Sacrificial Animals: A Novel by Kailee Pedersen
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Web ID: 2031218318 reviews
The read matches the cover! Intriguing !
Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen is a debut slow burn of a horror revenge novel for fans of Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians and Cassandra Khaw’s Nothing But Blackened Teeth. All three lean into mythology. Native American culture for Jones, Japanese folklore for Khaw, and Chinese Mythology for Pedersen. The difference though is where Jones and Khaw go from zero to sixty in a matter of pages; Sacrificial Animals takes its time in setting the reader into the same trap that the Morrow family (two sons pitted against each other by their too cruel of a father) winds up walking into. And let me tell you…the payoff is mind blowing, heart stopping, and somewhat deserved. But I’ll let you make that journey. I couldn’t stop reading this novel. And at slightly over 300 pages – all is quickly and shockingly resolved.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Sacrificial Animals
Sacrificial Animals was a page turner from beginning to end that had me intrigued from the start. This author wrote this well and every character was great in it. I loved how it explores the ancient Chinese mythology with the supernatural horror. It was such a strange and scary read that I highly enjoyed and would recommend to any reader who loves horror. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this read in exchange of my honest review of Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Excellent thriller!
Excellent thriller with a sprinkle of gothic! Each page increased the tension. I loved the subliminal messages that the author weaved into the story. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Disappointed
I was not a fan. Very tedious to read, very monotonous, didn't like Nick AT ALL. Same themes, and literally nothing happened until the very end of the book. I almost didn't finish, but the synopsis sounded so good, I was like, something has to happen right? Right????? The same themes just kept repeating over and over: abusive dad, a crazy connection to stags crossing, dad favors Joshua, Nick slept with a man, and he's never been able to forget about it. Just to sprinkle in something positive, the time shifts were well done. Sometimes authors get things jumbled up when it comes to time jumps, but she did a good job here. Overall disappointed because I was so looking forward to this book.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Slow paced well written story
This story centers around the Morrow family. Carlyle is the tough, abusive father and owner of the thousand acre farm in rural Nebraska. He has two sons, the oldest Joshua, who is the favorite, and Nick. Both have returned to the farm after 20 years at their father’s request. Joshua was disowned after marrying Emilia, a beautiful young Asian woman. Nick went out to live his own life as a writer away from the oppressive life he had with his father. As the story unfolds we are given insight to Nick’s younger years as he struggled with his father’s brutality and favoritism of his brother and his own sexuality. Upon their return to the farm Nick finds himself an outcast again when his brother and father reconcile. The difference this time is that Emilia is also left out. Nick and Emilia already had a connection but this amplifies things between the two. Nick is inexplicably drawn to her and finds himself questioning her past by reflecting on his own. There is more to Emilia than meets the eye. Let me begin by saying this is incredibly well written. The writer delivers an atmospheric story that talks impressively about humanity, life in rural Nebraska and a dysfunctional family. The story was interesting but moved at a snail’s pace. Instead of feeling like it’s 320 pages it felt like it was double that. The actual “horror” part of the story was not revealed until near the end. What an ending it was!! I would have liked to see more tension built up earlier that hinted at more of the center of the story because it was so interesting!! I wanted more of that and less of the flashbacks. Overall a very interesting and well written story, the pacing was just too slow. 3 ⭐️
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Horror story with a twist
Sacrificial Animals is a horror story told in dual timelines, narrated throughout by the younger brother Nick. It starts slowly with the story of two brothers, Joshua and Nick, raised by their father on an isolated 1000-acre estate after the death of their mother. Their father is a brutal man, who physically and mentally abuses both boys. The first 80% of the book is devoted to this abuse of the two boys, who escape as adults, and vow never to return. It is a graphic and upsetting, and often slow read. When the two brothers and Joshua's wife, Emilia, finally return to the home when the father is dying, the true horrific purpose of the story becomes evident. It is quite a chilling ending to a book that sheds light on both an ancient myth, and the modern-day horror of child abuse and animal cruelty. This is not an easy read, with an overly long narrative, but it is definitely thought provoking. The opinions of this review are my own.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Chilling debut!
"Sacrificial Animals" by Kailee Pedersen is an astounding and chilling debut novel. I went into this book completely blind; I didn't read a thing about it beforehand. At first I thought it was a story about a father and his two sons, with a healthy dose of toxic masculinity and abuse, and it was that. But when the mysterious and incredibly beautiful wife of one son enters the story, I soon came to realize that this book was so much more than a family saga. This book is a slow build and switches back and forth between the past and the present, adding to the suspense. The writing is cerebral and I would classify this work as 'literary horror.' The ending is very dark, gory, and definitely not for queasy readers. The mixture of Chinese mythology and good old-fashioned white America's love of violence and control made for a unique read for sure. "Sacrificial Animals" is a creepy, atmospheric read and Kailee Pederson is definitely a writer to watch. Fans of "The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones (one of my favorite authors) will not want to miss this one!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Abusive father. Strained relationships. Weird.
Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen is really not my kind of book, in so many ways. Number one, it’s third person narration. Don’t love it. Number two, it’s about abuse, both physical and emotional. Don’t love that, either. Their mother died giving birth to their brother. That left them with their father. The older brother, Joshua, did better than did his younger, brother, Nick. His personality type is too different from his father’s. His father wanted to make a man of him. Nick didn’t see manhood the same way. He left home, planning to never return. His brother had been ostracized for daring to marry an Asian woman so he was all that was left. He kept in touch with his father. He didn’t enjoy it, but now his father is dying, bone cancer, he says, and he wants them to come home. They did. Joshua got on better with his father, as always. Then, things started getting strange. I didn’t love it. I can’t deny the author has a way with words and that she has a story to tell. It is just not a story I want to hear. I was invited to read Sacrificial Animals by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #KaileePedersen #SacrificialAnimals
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com