A review by urlocalsleepparalysisdemon
The Haar by David Sodergren

dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

(I'm going to ramble, so TLDR at the bottom.)

I should really stop taking book recommendations from TikTok.

Here I was, expecting a dark, emotional, and gory folktale, and instead, I got tricked into reading a monster romance.

Here's what really sucked:

Maybe I'm a cold-hearted bitch, but I couldn't feel more distant from Muriel, who, you know, I should care about as the protagonist. Which is a total shame cause I started out really vibing with her, yet she became so one-note to me that I couldn't sympathize with her anymore. I would rather have read about her being totally delusional about her situation/her going mad than whatever middle state she's in.

Avalon sucks as a monster. The weird iridescent sea blob shapeshifter could have been cool in concept, but he's either useless or seemingly overpowered and immune to harm. He's not scary; he's a plot device to get rid of the "bad" guys, and he's never a threat to Muriel, so who cares? Also, I don't need to know that he has a dick and Muriel had sex with him. Just why...

The "bad" guys are my other big issue because WHO wants to read about such flatly monstrous human beings, whom the story will so obviously punish and who will predictably be defeated by the end. None of them are believable at all, just how it's not believable that Muriel is a "good" person and that she would NEVER want Avalon to harm someone "innocent." But of course, the people Avalon harms are BAD. At least the story goes to huge lengths to convince you so, making the characters cartoonishly evil rather than flawed, greedy human beings that you could still find sympathy for.


For some reason, I hoped that this would turn out to be better. But it didn't get me in my feels, so to speak; the characters didn't charm me; even the body horror underwhelmed me, so there's not much left for me to like here. I'm sorry (not really). 

TLDR:
Scottish Grandma fucks Sea Monster that looks like her Dead Husband, feeds him Evil People, Dies
(NOT CLICKBAIT!!1!!) (GONE WRONG)
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