*An advanced copy of this book was gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary from Amazon:
"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.
Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation ... and what we become after."
This really was a great horror book. It was appropriate for the times with the backdrop of the COVID pandemic influencing behavior when a secondary, more dangerous pandemic strikes. And what does this secondary pandemic mean for the reader? What it means is just so much body horror. I wouldn't call Sister, Maiden, Monster extreme horror, but I would say that it is only one step down because it is so outright GRUESOME. You know that the body horror is well done when it makes your stomach turn just reading about it. There was a part where one person was straight-up licking another living person's brain (consensually) and it just made me itchy; I still think about it and I wish that I didn't. There was also a heavy streak of sexuality with the gore. In a way, it brings Exquisite Corpse to mind. The disturbing interplay of sexual activity while being presented with some graphic horror makes for a visceral read and not in a bad way.
Not only is there A+ body horror, but there is also a wide swathe of cosmic horror. The two are perfectly coexisting in this as one affecting the other. This was a very good horror novel with a very good, believable premise (as believable as cosmic horror can be). Snyder made the whole set up feel incredibly real and plausible. In terms of readability, Sister, Maiden, Monster was short enough that it can be read quite quickly, as it should be. The storylines are interconnected in a way that best comes off if you read it in larger chunks and fewer sittings. You may lose some of the nuance if you break it up too much.
My only issues are that sometimes there was outdated internet lingo in the narrative that felt super off-putting (and a bit cringe). The use of internet slang/language never hits me right when I see it written in a full novel. No matter the consequences of what is actually happening in the book, it just feels off-putting and somehow too informal. The other thing that bothered me I can only describe as the author "soapboxing." What I mean is, it strongly read as Snyder inputting her personal political ideals and values. This one is hard to explain because I agreed with everything Snyder was saying, but it felt so out-of-place at times. It wasn't always totally off-topic, but sometimes it seemed as though Snyder would go off on a tangent and lose the thread of what we were reading. At points, it was almost shoved into random parts of the narrative in a way that read as very heavy-handed. I suppose it could have been done with more tact or had more that made it feel appropriate to the narrative. I'm not Conservative in any way, shape, or form, but if you are, note that there are heavy liberal tones throughout.
When taken altogether, any qualms I have aren't big and didn't really negatively impact my enjoyment of this book; in fact, I quite loved Sister, Maiden, Monster. It was really a body/cosmic horror with a pandemic spin that was quite appropriate for today's horror audience. A big round of applause for Lucy Snyder on the release of her book, I will be looking forward to seeing what she publishes next! Perhaps a sequel? It certainly ended with a wide enough berth to include one.
Sister, Maiden, Monster is available everywhere books are sold as of today (February 21, 2023)! Thank you so much to TorNightFire for allowing me early access to an ARC of this book. I can genuinely say that it has been my favorite read in February and will likely be in my top 10 of 2023. I would also like to wish Lucy A. Snyder a Happy pubday! I wish you the best of luck and I cannot wait to see what comes next!
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