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biobeetle's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: War, Xenophobia, and Eating disorder
softanimal's review
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Alcohol, and Animal death
Moderate: Xenophobia, Gun violence, War, and Grief
Minor: Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Transphobia, and Vomit
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
30 minutes into the audio (12%) I realised that I had assumed the gender of the protagonist because of what the Audiobook narrator sounded like. This story has an interesting take on gender and I like the diversity of it. I do wish that the narrator of the book could manage to use unfamiliar pronouns as though they were.. pronouns? rather than emphasising them due to lack of familiarity and treating them like they are nouns. It got annoying that the flow was interrupted in a way that it wouldn't have been if I was just reading it myself.
I have not read the original Poe, Rise and Fall of the House of Usher, but it is source material for this re-imagining. The author's note on the end of the book gives a little more insight and it's really cool. I vibe deeply with the author's love of passionate people with fringe interests, and this same tendency is mirrored in the protagonist of the story.
There is a satisfying cast of supporting characters in this story. Each has their own flavour and inner motivations. There is an English mycologist who is confounded by her peers' reluctance to acknowledge her work (due to her lack of a Y chromosome). Although she is fictitious, the character is portrayed as Beatrix Potter's aunt, which ties really nicely in with the narrative device of strangely behaving animals.
Dunno if I am the target audience, or just too overly interested in natural science, because the plot was fairly transparent, to me. I don't know how easy it would be for non-nerdy people to understand and predict like I did. I like that the story is relatively short because it didn't have a lot to it more than vibe (which is apparently the case with the original). Short stories are nice when they don't overstay their welcome.
A little creepy, a lot interesting, and with some cute ideas developed. I will read more books by this author.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Animal death, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Alcohol, War, and Fire/Fire injury
blacksphinx's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical content, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Gore, War, and Vomit
Minor: Transphobia, Sexism, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia
Minor: Drowningaffabletoaster's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Took me about 2.5 hrs to read, which is shameful when you realize that I checked it out of the library twice because of my poor sitting-down-and-reading habits. Many thanks to my in-laws who watched my children while I devoured this at last!
Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Animal death, and Suicide
Moderate: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War
Minor: Misogyny, Grief, Gun violence, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
schausjk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: War, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Dysphoria
nixieba25f's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Terminal illness, War, and Xenophobia
bibliophage_teamage's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Gore and Body horror
Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Transphobia