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A review by mcgbreads
Evil in Me by Brom
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, Tor Nightfire, and Macmillan Audio for the access to the ebook and audiobook. Pub date: Sep 17, 2024.
I read Slewfoot last year and it was one of the easiest 5 stars of my life, so I figured I have to read everything Brom has put out so far. But before I got to the backlog, I saw this on NetGalley and had to try to get it.
While this is a very different story than Slewfoot (duh!), the Brom-ness is definitely there. I really love his writing style and the visuals he puts in the reader's head. The first chapter is easily my favorite moment of the entire book and it's a hell of a way to start the story.
I feel this captures the punk rock scene of the 80s and satanic panic very well. It's also very much a story about a young woman fighting not just real demons, but also her own inner demons.
You can expect gore and great visuals of hell and demons, a complicated main character that not everyone will like, an interesting connection between music and magic, and themes like female rage, mental illness, trauma, revenge, and justice.
All that said, it's not a perfect story. First of all, I feel like the MC's breakthrough happened a little too quickly after a very long set up and, instead of being a result of her own inner work and growth through the ordeal she goes through, it's a result of something else literally facilitating that breakthrough.
I don't mind the help she got, I just wish it happened some other way, with her having more of a role in it. Something as simple as her asking for it would've hinted at some growth, but I feel like she stays the same person until that happens, and from one moment to the next, she's changed.
Second, I don't feel like the other characters were as well-fleshed out as the MC. Given how important some of them were for the story, I definitely expected to learn more about them and dive a little deeper into their motivations, but they feel very surface-level.
Third, some things are left unresolved and I don't mind it as much, but you do notice it. Overall, it's a solid horror fantasy with a few issues IMO, but they don't take away from how campy and fun this was to read.
About the audiobook: it was good! I liked the narrators and I appreciate that they made an actual song (I didn't love it, but that's beside the point). Bringing the music to life like that made it a bit more immersive.
I read Slewfoot last year and it was one of the easiest 5 stars of my life, so I figured I have to read everything Brom has put out so far. But before I got to the backlog, I saw this on NetGalley and had to try to get it.
While this is a very different story than Slewfoot (duh!), the Brom-ness is definitely there. I really love his writing style and the visuals he puts in the reader's head. The first chapter is easily my favorite moment of the entire book and it's a hell of a way to start the story.
I feel this captures the punk rock scene of the 80s and satanic panic very well. It's also very much a story about a young woman fighting not just real demons, but also her own inner demons.
You can expect gore and great visuals of hell and demons, a complicated main character that not everyone will like, an interesting connection between music and magic, and themes like female rage, mental illness, trauma, revenge, and justice.
All that said, it's not a perfect story. First of all, I feel like the MC's breakthrough happened a little too quickly after a very long set up and, instead of being a result of her own inner work and growth through the ordeal she goes through, it's a result of something else literally facilitating that breakthrough.
I don't mind the help she got, I just wish it happened some other way, with her having more of a role in it. Something as simple as her asking for it would've hinted at some growth, but I feel like she stays the same person until that happens, and from one moment to the next, she's changed.
Second, I don't feel like the other characters were as well-fleshed out as the MC. Given how important some of them were for the story, I definitely expected to learn more about them and dive a little deeper into their motivations, but they feel very surface-level.
Third, some things are left unresolved and I don't mind it as much, but you do notice it. Overall, it's a solid horror fantasy with a few issues IMO, but they don't take away from how campy and fun this was to read.
About the audiobook: it was good! I liked the narrators and I appreciate that they made an actual song (I didn't love it, but that's beside the point). Bringing the music to life like that made it a bit more immersive.