Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Wild Spaces

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney

11 reviews

kt_jams's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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indieandajean's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Is coming of age horror a thing? Because this dark and twisted love letter to the Cthulhu mythos and bildungsroman reads like it very much is a thing. I was thoroughly creeped out and uncomfortable which I think was the goal here.

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throwback682's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This is a personal thing but I don’t enjoy books that leave too much up to the imagination at the end. I need loose ends tied up and explanations given. I needed to know

what happened to Ian? What came out of Teach’s cocoon? Did the grandpa cause the grandson to change somehow or was it in him all along and he would’ve become monster whether the grandpa showed up or not?

So that impacted my enjoyment personally.

I can see why people liked it though. I really liked the son and the dad. And of course the dog.

Oh and one extremely specific complaint that no one but me would care about because I’m a nerd: alligators don’t chew!!

The alligator supposedly chews the egret chicks before swallowing them.

Completely irrelevant to the story but it bugged me 😬

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quartz's review

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

ceallaighsbooks's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

“The sea always rushes in, greedy for the land. His father says that one day—a bazillion years ago—a fish grew legs and walked on the land for the first time. And as funny as he thinks a fish with legs would look, he wonders how the sea felt when her inhabitants started walking away. He wonders if maybe that's why she keeps eating away at the land, trying to take back what it stole.”

TITLE—Wild Spaces

AUTHOR—SL Coney

PUBLISHED—2023

PUBLISHER—tor dot com

GENRE—horror novella

SETTING—South Carolina coast

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—coming of age, family, beach caves, marine biology, fossils, visceral & protean horror elements, family dynamic, blood is as-thick-as salt-water?, pirate stories, hurricane, beach caves, naturalistic horror + science fiction fusion

“It isn't until later… that he understands it's not so much about what his grandfather said as what he meant, and he understands that the surface of something can be entirely different from what's beneath.”

Summary:

I thought the blurbs on the back cover of this book overhyped this book a little bit so. Maybe it’s better to go in blind.

My thoughts:

I straight up did not get this book. I wanted to like it because it took place very close to where I grew up and I was thinking this could be a good one to send my brother.

I liked the scientist father character, the writer mother character, the stories about pirates, the dog bestie, the setting, the atmosphere but like… I just have no idea why the story went where it did, the grandfather character was sooo flat, the pacing was way off, the ending was really unsatisfying basically just leaving me confused and a little annoyed, and Idk—I just have absolutely no idea what the point of it actually was. And tbh the kind of hints that I think I did pick up on just… idk. It didn’t sit quite right with me.

Maybe if I hadn’t *just* read Kathleen Jennings’s FLYAWAY, which felt very thematically similar and told a much more cohesive story with all the dots connecting and the point of the story being beautifully revealed at the end with lots of fantastic use of inherited & eldritch horror elements, but… WILD SPACES just didn’t do it for me.

Also, what was in that box? I reread the whole book over again thinking I’d missed something but the first time it was mentioned was when the boy was burying it and the next time it was mentioned was when he checked on it on like p 87 and it was gone and then it was never mentioned again? Idk. I was just confused the whole time.

I would recommend this book to readers who like dark, mysterious, monster horror stories with a beachside setting.

Final note: Idk if I should rate this one since it’s possible I didn’t get it but I also feel like the story could have been a bit more intentional so. Idk. My ratings are more about my personal experience of the book than a statement on the book’s critical or objective quality anyway.

“Maybe, he thinks, everyone's wrapper is small. Maybe we all have doors inside leading to cracked places and wild spaces.”

⭐️⭐️/⭐️

Season: Hurricane

CW // <SPOILERS/>: graphic deaths, deaths of parents, also the dog dies in this one but it might also be reborn at the end so 🤷🏻 idk it’s hard to tell (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Books I Liked Better with similarish vibes/themes—

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA by Julia Armfield
THE LESSON by Cadwell Turnbull
STONEFISH by Keri Hulme
FLYAWAY by Kathleen Jennings

Content Warnings

pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

Hauntingly beautiful story of unwanted change and family secrets. Coney is incredible at setting the scene and reminds me of Steinbeck- but if the topic was horror cryptids. My heart ached for The Boy, thoroughly despised Grandpa, worried for Mom and Dad, and completely adored Teach

... and shattered into a million pieces as well

.

I was not expecting a deeply emotional experience from this novella. But that's exactly what is delivered. There's an allegory here I can't quite put my finger on, but feels familiar.

Content Warnings

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Premise:

contemporary coming-of-age, southern Gothic, Lovecraftian, and cosmic literary horror based in a North Carolina coastal town
a nameless family (mom, dad, 11-year-old son) find a dog and the boy names him Teach, after his favorite pirate stories that his mom has shared with him
the boy's maternal grandfather shows up unannounced one day and tensions start to surface within the family dynamic
the father is extremely weary of the grandfather, while the mom clearly has some communication issues with her father
a mysterious past that is shared between the mom and grandfather is alluded to
Teach continues to attempt to protect the boy throughout the story, as we encounter monsters (really enjoyed this symbolism/metaphor for human monsters)
content warnings provide some spoilers so check below at your own discretion

Thoughts:
I listened to an ALC from Libro.FM and am providing my honest review voluntarily.

This novella was DARK, like I was devastated after finishing it. There's only about ~120 pages but the story moves quickly, and I got attached to the boy and the dog Teach very quickly. Teach is a reminder that we just don't deserve dogs, or animals in general. We should always trust their natural instincts, because they're just much more attuned to the ominous and nefarious forces around us, and their immediate reactions are to protect and *survive*.

As a recovering people-pleaser and a highly sensitive person, reading about the inability of the mom to ask her father to leave was a feeling I knew allllll too well. It's easy to be upset with her, because there is a clear sense of dread that builds up the longer that her father stays, but I empathize with her because she clearly was never allowed to speak up to her father growing up, and that's manifesting in this frustrating dynamic as an adult.

There's a lot that goes unexplained in the story, but one can infer and project their own familial trauma to fill in the blanks. I actually think that's what works pretty well with this story. Since they are a seemingly "nuclear," idyllic, nameless family, you can insert whomever you want. At 11 years old, I felt like my life was pretty idyllic and like my parents were perfect too. I think many of us could find something to relate to, in the way that the boy's world is rocked and he is left heartbroken, realizing there are monsters in the world, and is introduced to grief and loss. The unease with knowing that so many kids realize the world is not as idyllic as their childhoods leaves you gutted, and I couldn't believe the emotional arc this book took me on!

S. L. Coney's writing is atmospheric, dreamlike, ethereal, and eerie, and leaves you ruminating what everything *really* meant or represented. This was a quiet, creepy read, and I highly recommend it!

Notable Quotations:

"The boy wishes he was like the land, that he could bury his secrets down deep, hide them until millennia later when what is sharp and dangerous about him could be beautiful, too."

"Burying things down deep doesn't render them mute"

The sea always rushes in, greedy for the land. His father says that one day -- a bazillion years ago -- a fish grew legs and walked on the land for the first time. And as funny as he thinks a fish with legs would look, he wonders how the sea felt when her inhabitants started walking away. He wonders if maybe that's why she keeps eating away at the land, trying to take back what it stole.

“Father was wrong, he tells him. Sometimes, being related is all it takes.”

Content Warnings

booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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careliza14's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Rating: 3.75/5

This book was dark and prose was beautiful. Coney wraps up a gruesome story about family ties in less than 200 pages and keeps you captivated until the very last word. In this story family is who you chose to keep in your heart and the monsters are real. Perfect for readers who want a "beachy read" but prefer a little horror with their ocean-side view.

I received an advanced copy of this book and am giving my honest review voluntarily.

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amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

For a short novella, this packs a punch. It feels like it's either an anti-hero, hero, or villain's origin story. I'm here for it.

Synopsis: A boy lives an idyllic life with his mom, his dad and his dog Teach on the beach in South Carolina. It's filled with adventures and field trips, and each character is distinct. Their relationships are webs of love.

One day his grandfather shows up. Teach doesn't like him. The boy's mother fades a bit, and things don't add up. There's a monstrous secret kept between father and daughter, and the collateral damage shakes the boy's world.

Review: The writing here is sumptuous. I could feel the swampiness of the beach and the wind of the storm. It's a story about family, secrets, loss, and transformation.

I would gladly read more in this world and with these characters. It's difficult to build setting, worlds, characters, and relationships and SL Coney does just that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review Wild Spaces.

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