Syndrie
In some ways this is a story about found family and connecting with others, but in others it’s about escapism and survival. On one side we have a girl who has not felt connected to her family in a very long time and is currently struggling to find her place in life, and on the other side we have the same girl finding a place she’d like to call home — but that place is tinged with horror and governed by rules and beings that she is not fully knowledgeable of. It’s a story that has both realistic family drama as well as life-threatening adventures (for lack of a better word) in a fantasy world where few actually care about the safety of human lives.
I really enjoyed the pacing here and found the story really easy to fall into. This is definitely one of those novels that grabbed my attention from the very beginning! The prose flowed well and the alternating timelines were presented in a way that made sense and was easy to follow. I’d say that the present day timeline being sprinkled in throughout the novel really helped build up some tension and curiosity that made me want to keep on reading so I could figure out exactly what happened next in Moth’s backstory.
I also have to say that Jen Julian did a fantastic job of introducing the world around Deerhaven and the enigmatic guests that resided there — the worldbuilding felt very natural and never felt like a big infodump that I needed to take time to sit back and process. As the reader I felt like I was discovering everything I really needed to know alongside Moth, who was also entering the world of Deerhaven completely blind. The atmosphere crafted here manages to be eerie but also comforting at times, which sounds like an odd paradox but it definitely works in this case. There’s also a rather unique cast of characters here with the majority of them really managing to stand out and be memorable, despite some of them only getting a handful of mentions throughout.
If you’re a fan of atmospheric stories that blend reality with fantasy, and don’t mind having some gothic horror elements thrown into the mix, then I highly recommend you pick this one up! It really was a story that managed to feel both unique and familiar at the same time and I’m very glad I took a chance on it.
(I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher, Run For It, via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)
In some ways this is a story about found family and connecting with others, but in others it’s about escapism and survival. On one side we have a girl who has not felt connected to her family in a very long time and is currently struggling to find her place in life, and on the other side we have the same girl finding a place she’d like to call home — but that place is tinged with horror and governed by rules and beings that she is not fully knowledgeable of. It’s a story that has both realistic family drama as well as life-threatening adventures (for lack of a better word) in a fantasy world where few actually care about the safety of human lives.
I really enjoyed the pacing here and found the story really easy to fall into. This is definitely one of those novels that grabbed my attention from the very beginning! The prose flowed well and the alternating timelines were presented in a way that made sense and was easy to follow. I’d say that the present day timeline being sprinkled in throughout the novel really helped build up some tension and curiosity that made me want to keep on reading so I could figure out exactly what happened next in Moth’s backstory.
I also have to say that Jen Julian did a fantastic job of introducing the world around Deerhaven and the enigmatic guests that resided there — the worldbuilding felt very natural and never felt like a big infodump that I needed to take time to sit back and process. As the reader I felt like I was discovering everything I really needed to know alongside Moth, who was also entering the world of Deerhaven completely blind. The atmosphere crafted here manages to be eerie but also comforting at times, which sounds like an odd paradox but it definitely works in this case. There’s also a rather unique cast of characters here with the majority of them really managing to stand out and be memorable, despite some of them only getting a handful of mentions throughout.
If you’re a fan of atmospheric stories that blend reality with fantasy, and don’t mind having some gothic horror elements thrown into the mix, then I highly recommend you pick this one up! It really was a story that managed to feel both unique and familiar at the same time and I’m very glad I took a chance on it.
(I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher, Run For It, via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)