Katherine
TW list at the bottom of the review!
Little Heaven is, as you can guess from the title and genre, a religious horror book. It has a classic setup of a religious commune in the middle of the woods where mysterious and dark things begin to happen. Unfortunately for it, I’ve seen this premise but better before. I’m overall extremely mixed on this one.
Let’s start with some of the negatives. This book is WAY too long. It’s almost 500 pages and it really didn’t need to be. There are two plotlines, one in the past and one in the present. The one in the present… I’m not sure entirely what the point was. I *can* see a thematic purpose, but I’m not sure it was needed. The past plotline contains the meat of the story, but even it has some random side tangents that barely lead anywhere and the payoffs later weren’t worth it. There are some horror elements that are also done a few too many times and explained in similar ways, so it felt repetitive and even started feeling silly in some places. This also happened with some of the more philosophic passages.
I can’t get over the book taking the time to explain the joke “Why was 6 afraid of 7? 789!” Why was that even relevant? I’ve finished the book and can’t tell you, honestly. And why did it need to be explained when that’s a joke that second graders tell each other? Baffling. And don’t get me started on a character calling a bunch of “small brown birds” KITES. My bird nerd brain went ballistic.
Now, onto the positives. Nick Cutter is very talented at writing body horror. It gets visceral reactions from me, which is hard to do- many horror authors don’t get that reaction. Some of the horror scenes were fantastic in their portrayal. It’s unfortunate they were so spread out or repetitive. There are also some good passages reflecting on the root of evil, what it means to be evil, etc. I thought the characters of Minerva, Ebenezer, and Micah were quite compelling. Each of them had their own struggles with morality and interesting ideas on what is and is not moral. The book really fleshed them out. Speaking of flesh, Amos Flesher, the leader of the commune, was also a fascinating figure in all of this, though unfortunately I think religious horror media often has this exact type of character. For the plot, while I thought it was much too long and similar to those I’ve seen before, there are some moments that genuinely surprised me. The reveal at the end is quite different, and it doesn’t give you the answers you may want.
However, I’d have to say to give this one a pass. If you really like religious horror with philosophical musings and don’t mind the book dragging in some areas, it does have good moments. Unfortunately, it’s dragged down by its length, the premise being so similar to so many others, and how repetitive it could feel.
TWs: Animal body horror, human body horror, suicide attempts, traumatic child death, child abuse, abuse of disabled children, religious abuse, homophobia (slurs), racism (slurs), misogyny (one character POV in particular), SA, extreme torture, mention of animal cruelty, mass murder
TW list at the bottom of the review!
Little Heaven is, as you can guess from the title and genre, a religious horror book. It has a classic setup of a religious commune in the middle of the woods where mysterious and dark things begin to happen. Unfortunately for it, I’ve seen this premise but better before. I’m overall extremely mixed on this one.
Let’s start with some of the negatives. This book is WAY too long. It’s almost 500 pages and it really didn’t need to be. There are two plotlines, one in the past and one in the present. The one in the present… I’m not sure entirely what the point was. I *can* see a thematic purpose, but I’m not sure it was needed. The past plotline contains the meat of the story, but even it has some random side tangents that barely lead anywhere and the payoffs later weren’t worth it. There are some horror elements that are also done a few too many times and explained in similar ways, so it felt repetitive and even started feeling silly in some places. This also happened with some of the more philosophic passages.
I can’t get over the book taking the time to explain the joke “Why was 6 afraid of 7? 789!” Why was that even relevant? I’ve finished the book and can’t tell you, honestly. And why did it need to be explained when that’s a joke that second graders tell each other? Baffling. And don’t get me started on a character calling a bunch of “small brown birds” KITES. My bird nerd brain went ballistic.
Now, onto the positives. Nick Cutter is very talented at writing body horror. It gets visceral reactions from me, which is hard to do- many horror authors don’t get that reaction. Some of the horror scenes were fantastic in their portrayal. It’s unfortunate they were so spread out or repetitive. There are also some good passages reflecting on the root of evil, what it means to be evil, etc. I thought the characters of Minerva, Ebenezer, and Micah were quite compelling. Each of them had their own struggles with morality and interesting ideas on what is and is not moral. The book really fleshed them out. Speaking of flesh, Amos Flesher, the leader of the commune, was also a fascinating figure in all of this, though unfortunately I think religious horror media often has this exact type of character. For the plot, while I thought it was much too long and similar to those I’ve seen before, there are some moments that genuinely surprised me. The reveal at the end is quite different, and it doesn’t give you the answers you may want.
However, I’d have to say to give this one a pass. If you really like religious horror with philosophical musings and don’t mind the book dragging in some areas, it does have good moments. Unfortunately, it’s dragged down by its length, the premise being so similar to so many others, and how repetitive it could feel.
TWs: Animal body horror, human body horror, suicide attempts, traumatic child death, child abuse, abuse of disabled children, religious abuse, homophobia (slurs), racism (slurs), misogyny (one character POV in particular), SA, extreme torture, mention of animal cruelty, mass murder