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kbecker813's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm so happy I decided to listen to this audiobook so soon after finishing "Mary" as there are a number of parallels between the two stories. It also made me realize just how much I adore Cassidy's writing style. He's exceptionally skilled when it comes to writing characters I love to hate (and I thoroughly enjoyed how one character in particular got what was coming to them). I also love that his stories tend to focus on the marginalized and the outcast. This particular book has strong "Rosemary's Baby" vibes in addition to taking a completely unique approach to vampire fiction. There are so many elements at play that at times I worried that they'd all crash into one another in some sort of tangled mess, or something would be forgotten and unresolved. But Cassidy is a master at weaving those many, many threads together to form a satisfying conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Blood, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol and Pandemic/Epidemic
dcnireads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
in conclusion, men are weak unreliable trash and FUCK them kids. (just kidding. but also not really.)
in all seriousness, this book was unnervingly gross and terrifying with a freaky as shit (but unique) depiction of a mix between vampirism and cannibalism. it has dark and sometimes genuinely triggering takes on disability and mental illness, specifically postpartum depression and the realities + struggles of motherhood. it was, however, written with a truly understanding and considerate perspective towards the latter topics mentioned above, and it even got a bit inspiring towards the end. i feel the need to say that im surprised considering this was all authored by a man, and you normally wouldn't expect them to have sensible opinions about such matters that aren't downright disrespectful, tone-deaf and/or written insensitively. at this point i didn't even mind the jarring inclusion of covid out of nowhere.
i'm so sorry mr. cassidy, i was unfamiliar with your game. 4.5 stars for you sir.
in all seriousness, this book was unnervingly gross and terrifying with a freaky as shit (but unique) depiction of a mix between vampirism and cannibalism. it has dark and sometimes genuinely triggering takes on disability and mental illness, specifically postpartum depression and the realities + struggles of motherhood. it was, however, written with a truly understanding and considerate perspective towards the latter topics mentioned above, and it even got a bit inspiring towards the end. i feel the need to say that im surprised considering this was all authored by a man, and you normally wouldn't expect them to have sensible opinions about such matters that aren't downright disrespectful, tone-deaf and/or written insensitively. at this point i didn't even mind the jarring inclusion of covid out of nowhere.
i'm so sorry mr. cassidy, i was unfamiliar with your game. 4.5 stars for you sir.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Death of parent
stephanieluxton's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book started off feeling like it'd be a 5 star read then slowly went downhill until it reached an unsatisfying ending.
Something fantastic about this book was the authors ability to create an intense feeling of isolation in New York City. The setting is fantastic - so ominous. Our FMC is in a wheelchair which I thought was quite clever as it added to her isolation. The pacing was also quite good. The author didn't reveal too much too quickly. There were quite a few genuinely scary and unsettling moments!
There are a few issues with this book and Id say the one that struck me the most is that I didn't feel like the author didn't really capture parental love well in his writing. The FMC had basically no maternal instincts. This isn't entirely a spoiler butthe FMC is resentful towards her baby because a very difficult birth left her disabled in a wheelchair. I thought this added an interesting dynamic but my problem is that I think that was a character flaw that she should have overcome by the end of the story. It kind of seems like she will but she doesn't .
The reveal of what's happening felt a little too much like an info dump after a nice slow build. I didn't like that in the endthe dad, who has been a mostly great dad for the whole book decides that he should just let the vampire gargoyle leech people have his baby. Why have him searching so desperately for a way out just to make him change his mind about it in a whim then kill him off. Also the wife didn't seem traumatized enough by basically killing her husband. Her whole world fell apart and she just seems fine at the end. So dumb.
I hated Frank. More specifically, I hated that frank existed as a character. He feels like he was inserted for political reasons because the author wanted to write about a stereotypical far right extremist but he genuinely added nothing to the story. I think it actually would have been more effective ifinstead of being a horrible ex landlord who wants revenge of the couple for moving out and damaging his apartment, he instead was an excellent nice landlord who was seeking the couple out to return some belongings they left behind. What happens is he goes to their apartment to kill them because the dad swore at him, the couple is Jewish, and Frank is a bad person. Then he immediately gets killed by the monsters at the same time the FMC is trying to escape elthe building. What's the point? If he was a nice neighbor, he could have helped the FMC escape and then his death would have had a huge emotional impact. Anyways, I get annoyed when it feels like authors are trying to hard to insert a political message that didn't fit naturally into the story. One more thing that bothers me is that after the physical therapy woman gets killed/ goes missing (which was a great scene, by the way. Truly spooky), why the fuck did no one reach out to the FMC? Her coworkers would have known that was the last place she was working. Does no one notice this lady missing?
Can we also talk about how the history of the building is shrouded in mystery, but for some reason every delivery or Uber eats employee refuses to enter the building? Why do door dash employees seem to know it's a bad place but no one else seems to know?!
Something fantastic about this book was the authors ability to create an intense feeling of isolation in New York City. The setting is fantastic - so ominous. Our FMC is in a wheelchair which I thought was quite clever as it added to her isolation. The pacing was also quite good. The author didn't reveal too much too quickly. There were quite a few genuinely scary and unsettling moments!
There are a few issues with this book and Id say the one that struck me the most is that I didn't feel like the author didn't really capture parental love well in his writing. The FMC had basically no maternal instincts. This isn't entirely a spoiler but
The reveal of what's happening felt a little too much like an info dump after a nice slow build. I didn't like that in the end
I hated Frank. More specifically, I hated that frank existed as a character. He feels like he was inserted for political reasons because the author wanted to write about a stereotypical far right extremist but he genuinely added nothing to the story. I think it actually would have been more effective if
Can we also talk about how the history of the building is shrouded in mystery, but for some reason every delivery or Uber eats employee refuses to enter the building? Why do door dash employees seem to know it's a bad place but no one else seems to know?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
sonygaystation's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.25
I enjoyed this for a lot of reasons, but it definitely comes second to Mary (which blew me away with how much I just LOVED it). I really liked Ana as a character - her disability and her relationship with motherhood were so good. I also absolutely loveeeed the inherent Jewish-ness of the novel. I think the way it was incorporated was so satisfying and the fact that you couldn’t have major plot beats happen if you erased the Judaic aspects is so chef’s kiss. I’m not even religious and I want to see more religion in horror. The vampires were an interesting new take too. Not my favourite the way they were presented but definitely novel and cool! I do wish the book had maybe been a bit more scary or had more of the vampires doin their thing than it did, but also hearing about it was so GROSS LMAO that maybe I’m good with what we got. I also really enjoy hearing Nat Cassidy’s thoughts at the end of the book and it felt comforting that his 2021 was as much a dumpster fire hell year as mine was, even though I wish very much that there wasn’t need for comfort or to be comforting. Also Reed wins shittiest man award I hated him and baby bird was the cutest friggin nickname ever ok that’s all :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
dijigoo53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, and Death
thefinalfangirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Classism
lattelibrarian's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Holy shit. HOW is Nat Cassidy SUCH a good writer?? From the get-go I was squeamish. I mean, there's bugs. Lots of 'em. There's also gargoyles, vampires, and insectile appendages, so really, there's no shortage of grossness. Still, even with the gross factor, this book is incredible.
Our new parents finally win the housing lottery to live in the most coveted building in New York City. But there's little known about it, and delivery workers refuse to enter it. Regardless, it's enviable. Even if it feels a little...off.
On top of being a new mother, Ana is recently disabled due to her labor. She struggles to cope and is frequently barraged by the ableism she faces. Reid, her husband, refuses to admit that he hated taking care of both his newborn and his wife and is so incredibly relieved that both parties are doing much better. Reid thinks that the Deptford is the chance of a lifetime. Ana is more pessimistic, though she'd argue it's simply realism. Still, it feels a little...off.
These characters are memorable and their flaws are integral to the book and equally integral to their successes and failures. This couple is far from perfect, and the differences between their internal lives and what they share are vast.
Included within the horror is bugs, motherhood, blood, vomit, more bugs, antisemitism, and a cast of characters who are as fun as they are terrible. Love this book.
Our new parents finally win the housing lottery to live in the most coveted building in New York City. But there's little known about it, and delivery workers refuse to enter it. Regardless, it's enviable. Even if it feels a little...off.
On top of being a new mother, Ana is recently disabled due to her labor. She struggles to cope and is frequently barraged by the ableism she faces. Reid, her husband, refuses to admit that he hated taking care of both his newborn and his wife and is so incredibly relieved that both parties are doing much better. Reid thinks that the Deptford is the chance of a lifetime. Ana is more pessimistic, though she'd argue it's simply realism. Still, it feels a little...off.
These characters are memorable and their flaws are integral to the book and equally integral to their successes and failures. This couple is far from perfect, and the differences between their internal lives and what they share are vast.
Included within the horror is bugs, motherhood, blood, vomit, more bugs, antisemitism, and a cast of characters who are as fun as they are terrible. Love this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Antisemitism, and Medical trauma
Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts
aparker89's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic