This is a big departure from the previous two books. The fact that it was written to match the film makes a lot of sense.

Meh.

Loved it, loved it. I was a little iffy on Millie's character in the first book, but here she was front and center. It was great journey getting to know her (albeit an older version) and how she reacted to such horrific circumstances.

Very cute. Not spectacularly mind-blowing and original, but I enjoyed it regardless.

As soon as I started this book, it reminded me of Coast to Coast AM, which is a late-night radio talk show about the supernatural/conspiracy theories that has run for many years. I occasionally listen to old episodes with Eric (who is a huge fan of cryptids and mythology), but sometimes it is very difficult to suppress the second-hand embarrassment you feel for some of these callers! Not because what they're talking about is inherently wrong, but as Kitty says there's always someone willing to call in and make a fool of themselves.

Her relationship with Carl was crazily unsettling from the start. It's hard to think of it outside of human terms ... since you know, I've never been anything but human. Even Kitty (or really, the author) has to spell it out for the reader:

"I squeezed my eyes shut against tears, looking away even as I felt his breath on my cheek. He was close enough to bite. I nodded, wanting only for him to leave me alone, wanting only for it to stop. If we were human, and this was a human relationship, I'd have been expected to leave him. This was abuse.

After a moment, he wrapped himself around me, holding me tight. He only wanted to take care of me. The Wolf loved him so much."

That scene colored Carl's character for the rest of the book for me (as it should have). Ugh.

When I think of the Ozarks, I think of world-weary people and their grimy, unsmiling children. It never occurred to me that might be a burgeoning meth industry prospering within the communities! Drugs, man. They're everywhere.

Right from the first page comes a sense of bleakness that pervades the entire novel. This is not a story that will end happily ever after, or happily at all. Ree Dolly is not exactly a likable person, but as a character, she is wonderfully refreshing. A prickly young woman who defies many tired tropes of young women in literature, she is adept in survival techniques. Ree wants to join the Army (to leave her going-nowhere life behind) and she has no need for a man.

The prose of this novel is intensely readable, yet evocative, especially when describing a drug-addled state of mind. My favorite passage is from when Ree is given mushrooms by a man who had clearly had ulterior motives:

When the mushrooms took hold she sensed some of the gods calling to her from inside her own chest and followed their urging outside into the yard and up the sunny slope into the trees. She felt all gooey, gooey with the slobbered love of various gods gathered within, and smiling full-time went about the woods looking to collect butterflies and pet them until they gave milk, or maybe roll in dirt until she felt China through her skin.

I probably re-read that paragraph six or seven times. Something about the way it was constructed really poked at my tingly mind bits.

"... she presented a naked white countenance to the faultfinding light of spring."

"If you think this is all too bourgeois, make John a revolutionary and Mary a counterespionage agent and see how far that gets you. Remember, this is Canada."

I only wish that I hadn't known

that Kirk and Wayne were conjoined twins

prior to reading this. It would have made the reveal a lot more spectacular. That being said, I loved this as much as anyone can love something so creepy and unsettling. It reminds me of one of my other favorite books, Geek Love, but in a gorier way.