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curlywhirlygirly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia
nickoliver's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Classism
Minor: Child death and Cannibalism
rebekita's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Rape
suziereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Drug abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence
the_friendly_ghost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Medical trauma and Abortion
lyzie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
There are two instances of attempted sexual assault in this book but one iscamz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
mvlee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The introduction sets up the story and the characters. Like others have pointed out, this is the only time you can see/feel that the book is set in Mexico. I would have been more interested in this story if the plot was based on real, local/cultural superstitions than what the actual plot was. Maybe Moreno-Garcia wanted the story to be more universal? I don’t know. But the beginning was the most interesting part of this book IMO.
As a person who avoids horror (in books, TV, and movies) 99% of the time, I was able to finish this book through sheer willpower and the ability to listen to the audiobook at 2x speed. I was able to understand what was going on even at that speed and didn’t have to linger too long on the horror and gore scenes, thankfully. That being said, the story actually wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be - again, thankfully. There were lots of creepy moments and I definitely got creeped out but overall, it wasn't too bad. Also, as many others have pointed out, you’ll probably finish this book with a distaste in mushrooms. I sure did. I already don’t like mushrooms (they taste awful!… don’t @ me) but, after reading this, I also don’t want to hear the word mushroom for at least a month.
What I liked:
I did find the “lore” behind the house/mushrooms interesting but, that only had a minor scene and was not the focus of the story. I also appreciated that the main character, Noemi, was smart and strong enough to persevere and stuck to her goal (save her cousin). Hooray for a smart and capable main character!
What I didn’t like:
Aside from the gross and horrific stuff, there wasn’t really anything I thought was “bad.” Everything was written in a way to further the plot and set things up for the ending.
Overall, I’d recommend it since it’s not too scary and does have a pretty interesting story overall. Personally though, it’s not one of my favorites and I’d probably never re-read it.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use
v171's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder