angelsbeforeman's reviews
918 reviews

A History of Fear by Luke Dumas

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

sort of an analysis of human psychology through a guy who confesses to murder, but says the devil made him do it. the whole 'satan made me do it' part of the blurb is what drew me in in the first place. i actually quite liked it! not that i expected otherwise, it's just that i didn't expect anything at all, so it was a nice surprise. i like books that analyse the way a person can essentially go insane, and if you add religious themes to it, then i'm very happy. especially because the execution here is alright, and i was honestly kind of scared that it wouldn't be (i found the devil's advocate thing a bit corny for just a second, my bad). 
what i didn't like would be some aspects of the religious themes.
personally, i'm not super offended by it, and different people will take this differently. despite not personally being shaken by it due to some of my experiences, i recognise that many could be uncomfortable with comparing being gay to having the devil in you. i don't know if the author's gay himself, so i can't say whether this should be considered good gay representation or not. depends. but it's something to be cautious about both when writing and reading something like this.

another thing i disliked was the pacing, mostly because it was sort of messy. sometimes things happened too fast, other times it dragged. don't think this should be 350+ pages, i'd cut some parts. i also hated the main character, but it's not an issue since he's not written to be likable. 
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No

3.0

decided to read this because it was recommended to me on the basis of it having southern gothic vibes, and i'm a big fan of that. the title story certainly delivered on the southern gothic atmosphere, and i very much enjoyed the author's writing style. i usually like it when people mix religion and horror in literature and art in general, and that applies here as well. truly wasn't surprised when i googled the author and found out she was catholic. loved the symbolism and foreshadowing. 
i will say that, other than the atmosphere, the horror aspects didn't really interest me. if there was no catholicism involved, i actually wouldn't care for the horror at all. it was just sort of flat but attempting to be disturbing, not my favourite. also the casual racism was unpleasant to say the least 😭 i am aware this was written in a different time and all, but it doesn't change how i feel. also, i didn't find the ending surprising at all, but i didn't mind it.
Exodus 20:3 by Freydís Moon

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0