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t_bird's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
3.5
There were some parts of this book I really liked and some that I don’t know how to feel about. For instance, I appreciated the thoughtful depiction of mental health, but I found the opening of the book through the eyes of a serial murderer of women to be jarring and shockingly without trigger warning (something I’d expect a person with mental health literacy to do for members of their audience who may have been victims of assault from men). I did enjoy the crime-novel-meets-Celtic-mythology-meets-modern-witchcraft vibe a lot. And as far as the primary romantic relationship goes, I liked that the two girls had shared struggles and could understand each other in that way. On the other hand, Meiner’s diagnosis is never really shared, and her anger management issues seem like a second problem (and as somebody with personal experience here, it’s a little difficult for me to ship a relationship with someone else whose anger, though understandable, tends towards violence and bleeds out to people who haven’t done anything to deserve it). ALSO I was so upset about the mom plot. I didn’t feel like it was necessary for a plot that already had so much betrayal and drama, and was a very unsatisfying conclusion to the mystery of what was happening to her mom. It also weirdly absolved a lot of the dad’s fault. Didn’t love the “oh I guess he’s not abusing her, she really is just crazy” conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Misogyny, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gore, Homophobia, Stalking, Self harm, Religious bigotry, and Forced institutionalization
Warning, opening scene is from the perspective of a serial killer, who thinks in detail about what he likes about killing women. There are a few more chapters from his perspective, but they’re easier to read after the first one because you know they’re coming.
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