reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

This is my second Carty-Williams read, and once again I am astounded by her ability to write with such care and insight about mental health. Some portions of the book felt so real and were described so compellingly that it was almost claustrophobic/overwhelming, especially in Dimple’s sections.   
 
I did think the Kyron plotline was a bit weak and ended too easily. Surely Nikisha could have done what she did much sooner and saved a lot of grief for everyone? 

The ending in general felt a little rushed (especially the Kyron plotline), which did unbalance the book for me. 
 
However, I thought all of the discussions around family and connecting with others were really impactful, and the Kyron plotline wasn’t really needed at all. I would have been perfectly happy just reading a book about this family and their day to day lives. 

My one-line review of this - 'A flatline of a book.' 
 
WHY WHY WHY was this SO LONG?????
 
Every element that I enjoyed was completely overshadowed by the ridiculous, monotonous, useless length of this book. 
 
If in the ending loads of little threads that had been planted throughout the book came together, or even if, God forbid, there was enough plot to fill 800 pages I'd be completely content with such a long book. 
 
BuT tHeRe WaS ZERO rEaSoN for it to be SO long. 
 
Once you find out what's causing Ralph's insomnia there's zero mystery, intrigue or suspense to the story. It just goes on at the same pace and tone for hundreds more pages. 
 
The core ideas and fantasy elements of the book are really interesting at first, but they get boring as HELL after being repeated without much development for so many pages. 
 
There were some good portions of the story but they were so few and far between. For example, I was truly repulsed at some of the body horror sections, and the ending (which was relatively good for a Stephen King) was actually thrilling in places even though it was pretty predictable. But the action/fight scenes were so listless and had no energy to them, and so many other opportunities to be thrilling fell flat. 
 
When we actually meet them, the main villain of the book, who was one of the biggest mysteries throughout the entire story, was pretty pathetic and was dealt with so easily. So anticlimactic. 
 
I understand some of the book being lifeless as a stylistic choice due to the insomnia, but the whole book? Even when the characters felt energised?? Not great. 
 
Don't get me wrong, this book wasn't all awful, but each page was just more of the same thing/pace/stakes over and over and it got old. 
 
Also, as a petty side note, it was stated as fact that in LOTR Frodo was Bilbo's grandson????? CHECK YOUR FACTS. 

From the first page of this I had a feeling that the book was going to give every excuse under the sun as to why unmoral/abusive/misogynistic men aren't actually responsible for their own horrible actions, and why they should be pitied instead. From some of the reviews I have now read, it looks like I was completely right… 
 
This initial feeling was then exacerbated (on page 8 mind you) by the idea that 'men with abominable passions' and 'murderers of their own parents' are only driven to such acts because they're inhabited by evil spirits. Because OF COURSE men who commit terrible deeds could never actually be accountable for them.
 
This above passage also includes 'the mentally ill' and people with epilepsy in the SAME sentence as the abominable passioned men and murderers, making me think the author views these things in a similar light. FUCK OFF. Mentally ill people (let alone epileptics) cannot all be tarred with the same brush as MURDERERS. 
 
NO THANK YOU.
 
NOT IN THE MOOD FOR SUCH ABELIST MISOGYNY.
 
GOODBYE. 

This was a good mystery, but it felt too mechanically told for it to be truly great. There wasn't any real shock factor or emotion, and certain physical descriptions (especially when explaining the murder) weren't very clear.  
 
I also found it difficult to remember all of the character's names and got characters confused with one another as I'm not overly familiar with Japanese names. This meant the impact of certain reveals wasn't as great as it should have been. Obviously, this isn't the author's fault, but it did affect my enjoyment of the book. If I were reading this physically, I would have been checking back to the character list at the beginning of the book, but I couldn't be bothered to do so while listening to audio. 
 
Speaking of the audiobook, it's unfortunately edited pretty poorly. There were a LOT of fumbled words and some awkward cadences that were left in that really should have been rerecorded. There were also some really clumsy, obvious cuts, as well as some random sentences that were very low in volume compared the rest of the audio. It was clear that these issues weren't characterisation choices, but simply sloppy editing. In addition, at the beginning of the book, the narrator addressed us as 'dear listeners' which I thought was a nice touch, but towards the end we were addressed as 'dear reader', so they inexplicably didn't follow this through to the end of the novel. 

This was a lighthearted yet at times powerful novel.

I thought the discussions around family and death were really meaningful, and I found myself tearing up at points. 

I also haven't read many books from Australia, so it was refreshing to read this one. 

The only thing that drew me out of the story was the weird way the author wrote about social media. I have to assume that Kostakis is quite a bit older than the teenagers in this book, and I was actually shocked that it was published so recently with the social media wording. The characters post new status updates multiple times a day, and I don't know ANY social media like that that's been used in (at least) the last 5 years. The teenagers also sound awkward when talking about technology: 'Theres this app for my phone' - no-one under the age of 30 would EVER say that.

Apart from that point... what an enjoyable and heartwarming novel. 

This book manages to tell the rich and impactful life stories of a multitude of characters in such a compelling and addictive way. 

Each sentance in this tapestry had its own purpose and added more depth to the story - not a single word was wasted.

Every character was so three-dimensional and flawed in their own way, yet we are able to relate to or at least root for almost every single one. 

I appreciate Min Jin Lee bringing popular attention to this part of history that I knew so little about, and for conveying it in such a compassionate way. 

This book is just a thinly veiled excuse to spew transphobia. If you’re queer, I’d advise not reading it. More details with spoilers at the end of my review. 

Just a few minor points before I go into rant mode: 

The initial premise of this book is so much like that of Freida McFadden’s ‘The Housemaid’, but seeing as they were both published in the same year, this could only be coincidence (I hope). 

I would also say it is way more of a mystery thriller/detective story with ghosts than a horror, so I don’t know why it was in the Goodreads Choice Awards horror category, let ALONE why it won. 

The ONE good thing I have to say about the book after finishing it was that towards the beginning I did get a little spooked. I didn’t realise how scary turning pages of pictures could be. I wish they’d stayed with the more childish style of pictures though, because they were way more eerie than the ‘proper’ drawings. 

**SPOILERS FROM HERE**

There’s a pretty big plot hole in the book. It’s established that Anya can only draw when she takes control of someone else, so where did the pictures come from that it was made clear neither Teddy nor Mallory drew?? Absolutely no explanation was given for this. Also, why couldn’t Anya draw words?? It’s clear she still understood words with the spirit board and her ‘talking’ at the end (even though this was in English but she apparently can’t speak English), yet for some reason she was unable to write words when she could draw such impressive images?? Both of these just seem like LAZY omissions. 

With the above points, this book would be around a 3-star rating. I enjoyed the first half, but the second half just got out of hand and sloppy. The twists weren’t shocking and the inclusion of a page-long confession monologue and awkward ‘1 year after’ chapter just seemed lazy. 

My main issues with the book were that of racism and transphobia. 

There was a current of racism throughout the book, but it came to a head towards the end when Mallory says someone who has lived in the USA for OVER 6 years was doing ‘remarkably well’ at being able to speak English. SO condescending. As if all non-English speakers are thick and incapable of learning new languages. And like most European countries, I’m sure there is a large portion of Hungary that is at least conversational, if not fluent, in English. 

But the HUGE problem in this book is the transphobia. 

The multiple mentions of Harry Potter and JK Rowling (especially in a book written in 2022 where I’m sure most people are aware of her own transphobia) should have been a red flag. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up on it properly before the ‘twist’. 

As a trans person myself, I DESPISE when a character being trans/not the gender people perceived them to be is used as a major, shocking plot twist. We exist in the real world, and our existence shouldn’t be used as a plot point or spectacle by authors who are clearly not from the LBGTQIA+ community. The kid didn’t even NEED to ‘change gender’ in the story. The parents could have moved away, or made up some bullshit story instead of doing it. Clearly just an excuse to instil transphobia into the book. 

The transphobia clicked as soon as Mallory demands ‘why didn’t you tell me Teddy is a girl’. This is BEFORE we find out that Teddy’s parents have changed Teddy’s gender, so for all Mallory or we knew, Teddy was actually trans. This is immediately invalidating trans identities, and could have been said in so many other ways e.g., ‘Was Teddy born a girl?’ or even ‘Is Teddy transgender?’. 

They also say that Teddy was emotionally traumatised from 2-3 years of living as a boy. Yeah, sure. Imagine how trans people feel having to live their lives in bodies that feel completely alien to them! Its baffling how a link isn’t made here by so many transphobes.  

Also, my favourite quote from the book if you weren’t already convinced of Rekulak’s blatant transphobia: 

'Ted and Caroline were very sick people who made a lot of mistakes, and their biggest mistake was taking you away from your parents. Their second-biggest mistake was dressing you in boy clothes and changing your name from Flora to Teddy.' EXCUSE ME?? THEY LITERALLY MURDERED PEOPLE, BUT THIS WAS WORSE????? 

So, to sum up this book: evil, murderous atheist people steal away a child and force it to be transgender, while saintly, devout Christian woman (who has found healing from addiction through God don’t forget) saves said child and returns them to their ‘natural’ God-given gender.

FUCK YOU Jason Rekulak. 

This book is really well written, and the audio narration is really good. It is the content itself I have issues with.
 
I got to the end of the first story, and after reading reviews, I don't think I'm going to enjoy the rest of it.
 
I don't like how the first story was left. I feel like there should have been more of Suzette growing up and coming into herself as a person, rather than a couple of semi-rebellious road trips. It seemed like the author was infantilising her while also making her seem like sort of sex icon. It was very weird how the only two people she was close to ended up being in romantic/sexual relationships with her. They both infantilised her and didn't treat her like an adult (the sex scene felt almost predatory), but the ending was seen as positive and all was right with the world?? 
 
Suzette's abusive household also wasn't addressed enough for how big a part of the story it was.
 
Overall I did enjoy this first story, but I felt it needed to be developed further, and I have no interest in reading another two underdeveloped narratives.  

I usually enjoy unlikeable narrators, especially if their mis-deeds and views are commented on or the novel has a compelling plot. So far, this book has included neither of these things, so I'm giving up.
 
My main issue is that Dominik is viewed almost as a heroic/self-sacrificing character in the majority of the book, but he has APPALING views on women. He is so misogynistic and objectifying - he essentially acts as if women only exist for his pleasure. As I've said, if there was ANY commentary on this, or a suggestion that we are meant to see this as a flaw in his character, I wouldn't have minded as much, but I get the sense that we are meant to forgive him for his behaviour because he works so hard to look after his brother. 
 
The first red flag was when between them, Lamb and Dominik victim blame a 13-YEAR-OLD sexual abuse victim by saying she 'wanted it' so it wasn't really rape. DISGUSTING. There's no commentary on this, or even an allusion to Dominik being mistaken in his views.
 
I was wary from that point on, and just couldn't deal with any more of Lamb’s repulsive misogyny, there is SO much in this book - I'd say there's at least one derogatory comment towards women on every single page of it. I just can't face another 700 pages of that, and after reading reviews where there's on-page rape which never gets properly discussed and the rapist is forgiven, I know this isn't the book for me.

This book is INCREDIBLE, and completely destroyed me.  

Dare I say the best fantasy I've ever read? 

It was so good it has made me have to re-consider my entire rating system.  

There was such subtle complexity to both the characters and the world, and so much of it resonated deeply with me. 

I've found that in most fantasy either the plot is amazing, OR there are amazing characters and relationships. This book has both and then some. 

Every character was so perfectly imperfect, the politics were intriguing, and the magic system was beautiful.  

My only critique is that the ending dragged a little, but the majesty of the rest of the book completely out-weighs that. 

I went on an emotional journey with these characters, I haven't cried so much during a book in years, nor have I learnt so much about the humanity. 

Chef's kiss.