About the Book
-
Author:
- Lyndall Clipstone
- Genres:
- Fantasy
- Paranormal
- Voices:
- Bisexual
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Unfinished
BFF Charm: Yay
Talky Talk: Small World Secrets
Bonus Factor: Mysterious Loner Dude
Factor: Bones
Anti-Bonus Factor: Dan Scott Award for Awful Parenting
Relationship Status: Willing to Burn
Cover Story: Unfinished
I want to like this cover. It’s quite lovely and fierce in equal measure, but there’s a dissonance between the top of it, which looks unfinished, and the bottom, which looks much more complete. Additionally, the wolves seemingly protecting the female figure go against the story completely—the creatures in this book and the main character are mortal enemies. (Plus, the creatures look much more eldritch than that.)
The Deal:
Evaline Blackthorn is the bastard daughter of a traitor, and a warden without magic. She’s made a place for herself amongst the wardens—a group of magically inclined people who fight the evil vespertine and keep them from attacking the common folk—by being skilled at tailoring bone armor, but she doesn’t quite belong. When the opportunity arises to learn more about her mother and the truth surrounding her birth, she jumps at the opportunity, even if it means breaking her warden vows, in more ways than one.
BFF Charm: Yay
Evie and I hit it off from the get-go, as much as a fictional character can connect with a reader. She’s smart, talented, and driven, and willing to do what it takes to find out the truth, even when that means jeopardizing the fragile relationship she has with the father who holds her at arm’s length because of her mother’s transgressions. (Dudes, amirite?) She puts her life on the line for her best friend and gives into passion when she knows it’s the absolute worst thing she can do. She follows her gut, but also listens to her head and heart. I would give her a BFF charm in a heartbeat, but I have a feeling that if we knew each other in real life it would be an unrequited platonic love.
Swoonworthy Scale: 8
It was getting real hot in my house while I was reading Unholy Terrors, and that’s not just because Texas is stupid and has spooky summer when it should be fall. Evie’s enemies-to-lovers chemistry with a person who challenges her, frustrates her, and never denies that he is, in fact, a monster, is the kind of swoon I like most. Ravel keeps secrets, isn’t really trustworthy, and has grey morals, and I pretty much immediately inducted him into my personal Book Boyfriend Hall of Fame. #alwaysinlovewiththevillain
Talky Talk: Small World Secrets
Unholy Terrors is a dark, gothic novel featuring monsters with too many eyes and girls who wear armor made of and do magic with human bones. The characters and their relationships are the centerpiece of the novel, and as Evie’s knowledge of the world expands, so does the reader’s. The setting of the novel is a very small slice of the world, and it’s interesting to reflect on that after reading. We only got to see one particular way of life; elsewhere in this world, there are men and women who get to go about their day, oblivious to or uncaring about the dangers of Evie’s life. It makes for a much more engrossing, tense read, and heightened the emotional nature of the book nicely.
Bonus Factor: Mysterious Loner Dude
I already gushed about him above, but Ravel starts out as an MLD, a Fitzwilliam Darcy-type if Darcy was a man with fangs, claws, and a proclivity for drinking blood. (He’s not a vampire, but he’s not not a vampire.) Evie first spots Ravel literally lurking on the edge of a moor. There’s no scene with him walking out of a lake wearing a sopping-wet white shirt, but I can certainly imagine it.
Factor: Bones
I am a huge fan of a skull motif, and not just at Halloween time. Evie and the rest of the wardens are equally interested in bones, but in a much different manner. There’s a creep factor to knowing they’re wearing and using bones from humans—and some might say a disrespect—but it’s normal in this society. And super badass.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Dan Scott Award for Awful Parenting
Because of his anger at her mother, Evie’s dad treats her like an acquaintance, giving her the smallest of love breadcrumbs to keep her compliant. She calls him by his first name, or Commander, according to his wishes, and does everything she can to prove herself worthy of his pride. His “true” daughter, Briar, also treats Evie like dirt, and their father goes along with it. The fact that he thinks of them in such terms just cements what a terrible dad he is.
Relationship Status: Smitten
You’re not the type to show a lot of emotion, Book, but there’s definitely something between us. The spark I felt at first easily grew into a roaring blaze, and I’m sitting closer than I should be. But I’m willing to chance a burn to know you.
Literary Matchmaking
Nicki Pau Preto’s Bonesmith is another book with bones, enemistry, crappy fathers, MLDs, and revealed secrets. (But they’re not as similar as you might think.)
Ava Reid’s A Study in Drowning is another gothic novel with paranormal leanings and a small corner of a larger world.
Erica Waters’ All That Consumes Us is a contemporary story that’s also set in a very specific, contained place and has a paranormal element.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. Unholy Terrors is available now.
