Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
Synopsis
"Who are the Sawkill Girls?
Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.
Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.
Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.
Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.
Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now."
My Thoughts
This book was such an excellently creepy read. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Lauren Ezzo, did such a good job of reading for the different characters as well as making sure every moment was filled with a terrifying feeling of dread at their situations.
Sometimes the monster is hiding in the dark and sometimes it's hiding in plain sight. The use of patriarchy = monster was not subtle in the slightest, but I still enjoyed it immensely. This book was incredibly violent, but I feel like the author did an excellent job of conveying how truly horrifying the monster and the situation is without the need to dwell on the gory details too much. I made sure I only listened to this during the day though because seriously the creepiness of this one was almost too much at times. But despite not being a huge fan of horror, I found myself really enjoying this one.
“Screw that book,” said Val. “It was written by men.” She held out her free hand to Marion. “We’re rewriting it.”
― Claire Legrand, Sawkill Girls
The character dynamics in this one were really excellently done. I felt myself cheering for Marion and Val even though I really felt like I shouldn't. But despite the pairing maybe not being the wisest choice, it didn't feel forced either. I thought the bi/lesbian rep was nice, and came without a big coming out which I enjoyed. The ace rep in this was also really nicely done as well. I really loved these characters, which made their situations all that more terrifying.
I definitely recommend this one if you need a queer horror fantasy that will have you keeping the lights on in the dark and never ever want to wander through the woods again.
Genre: lgbtqia+, fantasy, horror
Representation: ace, bi/sapphic
Content Warnings: death of a parent, suicidal ideation, murder, gore, sex scenes, ace-phobia (challenged), violence, character death, assault