A review by refrigeratorcool
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It's a very well researched and detailed book. I just don't have any idea what Maria McCann was gunning for. Jacob never pays for his sins and all we see is Jacob's character descending to madness, but to what purpose? It felt like the book was dark for darkness' own sake. It was static in which Jacob's descent was inevitable and Ferris was a male ingenue and Caro was a perfect victim. Reading this book was flagellating, as if the writer derives some inane pleasure from suffering.  

It felt like so many plot lines are left unresolved and the ending felt unfinished. The tonal shifts were also jarring. The civil war seemed like it was setting up a huge plotline in the first half of the story but at the second half they just shrug it off as "time in the army". The part when they started living in the Commons was so boring because they stuffed it with so many descriptions about farming. It's just not a very exciting section, since their romance was established at that point and there were less at stake as well. So little happening other than eating rabbits until
the threat came up, and even then they proceeded to farm like usual and just waited for help.


I have multiple gripes about the ending. Despite being marketed as a dark romance focusing on Jacob and Ferris,
we have no idea what happened to Ferris in the ending. Jacob never pays for his sins either and travels to New England where he can murder and rape even more.
As a book it is not entertaining. One could argue its realism; but I would argue that this book only "dooms" the reader with no worthwhile message to deliver.
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