This is a difficult book to describe. It's horrifying, sweet, sad, funny, sickening, lovely and uplifting by turns and sometimes in combination. It's well-written and has distinctive and well-developed characters. Not only is it difficult to describe, it's also difficult to read at times. Ms. Lanagan pulls no punches in her descriptions, which are more straightforward than sensational, and probably more disturbing because of that, but also more real.

For the first 50 pages or so, I really didn't think I would end up liking this book. Honestly, the only reason I kept reading was because it's on the Locus Recommended Reading list and therefore eligible for a Locus award, and also because Neil Gaiman gave it five stars and recommended it. I'm glad I kept reading because if I hadn't, I would have missed Ms. Lanagan's point that even though life is horrifying at times it can also be beautiful at times and we should learn and grow from both and find the best balance we can.

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Placing this on the swap shelf at the Ocean Springs Library. It's an advanced reader's copy.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

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