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A review by servemethesky
Beholder by Ryan La Sala
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting and compelling read. It was my first time reading Ryan La Sala's work, though I'd heard of him before via TikTok. The premise was fascinating, and you're thrown into a whirlwind from the get go. After the opening scene at the party, the first 15-20% of feel like a lot of trying to get the characters and the reader on board and started to drag. Okay, Dom is mysterious and has a plan but won't tell Athan. Athan wants to find his yiayia. Cool, we get it.
From there, it was a page turner. The whole thing feels very cinematic. I rarely cast characters in my head, but I did while reading this. Uhler is 100% Rainn Wilson. If you read this book, please picture Rainn Wilson in the Uhler role. 10/10 do recommend doing that. I haven't seen Inception in over a decade, but it also gave me Inception vibes. In the sense that you're like "woah... is this deep? This is SO deep. No, it's just unnecessarily confusing. Or is it deep?"
I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning discussing the pandemic, feeling trapped, and dealing with OCD. It was helpful for framing the story itself. At times the story felt a bit heavy handed in how it dwelled on those themes of can we trust ourselves, are we inherently good, look away from the void that's calling to you, etc. I almost wish it had engaged with those themes more deeply instead of repeating them and then focusing on plot so much.
One big issue I had with this book was the choice to write sections in the second person. It's SO rare to encounter a "you" voice in a novel, and for good reason. It's really difficult to pull off! Every time I got to the second person voice, I was like "huh???" I don't think it was effectively used here--I found it created more confusion instead of a powerful effect.
Similarly, while the spider-beauty-beast thing was a cool concept, it really did feel more like a concept than anything else. It was so vague and abstract that it was hard to picture it, especially in the climactic scene at the end. I felt more confusion trying to keep up with what was going on than horror or surprise at how things played out.
I loved the relationship between Dom and Athan and enjoyed watching them banter, get to know each other, and start to fall for each other. It was delightful. So of course I loathed the ending. I hate when a main character sacrifices themself for seemingly no good reason. And the epilogue scene in the mirror of the bar bathroom was too cheesy for my taste.
I'm intrigued by La Sala's work and would be curious to read more in the future. Folks who love YA, cult-y stuff, art world things, fantasy/surrealism, and queer lit would likely love this one!
This was an interesting and compelling read. It was my first time reading Ryan La Sala's work, though I'd heard of him before via TikTok. The premise was fascinating, and you're thrown into a whirlwind from the get go. After the opening scene at the party, the first 15-20% of feel like a lot of trying to get the characters and the reader on board and started to drag. Okay, Dom is mysterious and has a plan but won't tell Athan. Athan wants to find his yiayia. Cool, we get it.
From there, it was a page turner. The whole thing feels very cinematic. I rarely cast characters in my head, but I did while reading this. Uhler is 100% Rainn Wilson. If you read this book, please picture Rainn Wilson in the Uhler role. 10/10 do recommend doing that. I haven't seen Inception in over a decade, but it also gave me Inception vibes. In the sense that you're like "woah... is this deep? This is SO deep. No, it's just unnecessarily confusing. Or is it deep?"
I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning discussing the pandemic, feeling trapped, and dealing with OCD. It was helpful for framing the story itself. At times the story felt a bit heavy handed in how it dwelled on those themes of can we trust ourselves, are we inherently good, look away from the void that's calling to you, etc. I almost wish it had engaged with those themes more deeply instead of repeating them and then focusing on plot so much.
One big issue I had with this book was the choice to write sections in the second person. It's SO rare to encounter a "you" voice in a novel, and for good reason. It's really difficult to pull off! Every time I got to the second person voice, I was like "huh???" I don't think it was effectively used here--I found it created more confusion instead of a powerful effect.
Similarly, while the spider-beauty-beast thing was a cool concept, it really did feel more like a concept than anything else. It was so vague and abstract that it was hard to picture it, especially in the climactic scene at the end. I felt more confusion trying to keep up with what was going on than horror or surprise at how things played out.
I loved the relationship between Dom and Athan and enjoyed watching them banter, get to know each other, and start to fall for each other. It was delightful. So of course
I'm intrigued by La Sala's work and would be curious to read more in the future. Folks who love YA, cult-y stuff, art world things, fantasy/surrealism, and queer lit would likely love this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder