erinkellyreads's reviews
635 reviews

Book One was good, but not my favorite. Book Two was much more fun! Heading into Book Three now, and then we'll all have to wait for the finale. 

I enjoyed this, but the ending knocked this down from 5 stars. If you don't like your protagonists to be flawed and mean, you won't like this. I actually laughed out loud at parts - she's a bitch, and I like her!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the ALC of this book. I listened to this book in a day! It really surprised me by how quickly I was pulled into the story. 

Things I loved:
- The characters - both real people and scary creations - were fully realized and interesting. 
- The tension and suspense were very palpable! I couldn't put this one down.
- The ideas were very original while dealing with topics that we've all dealt with before (coming out, the bury your gays trope of media, horror as expression, A.I.'s growth in the arts, the evils of capitalism, etc)
- The narration on the audiobook was acted wonderfully. The intonation and emotional range was all present. 
- The flashback scenes were so vulnerable and heart-stricken! This book will stay with me.
- I really loved that Tingle was focused on showing more than just queer tragedy! We do need more queer joy!

Things that took this from a 5 star read to a 4 star read:
- The ending. The final almost 30% of the book felt unnecessarily long. I was racing along with the book up until that point, but it felt like "and another thing... and another thing..."
- It began to feel like Tingle was just "doing too much", as the youth say, lol. The book became too full with too many points by the end.
- There were a few points where Tingle had these beautifully symbolic scenes and thematic touchstones and then he would just... tell you what he just showed you. It was unnecessary because he'd already done the good writing work. I got it, Chuck! 

Not either way, but something to note for future readers - assume that, yes, this is a horror book, and, yes, there are some graphic instances of violence. Only one really crossed the line into being too much for me (a torture scene that just kept going), but if you are not comfortable with that, it is something to note. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the ride of this book, and I can see others getting a lot out of the experience of reading it! The print book is out now, but if you want the full audio experience, you'll have to wait a couple more weeks until July 9th!