A review by yellowbinge
Red in Tooth and Claw by Steven Archer

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Publishing date: 20.08.2024
Thank you to NetGalley and RDS publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own. 

The book as a meal: I ordered a mystery meal at a gimmick restaurant, and I still don't know what I ate
The book left me: Confused? 

Negatives: 
Text is very hard to read 
Art is hard to interpret 
Story seems to bounce a lot back and forth

Positives: 
Fascinating concept (not executed at it's best imo) 
Artstyle is very cool, if a little confusing

Features: 
Watching what you knew change and grow into something different, loss, love, self-destruction, processing trauma

Why did I choose this one? 
The artstyle really drew me in, the cover snatched me right up. I was intrigued by the idea of a horror graphic novel (have not read this before). And of course, I trust in RDS publishing to publish great books. 

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able? 
Put-down-able. This book is almost only text on top of a series of pictures. The ratio of text to pictures is nearly 70-30. With a font that is really hard to read ... It took me right out of what was actually happening. Although, I wasn't really into what was happening either. 

What was the vibe and mood? 
It felt like grieving all the time. Both grieving people (animals?) and the things you once knew. It felt like being stuck in your old ways. Like betrayal and hurt. Like becoming your worst nightmare. 

Final ranking and star rating? 
D tier, 2 stars. This was a big miss. I didn't understand or care for the story. I couldn't properly read the book. Most of the time I felt like I was going blind from the blend of the raw art and hars font blending together on page. The story was simply fine. Sadly a miss today.