Reading with teafortiffany

Hello friends!!!

I’m sorry I’ve been gone. I’m kind of in a weird space with my blog at the moment, where I’m trying to figure out what would be the best way to go with it. I also have had absolutely no motivation to post. I’ve been reading; I just have no motivation to review. Sometimes, I get stuck when I’m trying to write out my review, and then I get frustrated.

It’s been a thing.

I hope to get something figured out so I can be more consistent. It’s not fair to you guys if I constantly say “I’ll do better!” and never deliver, but I also need to make sure I’m taking care of myself and managing my time and how I’m feeling. I’d like to avoid burnout as much as possible, but sometimes that’s not possible.

Anyways, I’m sure you have no desire to keep reading me rambling on, so lets get into the review!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with a copy of this novel in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Vibe

This book is fucking weird. That’s right. I said it. It’s so weird. It is amazingly wild, and yet somehow just gives off the vibe of “it is what it is” (which is one of my favorite phrases). Weird stuff keeps happening, and is incredibly violent and explosive but somehow kind of chill in the end?

We can also sense frustration. The undercurrent of this book deals a lot with current political landscapes and the issues that we have had in politics. It doesn’t feel like it’s pushing an agenda, it’s just, this is what has actually happened and it’s fresh enough in my mind that I’m still frustrated. So that comes to the surface but it’s weirdly not frustration with the book itself. Just frustration with real life.

The Characters

I grew up in a small town. My graduating high school class was an entire 23 people. So, I know these small-town people. That being said, this is small-town Ohio, which is different from small-town New England in the sense that it’s not set on the coast with a lighthouse and a gruff fisherman who says “ayuh” to most everything.

Our main character has been laid off from his job in the government during the big sweeping job cuts that happened. In an effort to try to get back on his feet, he moves back in with his Dad and his stepmother in Ohio. He immediately meets someone he went to high school with and finds that one of his friends from high school is the one and only police officer the town has.

We have many side characters, including the evil businessman who is trying to screw everyone (and I mean everyone) over. We have a racist, a bartender, and a mayor who used to be a popular kid in high school. We’ve got all the small-town workers whose lives depend on a single factory and a couple of soy farmers who have been hit hard by the tariffs.

The Plot

A quick summary of the plot is this; an evil corp has purchased the factory that all the people in town work at. They are trying to close this factory. People’s pets are going missing. A cow explodes. People explode. Tentacles galore. That’s the gist of it. Oh, and there’s a festival event called Monster Mash that is attempting to be put on in an effort to get more people to the town.

Remember how I said that the book is fucking weird? Yeah. It’s definitely weird. Our main character, Mike, and his old friend, Dave, come into the picture to begin the investigation into what the heck is happening to people (and animals) in this town. On the other side, we also have the plotline of the awful businessman who is trying to screw everyone over, which is enjoyable as well.

There is also an Epilogue which reminds me a bit of those movies from the 90s where kids go on a big adventure in the summer, and they face some kind of nemesis. At the end, they tell you about how those kids grew up and moved on with their lives and what terrible thing happened to the bad guy.

This book is great! I absolutely loved it, and the weirdness of it all just makes me want to read it again. In fact, I already ordered a physical copy of it to put on my shelf so I can read the full published version. I’m also just a big fan of weird stuff with octopus/kraken/tentical themes. I grew up on an island, okay.

If you want to read something that’s set in today but involves guts, explosions of people, and just a real “f you” to the corporate jerks, give this a go! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

4.5 ★

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We’re to the end of another review, my friends. I hope you enjoyed it. This month has been a bit of a rough one for reading and reviewing. I’ve felt my creative juices run dry, and my amibition seemed to be non-existent. I’m going to switch gears with my reading, and hopefully, I’ll get that back.

Until next time!

Bye friends!!!