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jenny_pneumonic's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I really enjoyed this one. I’d classify it as noir/paranormal fantasy. I really liked Sandra Barlowe as a strong female protagonist. She is tough, a bit jaded (with good reason), but she has heart. She uses cunning and weaponry over brawn, which I thought was realistic for a 40-year-old female monster hunter. The story moved fast, and I liked how the author incorporated various monsters and cryptids. I’ll be checking out more by this author.
warduke's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
An intriguing mix of horror, science fiction, and mystery. The plot was complex, but I was able to follow it. Sandra Barlowe was an interesting protagonist. Written in first-person, noir style, Sandra is a hard boiled, no nonsense anti-hero figure navigating a dangerous world where monsters are commonplace.
bohboh's review
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
stephanieluxton's review
mysterious
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? No
1.0
I didn't like this.
I picked up this book because I heard somewhere that it was similar to Supernatural and I liked that it was short.
The only similarity between this book and Supernatural are that the main characters hunt monsters. The main difference between this book and supernatural is that in Supernatural you care deeply for the main characters and this book has the most unlikeable main character I've read about in a long time.
This book is about Sandra, a middle aged cryptid slayer who goes to Mexico to solve a case in which some cattle and a man were killed and the town thinks the local vampire population is responsible. In this book, everyone knows supernatural creatures exist so vampires are treated kind of like a race of people. Sandra quickly learns that its not a vampire and it's way worse and has some personal ties to her.
I didn't want to finish this book but I did because it was short. I hated Sandra. I hated her so much. The problem with Sandra is she can be on a hunt with townspeople, watch them get killed, and not care at all. Other people seem to mean nothing to her. She can walk into a crime scene where a girl saw her father decapitated and think "Yucky." Are you serious? Show some professionalism.
**Disclaimer: I hate the strong female character trope in which a woman is better, faster, and smarter than everyone else around them while being stoic and frankly mean. Like Galadriel in Rings of Power or Captain Marvel, etc. If you like that trope, you may like Sandra.
She's supposed to be middle aged but listening to her thoughts is like listening to a bitchy entitled preteen. It's exhausting.
Anyways, ignoring our main character, the story also lacks. We find out what kind of creature is behind the killing almost immediately. There's not a lot of investigating. You never really feel afraid for Sandra when she's encountering the creature. She doesn't care about the people dying around her so it's hard to care about them, as an audience. You never feel like Sandra herself is in danger.
There's a big exposition dump in the end that reminded me of an episode of scooby doo in which they unmask the person responsible for the issue then that person immediately explains their entire motive.
In conclusion, scenes that should have held weight, didn't. Situations that should have been scary weren't. No one behaved how a real human would behave.
Then the book ends and I am sitting her wondering why it was published. The general idea for the story wasn't horrible - it just felt like it needed to be fleshed out more.
I picked up this book because I heard somewhere that it was similar to Supernatural and I liked that it was short.
The only similarity between this book and Supernatural are that the main characters hunt monsters. The main difference between this book and supernatural is that in Supernatural you care deeply for the main characters and this book has the most unlikeable main character I've read about in a long time.
This book is about Sandra, a middle aged cryptid slayer who goes to Mexico to solve a case in which some cattle and a man were killed and the town thinks the local vampire population is responsible. In this book, everyone knows supernatural creatures exist so vampires are treated kind of like a race of people. Sandra quickly learns that its not a vampire and it's way worse and has some personal ties to her.
I didn't want to finish this book but I did because it was short. I hated Sandra. I hated her so much. The problem with Sandra is she can be on a hunt with townspeople, watch them get killed, and not care at all. Other people seem to mean nothing to her. She can walk into a crime scene where a girl saw her father decapitated and think "Yucky." Are you serious? Show some professionalism.
**Disclaimer: I hate the strong female character trope in which a woman is better, faster, and smarter than everyone else around them while being stoic and frankly mean. Like Galadriel in Rings of Power or Captain Marvel, etc. If you like that trope, you may like Sandra.
She's supposed to be middle aged but listening to her thoughts is like listening to a bitchy entitled preteen. It's exhausting.
Anyways, ignoring our main character, the story also lacks. We find out what kind of creature is behind the killing almost immediately. There's not a lot of investigating. You never really feel afraid for Sandra when she's encountering the creature. She doesn't care about the people dying around her so it's hard to care about them, as an audience. You never feel like Sandra herself is in danger.
There's a big exposition dump in the end that reminded me of an episode of scooby doo in which they unmask the person responsible for the issue then that person immediately explains their entire motive.
In conclusion, scenes that should have held weight, didn't. Situations that should have been scary weren't. No one behaved how a real human would behave.
Then the book ends and I am sitting her wondering why it was published. The general idea for the story wasn't horrible - it just felt like it needed to be fleshed out more.
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