Synopsis

Art student Isadora Chang (POV Character) swore never to return to Slater. Growing up, Isa never felt at ease in the repressive former mining town, even before she realized she was bisexual—but after the deaths of two of her childhood friends, Slater went from feeling claustrophobic to suffocating. Isa took off before the town could swallow her, too, even though it meant leaving behind everything she knew, including her last surviving friend Mason.

When Isa’s abusive father kicks the bucket, she agrees to come back just long enough to collect the inheritance. But then Mason, son of the local medium, turns up at the cemetery with a revelation and a plea: their friends were murdered by a supernatural entity, and he needs Isa to help stop the evil—before it takes anyone else.

When Isa begins to hear strange songs on the wind, and eerie artwork fills her sketchbook that she can’t recall drawing, she’s forced to stop running and confront her past. Because something is waiting in the shadows of Slater’s valleys, something that feeds on the pain and heartbreak of its children. Whatever it is, it knows Isa’s back… and it won’t let her escape twice.

*Blurb taken from Goodreads

Review

Character: Readers who have experienced an abusive household will immediately be drawn to Isa Chang. Much of this tale comes from introspective monologues given by our FMC, and while they slow the pace significantly, they do provide for a character-driven plotline. Isa isn’t a sweet girl. She isn’t forgiving. And she isn’t brave. She’s realistically fallible and grows exponentially throughout the novel as she’s forced to face past relationships in which there was hurt on both sides. I truly adored her and cannot applaud Lee enough for creating this incredible character who felt authentic in a way that broke my heart while giving it a flutter of hope.

The secondary characters (aside from Otto) are fleshed out. I enjoyed the bond between Trish and her sister, as well as the rekindled friendship Isa has with Mason.

Craft: Lee nailed an eerie, gothic setting filled with suspense. Her imagery creates a visceral scene that draws on the darker side of nature and evokes all of the senses. I was hooked right from the beginning by the way she’s able to write a piece that subtly delves into the human psyche and analyses reactions and processing of intense (often abusive) moments without hounding the reader. The prose was immersive without being overwhelming. I especially liked how there were distinct voices to the characters, particularly when it came to Isa and We. (I listened to this, so I believe this is the title of the secondary POV, but if there is a different spelling I’m uncertain because I didn’t have the text in front of me.)

Plot: Isa’s return home propels us into a storyline focused on how reputation and appearances can be suffocating, and how the shame these things bring can lead people to breaking points. Though she lived in an abusive household, it was the death of her two childhood friends that sent Isa away, and it’s the mystery behind their supposed suicides that makes her stay once she returns. At the center of the multitude of deaths is the Angel, which Isa and Mason thought was nothing more than a childhood story until they dig deeper into the history of Slater and learn this entity is not only real, but has a physical form built upon their victims. The Angel functions as the main antagonist, though I will say that I feel the true antagonist was the judgement of Slater’s townsfolk as a whole.

This novel has many heavy themes (see the author’s website for a comprehensive list), including that of suicidal ideation. A slow-paced plot that focuses on abuse, weaponized religion, familial relationships and friendships, and more, this novel is like walking down a foggy woodland road at midnight with nothing but candlelight to guide you. It’s the suspense and twisting paths that make this worthwhile.

World Build/Magic System: Though there is magic in this, as well as a world-build as it pertains to the history of the town of Slater, its purpose was simple and functioned well to set up the conflict and put Isa’s story into motion. However, I am going to lump my biggest critique into this section since it is in regards to the Angle (titled We). The creature feels incomplete. And I’m torn, because I think that’s the point—it doesn’t matter where the Angel came from so much as it matters how the people of Slater provided a perfect food source via their weaponized morality based upon religion. The Angle fed on shame, and I believe it was meant to personify that shame based on how it amplified the emotion. Brilliant, honestly. And a lot like the creature in Midnight Mass by Mike Flanagan (television series, not a novel). The issue is that we’re teased at the backstory, and enough questions regarding what the Angel is, where it came from, and how it ties into the history of Slater, gives a level of expectation that wasn’t met.

So, while I don’t think the Angel itself truly mattered beyond its personification of Shame and the relation it had to the townsfolk, that’s not how Lee wrote this story. Which means that, at the end, there’s a certain level of dissatisfaction and confusion because the Angel storyline feels incomplete. A situation where less would have been so much more!

Audio: Anytime I see a book that has Natalie Naudus as the narrator, I know I’m in for an captivating listen. She does struggle a bit with her male-presenting characters, but the emotion evoked does it for me every time. I have yet to have a bad audiobook experience with Naudus, and this was no exception.

Overall Thoughts: This will be a wonderful read for anyone who enjoyed Midnight Mass by Mike Flanagan, with a Chinese influence and a younger cast. I do think that the undertones of criticism regarding religious morality, combined with the monster as a personification of weaponized shame, makes this the YA literary version of the masterpiece Flanagan created. A step up from Kelly Andrew’s Your Blood, My Bones, which I was also a fan of, this novel absolutely gets my recommendation. Just keep in mind that it’s far more gothic than it is horror and you’ll be good!

Content Note

You can find more content warnings at the author’s website and the Trigger Warning Database.

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