I was immediately drawn to this book from the gorgeous cover art, the nature-horror-y vibes, and the first look boasting a headstrong, quick-witted main character. At a high level, the themes and concepts of this story are gorgeous. The story is told from a dual POV switching between Wil, the aforementioned headstrong MC who is determined to find the true reason behind her mother's disappearance, and Elwood, her ex-best friend who is the son of the local fanatical preacher, and is days away from a pivotal moment between him and his church. The Elwood chapters in particular were some of the most ethereal, gorgeous, descriptive prose I've ever read in YA, and it's those chapters in particular that make me wish I felt better about the rest of the story.
My main struggle here was that there was so much going on for such a short (sub 300 pgs) book. We have two very complex MCs who just can't be developed as much as you'd hope because the story has to move so fast to pack everything in. We cover a mysterious disappearance, small town social dynamics, familial grief, alcoholism, self-harm, some sort of nebulous mental health struggle, religious trauma, child abuse, neglect, a cult with a canonically Christian god, animal and human sacrifice, body-horror-y transformations, a sentient environment that smells like death and is also supernatural....and roughly 260 pages to story build and cover it all. This, along with some story/timeline inconsistencies, left me confused more than once because we go from one major drama to another.
The hardest part of reading this book for me was how much I wanted to like it, and how much I feel like I could have liked it if the author either spent more time developing our characters and world-building this strange town, or simplified the plot altogether. Arndt is clearly a beyond talented artist and author, and her style and prose are remarkably haunting and truly place you into the spooky environment she's crafting. I just wish all aspects of this novel measured up to that standard.
My main struggle here was that there was so much going on for such a short (sub 300 pgs) book. We have two very complex MCs who just can't be developed as much as you'd hope because the story has to move so fast to pack everything in. We cover a mysterious disappearance, small town social dynamics, familial grief, alcoholism, self-harm, some sort of nebulous mental health struggle, religious trauma, child abuse, neglect, a cult with a canonically Christian god, animal and human sacrifice, body-horror-y transformations, a sentient environment that smells like death and is also supernatural....and roughly 260 pages to story build and cover it all. This, along with some story/timeline inconsistencies, left me confused more than once because we go from one major drama to another.
The hardest part of reading this book for me was how much I wanted to like it, and how much I feel like I could have liked it if the author either spent more time developing our characters and world-building this strange town, or simplified the plot altogether. Arndt is clearly a beyond talented artist and author, and her style and prose are remarkably haunting and truly place you into the spooky environment she's crafting. I just wish all aspects of this novel measured up to that standard.