I can see how this is not for everyone, but I had a great time reading this! I read it in two days, and I think that explains how engaging and easy to read I found it. 

First of all, I fuck with this book because the absolute chaos energy of trying to retell The Cask of Amontillado and The Masque of the Red Death in a YA novel is gutsy 😂 Like, truly deranged to retell a story where someone gets entombed but make it teenagers doing it and experiencing it. It was great!

Honestly, my favorite part about this is that even though so many cruel and unexpected things happen, I can totally see teenagers doing what is done in this novel. Of course there’s things you have to suspend your disbelief about, but at the core of it so much is accurate. The reasoning behind the actions themselves also make sense. That’s what I think makes this novel great! 

Because McGinnis chose to set this in a small town, I also find that Tress, but especially Felicity make a lot of sense in the narrative. Felicity is ultimately a people pleaser who wants to support her mother’s agenda of establishing their family as a respected family in this small community. She often uses inaction in order to passively allow heinous things to happen (despite her disagreement with the actions) because she doesn’t want to risk her social standing. It’s sad, but it’s real. It also makes it very real how she still strongly cares about Tress despite her being at the scene of so many terrible things happening to Tress. The love is still there, but the protection is gone. 

I think the main thing I disagree with some of the reviews is the believability of Tress experiencing remorse for her actions. Some readers think this is unrealistic because of how far she’s already gone, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic. There’s a huge cavern between wanting to harm someone and actually harming someone. There’s also a world of difference between feeling resentful and angry and realizing you’ve done something terrible not only to someone you once (still) loved, but someone who is fighting to tell you the truth because of things they themselves suppressed. None of this is easy, so it shouldn’t be unbelievable that Tress could regret her actions.

Anyway! I had a great time reading this. I’m so glad to have entered my Mindy McGinnis era ✨ As an Edgar Allan Poe fan, I knew reading this as my second McGinnis book was the right choice, and I proved that to be true ✌🏼

P.S. Justice for Ribbit! I sure hope he gets his revenge in book two 🙏🏼 The people around him ain’t shit!