2.5 stars.

Nick Morrow left rural Nebraska behind many years ago and never expected to return to the difficult and traumatic past he experienced living with his father, Carlyle. Joshua, Nick’s brother, was disowned by Carlyle for marrying Emilia, a woman of Asian descent. When Nick and Joshua each receive an invitation from their father to return home, they know it is an invitation they cannot refuse. Joshua and Carlyle quickly return to their old dynamic, leaving Emilia and Nick to their own devices. What starts as a simple flirtation quickly escalates to something more between the two, but Nick soon starts to suspect that Emilia’s interest in him may be more sinister than he believed. 

SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS is a debut novel written by Kailee Pedersen and is inspired by the author’s journey of adoption from China in 1996 and growing up on a farm in Nebraska with supernatural horror and ancient Chinese mythology weaved in. 

This novel has an interesting inspiration and a compelling synopsis but unfortunately, didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I initially found the story difficult to get into due to the lack of punctuation used for dialogue, while this was a simple annoyance and confusing, I soon became accustomed to the author’s writing style which is quite verbose. 

SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS is told in the POV of Nick in alternating timelines, the present time, and the past (something like 20-30 years ago when Nick was a child). I enjoyed learning about Nick’s life experiences through this alternating timeline, although his character does experience some terrible and traumatic things. Nick’s narration is somewhat monotonous and flat which is paired with a slow burn development of the plot making this feel like a long way to get to the heart of the story. It’s an unsettling read that focuses on family drama (including abuse). 

I wish I had looked more closely into the trigger warnings for this book because while I do not have many triggers, I do not appreciate reading about animal abuse in the novels I consume. The animal abuse contained in the beginning of the story was graphic and hard to read. I am grateful that these scenes were few though and limited to the first few chapters. 

I loved the infusion of ancient Chinese mythology within this story. I am not super familiar with Chinese mythology but did pick up on these elements from the beginning of the story. I was rewarded with an interesting ending, and one that I wasn’t entirely expecting and was easily the highlight of this book! The ending is somewhat open-ended and leaves some interpretation up to the reader.

Overall, while this wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, it is certainly an interesting debut!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions shared are my own. </i>