A review by scrollsofdragons
Black Iris by Elliot Wake
4.0
I love this book so much. The only reason I couldn't give it five stars was the lyrical writing, I love lyrical writing and Raeder does it so beautifully but every paragraph contained it and it kind of took away from the story because I was trying to wrap my head around the writing. It's okay if the lyrical writing is now and then but when it's constant, it starts to annoy me.
Saying that, this book was so dark and it spoke to me. I was on Laney's side, yep. I loved her dark twisted mind. This book is about the darkness in people and I have never seen that in a book before, not this much darkness and I loved it.
This is a book about fucked up characters in a fucked up world, it is so dark and gritty, makes you fall in and out of love and hate with each single charcator, it makes you think about the darkness inside of yourself if you're not already aware. Oh, and she makes you fall in love with and feel sorry for the villains, well at least I did.
I also felt sorry for Armin, at the end because he did seem regrettable for his actions but I couldn't like him like I did Brandt as Armin was too normal at the end of the day while Brant, well I could go on about my love for him but he's a villain, so I'm going to stop here.
Spoiler
Also I would have liked a more conclusive ending. Yes it ended well with most strings tied up, but I guess I want to know about how her and her dad's relationship is like now. Because he really seemed to love her before her mom died and after he basically kicked her out after she went off the rails and then Donnie was like later dad loves you and I was like where is that evidence? Just a short sentence or something about her father but we got nothing.Saying that, this book was so dark and it spoke to me. I was on Laney's side, yep. I loved her dark twisted mind. This book is about the darkness in people and I have never seen that in a book before, not this much darkness and I loved it.
This is a book about fucked up characters in a fucked up world, it is so dark and gritty, makes you fall in and out of love and hate with each single charcator, it makes you think about the darkness inside of yourself if you're not already aware. Oh, and she makes you fall in love with and feel sorry for the villains, well at least I did.
Spoiler
The moment Laney started talking about unreliable narrators and then she says that Brandt raped her, I was like no he didn't. At first I was worried that it was going to come down to sexual abuse and I was like please no, because I am sick of seeing that trope but as the scenes went on between her and Brandt I was like no way he raped her, nada. What he really did to her-the endgame of her killing her mom, I think despite being a sociopath he kind of had a soft spot for Laney and the only reason he did that was because he honestly believed that she wanted her mom dead, you can tell when he is slightly regretful when she tells him that her mom is dead. So I loved Brandt, sorry I did, I loved his humour, his wit, his sociopath techinancies, him and Laney's scenes,. I just adored him.I also felt sorry for Armin, at the end because he did seem regrettable for his actions but I couldn't like him like I did Brandt as Armin was too normal at the end of the day while Brant, well I could go on about my love for him but he's a villain, so I'm going to stop here.