of this is all my opinion, I've tried to make that clear bc like I said I'm not a slasher girl so slasher fans might still love this, but since this is a sequel, I don't think it lived up to the expectations of the first book. The first book still had enough of an impact for me to likely read the third when it comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Gun violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, and Child death
voicenextdoor's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
lennybiird's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Gore, and Child death
Moderate: Drug use
bookshelf_al's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Gore, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Genocide, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Murder
magellen's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- 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
3.0
If this book was a slasher, it'd be tripping over its own dark robe every three feet and you'd stand there shaking your head rather than running.
What a bummer follow up- I say that with love, as I'm obviously still reading the third when it drops, but oof what a precipitous drop off after the first.
Where Chainsaw succeeds beautifully in tying horror and slashers to catharsis and processing trauma, Reaper tramples the dialog between healing and relapse/generation trauma into memes.
Because of the narrative clutter, the book reads much how a car drives with one incredibly flat tire on a potholed road. It gets some speed and drags behind, we change location endlessly, aimlessly, trying to find an ending. The references don't land as well, largely because they're reaching to put movie logic over an already established 'irl' killer. Yes, Jade is more aware, more critical of her slashers as she applies logic to ground the narrative somewhat, but it veers off hard time and again.
SGJ is *very good* at writing the conversation this book wants to be, and I wonder where it got lost along the way.
What a bummer follow up- I say that with love, as I'm obviously still reading the third when it drops, but oof what a precipitous drop off after the first.
Where Chainsaw succeeds beautifully in tying horror and slashers to catharsis and processing trauma, Reaper tramples the dialog between healing and relapse/generation trauma into memes.
Spoiler
Having a teenager find solace from abuse via slashers and wishing it into the world had a much better punch than circumstantially dropped in serial killer does some killing but there's also a corrupted final girl out killing and for some reason movie rules get applied to the real world killer even though like...sigh what? The book runs itself in too many directions. Even with the mirror of Armitage and Cin, the mirror of obsession with vengence, it grapples to get the comparison out clearly.Because of the narrative clutter
Spoiler
(honestly, Letha? Aside from her brief foiling of Jennifer not yet Jade, she feels like an after thought, a PPS - hell, Jade feels like an after thought at times, and sure a slasher progresses to next gens, but the juggling of Cin and Gin and Gal is uh...uninspiring. )Spoiler
(and then the stuff with Melanie? And Hardy? Just...unless it's coming around in book three, it didnt have the emotional punch to float).SGJ is *very good* at writing the conversation this book wants to be, and I wonder where it got lost along the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Grief, Body horror, Gore, Death, and Death of parent