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eggcatsreads's Reviews (480)
A huge thank you to the author and Amulet Books/@piquebeyond for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A super fun and campy (literally) thriller perfect for fans of slashers - with a supernatural twist that will keep you guessing until the end.
Our main character Temple joins as a camp counselor at a summer camp that used to be her home - as well as the home of her convicted serial killer father, the North Point Killer. Returning to try to find where her mother’s body is buried after a vague conversation with her father, she winds up uncovering secrets about her past that she never saw coming. Can she break the cycle of death and violence that runs through her family, or will she succumb to the same impulses that lead to her father’s imprisonment?
This book was a fun read that kept me engaged the entire time. Reading this was like watching a typical slasher, complete with a high body count and lots of blood - but with an entire cast of queer black girls and women.
Figuring out who all the characters are took a bit getting used to, as this book kind of just dumps you in the middle of their drama and relationships with little buildup - but the confusion doesn’t stay for long. It feels like we started in the middle of this story and are trying to piece together both the ending, and the beginning - but with the mysteries and supernatural twists in this book it really fits the narrative. Once we think we know what’s going on, this book will throw you for a loop in the entire opposite direction.
Our main character Temple can be a bit abrasive, especially as this novel begins, but honestly I was on her side almost the entire time. She had some good points about how she was and how she was treated by other people, and even when she was acting in a way that she probably shouldn’t I was still mostly on her side. She’s not exactly a likable main character all the time, but she feels very human and I understood where she was coming from.
(At one point I thought “I support women’s rights, but more importantly I support women’s wrongs” when she was doing something.)
A perfect fit for fans of My Heart is a Chainsaw, if you were wishing for another blood soaked Final Girl who you root for despite everything they’ve done.
A super fun and campy (literally) thriller perfect for fans of slashers - with a supernatural twist that will keep you guessing until the end.
Our main character Temple joins as a camp counselor at a summer camp that used to be her home - as well as the home of her convicted serial killer father, the North Point Killer. Returning to try to find where her mother’s body is buried after a vague conversation with her father, she winds up uncovering secrets about her past that she never saw coming. Can she break the cycle of death and violence that runs through her family, or will she succumb to the same impulses that lead to her father’s imprisonment?
This book was a fun read that kept me engaged the entire time. Reading this was like watching a typical slasher, complete with a high body count and lots of blood - but with an entire cast of queer black girls and women.
Figuring out who all the characters are took a bit getting used to, as this book kind of just dumps you in the middle of their drama and relationships with little buildup - but the confusion doesn’t stay for long. It feels like we started in the middle of this story and are trying to piece together both the ending, and the beginning - but with the mysteries and supernatural twists in this book it really fits the narrative. Once we think we know what’s going on, this book will throw you for a loop in the entire opposite direction.
Our main character Temple can be a bit abrasive, especially as this novel begins, but honestly I was on her side almost the entire time. She had some good points about how she was and how she was treated by other people, and even when she was acting in a way that she probably shouldn’t I was still mostly on her side. She’s not exactly a likable main character all the time, but she feels very human and I understood where she was coming from.
(At one point I thought “I support women’s rights, but more importantly I support women’s wrongs” when she was doing something.)
A perfect fit for fans of My Heart is a Chainsaw, if you were wishing for another blood soaked Final Girl who you root for despite everything they’ve done.
This book is a fascinating take on the child war hero trope - as this book takes place AFTER the war has ended and these children war veterans attempting to live civilian life. It forces us to consider what happens to these characters after we leave them when the conflict is over, and consider the morality of using children this young for these purposes.
These children war heroes are called “kindlings,” who have been trained since they were taken from their families at around the age of 5, to use magic and weapons connected to this magic. However, the use of this magic directly drains years from their lives - which is why such young children are used for this purpose. In this way, we have 12 year old children fighting on the battlefield, and many of these fighters do not live to the age of 18. However, with the war ended - many of these children have difficulty adjusting to civilian life, when they had never expected to have lives to live to begin with.
This book is told through the perspectives of all 7 characters in this story, and through their eyes we can put together a bigger picture of all the aspects of war life these children lived through.
Reading this novel took some quick adjustment, as every chapter is told through second person POV, where the characters refer to themselves as “I,” and we, the reader, are living directly inside their head, with the only information available that they themselves know. This grew on me, as I found it to be a very interesting narrative choice to really see the thoughts behind each character, and the reasoning for their auctions.
The main plot of this novel is these 7 characters working together to try to save a village from being attacked and pillaged in a month’s time. This gives us both a deadline to show the severity of the situation, as well as gives them all time to get to know each other, as well as the villagers themselves. It allows these children trained for war to have a taste of regular civilian life, and give them the chance to recover from the trauma they’ve seen - while also putting their unique skills to use to protect these people from further violence.
If you like fantasy books that turn well-known tropes on their head and force the reader to consider the less-than-stellar implications of those same tropes - I would suggest picking up this book. It’s visceral in places, and once the violence kicks off you won’t be sure who will survive until the end.
These children war heroes are called “kindlings,” who have been trained since they were taken from their families at around the age of 5, to use magic and weapons connected to this magic. However, the use of this magic directly drains years from their lives - which is why such young children are used for this purpose. In this way, we have 12 year old children fighting on the battlefield, and many of these fighters do not live to the age of 18. However, with the war ended - many of these children have difficulty adjusting to civilian life, when they had never expected to have lives to live to begin with.
This book is told through the perspectives of all 7 characters in this story, and through their eyes we can put together a bigger picture of all the aspects of war life these children lived through.
Reading this novel took some quick adjustment, as every chapter is told through second person POV, where the characters refer to themselves as “I,” and we, the reader, are living directly inside their head, with the only information available that they themselves know. This grew on me, as I found it to be a very interesting narrative choice to really see the thoughts behind each character, and the reasoning for their auctions.
The main plot of this novel is these 7 characters working together to try to save a village from being attacked and pillaged in a month’s time. This gives us both a deadline to show the severity of the situation, as well as gives them all time to get to know each other, as well as the villagers themselves. It allows these children trained for war to have a taste of regular civilian life, and give them the chance to recover from the trauma they’ve seen - while also putting their unique skills to use to protect these people from further violence.
If you like fantasy books that turn well-known tropes on their head and force the reader to consider the less-than-stellar implications of those same tropes - I would suggest picking up this book. It’s visceral in places, and once the violence kicks off you won’t be sure who will survive until the end.
It feels wrong to rate this with 5 stars, considering the atrocities contained within, but I will as this book does well to explain the birth of Zionism and shines light on the treatment of the Palestinians from the beginning until the time this was written.
I may come back to include some of the many highlights I took while reading this book (I mainly listened through audiobook), but reading this novel in some form should be required reading for all.
Anyone who can read this historical account of the Nakba and Zionism and the continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, and still defend Zionism and Israel should be ashamed of their lack of humanity.
We are not free until all of us are free.
Free Palestine, From the River to the Sea
I may come back to include some of the many highlights I took while reading this book (I mainly listened through audiobook), but reading this novel in some form should be required reading for all.
Anyone who can read this historical account of the Nakba and Zionism and the continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, and still defend Zionism and Israel should be ashamed of their lack of humanity.
We are not free until all of us are free.
Free Palestine, From the River to the Sea
