There’s slow burn, and then there’s just a book that never catches light.
The Monstrous Kind doesn’t lack for atmosphere or aesthetics, believe me. ItThere’s slow burn, and then there’s just a book that never catches light.
The Monstrous Kind doesn’t lack for atmosphere or aesthetics, believe me. It also doesn’t lack a sense of romance or chemistry between characters. The dialogue is actually the best part of the novel, which is nice when dialogue tends to be a problem in some other gothic fantasy novels.
None of these positives can make up for the host of negatives that this novel is composed of, however. From its slow, predictable, and writ beginning that failed to engage me, to the absolute cookie-cutter trope-ish characters, to the painfully apparent foreshadowing and false leads, and scenes that were obviously filler and could have easily been cut to help the dreadful pacing of the story, this book just never took off. I can honestly say I didn’t even become halfway interested in how the story might end until almost 60% of the way through, and by then I had already guessed how everything went together. I just wanted to see how they were going to assemble it all at the end.
Even there I was disappointed.
I can’t recommend this book. I just think it’s a lackluster example of gothic fantasy in a world where there are thousands of gothic fantasies that outshine it by far.
I love hiking, but I didn’t like this book. I thought the premise was neat, but the way it was carried out was absolutely ridiculous and required me tI love hiking, but I didn’t like this book. I thought the premise was neat, but the way it was carried out was absolutely ridiculous and required me to suspend too much disbelief.
Instead of the female friendships coming across as sincere and heartfelt, their bonds felt contrived and shallow. The book was predictable and absolutely dry.
I can’t say I recommend it at all.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Personal policy dictates that since this title received a rating of three stars or lower it will not appear on social media or bookseller websites. ...more
I really wanted to love this book because magical realism and speculative fiction are my favorite genres and because the plot sounded somewhat akin toI really wanted to love this book because magical realism and speculative fiction are my favorite genres and because the plot sounded somewhat akin to one of my favorite reads of 2022, Self-Portrait with Nothing. I was so grateful when Mulholland Books reached out to me and asked if I’d like a copy.
Sadly, there was more of the book I didn’t like than I did. The issue wasn’t with Lauren Beukes’ writing, because I enjoy her writing style–especially her talent for realistic and snarky dialogue. The issue also wasn’t with the plot, because that was why I was so interested in the book in the first place. My problem was with the multiple-POVs, the different storytelling styles (sometimes there are journal entries, sometimes there are letters, sometimes there are medical records, etc), and with the fact that we also have to deal with our characters jumping into different realities and becoming different people. It’s just so…crowded. Add in sections told from Bridge’s mom’s first-person POV in the past, and I just got so tired of all the voices when in truth I was only enjoying the entries from either Bridge or Dom’s (Bridge’s bestie) POV. Everyone else was just noise. I wanted the signal.
It’s a shame. Maybe I’ll come back to it another time when I feel like I have more patience to put up with it, but right now I just felt like this book was too many cooks in the dreamworm kitchen.
I was provided a physical copy of the uncorrected proof of this title by the author and Mulholland Book’s influencer program. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. ...more
This book has a split personality. The first half is full of splendid storytelling told either from the POV oOh, what highs! But then, oh, what lows.
This book has a split personality. The first half is full of splendid storytelling told either from the POV of a woman named Kace or in first-person prescient (which is a little-used narrative POV but one of my favorites). This first half, which takes place in the present day but reads like it takes place in the Old West, starts inside a women’s prison in Arizona with the stories of Florida and Dios, two of the prison’s inmates. It’s the time of COVID, and as much as no one likes the idea of being locked up, being locked up during a pandemic is putting them all even more on edge than usual. The prose is spellbinding, the plot relevant, and the social commentary compelling. I found myself sinking into the book, caught up in this cat and mouse game Dios is playing with Florida, trying to get Florida to admit she’s just the same as Dios and just as angry and violent as her, too. Dios wants to bring Florida down to her level, and she’s not beyond breaking a whole lot of laws in the process. Dios has an obsession, and Florida is it. Florida has an obsession too: getting to Los Angeles and back to her mother’s home to pick up her car and personal belongings before then driving back to Arizona before her first check-in with her parole officer.
I could’ve read that book–this book–just the way it is for the entire novel. Just Dios and Florida playing cat and mouse, catch and release, all over hill and dale as Florida tries to get to her car and Dios keeps dragging her down, down, down and then see how it ends.
But then there had to be part two. And that’s where this book lost me completely.
Up until this point there had been three POV’s: Florida, Kace, and Dios. In part two, all of a sudden, Dios’ POV disappears almost entirely and in its place is the POV of Lobos, a female cop that’s been assigned the case of Florida and Dios since they violated parole and a violent crime was committed during the act. But who committed the act? Was it both of them? One of them? Why was this guy killed anyway?
Like Florida, Dios, and Kace, Lobos has her own damage. Lobos even has a sexist partner that made me grind my teeth. It was established from the beginning that this book was largely about how the system victimizes females no matter their age, race, mental health, socioeconomic background, or line of work and then doesn’t think we have either the right or ability to get angry or violent and to do something about it. Taking it even further, if we dare try and do something about it, we’re somehow less than human to society. Bringing a cop who has a lot of her own issues surrounding anger towards men due to being abused by her husband into the story halfway through and practically letting her take over half of the narrative was not only jarring for the whole plot, but it was upsetting in general because we lost the strong narrative voice of Dios so this cop could amble around Los Angeles investigating the duo and jumping at shadows thinking her husband is around every corner.
Had Pochoda chosen to keep the story contained to Florida, Dios, and Kace, I believe this would’ve been a truly great novel. Her choice to split it down the middle like she did made it mediocre.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to personal policy, all reviews rated three stars or under are not posted to social media or bookseller websites. Thank you. ...more
I feel like I was conned by a gorgeous book cover and a really well-written blurb. It’s not the first time, but I’m really bummed about it in this casI feel like I was conned by a gorgeous book cover and a really well-written blurb. It’s not the first time, but I’m really bummed about it in this case, because I was really looking forward to this book and then it took a lot for me to finish it.
Calling this book enemies-to-lovers is generous. It’s more of a socioeconomic difference mixed with distrust for a governing system and then paired with a tenuous employer/employee relationship. They’re not enemies, per se. They just have a lot of trust issues and don’t know anything about one another personally; only rumors.
I just wanted so much more from this book, but pacing issues took up a lot of space and time in this book, which made it longer than it needed to be and really ruined some of the more dramatic, fantastic, and exciting portions of the book. Our FMC, Temperance, needed her hide saved far too much for me to appreciate, and it was usually Arcadio (our MMC) that did the saving. That never sits well with me in romance.
While two out of the other three members of the ship Temperance commands are female (when you exclude Arcadio), this book barely even passes the Bechdel Test because all the other female crew members want to talk to Temperance about 99% of the time is Arcadio (and/or Temperance having intercourse with him). Thanks but no thanks. I’d rather hear about their work aboard the ship, their lives, or anything else.
I just can’t in good conscience say this book truly connected for me. It was an okay read, but not a good one for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. No compensation was offered or accepted for this review. Due to the three star or lower rating, this review will not appear anywhere on social media, as personal policy dictates. ...more
I want anyone reading this review to understand something: This isn’t a bad book. It’s actually a really good book. It’s just not a good book for me. I want anyone reading this review to understand something: This isn’t a bad book. It’s actually a really good book. It’s just not a good book for me. Art is entirely a subjective thing. That’s the entire point of it. Everyone gets something different out of it. I can see how much so many people love this novel. Believe it or not, I was extremely excited to read this because I thought I’d adore it; but in the end, it just wasn’t a book that resonated with me in any way. Furthermore, it wasn’t a book I really enjoyed that much, in the end.
Siddiqi is obviously a force to be reckoned with and I hope they continue to write more books. I’ll be watching for the next one and be waiting to read it because she has a distinct and strong writing voice that I feel probably has a lot of brilliant stories to tell. Her prose so easily moves between the dreamy and ethereal to the present and stark reality it’s truly a gift. I greatly enjoyed and appreciated the amount of research that had to have gone into this book, as well as the worldbuilding. I feel her dialogue could use some work, but no author starts out perfect.
The plot was definitely interesting, I just think the satirical aspect of the book and how it was done felt rather cliche in some aspects. It also felt just a little too beaten into the reader, like dough that’s been kneaded so much it can no longer rise. If you beat the reader over the head with something constantly throughout the book they have nothing to rise and discover alongside with as they read the novel.
I absolutely don’t want to discourage anyone from reading this book, though. I feel this book is a matter of personal decision. I encourage you to read it and make up your own mind.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
As per personal policy, this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller websites due to receiving a rating of three stars or under.
File Under: Just Not For Me/Literary Fiction/Satire/Suspense Fiction ...more
I had hoped this book would be something I’d enjoy, but not only could I not get into it, but it moved so slowly I don’t know how it could be considerI had hoped this book would be something I’d enjoy, but not only could I not get into it, but it moved so slowly I don’t know how it could be considered a thriller. Honestly? I was bored. And a thriller set in the Applachians in the thick of winter involving vampires shouldn’t be boring. It shouldn’t be possible. Yet here we are.
The only redeeming thing about the whole book is Scott’s prose, which is incredibly evocative and full of the right weight for this book. I just wish the book itself would’ve been worthy of the prose.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Personal policy dictates this review will not appear on social media due to receiving a rating of three stars or lower. ...more
At 209 pages, this book is only a handful of pages longer than a novella, and the book truly suffers for it. Actually, the book just suffers from poorAt 209 pages, this book is only a handful of pages longer than a novella, and the book truly suffers for it. Actually, the book just suffers from poor research, clumsy writing, inelegant plotting, a truly predictable plot, and cookie cutter characters with no nuance to them whatsoever. I almost DNF’d it because I knew I could be spending my time reading the many other ARCs calling my name for April 4th’s release date.
Sure, I wax often and eloquently about the virtues of the novella and its ability to pack so much into so few pages, but that virtuosity depends on the economy of words and brilliant sentence structure. This book has neither. It’s clunky and runs like a carriage on cobblestones: rough and wobbly, starting and stopping, letting too many characters talk and get their voices in. There are too many players on the board for this to be anything but a tangle of threads that’s too conveniently cleaned up.
I wish Chad Zunker better luck in the future with his writing, because this read amateur, and I can see he’s no amateur.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, ideas, views, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Due to personal policy, this review will not be posted on any social media or bookseller websites due to a rating of three stars or under.
File Under: Crime Thriller/Not For Me/Kindle Unlimited/KU/Short Story/Thriller/What Did I Just Read That Was Bad ...more
I read the blurb for this book and couldn’t wait to read it. I wanted to read it so badly, so I was thrilled when I was approved for the ARC. It soundI read the blurb for this book and couldn’t wait to read it. I wanted to read it so badly, so I was thrilled when I was approved for the ARC. It sounded like that song from the musical “Chicago”: The Cell Block Tango, you know?
He had it comin’ He had it comin’ He only had himself to blame If you’d have been there If you’d have seen it I betcha you would have done the same
You know that feeling when that number is on screen or stage, right? How it starts out titillating and tense? How you’re filled with curiosity and suspense? Each woman tells her tale, sordid yet unapologetic, because her man was a bad man and the system certainly didn’t care what he did to her–they only cared that she was a murderer. And then the chorus explodes into a thrilling frenzy between each tale, with all the women imploring the audience to understand what the system didn’t.
Yeah, no. That’s not what this book was. It’s not what it sounded like, felt like, or read like. How this book qualifies as a thriller I have no idea, because it bored me to tears. I honestly almost DNFd it, but I made a promise to myself to try to DNF less books this year simply because they weren’t “my thing” and try to persevere. In the case of this book, I was treated to three different unwarranted naps because it put me to sleep all to find out the killer was exactly who I thought it was.
Look, I get what the book was trying to do and I applaud the effort. The idea was even top-notch. However, the execution was totally lacking. Stilted prose, too many coincidences, and not even thrills to raise a single goosebump make this book time I won’t get back.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Due to personal policy, this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website owing to its three star or lower review.
File Under: Crime Thriller/Just Not For Me/MurderThriller/Suspense Thriller ...more
I was really looking forward to reading this book and I’m so sad that I disliked it as much as I did. I had to fight to stay asleep through almost theI was really looking forward to reading this book and I’m so sad that I disliked it as much as I did. I had to fight to stay asleep through almost the entire first third of the book. Then I was a little better until the halfway mark, but not by much. I didn’t become truly invested until the halfway point and that, to me, is a huge problem. I don’t like slow burn novels. I don’t like waiting for halfway through the book for it to become truly interesting. It leaves me feeling cheated out of half a book and of time I could’ve spent reading other books that I would have enjoyed more fully.
On the upside, what comes after the 50% mark is really interesting and worth investing in, if you aren’t like me and like a slow burn. After that halfway point I felt like I needed to see it through to the end because there was just too much at stake and I absolutely needed to know how all the characters in this book were going to solve the boondoggle that is the plot.
It’s actually a really solid plot, too. Let me be clear: All of my problems with this book stem from it being a slow burn. The writing itself is impeccable. Caitlin Starling is a great writer in terms of prose, dialogue, plot, and characterization. Her worldbuilding and research are both excellent. I have a degree in geography and one of my concentrated areas of study is urban planning, so subsidence (the major plot point affecting the fictional city of San Siroco in this book) is a topic I know well, so I was actually very interested in that part of the plot. I’m also a big fan of the folklore surrounding doppelgangers, which was another reason why I was so excited to read this book. I love a good doppelganger book. It’s just too bad that this wasn’t my kind of book.
If you love a good slow burn, I think you’ll love this. If you aren’t the patient type (like me), then this may not be for you. I also think the romance subplot should’ve been cut entirely–not only did it feel like it came out of nowhere, but it didn’t need to be there for the story to work. Cutting it would’ve streamlined the story more and kept that third act a little tighter in terms of flow.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Personal policy dictates that since this title received a rating of three stars or lower this review will not appear on social media. ...more
I expected so much more from this novel, given the synopsis. I love a good story about an abandoned amusement park. Sadly, this one just didn’t deliveI expected so much more from this novel, given the synopsis. I love a good story about an abandoned amusement park. Sadly, this one just didn’t deliver on, well, anything. It was one slow slog through a mildly entertaining story to a turn I predicted early on. Sure, there were some twists along the way that kept the story interesting enough that I didn’t DNF it, but that seems like an almost-desperate branch to throw out to a drowning reader who is suffering from dry, unimaginative prose and stilted, unnatural dialogue.
I can’t say I recommend this book. If you’re looking at the cover and reading the synopsis and think it might be a totally awesome, suspense-filled, crazy time, my opinion is that it solidly is not those things.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. As per personal policy, this review will not appear on any bookseller or social media website due to a rating of three stars or lower. Thank you.
File Under: Conspiracy Thriller/Dystopian Fiction/General Fiction/Genre Mashup/Horror/Just Not For Me/Psychological Fiction/Speculative Fiction/Suspense Thriller ...more
And Break the Pretty Kings, the first first book in the Sacred Bone series by debut author Lena Jeong, was a book I was really looking forward to thatAnd Break the Pretty Kings, the first first book in the Sacred Bone series by debut author Lena Jeong, was a book I was really looking forward to that unfortunately fell well short of the target. Sadly, not every new YA fantasy series can please everyone straight out of the gate.
The market for folklore and mythological retellings from cultures and nations that aren’t European has been going through a golden age for about three years now, with no signs of stopping. Due to the large amount of interest coming from America in Asian cultures, that’s where the most adaptations, retellings, and remixings are coming from. So, in order to shine bright in the YA Fantasy Asian Folklore Retelling Book Series market, you need to make sure your book stands out from the crowd in some way and that the writing is polished until it gleams.
Sadly, neither one of those things is true about And Break the Pretty Kings. The book is poorly paced: the beginning is messy and confusing, and up until almost the 50% point of the book the whole thing feels like a bunch of what a lot of people call, “Hurry up and wait”. This stutter-start-stutter-start feeling has all the hallmarks of poor story mapping, down to including the dreaded exposition dumps. After the 50% mark all you have is bad writing, scenery, and a poorly thought-out climax and rush to a cliffhanger ending that reminded me of a great many episodes of Dragonball Z.
It would’ve helped if I’d liked any of the characters or if any of them had stayed consistent. Mirae, our protagonist, is naive and obviously has a case of selective hearing for the sake of the plot. She’s also clever when the plot calls for it but ignorant when the plot calls for it too. She’s utterly clueless, but everyone treats her as if she’s totally fierce. I didn’t understand anyone in this book. No one.
This book could’ve been made a great many pages shorter if less time had been spent waxing eloquent about every shiny thing in every room or table Mirae came across. This isn’t necessary, people. This is called purple prose. This level of description and how many pages it takes up doesn’t have anything to do with the plot. If you need to fill pages gushing about fabric or pottery in the middle of what is supposed to be an urgent quest, then you’re doing something wrong.
Everyone else seems to really like this book, and I don’t know why, but I’m not going to yuck their yum. This book just wasn’t for me and I won’t continue the series. If you did enjoy it, many well wishes to you and to Ms. Jeong as you continue the adventure.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas are mine and mine alone. Personal policy dictates that since this title received a rating of three stars or lower from me as a reviewer that it will not appear on any social media or bookseller website.
File Under: Coming of Age/Folklore Retelling/Historical Fantasy/Just Not For Me/LGBTQ Friendly/YA Book Series/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction ...more
I went into this book expecting something different than what I got. Sometimes, this can be a good thing. This time, it’s not entirely the “blurb baitI went into this book expecting something different than what I got. Sometimes, this can be a good thing. This time, it’s not entirely the “blurb bait” that turned me sour, it was the prose. Jim Bartley may think he’s written a clever dark comedy full of unfortunate violence in the tradition of the Coen Brothers, but the book never comes off as that clever. It just comes off as quite boring.
I was also hoping there would be more to the romance between Wes and Cam than what was portrayed in the book. I’m not talking about explicitness–I’m talking about mentioning it at all in any terms besides just mentioning it as an afterthought here or there or whenever someone else brings it up in a (historically-accurate) derogatory way. The way their relationship is portrayed almost makes it feel cheap.
It was just a disappointment on my end.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Due to this review being three stars or lower this review will not appear in social media. ...more
I really, really wanted to like this book. You’ve got the horrors of colonialism, sexism, misogyny, a single mom who’s a working professional and raisI really, really wanted to like this book. You’ve got the horrors of colonialism, sexism, misogyny, a single mom who’s a working professional and raising two girls on her own, racism, xenophobia, the current situation in Mexico with the cartels and widespread disappearances of females of all ages, the duplicitousness of coyotes when it comes to ensuring immigrants cross the border to the US safely, and the deliberate erasure of the true histories of where we all come from, even though your average child knows history is full of war and sacrifice.
I didn’t like it. It had some of the most uneven pacing I’ve ever seen in a horror novel. Once you start to build the dread you can’t just take a break from building the dread. The dread needs to keep building. That line needs to be tight, with only a little slack so the reader doesn’t get overloaded while reading. This book has dread build and stop. Suspense build and stop. This book should have made me feel like something was crawling slowly up my spine from the inciting incident. Instead, it would start to climb and then stop completely for pages and pages before it would start again, but in a different way and at a different speed. If I’m reading horror, I want to be scared, not annoyed.
There was also something about Gout’s writing that struck me as uncomfortable to read. I think there’s a formality to it that makes the book feel stuffy, or like a shirt collar that has been ironed with too much starch. It made me feel like I couldn’t take the book seriously because someone needed to let him know it was okay to relax and let the words flow instead of ensuring they were in absolutely perfect form at all times. The dialogue was done very well, but the narrative didn’t match up, and it created a disconnect that just made me groan.
I also think the book is a touch longer than it could have been due to filler material. Some scenes were unnecessary and some sections were longer than I thought were needed.
But the history research done for this book is impressive, and it’s definitely an interesting read. I seem to be rather in the minority in regards to my opinions about this book so maybe pick it up and give it a try. It may be your yum.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, thoughts, views, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Owing to personal policy, all reviews 3 stars and under will not appear on any social media or bookseller websites. Thank you. ...more
I had been looking forward to this title since I requested it. The premise sounded like an absolute hoot and I thought it would be something quirky, wI had been looking forward to this title since I requested it. The premise sounded like an absolute hoot and I thought it would be something quirky, witty, and likely to make us readers contemplate humanity more than think about the dangers of alien invasion.
Instead, I got one of the most boring, repetitive, annoying, and most unevenly paced books I’ve read in quite some time. This book was marketed as being funny. Other reviews called it sharp and witty. I honestly didn’t get any of that while reading this book. It was full of characters I couldn’t stand, prose that seemed meandering and pointless, dialogue that made me grind my teeth, and chapters that made me want to skim because I just didn’t see the point of them.
I was so disappointed by this book I almost DNFd it more than once. I persevered in the hope I could find something nice to say about it, but by the end I realized I had just wasted my time.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Any review I write rating a book as three stars or under will not be posted on social media or bookseller websites per personal policy. ...more
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