DNF at 15%

I tried to get into this book; the premise seemed to fulfill my hopes that it would be a enjoyable read. I like it when post-apocalyptic books get you to think about the world they depict, and especially how that reflects on our own. However, this book has a bizarre writing style, not to mention a protagonist whose way of thinking was alienating rather than inviting. There’s also a really strange quasi-sex scene in the first part of the book that felt really out of place. The book sends a lot of mixed signals on what type of book it is trying to be, and the mysterious nature of the setting and the characters only made me frustrated, not intrigued.

After trying to pick up this book several times, I am going to cut my losses—it’s just not for me. I don’t know if it necessarily deserves 1-star, but it was a 1-star read for me, so that is how the cookie crumbles.

Generally, I love post- apocalyptic books with a passion. I am all over them, and generally enjoy all that I have read. There was just something about this one that didn't appeal to me much. The relationship between the two characters was creepy, and I felt like the flowery, stream of consciousness writing style was not really to my liking. The content would have been great, had it been written in a different way, for me, personally.

While some may have really enjoyed this one, it just didn't do it for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Whether Violent or Natural is deeply about humanity. The things we do, the things we choose, in order to survive. But also, what we do when life becomes about more than just survival.

Natasha Calder writes of an apocalyptic world where Kit and Crevan are reliant upon each other for survival against the backbiters. Together, estranged on an island, Kit tells of their survival in the abandonded fort and her friendship with Crevan. Although it is near impossible to tell the true depth of their relationship, be it romantic, or even parental, it is obvious that the pair deeply care for one another.

This novel is often overly-prosed with fluttering analogies and deep descriptions that are sometimes out of place. Calder works well in what she knows, and makes up for what she doesn't by cramming what she does in exchange.

Natasha Calder's work was an interesting contrast in the prose between the flowering language and the deeper meanings written between the lines.

Whether Violent or Natural is a debut dystopian novel by Natasha Calder. The story follows two people - Kit and Crevan - who live in isolation in a world that has become deeply dangerous. After antibiotic resistance progressed and and a plastic-eating bacteria evolved, modern medicine collapsed and people were left susceptible to even a minor cut or burn. Doctors transformed into "backbiters" - rogue elements who hunt down the infected. Alone on their island, Kit and Crevan live in safety until a woman washes up on their shore, and they must confront questions around whether human decency is worth the risk.

While I agree with other readers that the writing was VERY forced and overly flowery and confusing, I felt like it fit well with the unreliability and instability of the narrator. The main characters were creepy and unlikeable and the relationship between them was unnerving. I enjoyed reading this and liked the twist toward the end.

Thanks so much to Natasha Calder and ABRAMS for this ARC through NetGalley! Whether Violent or Natural is out now and would be a fabulous fall read.

The MC seemed really young/immature, the POV rambled a lot and it was sometimes hard to keep things straight. I don't think this book was for me.

Sad to say this did not live up to the anticipation for me. I really looked forward to reading this book, but sadly a lot of small issues with characterisation, pacing and world-building added up to something grating I struggled to ignore.

The book blurb compares this book to Piranesi and Station Eleven and that is only the case on one point, a point I cannot share without spoiling the whole book. Beyond that, I would completely disagree with that assessment.

It is apparent very early that we have an unreliable narrator that has been through trauma. It leaves the narration fragmented and choppy with obvious areas that point to trauma. I wasn’t a fan. Disassociation and being a psychopath are two different things, but they almost seemed to be combined doing a disservice to everyone with PTSD.

I didn’t enjoy the rep, and the book blurb was very misleading about what you were picking up and I didn’t enjoy that. However, it isn’t a bad book. I can see so many people enjoying this book. And unlike me, I’m sure many will enjoy the ending. I would be willing to pick up more by this author, but this particular book wasn’t my favorite.

A voice-driven reinvention of the classic post-apocalypse narrative. The writing is evocative, visual, and lyrical. It moves like I imagine Kit moves: skipping and twirling and tumbling. And boy howdy were those comps right--We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Piranesi--though I'd probably add Ghost Wall, and there's something of Joy Williams in there too.

Calder's smart, occasionally scathing and keen-eyed novel investigates the deluded nostalgia of those who long for a a return to a simpler way of life through civilization-death; the bloody incoherence of anti-vaxers; and the delusions of the ludicrously rich who will save themselves from the worst of human-made disasters in their castle bunkers, but having saved themselves for what? A fictional life, cut off from reality, connection, significance. An absolute pleasure to read from a writer to watch.

I really wanted to like this book. Hell, I really tried to like this book! Friends, I did not like this book. I had problems, they were many, and I can't find a ton of redeeming bits, though it wasn't all bad so I will try? The concept of antibiotic resistance is certainly timely and relevant and plausible, and I like that it was presented as such a dire situation. Because it would be, of course. I don't really get the connection with plastic, but whatever, that was the least of my concerns.

So let's talk about those concerns. Or things I simply did not like. First, we have our main character, "Kit". At first, I legitimately thought that Kit was somewhere between ages 10-12, and was therefore fairly certain that Crevan was a pedophile. But! He is not, because ma'am is at least 27 years old. Which is shocking, because she one million percent has the mindset of a preteen at best. Now, the whole book is narrated through the rambling, off-putting perspective of Kit, who is seemingly not a reliable narrator. Crevan is...well we don't really know what his role is for most of the story. She calls him "daddy" a lot, which absolutely scarred me for life, but he isn't really in a caretaker role as much as the wording suggests? I mean, she is a grownass adult, and they even have some... weirdly inappropriate moments? Crevan seems to hate her as much as I did at times, so I figured at least he knows this is weird?

So THEN they find an unconscious woman in the water, and Crevan rescues her because he is not Satan incarnate I guess. This is where things really took a turn for the worse for me, because Kit would have just let the lady wash away because she is The Worst™. The bit that bugged me the most here is that this woman, who is on death's door, if you recall, has a cleft lip. And Kit is... rudely fascinated with it? Look- this may just be a personal sensitivity that I have, or maybe the fact that I was already irritated with Kit, but the way she spoke of the woman bothered me. And THEN if this was not bad enough... (view spoiler) And that was IT for me, this book could not be redeemed, sorry not sorry.

Now, as I said in the spoiler tag, for those of you who did not read it, I am pretty sure Kit is suffering from some kind of severe mental illness. But that isn't addressed at any point, so I can't even give it points for like "well at least they talk about what a mess this woman is" because nope. Also, there is a big ol' twist at one point that kind of made no sense for me narratively, and here's why: (view spoiler)

Bottom Line: This was a mess. Actually, it may have been a two star mess until it made me mad, but the only thing saving it from being zero now is the actual world issues.

This book takes place in a post-apocalyptic scenario in which antibiotic-resistant superbacteria have evolved which can eat through any and all plastics as well as being deadly and contagious, a combination which swiftly destroyed humans and their society at the same time. Kit, our POV character, was all alone on her island for a long time before Crevan came along and changed her lonely world. But after Crevan rescues a drowning woman from the ocean, everything changes.

The narration is sort of stream-of-consciousness (and Kit is an extremely unreliable narrator) and the book gives me a “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” vibe. Kit has been alone for a long, long time, and can be quite childish and strange as a result. But this is also a result of trauma, and not just the trauma of prolonged isolation. Kit and Crevan have a pretty messy relationship, codependent and manipulative and even somewhat abusive, but that’s almost to be expected of two messed up people who are each other’s entire world, while the world outside is ending.

There’s a twist at the end, kind of a two-part twist, and I won’t spoil anything but I didn’t care for it because I felt like half of it was not foreshadowed well enough. It just kind of felt like it came out of nowhere. That being said, I did enjoy the book overall.

DNF at 40%.

I hate purple prose, especially when that prose is there just for the sake of it. It bogs down the narrative and makes your eyes glaze over.

Also, the relationship between Kit and Crevan is very very creepy. Not to mention that Kit is extremely unlikeable. Nope, I'm out.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A very <i>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</i>-ish end of the world yarn. Crevan and narrator "Kit" idle on an island with a fully stocked bunker while the rest of the world toils under the specter of antibiotic resistance. Another character is introduced to create tension that ends up going nowhere <spoiler>and I can't tell if the would-be killer did actually grapple with Crevan and then wash out to sea? Because why would he even mention it, since she was buried by that point?</spoiler> and there's a big twist and some unreliable narration, which has never been my favorite thing.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️

ᑎETGᗩᒪᒪEY ARC

𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕍𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕠𝕣 ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕝
𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿
Dystopian Fiction
224 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

This dystopian novel tells of a woman and man living safely on an island after devastation has struck the world. They stay in a bunker that is under a crumbling castle and have a working greenhouse as well.

The two have an odd relationship that is pushed apart after a comatose woman washes up to the island one day. One wants to help her; the other doesn’t. What will happen now?

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs

I hate being negative when I write a review, but I also need to be honest. This is one of the oddest books I’ve read. I have read many dystopian books, and this just didn’t hit the mark for me.

First, the worldbuilding doesn’t clearly tell you what the heck happened, how these two ended up on this island, or what is going on on the mainland now. I had so many questions as I read. Some of them were answered in the end, but many were not.

The main character, Kit, is a whack a doodle of the first degree. She is supposedly an adult but acts like a child. She is terribly unlikable. Yet, she is the narrator, using high-level prose throughout the book. It is quite offsetting and irritating to read as I felt there was no way she would speak in such an educated way. I think that is what bothered me the most. Sometimes I found myself skipping over words because they were so over the top. The writing style would work for other types of stories, but not this one.

Kit kept referring to backbiters on the mainland as though they were some sort of dreaded monster. When that was finally explained at the end, it made no sense to me. Why did she call them backbiters? They didn’t bite backs. They didn’t say negative things behind others’ backs. Why, just why?

While the end did answer a few questions, it seemed rather ridiculous to me. The whole premise didn’t click. To be completely honest, if I hadn’t gotten this from NetGalley, I wouldn’t have continued reading it. I feel like it was missing parts that would have made it easier to understand.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

When it’s good, lyrical writing feels like an author has uncovered some strange, universal emotion or observation that you’ve experienced all your life, but never had a name for. When it’s bad, lyrical writing is purple prose tripping over itself to be poetic, interesting, metaphorical, and roundabout.

This book had some gorgeous writing. Unfortunately, about half of it fell directly into the purple bucket and had me thinking “oh my goodness, please just describe what is happening directly”.

The story was intriguing, the length was just right (little bigger than a novella), but the writing was a real bear to get through. I couldn’t connect. Some of the metaphors worked and some were in space. I recommend this one to fans of Cassandra Khaw, who also writes intriguing horror in flowery ways I do not appreciate.

Okay, so I'm very middle of the road on this one: the story itself was interesting, the characters were compelling (although I wouldn't call them "likable" by any stretch of the imagination), and it was quick & short enough to get through pretty easily. That said, the writing style was not exactly enjoyable for me -- honestly, it kind of kept pulling me out a little bit with how prose-y it was; I expected this to be more like a normal written book, but it was definitely very stylistically A Choice. I would try more from the author but if it's similar, I might pass after that. I think this will find its audience for sure -- there are going to be definite fans of the style, but for me personally, this just didn't work super well.

I quite genuinely despised this book. The excerpt is enticing and I was so excited to read it so when I initially saw all the bad reviews I was doubtful.
Lets just say, I should have trusted the people and moved on with my life. Whether Violent or Natural was the most pointless addition to my life, ever. Barely an addition at all, possibly even a subtraction.
Bottom line up front? The main character is a psychopath. Jesus, by the end of it I couldn't help but wonder if reading this book made me one too. The writing is chaotic; from the first chapter all I could think about was that this author HAS to have OCD. She sure writes like it. Some people are definitely going to find Calder's writing beautiful, but it will take a very specific type of person.
Personally, I was ready to be locked up in an asylum after clawing my way through 224 pages. There is zero storyline, none, nada, zip. The main character is a lunatic, a 30 year old playing child who is straight delusional.
I'm trying really hard not to spoil it, but when I say this book is pointless, I genuinely mean it. I finished the last page just wishing I could have my time back. Maybe, just maybe if Calder hadn't verbalized psychosis on paper for 200 pages, I could have enjoyed her writing.
But I didn't.

I have a hard time giving this book a star rating, simply because I had such a difficult time with this books writing style. I did not enjoy the extreme train of thought prose like style and because of that I found this book almost a chore to read. It took away any enjoyment from the plot, at least for me. But that doesn’t necessarily make this a bad book, right? Because surely this writing style IS someone’s cup of tea. And they would love this. Regardless this is a ‘style’ first and ‘plot’ second kind of book and if you don’t like the style you probably won’t have a good reading experience. Maybe it would be better in audio form! Give the first page a try! If you like it you will probably enjoy the book.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book, however I was unable to read this book. I couldn't get into the writing style of this book and found it impossible to finish. Others might like this type of writing, but it is not for me.

Thank you to the Overlook Press from Abrams for an eARC copy in exchange for a review!

I really wanted to like this book. Some of its passages will stay with me for a very long time; it carries a lyrical resonance that reminded me of being caught in a daydream, contemplating all kinds of metaphors for life. The book’s narrator Kit is incredibly insightful and sharp in her observations on post-apocalyptic life and scarily enough, some of these observations are useful for everyday life too.

My biggest issue with the book is that I felt so let down by the ending and the ostensible twist. Kit and Crevan’s relationship was also too mired in weird power dynamics (she calls him Daddy and at some point in the book, he beats her in an effort to “train” her to defend herself) so that when they eventually were separated, I was glad for it.

I’m also not sure what point the book was trying to make. That humanity is awful? That surviving trauma does a number on someone? For all the book’s passages on metaphors and pithy insight, it never seems to stick the landing in getting to an actual point, which is incredibly disappointing given the potential this book has with its writing style. Add that to fact that I’m still not clear on the world-building, or the nature of the apocalypse that sets the book in motion (was it all just a huge coping mechanism for kit or nah?), and we have a book that is big on ideas but crumples under their weight.

This book is based on a fascinating premise and the fuzzy morality of the main character is a great discussion point. The lyrical writing style is lovely and thought provoking for the most part, but gets carried away in some sections. Setting this book in the overstocked bunker of a wealthy prepper eliminates the need for a lot of elements of traditional survival fiction and makes for a convenient background for the events of the book. This book will likely not appeal to fans of survival fiction, but it's a great choice for anyone looking into the morality of those isolated by an apocalyptic event.