Everything was brutal and brilliant. An amalgamation of Grim fairy tales. It’s about unlearning a worldview. It’s a mess. But, God, the intensely emotionally abusive father is so relatable.

This has been edited because. I keep coming back to it. I keep hanging on the words of different reviews. And I’ve since reflected on and heard more about why I didn’t understand some of it. The gore and catharsis around every trauma I understood was coupled with some trauma and trauma responses… I just didn’t understand. This book wasn’t there to teach. But it was really fucking good. And it lingered in my mind.

Also. The cover is fucking gorgeous but the tone of it—the style—only says “Fantasy.” I understand how even I didn’t know I was in for horror when I picked it up. I’m glad I found it but I’m not surprised a lot of people end up just triggered or hating it. It’s misleading.