I'd like to thank Netgalley and MCD for gifting me this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I'll start with the things I really liked about this book. One would be the cover. It was very eye catching and just beautiful. I would buy this book for the cover alone. The second thing I liked was the premise of the book. When I read the "blurb" I was intrigued and drawn in.

Now on to the problems I had with the book. I really couldn't get into the story. There were some exciting and dramatic scenes that had me continue reading but there were also some just cringe worthy parts as well. I really didn't care for the main character. I'm not sure if it was Vern's age and maturity level but she just did things that a person wouldn't do. For example, she left her twin children in the woods and went to a bar and met up with another lady and then in the time line remembers she has children at her campsite to get back to. I also had a hard time with the time line. The months and years seemed to jump and to me it felt pieced together.

I don't want to give too many spoilers away but I would not buy this book for myself. I think it has possibility of being a good book if some things were changed in it.

A story of trauma, transformation and healing with a protagonist whose journey is impossible not to root for

Content Warning: Mentions of child marriage and offsceen CSA, body horror
Having brought us a generation ship space opera with US chattel slavery race dynamics, and a story of first contact and alien society with the Black merfolk of Drexciya, I went into Rivers Solomon's third book with expectations of something similarly genre bending and thoughtful, but otherwise with little expectation of whether Sorrowland, with its intriguing, gothic set-up, would twist towards science fiction, fantasy, realism or some other direction entirely. It's a mild spoiler to answer that question in full, but what I can confirm that Sorrowland is full of magic in its most basic sense: events and locations that seem mundane on their surface but are transfused with mythical qualities. At the centre of it is Vern, Sorrowland's protagonist and one of the most engaging, interesting protagonists I've ever spent a book with. From the first few pages of Vern's narration, I was hooked on her character's voice, and in following her journey through its heartbreak and discovery I was desperate for things to work out in some for her.

Sorrowland opens with Vern as a pregnant teenage girl escaping an unknown "fiend" in the forest near Cainland, the commune compound where she grew up. Vern's first act is to give birth in the midst of making her escape, taking her twins Howling and Feral - both referred to with he/him pronouns, though their gender is left ambiguous - to live in the safety of the woods. Vern is able to survive almost exclusively on what the forest provides, her inexplicable survival skills providing the first hint both of extraordinary abilities and her strength of character - but the Fiend continues to pursue her and make its presence known, and eventually it becomes clear that at least some of what Vern needs is outside of the forest. So she leaves, first temporarily, finding comfort with a woman called Ollie; and later, while seeking her closest friend from the compound who left under mysterious circumstances, with a more permanent support network. By the point of her departure, our suspicions that Vern carries supernatural abilities of some form have been confirmed, and Vern herself is grappling with a transformation that she can't fully understand, but which is clearly linked to her former life in Cainland.

As a cult survivor, Vern's experiences in Cainland permeate every facet of Sorrowland's story, from the overt - her past, and the circumstances in which she ran away, are explored throughout the book's first section - to the way she expresses her political and cultural beliefs, to the contrast between Vern's upbringing and the start in life she gives her own children. Cainland is a Black commune built to offer its residents an alternative to white supremacist society, but by Vern's time this mission has been corrupted by authoritarian religious patriarchy which forcibly cuts its members off from outside communication and preaches hate against queer folk while enabling child marriage for its leaders. As an albino intersex girl with an exclusive attraction to women, and strong opinions about the world around her, Vern finds it impossible to mould herself to the expectations of the compound, and its no accident that Howling and Feral are brought up in an environment where curiosity is encouraged and only curbed when it would bring immediate danger. This being Rivers Solomon, of course, Cainland doesn't exist in a political vacuum, and as Vern's personal transformation is explored, the factors that made that compound what it was also come into play.

Running in parallel the physical repercussions of Vern upbringing is her emotional journey, one which involves grappling with the trauma of Cainland and learning to live with (and embrace!) the parts of her which it tried to suppress. A large part of that is Vern's sexuality, and Sorrowland has some great (consensual) queer sex, including a poly encounter towards the end of the book which would be a spoiler to begin to describe but made me go "ohhh???" in a very intrigued and thoughtful way. (Maybe also some other emotions). Finding accommodation for her disability (Vern has nystigmatus due to her albinism, which reduces her vision and stops her being able to read) and gaining access not just to books but to people who support her intellectual curiosity and interests is also a significant - and heartwarming - part of her healing towards the second half of the book. But Vern's greatest emotional challenge, and the part that propels the book to its eventual, unexpected climax is reckoning with the way the cult has negatively affected her relationships. Vern's feelings towards her mother, who took her to live in Cainland in the first place and allowed her to become a child bride; her childhood friend Lucy, who left her abruptly with only an address in a book she couldn't read to track her down; her allies outside the compound, especially Native woman Bridget and her niece Gogo who offer Vern and her children an eventual home; and of course Vern's precociously smart, curious, thoughtful children: all these relationships are complicated and nuanced and come together in a messy but optimistic vision of healing, however imperfectly, from trauma. While its ending was more high-stakes than I anticipated, the work Sorrowland puts into its emotional journey had the biggest payoff for me, and I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Howling and Feral as their own well-rounded human beings even at a young age, with relationships with adults which go beyond a one-way system of care.

Sorrowland covers so much ground, and a lot of it is best experienced without knowing what's to come, making it a difficult book to really sum up in a review. This is a work of thoughtful, passionate brilliance from a writer at the top of faer game, and trying to capture that in a 1,000 word one-sitting review is like trying to describe the ocean to someone who has never experienced water. This isn't an easy book - if you're familiar with Solomon's previous books, you won't be expecting that anyway - but if you have the time to devote to it, Sorrowland's journey is a powerful one and ultimately something that left me with a great deal of hope for its characters. And I simply cannot rate Vern highly enough, in all her prickly, passionate, confused glory - her journey is one that will stay with me long after I put Sorrowland down.

SorrowLand by Rivers Solomon, is a fantasy story about a young girl named Vern who is black albino. She has lived most of her life in a cult Cainland. At the young age of 15 she is married to the leader and pregnant. She flees the cult and hides in the woods all while giving birth and raising her twins. This is a fabulously written story.
There are parts that moved slow for me, but overall I would recommend the book. I gave it a 3.5 on goodreads but after some thought will be bumping it up to a 4. Thank you NetGalley for the read.

This was given to me as an arc by netgalley for an honest review. This ended up on my DNF but I think it might just be my own person preference. I couldn’t get into it. I tried. I pushed through to 50% but I had no desire to find out what happened next.

Sorrowland sounded like a book I’d enjoy. I loved the beginning and was intrigued by Vern’s journey and she survived in the woods with her newborn children after escaping a cult.

The ideas in the novel were interesting and could very well be tied together, perhaps if the book was told from multiple perspectives instead of just Vern’s. Or I felt like the book should have began with her in Cainland growing up and questioning the teachings to at least have more exposure to the people and ideas and the way certain outsiders had dealings with the leader. It was all sort of explained through memories and I just felt like it was jumbled. Certain aspects felt unexplained and yet other minor detail were over-explained.

As the book continued, it made less and less sense to me. I knew Vern couldn’t survive in the woods forever, but going into civilization was where my interest in the book began to wane as it felt like it was less and less rooted in reality. I understood that I was reading science fiction, but aside from the hauntings, Vern felt pretty normal and the cult itself felt like it could happen, so the otherworldly elements just felt like they came out of nowhere in this story.

I think fans of Margaret Atwood would appreciate this book, but I think it was just too strange and nonlinear for me. (And to be honest, I’m a little tired of the big reveal being related to fungi in nearly everything. It started with The Girl With All the Gifts and now I just feel like it’s everywhere I look.)

The main character of this book has to be the strongest character I have read about in a while, the protagonist is a fifteen year old girl pregnant by a cult leader who escapes the said cult and has to survive on her own in the woods. this book did what it came to do. The characters are amazingly fleshed out even the children, the writing is simple and very atmospheric and I felt immediately transported to this world of cold winters and empty roads.
The book occurs over a couple of years and we see Vern's growth and her children's as well, I loved those two children so much just because its rare to see well written child characters
The setting also added to the menacing air of this book and I really enjoyed that. Rivers Solomon is a gifted writer and her ability to include disabilities and non heterosexual relationships as a daily thing was so good it brought tears to my eyes .This is a story inspired by the history of American experiments on Black bodies, which I think brought a lot of nuance and complexities to this story.

Although the relationships between various characters did not feel fully fleshed out and the ending was a bit anticlimactic I enjoyed the book.

This book is well-intentioned, with a lot of important messages at its core about slavery, racism, and the lack of accountability in the US establishment for criminal behavior. But while I appreciate the message, the writing and overly literary style (Rivers Solomon apparently writes both speculative and literary fiction) left me feeling easily lost, and the text failed to engross me.

I really loved this book, I was reading it non stop. The writing style was easy to read and get lost in, and the story was equally propulsive and engaging as it was deep and thought provoking. So many boundaries were pushed in this book without it feeling overwhelming or undefined. Gender sexuality race politics nativism parenting religion conservation poverty socialism I'm sure there's more. The sci-fi and fantasy aspects were well done and very creative. Really good read.

Sorrowland is weird.

Weird stories are challenging. Some make no sense. When the reader gets to a resolution - or lack thereof - it’s a big letdown. Sometimes it seems like a story makes no sense, but the author’s resolution snaps everything in place. It’s a wild ride with a satisfying conclusion.

Sorrowland is a wild ride.

Vern is a pregnant teen escaping from the cult-like compound where she lived with her mother and big brother. She wants to find her friend Lucy, who had previously escaped. She’s also fleeing the “fiend”, an unseen enemy that either wants to kill Vern or return her to the compound.

Vern evolves into an extraordinary woman along the way. Parts of her story are bizarre and even unsettling, but I wanted to keep reading to find out what was next on her journey. The resolution ties up loose ends and, more importantly, makes sense.

I tried to explain the plot to my teenage son, and his mouth kept dropping as I added details. If a reader has an open mind and is willing to ride the roller coaster, Sorrowland is worth it.

Sorrowland is different, and that’s a compliment.

Sorrowland starts as Vern, a pregnant, albino black teen, as she fights to survive being hunted in the woods while running away from a cult compound. Each act of this book has its own unique setting, which allows us to see how Vern must struggle to raise her twins and adapt to her own haunted memories. Throughout the book there are conversations around the violence against black and indigenous bodies, and intersex, trans, and queer lives. While the middle of the book slowed down a bit for me, it was a nice reprieve from the fast paced beginning and ending. All the hauntings and flashbacks Vern thinks about were so visceral and by the end of the book my stomach was in knots thinking about all the metaphors for real life. If you liked how Rivers Solomon wrote the memories in their book The Deep, I think you'd really like Vern's hauntings. Again, if reading about state sanctioned violence against black bodies is not something you'd like to read, or will find triggering I'd recommend not reading this book or coming back to it when you are in a safe place.

As someone who has longed to read works by this author for a long time, I was excited to gain access to this book. After reading the first chapter or so I found that I was not in a place to read a story about a teenage girl escaping a cult and giving birth on her own in the wilderness while being chased down by a predatory man. This is definitely a story for those ready to explore these concepts and themes.

A haunting and desperate story. I felt every moment of Vern's time in the woods with her babes in my stomach. However, I found the ending to be a bit convoluted and dissatisfying.

3.75 stars.

This is a hard one to review because as with all of Solomon's previous work, I found the thematic explorations, the ideas, and history they take on to be fascinating and thought-provoking. On the flip side, however, I've yet to fully be engaged in their novels, primarily because they are a bit too much "a novel of ideas" for my personal reading tastes. I do think this latest novel also helped to pinpoint that as a cis, white woman, I am not the intended audience of their work and that is absolutely fine.

In terms of specifics about this book, Solomon continues to explore themes they have explored previously, including but not limited to intergenerational trauma (particularly physical manifestations of that trauma), gender identity and fluidity, government surveillance, medical racism, and the black experience in America. I think fans of Solomon's previous work will not be disappointed, but I'm not sure I would recommend it if you've had mixed experiences with their work in the past.

Thank you to MCD (FSG) for providing me with an early copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Sorrowland is coming out this Tuesday, May 4.

Sorrowland is a book comprised of incredible writing and fantastical themes. This was intense and beautifully written. At fifteen, Vern flees in the night from the toxic religious compound where she lives. She is pregnant and desperate to escape the life she is forced to live, so she finds solace in the woods away from civilization. There she has her twin babies and raises them alone. But she is hunted, still. The horrors she faced at the compound were terrifying and those forces do not want to let her go.

She is now in her young adulthood and she finds her body changing. She is sickened as has no idea what to do. All she wants is to protect her babies, even if that means bringing them from the comfort of the woods, back into the outside world.

While this was unique and intense, I had trouble connecting to the book. I found so much of it confusing and strange to follow. I think that I may give this book another shot later on, but for now, I think that this one just isn’t for me.

I don't honestly know what to say about this genre. bending novel that's about more than the actual plot- except that it wan't for me. I suspect, however, that I'm going to be the odd one out because there are some important ideas here. Vern has fled Cainland, the cult where she was raised and lives with her odious husband. Now she's got twins and she must protect them from the forces that want her back in the fold. She leaves the forest to find her friend Lucy, who left years before. But that's not safe either. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Interesting, challenging and unique.

It is no easy feat to write a review of this book without giving away some really big plot points that would be considered spoilers and possibly ruin the surprises that are in store for you when you read Sorrowland. However, I am going to try anyways. The main protagonist is a 7-months pregnant woman named Vern, who gives birth to twins shortly after escaping from a deeply religious commune. Real shades of A Handmaid's Tale going on there. After giving birth her body starts to change and she begins to become more powerful, in a supernatural sort of way. This is the part that I can't say much more about for fear of spoilers. The people from the commune are not about to let her go that easily, though, so she must use her newfound powers to fight against them and stay a step ahead of the hunters for the sake of her and her twins. Author Rivers Solomon really knows how to write a thriller, and peppers the narrative with clues as to how a commune like this could possibly come to be and how Vern ended up there. The story is very queer/LGBTQIA+ friendly, which is why it gets a heart four stars from me.

Read a NetGalley eARC
Content warning: birth, self harm, teen pregnancy, drowning, child abuse, cult, emotional abuse, blood, gaslighting, drowning, rape, gun violence, hanging, suicide, AIDS

Fifteen-year-old Vern gives birth to twins in the woods after having escaped the religious compound where things were amiss. She seeks to raise them free of that influence, but the hauntings and hunts force her to interact with the forbidden world beyond.

Feral and howling, this brilliant piece of speculative fiction is not one to miss. It is as beautiful as it is raw, and I am truly jealous that I can’t re-experience it for the first time again.

Sorrowland is by no means an easy read. It starts off with a 15-year-old giving birth in the woods while a fiend hunts her and leaves behind grisly installations that twist motherhood. Then, we’re led through flashbacks and the history of Cainland while seeing events unfold in real time. It’s a lot, but in the best way. So much happens here. It’s a little bit Annihilation, a little bit Lakewood, some parts the arc of most cults’ stories, but it never takes its focus from the central character, Vern.

Each relationship here was so polished. They are complicated. They are messy. Especially the relationship between Vern and her children. It is clear that she loves them something fierce. But toddlers will toddler. Some of my favorite moments were when the three of them learn the world beyond Cainland together. The tension of the children outpacing the parent is so palpable, and it really resonated with me.

Speaking of relationships, this book fucks. There is so much sexuality on-page and implied. It’s great to see a character who is a mother have those wants and needs, but it’s not painted with any moral judgment. It’s just a thing that exists in this experience of the world built by Solomon. The presentation is so seamless and breath-taking.

The context and history woven throughout this novel is perfect. Focusing various atrocities committed by the U.S. government and also what happens when a terrible captain helms the ship of a cult, anecdotes and entire scenes can get heavy. Solomon does not hold the reader’s hand through any of it.

Sorrowland is the story of Vern, a character who grabbed me from the start and never let me go. She is a Black pregnant teenager with albinism escaping from the cult-ish compound where she grew up, determined to live for herself and to raise her twin babies free from the shadowy powers at play in Cainland.

The beginning of the book feels suspended in time - the language feels old, the woods are ageless, and Vern is fifteen but seems ancient. Slowly, you realize this story takes place in a world very similar to our own, with all the trappings of modernity and trauma of a country deeply rooted in racism. The story grows as Vern grows. Through her transformation and self-discovery, she is unmade, just as she learns that she has the power to remake the world around her. She and her children, Howling and Feral, find family in Bridget (Lakota) and Gogo (Lakota, winkte). I loved reading all of these characters - their relationships and identities were beautifully and carefully rendered.

Vern is unyielding, cantankerous, and angry. But she is also keenly open to her own self, to who her children might be, to those that the world may cast aside for difference. Her acceptance of queerness in herself and others felt radical and true. There is pain, cyclic violence, and gruesomeness to her story, often horrifying to read. But there are also quiet moments of beauty, of subtle (and obvious) humor in the antics of her children, and the special awkwardness of new love. Overall, Vern's determination to be her full self provides a hopeful tone.

I haven't felt this strongly about a book in a long time - I HIGHLY recommend it. This is a book I will read and reread. Well-crafted fiction, beautiful prose, and haunting as hell.

I received a digital ARC from MCD via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is incredible! Vern has escaped the cult she grew up in. Free from its influence and alone in the wilderness with her children, her body begins to transform into something new, and she begins to realize the cult was hiding much bigger secrets than she realized.

The craft of fiction at its finest.

SORROWLAND opens in the woods with the fifteen-year-old Vern—who is Black, albino (the term is used in text), and intersex—giving birth to twins Howling and Feral, the latter also has albinism. Vern grew up in the Blessed Acres of Cain, a religious compound that was supposed to be a Black utopia, but she had to escape because everything there seems to be a lie. Over the next several months and years, Vern’s body begins to change. She is both stronger and more vulnerable, and she starts to understand that the power of the past while struggling to raise the twins with the freedom she never had.

I used to wish for a book in contemporary settings that references history and beliefs while telling a brand new story deeply influenced by the past. And now I found it in SORROWLAND.

The main concept is the cycle of history, with great emphasis on the violence against Black and Indigenous peoples in America. It is disturbing, both in raw descriptions and the recurring horrors of history. Throughout the story, there are countless Biblical references as well as mentions of historical and modern events that pertains to racism. Despite the pain and lingering memories from the past, the theme of rebirth—which the book opens with—creates a hopeful tone.

Vern is hungry to live and to be free, like her endless hunger for food. She would do anything to keep her children safe and as innocent as possible. When she meets Bridget and Gogo (Lakota, winkte), they become her found family. All of these characters are beautiful and real and passionate, their drives raw and primal.

There were so many visceral sentences that were punches in the gut, thoughts so accurate and candid no one else dared think. A lot of the scenes were allusions to being intersex and/or trans, especially since the intersection of identities being an underlying theme of SORROWLAND. We have an intersex lead, an Indigenous transwoman, he/him twins who are really genderless. Through memories from shared history and trauma as well as the hauntings, we also get snippets of stories from other unrelated yet interconnected people from the past.

SORROWLAND is a condensation of history told through weaving fantastical elements. At first, I didn’t understand the ending, thinking it was sudden and didn’t fit the tone. But after thinking through the message of the story and the opening scenes, the ending, for me, made Vern’s and her loved ones’ lives come full circle. The final scene ended exactly where it should, still a reference to the Bible, still a reference to history. It transcends genres and is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance, and literary fiction. The dedication line, “To everyone I will ever be, and ever was,” might not make much sense at first glance, actually fits the central plot perfectly. This work of fiction is a must-read, beautiful and haunting.

[Content warnings: animal killings, self harm, childbirth, alcohol abuse, cult, gaslight, pedophilia, blood, death, drowning, rape, attempted forcing of medication, torture, hallucination, brainwash, non-consensual medical experiment, reclaimed d slur, suicide, cannibalism, voyeurism, drug abuse, child abuse]