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lizardgod's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Racism and Cursing
rainbowbrarian's review against another edition
Miserable lesbian couple slowly breaking up because Sean, the main character, is emotionally immature, unavailable, cold, and selfish. Have I mentioned how much I hate reading stories about miserable adults being miserable to each other?
Add to that Sean's casual racism, lack of empathy, and massive refusal to give a single shit about anything but what she wants?
I hate books with miserable queer protagonists and I don't think it's progress to be all "Oh look how far we've come, queers can be miserable like everyone else". If that's something you need to find queer people relatable, you're beyond missing the point.
Add to that Sean's casual racism, lack of empathy, and massive refusal to give a single shit about anything but what she wants?
I hate books with miserable queer protagonists and I don't think it's progress to be all "Oh look how far we've come, queers can be miserable like everyone else". If that's something you need to find queer people relatable, you're beyond missing the point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment
aromarrie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sci-fi horror at its finest.
the thing i love the most about the story is that it really felt like it was written in dual pov….you didn’t just get sean’s perspective, but also the wolf that’s so pivotal to this research study that’s being done.
the combination of invasive technology and vivid descriptions of the cold & barren woods through another species’ eyes added to the surreal atmosphere, i feel.
the thing i love the most about the story is that it really felt like it was written in dual pov….you didn’t just get sean’s perspective, but also the wolf that’s so pivotal to this research study that’s being done.
the combination of invasive technology and vivid descriptions of the cold & barren woods through another species’ eyes added to the surreal atmosphere, i feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity and Sexism
scifi_rat's review
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Grief, Cursing, Alcohol, Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexism and Vomit
mar's review against another edition
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
idk i think this should've gotten more fucked up sorry. i mean i got the themes it was going for - kinship with animals, ethics in science/research, loneliness, repression - but it just fell competely flat for me :/
also, very confused as to why this book is labelled as horror - it's unsettling in the way a nonfiction book about climate change is unsettling, but i really wouldn't call it horror. unless you're creeped out by a failing marriage ig
also, very confused as to why this book is labelled as horror - it's unsettling in the way a nonfiction book about climate change is unsettling, but i really wouldn't call it horror. unless you're creeped out by a failing marriage ig
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Gore, and Medical content
Minor: Sexism and Racism
blacksphinx's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
First of all, this is NOT a horror novella and I'm not sure why it keeps winding up on lists of horror stories. It is a sci-fi novella focused around a failing marriage between two academics and a research project where our narrator gets to experience what it's like to be a wolf.
Despite not being horror, I think if you liked Our Wives Under The Sea you might like this. It's a different take on "failing sapphic marriage," if you can handle a narrator who is a self-centered racist dick.
Despite not being horror, I think if you liked Our Wives Under The Sea you might like this. It's a different take on "failing sapphic marriage," if you can handle a narrator who is a self-centered racist dick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexual content, Animal death, Medical content, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, Grief, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death
depmythmoon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a book where I struggled to find the meaning upon the end, so much so that I went to the acknowledgement page seeking answers. I’m not 100% sure I found them, but it at least gave me a satisfying enough answer to come to a conclusion.
I believe this book aims to parallel what COVID did to us as a society, how it “chemically altered” our brains… with a sci-fi wolfy take. Much like we all isolated due to the pandemic and developed our obsessions with particular media, hobbies, or entertainers, this novella shows how a neuroscientist, Sean, turned to an obsession with wolves in her times of loneliness. (She wasn’t really alone though; she was just actively choosing work over her wife, Riya, who was growing tired with her one-sided support.) I feel like this aimed to show the dramatized outcome of how these obsessions and parasocial relationships that some of us developed during our COVID isolation caused our real life relationships to suffer. Then again, I’m reaching at straws here because the ending still left me confused. Someone smarter than me would have to figure that one out. I don’t believe I was the intended audience, honestly.
Sean is a selfish character whose words say one thing while her actions say another. She just cannot take accountability for her actions to save her life. This woman supposedly loves her wife and wants to mend their relationship, but each time Riya holds out an olive branch, Sean finds some way to slap it back in her face. She’s so obsessed with feeling what her wolf subject, Kate, feels and the intimacy of their supposed “connection” that she neglects the very real connection to her wife. She even has a therapist telling her that her priorities aren’t in order, and while she says she understands she has to fix things, she goes right back to obsessing over work again. I enjoyed how the writer was able to portray Sean as selfish, all the while not having the protagonist be aware of that character flaw herself.
I believe this book aims to parallel what COVID did to us as a society, how it “chemically altered” our brains… with a sci-fi wolfy take. Much like we all isolated due to the pandemic and developed our obsessions with particular media, hobbies, or entertainers, this novella shows how a neuroscientist, Sean, turned to an obsession with wolves in her times of loneliness. (She wasn’t really alone though; she was just actively choosing work over her wife, Riya, who was growing tired with her one-sided support.) I feel like this aimed to show the dramatized outcome of how these obsessions and parasocial relationships that some of us developed during our COVID isolation caused our real life relationships to suffer. Then again, I’m reaching at straws here because the ending still left me confused. Someone smarter than me would have to figure that one out. I don’t believe I was the intended audience, honestly.
Sean is a selfish character whose words say one thing while her actions say another. She just cannot take accountability for her actions to save her life. This woman supposedly loves her wife and wants to mend their relationship, but each time Riya holds out an olive branch, Sean finds some way to slap it back in her face. She’s so obsessed with feeling what her wolf subject, Kate, feels and the intimacy of their supposed “connection” that she neglects the very real connection to her wife. She even has a therapist telling her that her priorities aren’t in order, and while she says she understands she has to fix things, she goes right back to obsessing over work again. I enjoyed how the writer was able to portray Sean as selfish, all the while not having the protagonist be aware of that character flaw herself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content and Mental illness
israelthesecond's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Feed Them Silence is a trojan horse. It introduces itself as a near-future sci-fi novella, but is actually a tragic character study. We are invited inside the mind of a gray wolf, but the real pull of the story is the mind of our protagonist. It is a meditation on the search for true intimacy, wherever it can be found.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
chris_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Medical content, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Medical trauma and Blood
chelly_reads's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Animal death, Infidelity, and Sexual content