Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

This goth-sci-fi-horror novel offers immersive language and well-written, atmospheric scenes, but the convoluted, over-ambitious plot takes away from the potential effect. Teenage protagonist Vern Riley grows up in a cult whose members experience so-called hauntings. She escapes and gives birth to twins, then teams up with other outlaws in the woods to investigate the cult. Along the way, the text explores mass manipulation, queer love, and the exploitation of Black bodies.

Unfortunately, the whole thing lacks stringency and gets slightly out of control, but I still liked the language and many of the inventive ideas presented in a dark, looming world.

this is one of the weirdest books i’ve ever read
now that i’m caught up on all of rivers works i’m extremely sad that i have nothing else to read
might try their podcast type novel that they did in collaboration with some authors because i love their brain so much
i recommend if you want a weird book that's kinda culty and beautifully yet hauntingly written

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Another case of it’s not you, it’s me. I just couldn’t get into this one. There was nothing wrong with it, just not the book for me.

I’m not even sure how to put this book and the experience of reading it into words. I read the entirety of Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon so I may have been slightly delirious from hunger and fatigue. Once I started I quickly realized I knew nothing about what the book was about —for some reason I thought it was an anti colonial vicious take on fae but that is decidedly not this book. Nonetheless, after reading The Deep by Rivers Solomon (which was excellent, highly recommend) I had complete faith in their ability to craft an excellent story. Sorrowland was no exception. No book has shocked and surprised me quite like this one and I will be thinking about it for a long time.

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like Sorrowland and I don’t think I ever will again. Rivers Solomon might quickly be becoming one of my favourite authors; they are, at the very least, an author I always look out for. There is something so distinctly unique about their books, writing style, and storytelling.

This isn’t much of a review and I think I need to reread it before I can form any real coherent thoughts but nonetheless, I highly recommend this book!

Sorrowland has officially opened my eyes to gothic science fiction and I don't think I'm ever turning back! Wow, Rivers Solomon takes us on an incredible journey following Vern and later her twin boys as she escapes a cult only to start going through strange unexplainable bodily changes and has to uncover why this is happening to her. This story was original and intriguing and I couldn't get enough!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this title, but my reading interests have changed. I will not be finishing this book, but look forward to others in the future.

I’m having a difficult time pinning down a rating for this book. On the one hand, I absolutely loved the first third of this book but once a certain ✨pivotal scene✨ occurred I felt myself liking the book less and less. It seemed to drag quite a bit.

I just don’t know if I maybe had different expectations for what the plot of this book was or the genre it was supposed to be. I am actually still a little confused by this being marketed as ‘fantasy’ and ‘horror’ because I feel like it was neither of those things? I guess the twist was what made it eligible to be classified as ‘horror’ but even that felt a little ridiculous.

Overall, I did enjoy the writing and the storytelling. I also loved Vern so much and felt like she was one of the realest and most raw characters I’ve read a perspective from in a while. But, I just couldn’t get behind the story as a whole.

Fierce and fantastical, 'Sorrowland' had me gripped from the very first page. Masterfully constructed.

Ok, so I often keep track of what I consider “best”, first lines in book, lines that catch my interest and hook their way into my imagination. This book has something less settled than that. My interest and imagination were caught for sure, but wrapped up in a coating of intense discomfort: “The child gushed out from twixt Vern’s legs ragged and smelling of salt.”

Gushed. Definitely a bad vibes word.

It sets the tone well. This is a “bad vibes” sort of book—and I mean that affectionately. It is purposefully upsetting and distasteful at turns and that is exactly what it needed to be. Not for the faint of heart, for sure!

2.3

DNF @ 40%

It pains me so much that I did not like this book. I tried MANY times, in all formats, Arc, Audio, hardcover. All of them. Because if there is something I love is unique books. And this book promised to be so unique. And it was, but I did not like it. The plot moved way too slow and the story was very confusing most of the time and felt disjunctive.

This has got to be one of the craziest books I have ever read. At no point during this journey did I have a single clue what to expect next. What started off seeming like a cult horror escape story quickly went off the fungi sci fi deep end with all sorts of self discovery, sexual awakening and questionable parenting in between. I never really liked the main character Vern (I think that was sort of the point), but I was highly invested in seeing how her story panned out. River Solomon’s writing is beautiful, but ultimately I think there were just too many ideas and themes crammed into one book here. It was chaotic and bizarre but not unenjoyable.

I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Solomon so I was thrilled to see a new title! While still a fascinating and engaging read, this is not going to be one of my favorites by them.

We start right with the action, with a young pregnant woman named Vern escaping. There’s no gentle easing into the story here. And there’s a lot to this story, like the seductive power of cultism, the US’s long history of racism, and human experimentation. We get drips of backstory as needed, no info dumping, so it is easy to get a little lost sometimes.

One of the things that I appreciated the most is that all of the characters were human and flawed. So many women were portrayed in this story, all with unique drives and ambitions and characters.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the ending, and discussing it too much would spoil it, so I’ll just say it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Really interesting takes with this novel. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but it ended up being a page turner I couldn't put down.

Looking forward to more books by the author!

This was my first Rivers Solomon and I hate to say it but I was definitely disappointed. I went into this pretty cold and wasn't really expecting the extreme fantastical elements -- which I'll admit is on me. It's definitely a book that some people will love, but it was a little too out there for me. I had difficulty following some things and just didn't get along with the writing in general. I did appreciate how queer this was, though, as well as the messages Solomon was conveying. I have a copy of The Deep which I'll definitely also be trying out.

Sorrowland is a haunting and intricate narrative that tells a powerful story of change and resilience.
The story centers on Vern, a young woman who escapes the cult she was born into. She runs to seek a better life not just for herself; but for her babies. As Vern continues her journey, she becomes more and more powerful. Both mentally and physically. These strange and terrifying changes are the key to completely breaking free of her old life and ushering in a potential new age.

I do not know why I even requested this book. I am not in the least bit interested in it at all. Sorry, but tha KS for the early access though!

This is an intense, dark, difficult, and fascinating book. It contains many things — beautiful, lyrical writing, unique and intriguing characters, commentary on gender roles and race, a mysterious background that involves a religious cult, and more! — but it felt like too chaotic and messy. There is too much to cover and ends up overwhelming the reader. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Vern is just 15 and heavily pregnant with twins when she escapes the commune of Cainland where she’s been raised. Despite her age and inexperience in the world, she manages to carve out a life for herself and her children deep in the woods for roughly three years. Yet Vern’s body continues to change more than she could have ever expected (or could be considered natural) and suddenly she must leave the wilderness to protect her family from those that hunt her.

This novel contains many things — beautiful, lyrical writing, unique and intriguing characters, commentary on gender roles and race, a mysterious background that involves a religious cult, explorations of involuntary experimental testing on humans and its predecessors in American history, survival in the wilderness, and growing up in unthinkable yet completely believable and relatable circumstances — but it felt like too chaotic and messy, too much trying to be covered at once. Instead of any kind of panoramic overview or examination of what’s happening, we focus mainly on a protagonist who doesn’t seem interested in doing anything other than survive. There’s not much driving the story forward in the way of plot, so if you’re looking for an action packed sci-fi, this isn’t it (the blurb made me think this was going to be a story of vengeance by a woman with special powers). This is instead a character driven story centered around a pretty unlikable main character (though I did really like the character of Gogo, who comes in later). I’d describe this as gothic literary fiction with a sci-fi twist that’s mainly focused on Vern’s coming of age, her development and acceptance of who she is, with some wild magical realist moments sprinkled throughout.

Speaking of magical realism, I don’t have a lot of experience reading it so I’m still unsure of how I feel about it and will keep trying different voices and examples. However, at one point (page 300), I pretty much mentally checked out and just powered through the rest of the book in order to give a review for NetGalley. Nothing made much sense (what’s real, what’s a hallucination, and what are the rules for how one can interact with the other) and I was sick of being left in the dark, stuck in Vern’s head, and wanted to learn more about what was actually going on and why. I enjoyed the writing but the pacing and unfolding of the plot just didn’t keep me engaged in the latter half of the book. It felt like too many genres being packed into one story with not enough editing for it to hit with full impact.