A review by drxcos
Anathema by Keri Lake

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

!!SPOILERS BELOW!!

This was phenomenal in everything it set out to accomplish.
The plot was fantastic, with so many mysteries and connections, where my head was constantly puzzling and trying to figure out what was going on.
The gothic-style horror was, well, genuinely very horrific and disturbing. A little worried about nightmares, actually. Body horror is usually on my “cannot deal with” list, but I stuck with it and am so glad I did. This book succeeded at making me truly repulsed and horrified by the many many villains.

Ooooooh my god Zevander and Maevyth. Zevander was 👀👌🏻😱🥵 no words. And the slow burn, delicious tension, and spice was just, phenomenal in an agonizing sort of way.

I really appreciated that Zevander also showed actual trauma symptoms from his past (unlike Rhysand from ACOTAR, for example).


I think I spent the last 40% of the book incredibly tense, unable to stop reading, both desperate to continue and terrified of what the next page turn would bring. The mix of the tense and
delicious spice towards the end
, combined with the ongoing horror (
THEYRE OUTSIDE THE HOVEL GUYS HOW ARE YOU JUST OKAY IGNORING THAT???
) was soooo well done.
Overall this book gave a phenomenal reading experience. 100/10.

P.S. didn’t realize this was a duology until I was 95% done and thought “no way are they going to somehow resolve everything in the next 5%” and looked it up. This was an agonizing discovery, but I cannot fucking wait for the next book!!
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