Welcome back to Dark Reads, today I want to talk about Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A Snyder. Thanks to Titan Books for sending me a review copy of the book.
Plot
A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.
Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?
Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters.
Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.
My Thoughts
Sister, Maiden, Monster is set post Covid pandemic, it follows three very different characters facing a new pandemic that changes the world and people in a very disturbing way.
In the first half of the book, we follow Erin, and in the second half of the book, we follow Savannah and Mareva’s characters.
Erin was my favourite for sure.
I really enjoyed the first part of the book following Erin’s story. It really portrayed the uncertainty and fear of facing a new pandemic with such gruesome and horrific side effects brilliantly.
I had a wobble in the middle of the book when we switched to Savannah’s story. I don’t know if it was the character or the shift in the plot or just that the parts of the book were segregated. I felt more confused about what was happening to the characters in the second half of the book. I kept reading and I’m so glad I did, all 3 narratives had nice crossovers and came together in the end.
This book was gory and gruesome in places, imaginative and bizarre. It crosses into many different genres. I felt it was a mix of pandemic horror, post apocalyptic, body horror and cosmic horror.
I really enjoy an ambiguous ending to a book but I felt like I wanted more of a conclusion to this story, I hope we get a sequel!
P.S I want a baby Gregory!
Overall I rate this a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read. The characters and plot were well written and was a page turner for sure!
About The Author
Lucy A. Snyder is the five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of 14 books:
* Sister, Maiden, Monster
* Halloween Season
* Exposed Nerves
* Garden of Eldritch Delights
* While the Black Stars Burn
* Spellbent
* Shotgun Sorceress
* Switchblade Goddess
* Soft Apocalypses
* Orchid Carousals
* Sparks and Shadows
* Chimeric Machines
* Installing Linux on a Dead Badger
* Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Survival Guide
Her writing has been translated into French, Russian, Italian, Czech, and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Steampunk World, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5.
She has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and lives in Ohio. You can follow her on Twitter at @LucyASnyder.
You can learn more at her website: www.lucysnyder.com
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