Waif

For such a short book this felt like it should have been split into two. The first part was brilliant, genuinely disturbing body horror. The second part meandered around a weird freakshow fetish group. Whilst the first part did lead into the second it was nonetheless quite a jarring change in pace.

First off, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first part. This was genuine ‘wtf?' reading at its best. The concept of extreme plastic surgery as horror one is brilliant realised and the psychology presented here is cleverly used. If this was the whole novel, I would have given this an easy 5 stars for the shear shock value.

The second part doesn't work quite as well unfortunately, being a more generic freakshow thing. The biggest issue here is the main character feels like she changes personality dramatically across the divide between these sections, and it is an abrupt divide. The whole effect is to give a disjointed feel and weaken the impact of this second section.

Despite its flaws, I cant help but recommend this for that twisted first half though. It is utterly brilliant.

The world of men required certain sacrifices of me and I had simply tired of making them. It was high time for men to sacrifice for me.

A horror book about feminine rage?? Sign me up!

This book was so much more than i expected it to be, especially given how short it is, it surely packs a punch.

The writing was smooth, the commentary was fantastic, the plot was insane and unpredictable. 

I loved this!

tw: multiple instances of rape, sexual assault, assault, internalised queerphobia, homophobia, extreme non-consensual medical experimentation, extreme porn, mentions of necrophilia, body horror, stalking

what a strange little story.
i'm not entirely sure if i liked it but it's well-written and definitely different than anything else i've read.

The world of men required certain sacrifices of me and I had simply tired of making them. It was high time for men to sacrifice for me.

You know that meme that's like, “I support women's rights, but more importantly, I support women's wrongs”? That's what comes to mind when I think of this novella.

I had read a little of Samantha Kolesnik's writing before, but this was my first foray into her novellas, and I wasn't totally sure what to expect from the storyline. What I got was not what I anticipated, because frankly, it was a much wilder ride than I thought it would be (and I mean this as a massive compliment!) and I never knew what was coming next. Angie is a delightfully vindictive, flawed protagonist who has simply had enough and is content to sit by and watch her little corner of the world burn for a bit, and I loved it.

The writing in this novella was beautiful and thickly feminist, frequently commenting on the way women are so often used and discarded in romantic relationships and offering up a sweet piece of vengeance pie for everyone who's ever been treated like shit by someone who ultimately needs you more than you need them. I recommend this story wholeheartedly and can't wait to read more from this author.

✨ Representation: Angie is queer, multiple queer side characters

✨ Content warnings for: body horror, medical trauma, medical disfigurement, violence, murder, homophobia, domestic abuse, sexual assault, parent loss, internalized victim-shaming, internalized bi-erasure, misogyny, body-shaming, mention of necrophilia

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