Ceraphina
the only thing believable in this are the cops being stupid, useless, trigger happy power hungry racist class traders. Civil servant scum.
I'm a cop hater through and through and have my fair share of experiencing them being pathetic pussy shits but I don't want to read about it. It didn't make me feel heard just made me roll my eyes.
tattoo scene was.... yikes
I don't mind a stalker romance but can there be like, idk chemistry or something?
Xaden step aside, we found the superior author to handle a broody man with a tortured past
Rebecca Yarros could NEVER lol
Envy is probs the man of my dreams
Will say that the very last chapter of their sex escapades though was not necessary with the uh... Star thing. I did indeed cringe at that moment. But otherwise a near flawless execution of two well thought out and rounded characters.
This is just 100pgs of (in this exact order I shit you not)
“Wanna fill my holes” “ya”
“You trying to destroy my bar?” “Nah I have shitty investors”
“Ok I'll hex everyone.” “Okay”
“Fill my holes?” “Ya”
There you go, that's your book :)
Smut scenes hold nothing for me if there's no flushed out characters, no sense of environment or the world, etc. 1 star is for Vlad because he's too hot of a concept for a novella.
I'm not sure the last time a book made me cry, but I shed a few tears towards the end with this one.
It's quite clear the subliminal “angel of death” meaning the author sprinkled throughout. If you look at the novel at face value I think it can come across lackluster/dry/repetitive. This isn't a happy journey, but it reflects a lot of struggles our humanity faces and how a companion like a pet can help us be vulnerable and honest when faced with repercussions of our actions or injustices placed onto us.
It was a moving and beautiful story.
my bad reading trait is that when it comes to a series I'm always tempted to finish it regardless of enjoyment. I can DNF otherwise and I badly wanted to with this one.
Elm and Ione story line was just filler. I didn't mind his POV but to have a romance with Ione was just odd, why couldn't he of seen her as a human to help but not have a whole new love plot and a more descriptive sex scenes than Ravyn/Elspeth did lol. More flirting, more banter, more everything than Ravyn/Elspeth. It made Ravyns sacrifices and Jes's sacrifices seem so silly and not noteworthy in the end.
Also Elm being so helplessly in love with Ione but genuinely could not care less for Elspeth in any way was a joke and I missed the punchline. The whole thing Ravyn saying how much Elm cared for him and his family, choosing them over his brother, etc but yet not batting an eyelid to the pain Ravyn had regarding Elspeth? That coupled with Ione was just weird as fuck, like the only few people who he claims to love in his life care for Elspeth and all he can do is be like “told you so Ravyn but watch me be a hypocritical little bitch baby when it comes to an ethereal beauty with curves(!!) did I mention she has (curves!!!).
Gillig won't be on my radar any time in the future. Characters are one dimensional, and as thin as the paper it's been penned on.
The only blessing is she had the smarts to end it all here.
Not Rebecca literally making deaths not applicable to any future plots lmao. I bet Varrish is alive
Not Xaden being a carbon copy and acting E X A C T L Y like a certain Dark Prince from Blood and Ash.
I have a feeling all of Xadens letters will be republished into a special edition only copy. If that doesn't happen I'll genuinely be shocked.
Characters introduced and for what? Not like we know much about them. Not when every character or plot building scene is ended abruptly just to cut a few days ahead or even a week or two ahead to force Violet and Xaden scenes.
So many grammatical errors and syntax issues.
This is presumably book two out of five, and along with that I've heard rumors Rebecca was rushed to edit this plot down to put it into one book vs two. I feel like I only ever hear that excuse when it comes to a disappointing book release. Your publishing sucked for this release, bookstore owners are bashing the copies they received and having to send copies back, Amazon & others over promised copies and canceled pre orders, cancelling the opening day parties at some locations, too many people have received completely damaged pre orders and then to TOP that, a not great follow up of a reading experiencing. I'd create whatever excuse I could too to lessen the criticism but overall this whole thing is a giant Yikes.
This is difficult to rate. My enjoyment was peaked when going through a poem, but that's the smallest amount in this book - majority just him talking about himself.
When I picked this up I didn't realize who Frank Skinner even was, if I'm being honest. So I have little attachment to how he perceives poetry but I did enjoy what he had to say about the poem “Pad Pad” - except the Art bit, more on that towards the end of my review.
I've read a few poems and poetry collections and I've always felt quite distanced from them. Maybe just one or two that sung to my heart. I will take more of a patient approach in my next poetry read and try and give my brain the similar jolt of deconstructing, analyzing, and imagination that happens for me when reading fiction novels.
So yes some good tidbits. Happy to hear from a poetry enthusiast on how he enjoys this crafted art and hope to embark some of this for me in the future.
Lower rating primarily given to the fact that how short this is and while I knew it wasn't hundred pages of scholarly dissections but rather a ‘hobbyist' view for poetry I'd of still enjoyed more time in the poem and his thoughts vs using the first 15pgs out of a 50pg book about how he got involved in poetry. In my opinion, it'd of been better to work through these revelations within the poetry so we can see how his worldview and life career affected how he saw the poem. Also - to of talked more of how Stevie Smith used art in her poetry. While he has a disdain on Smith's art because it wasn't how he initially perceived the poem, if he keeps going back to it time and time again to explore more, why dismiss the art altogether? Bc it felt like an attempt of apologizing to the readers? I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself properly but for making such a finite decision regarding the art as a bad thing, for limiting our mind, isn't that going against what he's saying in the rest of this book?
A snippet about his time at a museum, that he likes to look at the paintings to start coming to his own ideas and then reading the info so as to not be confined to what ‘experts' have said. A similar approach to when he's reading poetry. This is actually a great point I agree with. But why the opposite for art accompanying poetry? It felt like a full stop in his mind. Which discredits the art in museum idea. I am a person who loves imagery. I'd like to one day absorb a poem the way I've absorbed art. I think art could be a way to force a reader into opening their minds and dissect further vs creating a contained rigid exploration in the poem, to leave one absolute in the meaning. Is the art contradicting to what's in the poem? Does it provide a wider lens for the poem, to expand it beyond the limiting words on page? In my humble opinion, I'd like to think that the art as an additional piece to poetry, one way or another gets you to think beyond just reading the words and moving on. But maybe renowned poets and poetry lovers have set precedent that it's taboo in a way.
Perhaps Skinner also delves deeper into all of these things in his poetry podcast. But this alone did not convince me to start listening just to find out if that's true or not.
Kropotkin has to be rolling over in his grave.
100+ years later and you'd think I was just hearing the cries of our (still) impoverished.
Today I also learned that nearly 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. How this doesn't make you sick to your stomach and not advocate for the 1% rich to genuinely and appropriately readjust their wealth to help our world (and your governments to change as well, to help its people instead of enforcing this capitalistic hellscape) - for a society of yourself!, your children and their children - to not starve, go w/o clean water, not have a roof over their head, to not slave working till they are in their 70s - congrats, you've been properly bent over by Government, the worlds richest white men, and taking it in the ass while they feed you spoonfuls of their shit, smiling.
It's hard genuinely to not lose my mind. Reading is truly the way I stay sane but find it equally important to stay informed. I try my best to balance reality with fiction otherwise I become quite nihilistic. To of read this and know nothings changed, it's become proportionately worse, is hard. How can I stay positive when I know too many people in this world who eat propaganda, and yet not realizing that it's our government's propaganda that their stomachs are empty? So many people oppose to the point of spit coming out of their mouths and knuckles clenched that a human being, like themselves, doesn't require water or shelter? Doesn't require food? Doesn't require having 3 roommates just to afford a tiny apartment?
Truly, when did the “fuck you, I got mine” rhetoric start? We are all human, and yet no sense of humanity, no sense of community. I feel insane to have these thoughts, what I believe is common sense. Is my brain broken that I just don't accept when my country gives me a bottle full of piss but say that it's actually water? Is my brain broken that I genuinely saw a homeless man completely emaciated with protruding bones and a Ferrari on that same stop light corner and found it absolutely fucking gut wrenching and enraging? I'm just to say “it is what it is”? Perpetuate the “I suffered in this world, so you should suffer too.” (E.g. I paid off my student loans (ever stop to ask why student loans came about? No? Ok) you need to pay off yours too! Freeloaders!”
I can go on forever. We are all properly fucked, all I can do is my part and encourage others to see reason and enact reason for a better world, to have a resemblance of justice for people on this planet. Anyone who should be reading these books isn't. Mostly because the very small amount of people who hold all the power say it's a terrorist act to educate yourself, and ban/burn books, cut fundings for libraries etc. so how are we innately suppose to know these books and this type of ideal is available to learn about? To open our minds and choose a different path?
I can't say. Im just the worlds peasant off to read fiction books that take me away from my “apparently” broken brain.
This may change to 5. I feel only a little torn around the 80%ish mark. While my hardcover ed. comes in at only 322pgs the font is very small which lead to a much larger story than I had anticipated. And while I write this review please note that I heard very little of this novel before picking it up. All I had known was sci fi/gothic and I never read the synopsis and still haven't, so anytime something was revealed my mind was furiously at work but as a reader it is a refreshing experience to pick at a knot of a book and see it's story unfurl. I'll keep my initial thoughts as non spoiler as possible with spoilers at the end.
This is not a book you can rush. I satiated over every word and immersed myself within the pages slowly. I re-read a few paragraphs here and there to fully comprehend the scene laid out in some chapters but that further excited me on to keep reading. Regardless of my couple small story-structure gripes for the end this was a very rewarding read for me. I was awe struck in a way by what was happening and what I was reading, a new book to fulfill some of my niche interests - akin to maybe (my fav novel probably ever) The Luminous Dead and (another absolute fav novel) The Ruins. And very heavy Lakewood vibes happening. I was completely ecstatic at some parts having a sense that this is the kind of mind fuckery goodness my mind belonged in.
Ennes doesn't rush anything. I plan on a reread some day and I can't wait to pick it apart more and see what implications I may have missed to hint for the grand plot. Many reviewers are saying it's like nothing they've read before and I heartily agree. Many of the over arching themes are subtle and not outright messaging but once you pick up on these threads it adds in a separate kind of horror, the horror we know in our every day lives. Ennes also does a great job tackling many separate ideas but making it feel at one with the story. Nothing in here felt over explained, each new discovery in the book having its own place. But that changed sort of me as I got towards the end. I couldn't help but wonder what if these last remaining pages had more of a focus in the 3rd quarter of the novel, or earlier. Further onto what I mean in spoilers down below.
Before the spoiler part I just wanted to say if you wanted to give something weird and unique a try I say give Leech a chance. In my opinion it's not terribly heavy in horror, more fantasy and def gothic with darkness elements. Interest in anything medical-parasite based and that alone would ensure a good time for you.
SPOILERS INCOMING
Please do not read further if you are not wanting spoilers.
To my last point, the part that I think could of been introduced a bit better was ‘Simones' reckoning. We get hints, plenty of them, Ennes crafting a pathway for a solid conclusion that Simone's mind had finally split out of The Institute's, and became as one with her body as she could of. But this didn't flow the best for me because while we know The Institute is symbiotic with its hosts - (PS: if you like the idea of a foreign entity with a symbiotic nature to it I highly rec the Russian movie Sputnik) - the body that we know as Simone at the end, we don't really understand that Simone was at The Institute in hopes to fix their epilepsy but instead was injected by the parasite known as The Institute, our hive-mind collective in hundreds of what used to be reg. Humans. Some flashbacks that The Institute drudges up as Simone is started to fray with them in her mind brings images of a kid but it's never clear until later that it's her. We get other parts that provides some context as to how the Institute gets new bodies to inhabit but for Simone this felt like a disservice to her at the end and not as impactful for me seeing her become herself as I never even got to see her for a very long time. I was quite attached initially to the Doctor, The Institute and felt Simone came a bit too late for a proper relationship for me to engage with. Not only that but when Simone starts hearing both of her mothers voices in her head it's just such a disconnect with no seemingly sense of purpose in its placements. In my opinion for how crafted of a novel this is, maybe just maybe this could of interwoven with the overall plot of the story instead of being info dumped in its own way at the end. However, perhaps I missed the glaring signs of it being told indirectly in the snippets we had.
Might have a small gripe with how Emiles story unfolded as well. It wasn't until Simone in a fragmented haze with the Institute tries to take over Emiles body that we see the signs that Emile being there was something nefarious in purpose for the Chateu's occupants. We have a snippet of the Priest discussing that the son around our Butler Emile is probably as sinister as father Baron but it takes till just the end to realize how their lives interwove, and the punishment/rape/grooming Emile endured. He is mute, completely enigmatic, and I just wished we got more sprinkling throughout earlier on for all of the twists on who he is/why he's there had connected a bit more beautifully. Because otherwise he was just there for a huge part of this novel.
Contains spoilers
It was the ending of this book that tore my heart out and I knew this was going to go downhill.
I wish I had my own little curiosity bell that blared in warning before I instantly picked up the finale cause I'm sorry, it just should of ended here (before the shocking ending.) Third book was pointless and I'm just going to stay mad at it cause how do you take the perfection of this book and then make that?
Wow. There are 2 (full) plays in here and they both left me bereft.
Play 1: Said Talk.
Said Talk is a conference being hosted in South India. With an opening scene of: “”Said Talk”” believes in freedom of speech and that every individual is entitled to give and voice their opinion provided they are not politically, religiously or commercially motivated. The speakers are to ensure that their talk is RELEVANT, INTERESTING and FACTUAL even if the solutions may not be entirely realistic.”
We then move to our (Host) explaining that the speaker of the day is Ila. This play allows for Ila to be (he/she) which I thought was an interesting and overall good choice, with the subject of the speech.
I won't go into too many specifics as I'd recommend for anyone to experience these Plays on their own and enjoy the commentary.
BUT, Ila's speech as presented by (Host) is - “An exciting idea on ending violence and making the Public Justice System work for the poor.”
This play centers with some pretty great visuals and set up. We have Ila who is sure and confident in demeanor genuinely enthuse over their proposed solution on ending violence.
A young women enters the stage at some point after Ila's initial start (this segment would delve to much in the overall ideas of this play and wouldn't allow for making one's mind think and stew over the “plan” to form your own conclusions so I am purposefully leaving out Ila at this time).
As we're introduced to this young girl (age 12-15) we hear an intertwining story of her own & Ila occasionally popping in to show/provide how her Solution does work.
We hear a harrowing tale of violence subjugated onto the young girl and how her world has transpired up to her current age (15). We hear how the Public Systems fail her with great explanation into how our Governments take a great part in pain & suffering with focus on minorities and Castes. And how ourselves take part in the world around us, a selfish drive we take on our own one lane highways.
There was even a great inclusion on Malcom Gladwell's book “The Tipping Point.” Further zooming in on a well respected idea that people need to not shy away from facing and hearing horrible news and treacherous encounters loved ones and strangers have experienced to reach our boiling point and commit to action. Rage is what continues keeping the injustice torch alight with fire.
It's a great (short) play humming on the surfaces of pain and evil, and successfully timed punches of despair and hope for our futures.
Our 2nd play: Exit This Way
This play was probably my favorite of the two in here. Shorter than the first one but provided significant dialogue on the explored theme.
There's not too much movement in this play, our actors rather stationary.
Exit This Way opens up where a woman enters a funeral home succinctly named in tie with our title “Exit this Way.” A bit cheeky for a funeral home name but I enjoyed it.
The woman meets the director for the funeral home and our 2 actors get in conversation of why she's there with vague touches in her purpose.
Our funeral director is quite unaffected, intent on listening to her story until an early revelation in the play suggests our two characters may be closer than initially assumed.
It has a very heavy sense to it. While Said Talk was bleak and in your face (which served great purpose), Exit This Way takes on the tone of feeling like someone's sitting on your chest. The creator of these plays (our author Anu Canjanathoppil) was admirably aware of how two very uneasy feelings (Violence/Grief) still deserved different environment and cadence tones.
Exit This Way explores on grief. Relationships. How current/past people we meet in our lives can still have us accompanied by hurt, or love, while the other person remains unaware of their contribution to these complicated emotions.
The ending on this play was truly excellent. I loved where it went and provided me introspection.
I highly recommend if you're able to get this on Kindle or buy a Paperback copy (so happy I own physical, i annotated like crazy in it!) and you're interested in these type of discussions to read these plays. They aren't very long but leave you satisfied.
In the first couple chapters and knowing the Bookish circles I follow that said “ending is hit or miss” I got my brain working on what it was going to be. Though I didn't guess all the details correctly on that final chapter, I had correctly assumed the general ending which after reading I don't know how I feel in regards to piecing it together so early.
slight spoiler ahead!!
!!! Proceed with caution if you don't want anything spoiled !!!
I wish more than anything that Charlie's delusions were more prominent and wasn't immediately contradicted by what we can assume (in the midst of reading) with facts due to the change of POVs, where other characters were recounting things that were said/seen by Charlie while she was “hallucinating”. I had wanted and hoped for a different vibe. Something maybe more fever dream. Something where you're becoming genuinely unsure of the environment and situation from Charlie's movie trance hallucinations, and could spend lots of time picking it all apart and battling between a narrative you'd prefer vs a narrative that led and concluded to truths. This was way more “let me seem like I understand feminism by making a women with trauma but without comprehension of genuine women's suffering.”
You can go so many delicious ways with this kind of premise but alas, it's Riley Sager, and from what I've read in the past I've never experienced something the authors written that I've felt was sensational and recommend to all of your friends worthy.
