Stars: 2.5 out of 5
This book had so much promise! The premise was intriguing, and the book started strong with Vern on the run and not much explanation of what had happened but with a growing sense of urgency that even the reader could feel.
The book was good for the first half at least, while we followed Vern as she learned to live in the woods and tried to raiser her children by herself.
Unfortunately, by the second half of the book, the novelty of the story ran out, and I discovered a couple things that started gradually dampening my enjoyment of the book until they ruined it completely. I’m sad to say that I finished this as a hate read. I was so close to the end that I had to finish it just to say that I did.
First of all, the story just keeps circling the drain for most of the book. Vern knows that the answers to what’s happening to her are back in Cainland, but she never actually does anything to find them. She knows that the woods are not safe anymore for her little family, but her answer is to go back to civilization nilly willy and follow a dream. No recon beforehand, no explanation or basic training for her children before she subjects them to such a traumatic change. It’s a wonder she even got to her destination at all. The way they were dressed and the way they acted, she should have been picked up by cops almost immediately.
I think my biggest problem is Vern herself. I have never seen a more selfish and pig-headed protagonist in my life! It was okay in the beginning because she was young and on the run, overwhelmed by circumstances. Problem is, she never changes. She doesn’t grow up. She doesn’t evolve and mature. She stays the same bull-headed and selfish teenager throughout the book. She is stubborn, and prideful, and rebellious just for the sake of being rebellious, or that’s what it seems at times. She is the kind of person who would stick her arm in the fire and let it burn just because somebody told her not to do that. That’s just incredibly stupid.
She abandons her babies for nights at end alone… in the woods… in a makeshift shelter open to elements. She hurts the only person who had information about Cainland and what was happening to her, instead of listening and trying to get information out of her first. She pouts and shouts, instead of admitting that she can’t read, even though learning to read would help her find the answers she wants.
And the most infuriating part is, despite all those shortcomings and acts of tremendous idiocy, she always escapes scoot free. There are no dramatic consequences to her actions.
She leaves two newborns in the woods all night? Sure, they are all nice and safe in the morning. No animals found them and hurt them. They didn’t get cold or hungry and started crying. In fact, how the heck did they survive for 8 years in the woods and never once got sick with anything?
Vern literally walked them into a mall, dressed them in new clothes, grabbed essential… and just walked out? And the tags on the clothes didn’t’ set off the alarms? The security in the mall didn’t catch her? Right…
The further we venture into the story and out of the woods, the more implausible this lack of consequences gets. To the point that I didn’t even care for any of this anymore. Whatever Vern did, she would get out of it looking better than ever, with an “upgrade” to her supernatural abilities. If the protagonist has a “Mary Sue shield” around her, what’s the point reading her story?
The ending is even more underwhelming because it reads like the final boss level of a video game – Vern gets her maximum upgrades and goes to fight the bad guys who don’t stand a chance. Only it’s all kind of pointless at that point, pun intended.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t recommend this. There are better and more impactful stories out there that don’t need deux ex machina elements to keep the protagonist from dying because of her own stupidity.
PS: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was blown away by this book, it held my attention all day. I am now starving and have to piddle, as I did not move the whole time I was reading it.

Rivers Solomon is carving out a unique and exciting corner of the world for their writing and stories. All three of their long works are filled with people who do not follow gender norms, who are marginalized, and for those who do not always have main characters in fiction that represent them. The easy things to talk about are the way Solomon represents the LGBT+ community, the nonbinary community, and the black community, but it is important to not overlook how great Sorrowland is as a great piece of fiction.

The book opens with Vern, an albino pregnant with twins, escaping a cult (The Cainites on the Blessed Acres of Cain), to raise them the way she wants to raise them. Vern runs with her twins, Howling and Feral, even though the cult is following her, tracking her because they need her back. The Cainites are physically changing through experiments sponsored by the government, and Vern is the most successful of the group. They need her to survive. Vern does not want to return so she uses her cunning and some help to try to stay hidden.

As the novel unfolds, the tension and anxiety continues to increase. We know that Vern is not going to be able to stay hidden forever, that they are going to find her, and that even though the sympathetic response of fleeing eventually has to turn to fighting, we do not know what the outcome is going to be. By the end of the book, Vern has changed, become stronger, but with this strength comes pain and hurt. The physical metamorphosis of Vern changes with the mental metamorphosis, that she needs to have a final standoff with the cult instead of running. Of course the “final standoff” is not what she expects at all.

Solomon writes Sorrowland in a way that all of it feels very real. One aspect is the way they use the impact of the cult to influence some of Vern’s decisions. Vern is attracted to women and this is against the teachings of the Cainites. Even after she is away from the cult for years, she feels the oppression and guilt from her upbringing. The guilt that she expresses feels very real, and it all makes sense to the way that she was raised and the things that she was admonished for while still living on the Acres of Cain.

The entire novel, particularly Vern, the physical transformation that she endures and the visions that get stronger and stronger throughout Sorrowland, feels very real. It is one of those novels that you want to talk about because there are so many layers that can be explored. From the history of the way the government has experimented on people of color in this country, to the way that the visions and haunts are used to fill the gaps in the story, but in such a subtle way that it is acceptable, to the end, this needs to be read by everyone so that it can be discussed at length. All of River Solomon’s works beg to be discussed at length, and they should not be overlooked.

“Going against tended to end more rightly, more justly, than going with. People were wrong. Rules, most of the time, favored not what was right, but what was convenient or preferable to those in charge.”

Sorrowland tells the story of Vern as she flees from a cult and its leader to create a new life with her children. But Cainland doesn't let her go easily. She is hunted and haunted by the cult, so eventually decides to leave the woods and go to civilisation to find her friend, Lucy.

“How come white folks were always telling Black people to get over slavery because it was 150 or so years ago but they couldn’t get over their Christ who died 1,830 years before that?”

Sorrowland is a deeply ambitious and complex story of misogyny, racism, sexuality and power. While I loved it conceptually, I found the execution to not be quite what I was looking for. This included some sci-fi elements that I wasn't expecting, and the overall tone was just a little off. I found myself bogged down by all the imagery and symbolism, but couldn't bring myself to try and sort through all of it because I wasn't invested enough.

“She was a girl made of aches and she flung her body at the world in the hopes that something, anything, might soothe the tendernesses.”

If you are a fan of weird, experimental and lightly sci-fi books- you will probably love this! It was just a little too elusive and strange for my personal tastes. I have a feeling that this would be a really good book to buddy read or discuss with a book club. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to discuss it with so I don't think I had the best experience I could have.

Overall, most of my critisisms were by no fault of the book itself, but me. I simply think I wasn't the target audience. But if you are, I can completely see how you would love this book.

★★☆☆☆.5 stars

Thank you to Random House UK for this ARC

Release Date: 6 May 2021

“Experimentally, she closed her eyes. Tendrils of invisible mycelial thread prickled her. She could see the whole shape of its body-her body. She was as big as the continent. The earth.”

Vern, a 15 year old albino black girl flees to the woods, desperate to escape the home she’s only known, a strict religious compound known as the Blessed Acres of Cain. She gives birth to twins, alone in the woods, but not totally alone because she is being hunted. Desperate to protect her new family, but remaining in the shelter of the forest, she undergoes a metamorphosis. In order to seek the help she needs, Vern has to take her children into a world she’s always been taught to avoid. This book is her journey.

This book is difficult to categorize. It’s gothic horror, with elements of sci-fi and fantasy, and with roots in nature (my favorite fiction add-on). Set in an alternative world, Rivers Solomon uses this harrowing tale to explore many critical contemporary issues and reflect on the tragic brutality of American history, especially for its indigenous people. There is truly a plethora of ideas to unpack and emotion to feel in this layered, and beautifully written novel. Sorrowland, is full of unexpected twists and turns as Vern tries to uncover secrets about her past, and secure a future worth living. It’s a book that’ll have you turning pages quickly, but it’s effects will be everlasting. The qualities of a necessary and worthwhile book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I’ve had the opportunity to reference the published version.

I missed the release date of this, and sadly I do not think I will be getting to this any time soon. I ended up dnfing his other novel The Deep, so I am not sure if I will enjoy this.

Another incredible novel from Rivers Solomon-- did I really expect anything less? A sci-fi survivalist thriller that swings from genre to genre with ease as each new twist is revealed. Solomon's prose is at times lush and others biting, and I loved every moment of it. After escaping the religious cult she was raised by, Vern takes to the woods to raise her twin babies away from its awful influence. But is it really possible for her to escape the horrors done to her? Especially when her past--and its continued effects on her--continue to manifest in strange and terrifying ways?

A truly incredible thriller that will keep you on your toes until the very least page.

This book surprised me but in the best way. I truly could have never predicted what happened and was continually surprised. This is one of the most original and unique books I've ever read. I've never read a book with an albino main character, never mind one who is also black. And while slowly becoming more common and available, sci-fi with black main characters is also hard to find. So, I loved the representation here. But most of all, this was a stunning, well-written, and completely unique book unlike anything I've read before. I was truly blown away by it!

Having read 'The Deep' by this author, I was so ready to read something else. The Deep was an absolutely beautiful and haunting book about genealogy, origin and identity that will forever stay with me.

Vern, a woman living in a religious cult, flees from its clutches whilst 7 months pregnant with twins. Once free, she decides to live with her children nomadically, never fully feeling free from the cult. The world around Vern is a dystopia, it has echoes of the modern world, but there's a darkness. There seems to be real and imagined monsters haunting the corners of the landscape of Sorrowland. Vern must fight to survive it.

This book I have thought about it a lot and I have never really been sure how exactly to put it into words what I think of the book. I think my biggest pause if the dystopian world Cainland that Rivers built. It has a disturbingly biblical undertone that you can't but make correlations to. What does that say about everything that happens in the world that Vern navigates in? Is the world dark and despairing because they've followed the examples of Cain? It's kind of an initial mindfuck.

Vern herself is a powerhouse. She has so much strength to go through all that she does. Between leaving the cult, birthing her children, raising her children and making the choices to fight against her demons that are hunting her.

I think what gets me so much in this book is the gothic horror elements. As Vern runs into different things that make her question her sanity, I felt so entranced and into her psyche, that I questioned things right along with her. For instance, the child stuck in the river? It was a terrifying image but it made me question things too.

Overall, it was a good book. I enjoyed it for what it was. Thank you!

I wasn’t sure I would finish this book. It felt as if I had missed a few chapters when the story began and I didn’t really like the plot which seemed muddled and uncertain. I stuck with it and finished #sorrowland however and it was okay. There are some very graphic sexual sections near the end that might bother some readers. I’m still not sure if I actually liked this. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy to read and review.

Sorrowland is a weird book. Now...I usually like weird books...a lot. And I did like this one to an extent. But whoa. This one really took things and ran with them. The underlying references and lessons presented in this novel make sense and they are good points, but the delivery of this narrative was just a strange fever dream.

This was my first read from Rivers Solomon and their prose reminds me a lot of Toni Morrison. It's very gauzy and lyrical, like the whole story takes place in a bit of a dreamlike state. That works really well for a good portion of the book, but there were times (particularly in the beginning of the novel) where it felt like maybe the writing was trying just a little too hard and it lost its genuine quality.

The read was a slow build that was a bit of a dystopian/horror mix and moved with pretty good logic for about half the book. Then all of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and things took a hard left turn. The tone of the narrative shifted and felt off and the pacing suddenly started to drag. The things that took place in the last third of the book moved with a bit of unnaturalness and it felt like the ending of the book had been written in a rushed manner. It didn't have the careful construction and magical movement of the first half of the book. Instead it was somewhat choppy, hard to follow, and over the top.

Prior to the mild train wreck of the last section, I was on track to have a 4-star reading experience. That last chunk though...whew...it took me on a ride in a bad way. Like a bad acid trip. That bit of funky mess was probably a 2-star experience at best. So I averaged it out and we land with a middle of the road 3-star read.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

"Sorrowland" opens with our main character, Vern, having twins in the woods, on the run from someone called "the Fiend", having just escaped from the compound of the group (*ahem* cult) Children of Cain. We follow Vern as she tries to survive raising two infants in the woods, all while coping with the strange changes to her body that have been happening since she left the compound. As she discovers the secrets of her childhood and the organization, she must come to terms with her issues with trust not just from her own experience, but from generations of African Americans before her.

This book was one giant adventure. There were so many scenes that had my heart racing, mildly panicking for the lives of Vern and her babies, Howling and Feral. I was able to speed through this book because even when we were in the middle of developing some larger plot point, Solomon added scenes to it up. I also found this book reminiscent of Toni Morrison's work, particularly "Beloved", where you're not sure what is real or imagined. Of course, it all makes sense in the end, but along the way that line is hard to negotiate.

My only qualm is that the end went by too quickly. There was a great bit of exposition/rising action that could have been condensed to make the last quarter of the book play out a little more naturally. I liked how it ended, but found it a bit too tidy for my taste. Still a great book that I may pick up a few years in the future.

Holy smokes this blew me away and completely took my by surprise. I’m so thankful that I received the ARC for this book. Absolutely stunning prose, new interesting voice in fantasy, excellent horror elements, themes of motherhood, racism, etc. Cannot recommend this enough.

I expectes so so so sooooo much more from this book and I was incredibly excited to read it. However, I lost the interest within the first few pages and it was hard to finish it. I don't know if it is because I expected so much or because the writing style was hard to follow for me, but I didn't enjoy this AT ALL

I wasn’t expecting what I got with this book. I *think* that’s a good thing. For some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be sci-fi fantasy but even if you’re like me and not a big fan, trust me and keep going.

If a book ever had a content warning, it would be this one. For me? The more warning the better. I love dark, disturbing books that sit with you because they make you think. They make you feel lucky to live in the world that you live in and be thankful as you turn the page that you are not in *that* one.

I imagine if a book went to the oscars, this one would win all the awards.

Sorrowland is a really intriguing and genre-defying read. This book has a lot of trigger warnings (racism, homophobia, body horror, child grooming/abuse, etc.) but if you are able to read this, I would totally recommend it. Solomon has such beautiful writing and they have so many nuanced things to say about race, sexuality, gender, religion, and family. I was absolutely sucked in from the first page and never saw the twists coming.

Holy hell. This was so good. The layers of trauma and mystery and horror and relationships Solomon was able to create is incredible. I personally have a hard time with body gore, so it took me a long time to get through this book because I had to take a lot of breaks, but it was so worth it.

I've previously read Solomon's The Deep and I absolutely loved it so I went into Sorrowland with high expectations. The plot and story was well thought out but I think this book could have been edited down by around 50-80 pages. Parts of the book ran dry and became tedious to read.

Aptly titled Sorrowland, this book is one long, depressing, violent, constantly miserable book.

Vern, who at first I thought was early 20's but later find out is only 15, runs away from the commune she grew up in, and the much older husband she married. She gives birth to twins while hiding out in the woods. She refers to them both as he/him but when meeting other people, they refer to one of them as she/her, so I remained confused as to what was what. The names won't help you: Howling and Feral.

Things go determinedly downhill from there until the end of the book. Vern is surly, aggressive, mean, and all in all the most unlikeable character I've read in a while. She enjoys sex (nothing wrong with that, but she IS only 15) and self-harm (I have a big problem with that, as it is described as a matter-of-fact part of normal life). At first she would occasionally completely forget about the twins existence, while also having hallucinations of finding dead children's bodies. We are supposed to believe that, at 15 and with no experience whatsoever, she manages to birth the twins and raise them to the age of 4, all on her own, in a forest somewhere in the U.S., and is never is discovered by anyone, not hunters or campers or random tourists hiking.

She commits murder and mayhem as she mysteriously starts to change physically; becoming abnormally strong and growing a bone-like covering on her body. It finally starts to get a bit interesting, but then her life in the woods comes to a screeching halt as she decides its time to rejoin society and go looking for her first love (Lucy, who ran away from the commune when they were both 13). She finds an old friend of Lucy's, and the friends daughter, who is a doctor, They help Vern on her quest to find out what's happening to her mind and body, and to find the elusive Lucy.

Without giving too much away, it all boils down to a sci-fi ending you've read before. Nothing mystical or otherworldly is going on. Just the usual evil of mankind.

I kept waiting for a good character, someone I could root for. Someone I would be sad to see killed off. Never happened.

So much more could have been done with the themes the author sprinkled throughout the book, a little racisim, a little lesbianism, a little government overreach. But none of these topics were given any depth, just brought up every now and then to keep them in the front, but never digging deep into the meat of them.

I know others have heaped praise on this novel; I just can't be one of them.

I finished this book sometime in May. It was AMAZING. It was very dark and thought-provoking. Rivers Solomon was not afraid to go to some less-explored places. Lots of double-meaning and metaphor, and would be incredibly interesting for a full literary analysis. It starts out as a journey of a young black woman escaping a cult compound while pregnant, then raising her children in the woods, then there's a whole world of fungi / bugs introduced??? I have no idea how Rivers Solomon tied it all together but it was fantastic. 100% absolutely would recommend, but make sure you have something lighter lined up afterward. Caution: may make you depressed, but that's only because it's based in real shit and life rarely comes with a happy ending. Rivers Solomon nailed the gothic themes and LGBTQIA+ rep.